Spiritual Formation
Wednesday Nights • 6:30pm
Session 15: Guidance (Part 2)
July 27, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Tonight we continue our conversation on the discipline of guidance with a closer study on God's will, and the role that prayerful conversations with other Christians plans in our spiritual journey. We showed a video clip as an illustration that we are linking to as well.
Session 14: Guidance (Part 1)
July 20, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
God is leading all of us on a spiritual journey. No matter where we're starting from in our faith, our ultimate goal is to become more like Jesus. But since we're all coming from different places, each of us has a unique path to follow on the way. The discipline of guidance is when we seek God's will by having prayerful conversations with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Session 13: Worship
July 13, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Worship is a spiritual discipline. It's something we intentionally choose to do to place ourselves in God's presence so that God can transform us into a better reflection of Jesus. Of course, we can go through the external motions of worship without ever really worshipping him in our hearts. In tonight's class we discuss worship from the point of view of our ongoing spiritual formation.
Session 12: Confession (Part 2)
July 6, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Last week, we began a discussion about the spiritual discipline of confession. Tonight we continue that conversation with an in-depth look at a few prayers of confession in the Bible: Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9, David's prayer in Psalm 51, and Ezra's prayer in Ezra 9-10. These prayers give us an example we can follow when we talk to God and others about the sin in our life. Here's a few of the things we highlighted in these prayers: 1. An attitude of humility. 2. A clear admission of wrongdoing--for oneself and the community. 3. A recognition that discipline is warranted. 4. An appeal to God's love and mercy. 5. A pledge to live a transformed life.
Session 11: Confession (Part 1)
June 29, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
The discipline of confession is a gift God gives us for our benefit. But we don't always think of it that way. In this session, we explore the reasons why confession can be so intimidating and some ways we can shift our thinking towards something healthier. (This session is audio only.)
Session 10: Service
June 22, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Jesus was a servant. Jesus not only taught about the importance of serving others (like in the parable of the Good Samaritan)... he also gave us a tangible example. During Jesus' Last Supper in John 13, Jesus took on the role of a servant by washing the feet of his disciples. During this class we'll dive into that story and talk about the way serving others is an important part of our ongoing spiritual transformation.
Session 9: Submission
June 16, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Richard Foster says "the obsession to demand that things go the way want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today." Submission, from a Christian point of view, is the spiritual discipline that helps set us free from that bondage. It means yielding to God's plan and desires for our life and choosing to value other people above ourselves... instead of insisting that things always go our way.
Session 8: Solitude
June 8, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Our next Spiritual Discipline is solitude. Luke 5:16 teaches us that "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Spending time alone with God, away from the stress and worries of our busy lives, is an incredible blessing. It gives us the time and space we need to connect with God and separate ourselves from the many demands of our social lives.
Session 6: Studying Scripture
May 26, 2022
Tonight we focus on the spiritual discipline of studying Scripture. Our class begins with an exercise called Lectio Divina--Latin for "divine reading--which allows us to slow down and prayerfully consider what God is calling us to know, believe, or do after reading a short passage from the Bible. For the rest of our class, we focus on the spiritual discipline of studying scripture.
Session 5: Transformed on our Journey
May 11, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Our spiritual journeys are filled with peaks and valleys. Without a consistent, intentional effort to let God transform us, most of us drift back into our old ways of living. The spiritual disciplines are a great way to place us in the right environment where God can transform us from the inside out. Later on in tonight's class, we discuss one of those disciplines: fasting.
Session 4: Be Transformed
April 27, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
When the Bible talks about Spiritual transformation, it's always something that God does to us, rather than something we do to ourselves. Willpower Christianity puts all the emphasis on our ability to manage behaviors and control our worst impulses. But willpower alone can never address the deeply ingrained habits of sin. Only God can transform our hearts. But how can we open our hearts and minds to the transforming work God is trying to do? The answer lies in the spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, meditation, etc). Through these spiritual practices, we allow God to get to work on our hearts.
Session 1: Spiritual Formation
April 6, 2022 • Bryan Fojtasek
Tonight we introduced the concept of Spiritual Formation by talking about the importance of the heart. What we do matters, but who we are beneath the surface matters more. Please download the attachment that we used as the basis of our class. Please note: this session is audio only.