Participation in God’s Grand Plan Part 2 – Maintaining Holiness

Maintaining Holiness Holiness is a relationship Holiness does not occur by accident Holy people cultivate holy habits Holiness is not “works righteousness”

activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. Defining Disciplines Dallas Dallas Willard

Inward Disciplines Outward Disciplines Corporate Disciplines Inward Disciplines Outward Disciplines Corporate Disciplines Describing Disciplines Dallas Dallas Willard

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Meditation Desiring to know God more intimately we listen to God’s word and reflect on God’s works. INWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Prayer Desiring to want what God wants, “to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills,” we approach the Father as a child to listen and converse. INWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Fasting Desiring to deepen within ourselves a “sense of one’s dependence upon the strength of God” we voluntarily abstain from eating (or some other activity) to sensitize our awareness of God’s provision. INWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Study Desiring to “add content to our understanding so as to provide direction,” we study God’s Word as well as other written and non-written Resources (nature, conversations, experiences, etc.). INWARD DISCIPLINES

Student Handout #1 “Practicing the Inward Disciplines”

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Simplicity Desiring that nothing distract us from our focus on God and the accomplishment of His will on earth as it is in heaven, we experience freedom by cultivating a “joyful unconcern for possessions” in recognizing a) what we have comes from God, b) is God’s to protect, c) and is available to others. OUTWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Solitude Desiring increased sensitivity to God’s words, feelings, and actions, we separate from the fellowship of community for solitude and silence so that our message and behaviors will be authentically Christ like upon our return to community. OUTWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Submission Desiring to live under the reign of God, we experience freedom by laying down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way” and allowing the dreams And plans of others to become important to us. We submit to God and His Word and to “human authority.” OUTWARD DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Service Desiring freedom from arrogance, possessiveness, envy, resentment, or covetousness, and desiring to love practically as Jesus loved, we serve God and others through the ministry of hospitality, listening, bearing the burdens of others, and sharing the word of life. OUTWARD DISCIPLINES

Student Handout #2 “Practicing the Outward Disciplines”

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Confession Desiring to live transformed lives, we admit our sins to Him and to some spiritually mature, wise, compassionate Christian with good common sense and the ability to keep a confidence. We also receive confessions. CORPORATE DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Worship Desiring to respond to God’s love, we intentionally place ourselves in His presence with holy expectation knowing that “to stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.” CORPORATE DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Guidance Desiring to discern the will of God in community, we humbly turn to others to hear the will of God. We gather a group of people, share our vision, probe the issue, pray, question, search, worship, and wait on God to reveal His will. CORPORATE DISCIPLINES

Relationship – Enhancing Activities Celebration Desiring to be saved from taking ourselves too seriously, we engage in singing, dancing, shouting, laughing, and making noise, lots of noise, as we give our attention to that which God provided for our joy. CORPORATE DISCIPLINES

Student Handout #3 “Practicing the Corporate Disciplines”

Small Group Discussion 1. Share a discipline you have selected to practice. State when, where and how you expect to practice this discipline. 2. Discuss the potential benefits to practicing this discipline. 3. Discuss the potential dangers to practicing this discipline.

Recommended Reading HOLINESS Sanctification: a layman’s guide by H. Ray Dunning Studies in Sanctification by Edward Read Holiness for Ordinary People by Keith Drury Entire Sanctification by J. Kenneth Grider HOLINESS Sanctification: a layman’s guide by H. Ray Dunning Studies in Sanctification by Edward Read Holiness for Ordinary People by Keith Drury Entire Sanctification by J. Kenneth Grider SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES With Unveiled Faces by Keith Drury Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster Spiritual Disciplines 101 by Beacon Hill Press The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard