Ortberg 4mat Essay

The book is divided into seven parts. The book focuses spiritual growth and it is a manual for building a Spirit-filled life in a world where perfection can only be found in God’s loving vision. Ortberg helps us gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. As the author emphasizes on

God gave men the free will to elect their own salvation. There is no sin until it is actually committed. Sin was now considered a voluntary act. It also consists of a change of heart, which revived the concept of limited atonement. Christ did not die for only a select few predestined elect, but for whosoever will accept God’s offer of salvation. Personal commitment also involved an active and useful Christian life in which individual action brings the kingdom closer.

While the Bible clearly shows, God alone can forgive sins, and Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, God uses men to bring about his reconciliation. Confession of sins is a ministry of reconciliation. The confession of serious or mortal sins to a priest forces your conscience to recognize your sins. Examining your conscience is necessary if you are to advance in holiness and become more faithful to Christ. It is known as the sacrament of confession, since the confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. It is also a "confession" of acknowledgement and praise of the holiness of God and His mercy and pardon towards sinful

Regarding doctrine, Adams says that exposing clients to biblical teaching provides them with practical implications for living. The second step is reproof, wherein the Holy Spirit brings conviction to the lives of individuals through the witness of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit not only leads the client to repentance, but also works through the counselor as a reflection of the love of God. The third step is correction and involves the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals to help them stand upright and bear fruit indicative of the repentance that has taken place in their lives. The final step is instruction in righteousness, which pertains to the disciplined lifestyle wherein clients exercise a life of godliness. During this step, clients are held accountable for their actions, decisions and thoughts. Adams resigns that the Bible is infallible, propositional, inerrant and sufficient for counseling needs because it addresses every issue of life, either directly or principally (Liberty University, Baker, 2015).

While the goal of Christian education and discipleship is spiritual formation of the new believer into a true disciple who makes other true disciples, this concept has been watered down in the American church today by emphasis on programs instead of progressive spiritual growth in every member’s life. There are many

Evidence of religious authority is observable in the Roman Catholic Church’s “notion that doing penance contributed to one’s salvation” (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 10). This notion furnished the Catholic Church with authority over its congregation. In fact, it was the Catholic Church’s clergy that administered confessionals as well as assigned tasks to invalidate the consequences of the confessed

In the beginning, I felt Anderson’s heart when he wrote, “there is no replacement for a deep and abiding experiential relationship with God when it comes to authentic spirituality” (pg. 51). God is always available at the surface level, but it is down deep into the soil of one’s heart where the authentic growth and development will blossom. One must invite and permit God to come in and began that relationship that cultivates authentic encounters that transforms life from dark to light.

For those who have left the church behind but don’t want to entirely abandon spiritual practice, and also for those who were never a part of the church but are still seeking to foster meaningful spiritual development, Rachelle Mee-Chapman’s new book, Relig-ish: Soulful Living in a

Another way to think about this is how Wesley wrote in his sermon The Scripture Way of Salvation. On our journey to sanctification, he states, what keeps us going on the journey are the means of grace, whether they be for ourselves or done for others. His basic point was that once we are brought into awareness of the grace and our need to repent and turn from our sin, the means provide the nourishment our souls need to grow in grace. How else could one grow in grace than by means of grace?

Spiritual disciplines will prepare us for our journey in Christ. I feel if understanding correctly, the classical Christian Pilgrimage remind us that we all have issues requiring regular examination. In chapter eight, the classical Christian Pilgrimage tells us we are at different stages on the path of wholeness in Christ. However, in my thoughts some areas of our Christian journey we may be doing well, but in other areas we have not touched at all. Not to mention, these are the place we are not ready or capable of handling yet, however, as we mature in God and He knows what we can handle, then we are awakened. God awakens us to our true selves which have not been completely revealed. In reality, once we reach maturity to God, he reveals all that is hidden deep inside of us (the real us/you). By the same token, he let us see the inner behaviors, attitudes, desires, in fact how we measure up in them being Christ-like. I feel the awakening stage deals with the comfort of being set free of these issues that are holding us back also causing detours on our path to wholeness in Christ. Equally, the threat is being afraid to see who we really are; also how far from Christ-like we really are. We must first be awakened from our separation also alienation from God (Mulholland 79-82).

In this book, Ortberg discusses how important relationships with other people are. In chapter 16, he states, “God uses people to form people. That is why what happens between you and another person is never merely human-to-human interaction¬—the Spirit longs to be powerfully at work in every encounter.”182 What is so powerful about this, is how much it relates to a Trinitarian view on teamwork. It shows that we were not created for one man alone to get the job done. The Spirit so desires to be a part of each interaction we have with another human being. We were not created to be alone. This is why God created a woman for Adam. God is not alone; therefore we were not created to be alone. Two humans cannot truly achieve much good without the

This paper on Salvation is defining both objectively and subjectively from the two required reading text. The first text is written by Alistair McGrath’s “Theology: The Basics and the second is written by Dr. Yung Chul Han’s “Transforming Power: Dimension of the Gospel. I will describe how the both texts are in association as well as seeking observations, and other conclusions to gain a better understanding of salvation from both perspectives. According to (Mc.Grath, p.78), the word salvation is referred to as something that has already happened in the past, to something that will happen in the future. Spiritual transformation requires of us what is called dependent responsibility. All the moral commands and exhortations of scripture assume our responsibility. Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. The word salvation carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation (www.biblia.com). Salvation can be viewed as a spiritual transformation which the dependency of the Holy Spirit assist in the change of a believers past, self to a vessel of God in the present lives which exemplifies life, deliverance, peace, and a victory won through personal conviction. The victory is one that only Jesus Christ has authority save us which gives believers complete approval to have possession to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The author (2007) also points out the importance of the Roman Catholic views point about confession and penance has three significate merits to confession. The first significate merit is that consistent confession forces one to confront one’s sin, meaning that one will not merely overlook or diminish one’s transgressions; instead it will cause one to take their sin more earnestly (p 213). The second significate is that the act of penance, paying a price for sin, creates a mindfulness of the significance of sin, meaning that it will not allow one to have a carelessness understanding toward sin of thinking that one will always be simply forgiven; instead penance combats this predisposition by arresting consequences for one’s sin (p 213). The third Significate merit is that it lifts the burned of guilt by forgiveness being granted during the ritual of penance, which can be extremely redemptive for some individuals (p

Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, was first published in 1978. It presented sets of Disciplines that, if followed, would serve as vehicles for a deeper relationship with Christ as well as preparation for service. These disciplines are divided into three broad categories: the Inward Disciplines, the Outward Disciplines, and the Corporate Disciplines (Foster, 2003). Each category contains four Disciplines, which indicated by their titles, moves the disciple from the very personal to the larger congregational community (Foster, 2003). Recognizing humanity’s trend to make any process a law or regulation to follow, Foster warned against this by reminding the disciple that to do so would turn

Once we recognize God’s true love for us and see the need of looking to Christ to change our hearts rather than trying to do it on our own, we see our need of repentance, which involves a change of direction, turning our back on previous intentions and actions, and seeking new direction in life. Instead of making excuses, blaming circumstances or others, repentance means taking full responsibility. King David, after committing murder and adultery appealed to Christ: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10). He accepted his guilt and asked for a new direction – from Christ.