I’ve sent a text message out to many of our Friday morning “brothers”….but for those I’ve missed or any new FMMF attendees, we’ll kick off a new 9-week study series this Friday in Charlotte. We’ve selected “The Gospel Centered Life” by Bob Thune and Will Walker. Our study will span 10 weeks to cover 9 chapters. We will not meet on Friday, JULY 5th due to the Independence Day holiday.
As always, men are asked to consider signing up to lead one or more of the planned dates. As “leader” you are expected to prepare the discussion for the day….and generally “keep the ball in play”. If you do that, the group tends to take on a mind of its own….in a very good way!
Trying to decide which chapter to lead? Here’s a great summary of the nine chapters. Beneath the summary, are links for the SignUp Genius as well as where to order the book. See you this Friday at The Cornwell Center for Chapter 1. YES…..we’re looking for someone to kick things off this first week! Gather at 7:30 am in fellowship. Lesson starts at 7:45 am.
• Chapter 1: The Gospel Grid. This chapter builds a framework for interacting with the gospel. It has a very helpful diagram concerning our growing awareness of God’s holiness and our sinfulness. This chapter addresses the gospel as not “just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation.” The chapter closes out with an exercise on what motivates us to judge others.
• Chapter 2: Pretending & Performing. This chapter builds on the diagram from chapter one. It discusses specific ways in which we “shrink the cross.” As we loose sight of our sin before a holy God, we begin to pretend that we really aren’t that bad. Conversely, when we loose sight of how Holy God is and our inability to earn His favor apart from Jesus, we begin to perform in an effort to earn His favor.
• Chapter 3: Believing the Gospel. This chapter expands on the previous chapter by helping the reader to understand that they do not need to pretend or perform to be right before God. It is not by our own efforts that we are made right before God – and we need to be reminded of that! “The good news of the gospel is not that God favors us because of who we are, but that he favors us in spite of who we are.” The scripture discussed in this chapter is 2 Peter 1:3-9. It closes out with a very helpful assessment to determine how we view ourselves before God, as orphans or children.
• Chapter 4: Law & Gospel. This chapter explores the relationship between the law and the gospel. In this chapter two terms are introduced, legalism & license, to help illustrate the extremes that are often held by Christians. When we tend toward legalism, we believe that God’s approval is based on our obedience. When we tend toward license, we believe that God has forgiven us and that God’s commands no longer are important. The authors summarize the relationship between the two like this: “the law drives us to the gospel and the gospel frees us to obey the law. Realizing all that God expects of us should drive us in despair to Christ. And once we are united with Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit causes us to delight in God’s law and gives us power to obey it.” This chapter ends with a helpful exercise to identify if the reader tends toward legalism, license or gospel.
• Chapter 5: Repentance. This chapter develops the concept that “biblical repentance is the norm for gospel-centered living.” This develops the idea that we need to be living a lifestyle of repentance because of our proclivity to shrink the cross by our performance and pretending. This chapter is VERY HELPFUL in identifying our motives for repentance. This chapter unpacks what biblical repentance looks like and has a helpful exercise at the end of the chapter to help develop biblical repentance.
• Chapter 6: Heart Idolatry. This chapter is possibly the most impactful in the entire study. It begins to provide concrete ways to apply the material in the study. The driving thrust of this chapter is where is our faith (trust) placed? It pushes the reader to go deeper than just “surface sins,” and mine out the heart level idols that lurk deep within. This chapter is a must read for all Christians – especially those who have been in the faith for many years. It unpacks common heart idols and presses the reader to evaluate his own life carefully.
• Chapter 7: Mission. This chapter discusses how the gospel’s relevance is not just inward and personal, but also is expressed outwardly by people living differently. “If the gospel is renewing you internally, it will be propelling you externally.” This chapter does an excellent job of moving Christians to love, serve, engage and live missional lives without doing it out of duty and drudgery. Missional lives are a “natural overflow of the gospel’s work inside of us.” This chapter ends with a great exercise on examining our hearts when it comes to living on mission. It does not tell you to go and do, but rather helps the reader to identify the heart issues that are preventing them from living on mission with joy.
• Chapter 8: Forgiveness. This chapter expands on how the gospel’s work internally drives us to forgive others biblically. Forgiveness is a problem for many people – even Christians! The remedy for this is the gospel! The more that we understand how costly our own sin is and the lengths to which God went to redeem us, the more we will be moved to forgive others. This chapter presents a balanced view of forgiveness, offering the readers an understanding of the difference between forgiveness and repentance. “Forgiveness involves a heart that cancels the debt but does not lend new money until repentance occurs. Like God, we take the initiative to move toward those who have offended us and we invite them to move toward us in repentance.” This chapter also offers a very helpful homework assignment to help the reader identify where unforgiveness may have crept into their heart.
• Chapter 9: Conflict. The last chapter shows the reader how we engage others in conflict in a healthy way. The study identifies two general types of people: attackers and withdrawers when it comes to conflict and shows how “God did not pour out his wrath on us (attack) or remove his presence from us (withdraw). Instead, he sacrificially moved toward us in the person of Jesus, full of grace and truth.” There is a great matrix that helps the reader determine how he responds and how the gospel responds. Additionally, the end of the chapter offers practical steps for implementing gospel-centered conflict resolution in the real world.
SIGNUP GENIUS link for weekly leaders
Order the book from Amazon at this link
Not to fear. Our fellowship this Friday will be led by Jason Schubert, also one of our resident attorneys by trade! This is a great chapter. Short read with a big message!
Mike leads us this week and promises that the group will do the “check-box” exercise at the end of the lesson as part of our fellowship on Friday.
Lots more to unpack in this week’s lesson…..Rob Miller will lead our discussions. As always, gather at The Cornwell Center beginning at 7:30 am. Rob kicks things off around 7:45 am.
Starting Friday: Men's Fellowship Through Accountability 
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