I'm going to post just a couple of the main points that we discussed, which I thought were good take-away points.
1. One of the men asked the question (and I'm paraphrasing), "what are we doing this for...?" In the sense that "what do we hope to accomplish?"
I thought it was a very good point and question that cuts right to the chase. What exactly is our goal?
Well a couple of other guys led us to the scripture in Philippians 3:8-14:
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which [is] from the law, but that which [is] through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I think we were all in agreement that while this book is a great one, the real goal is not to "get through" a book study. It seems that we are all wanting to strive to reach that high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We're training - we're always training and reaching for that high calling. We will never attain the end all on this side of glory, but we can train in these practical disciplines, in order that we continue to grow in the knowledge and understanding and wisdom and revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of the practical "training tools" as I see it are:
- Learning to be alone with God;
- Learning to be transparent with other men;
- Learning to be accountable to other men (as well as our wives and children);
- Learning to hear and be receptive to the Holy Spirit;
- Learning to pray (not just pray for things, but for others);
None of this stuff comes naturally either. The world and nature will tell us we are what we are and nothing can change that but we, who know the living God, know that while we cannot change ourselves, God is able to change us. We just need to want that change and be willing to let Him change us.
That means dying to self, taking up our cross and following Jesus Christ!