"Habits of Grace" E-Book

David Mathis

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 71

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Put Yourself in the Path of God's Grace This study guide is designed to help you connect more deeply with the three crucial power sources for the Christian life: hearing God's voice (in the Bible), having his ear (in prayer), and belonging to his body (in the fellowship of the church). Created as a supplement to the book Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines by David Mathis, and intended for individual and small-group study alike, this 31-day resource includes relevant Scripture readings, discussion questions tied to specific sections of the book, and prompts for applying each lesson to your everyday life. Rehearsing and reiterating key practices outlined in Habits of Grace, this study guide will equip you to stay focused on the gospel as you cultivate your own specific life-transforming habits aimed at keeping you connected to the grace of God in Jesus.

Leseprobe

Habits of Grace

Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines Study Guide

David Mathis

Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines Study Guide

Copyright © 2016 by David C. Mathis

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jeff Miller, Faceout Studio

Cover image: Benjamin Devine

First printing 2016

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-5353-0 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5356-1 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5354-7 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5355-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mathis, David, 1980–

Habits of grace: enjoying Jesus through the spiritual disciplines / David Mathis; foreword by John Piper.

    pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4335-5047-8 (tp)

1. Spiritual life—Christianity. 2. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.M284         2016

248.4'6—dc                                                  232015023865

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Contents

Cover PageTitle PageCopyrightHow to Use This Study GuideDay 1   Grace Gone WildDay 2   The End of the MeansPart 1HEAR HIS VOICE (WORD)Day 3   Shape Your Life with the Words of LifeDay 4   Preaching the Gospel to YourselfDay 5   Bible Reading Is an ArtDay 6   The X Factor in Bible ReadingDay 7   Warm Yourself at the Fire of MeditationDay 8   Bring the Bible Home to Your HeartDay 9   Memorize the Mind of GodDay 10   Five Tips for Bible MemoryDay 11   Lifelong LearningPart 2HAVE HIS EAR (PRAYER)Day 12   Enjoy the Gift of Having God’s EarDay 13   Pray in SecretDay 14   The Power and Privilege of Private PrayerDay 15   Pray with Constancy and CompanyDay 16   Sharpen Your Affections with FastingDay 17   Journal as a Pathway to JoyDay 18   Take a Break from the ChaosPart 3BELONG TO HIS BODY (FELLOWSHIP)Day 19   Learn to Fly in the FellowshipDay 20   Lessons in Good ListeningDay 21   Kindle the Fire in Corporate WorshipDay 22   The Benefits of Corporate WorshipDay 23   Listen for Grace in the PulpitDay 24   Wash in the Waters AgainDay 25   Grow in Grace at the TableDay 26   Embrace the Blessing of RebukeDay 27   Give the Blessing of RebukePart 4CODADay 28   The Commission: Disciple the NationsDay 29   The Dollar: Test Your True TreasureDay 30   The Clock: Manage Your Time in the Mission of LoveDay 31   Communing with Christ on a Crazy DayAbout the AuthordesiringGod.org: A Note on Resources

How to Use This Study Guide

I have designed this study guide to supplement individual and group studies of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines (Crossway, 2016). This workbook draws from and leans on the book such that it makes access to the book essential in understanding and benefitting from this study.

In this study guide, I have parceled out the book’s introduction and eighteen chapters into thirty-one sections (or “days”). The hope is to make each section doable in one sitting and to make the whole study doable in one month (thirty-one days), if doing one section each day.

However, it is not my expectation that every participant, or even most, will undertake to complete this study in one focused month. Some may take a section every other day, or multiple in one day, or even only a day or two per week. My hope is that you’ll be able to move at your pace, depending on how new or familiar the material is to you, whether you are studying in a group setting or with friends, or whatever life circumstances in which you find yourself.

Each day includes at least one brief passage of Scripture for your reading and meditation as well as one defined section to read from the book Habits of Grace before answering the questions. The questions are designed to rehearse and deepen your understanding of the most important information in the chapters, as well as to engage your heart and inner person, and also inspire practical direction and life change.

My prayer for you is that God would richly bless your mind, heart, and daily life as you undertake this study and seek to engage more deeply with the principles and counsel of Habits of Grace. And I hope this study proves valuable for years to come. The principles and practices of God’s “means of grace” are not flashy or dramatic, but it is often fresh attention to the ordinary that is most life transforming and produces the greatest fruit in the long run.

I am indebted to Pam Eason for her remarkable work in carefully reviewing the first draft of this study guide and bringing her acumen in instructional design to bear on it. The study has been vastly improved by her skill and ingenuity, especially for visual learners. For the more right-brained among us, you have Pam to thank for the many creative ways to enrich the learning process by drawing pictures and finding fresh avenues for synthesizing the material into your own thoughts and applications.

If you plan to read the book’s foreword and preface, now would be a good time. When you turn the page to Day 1, we begin with the introduction.

Day 1

Grace Gone Wild

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4–7

Read from the beginning of the introduction through the section “Where the Grace Keeps Passing” (pp. 21–26).

1. Refer to the section “Invading Our Space.” Name at least two ways grace has invaded humanity’s space.

2. You cannot control or manipulate the grace of God through your various habits and actions. A terrible way to misunderstand this study would be to think that somehow you can. Review the sections “Put Yourself in the Path of God’s Grace” and “Where the Grace Keeps Passing.” Draw two circles. Title one circle “My Actions and Efforts.” Title the other circle “God’s Grace.” Use symbols or lines, or whatever you would like, to show the relationship between the two circles.

3. Review the section “Flooding the Future.” God’s grace stretches back into eternity past and forward into eternity future. Ponder that and complete the following:

a) State a surprising fact that you learned from this section about God’s grace.

b) Draw a timeline and title it “God’s Grace in My Life.” Add and label points on the line to represent the stages of life you have passed through up to now (infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adult, etc.). Add notes to the timeline that identify the ways God’s grace came to you at these different points in your life, the way God’s grace came to you before the timeline began, and the way God’s grace will continue after it ends.

4. Ponder the grace that God showed you before you were even able to recognize it. Describe or illustrate with a graph or drawing (1) God’s grace that was yours before you were ever born; and (2) God’s grace that was already at work even before you first believed.

5. Review the section “Where the Grace Keeps Passing.” Explain or illustrate what it means to “position” yourself “to go on getting as [God] keeps on giving.”

6. Reflect on your reasons for choosing this study. Complete the following:

a) My goals for this study are …

b) As a result of this study, I hope …