The Lord willing, I will be launching a new sermon series at my home church this Sunday. This series focuses on the passionate pursuit of a God-shaped life. We will examine 8 principles; 4 practices and 1 supreme purpose, by which God will shape us into truly Christ-like Christians, as we choose to passionately pursue them.
Anyone want to have a go at guessing what any or all of these might be?
— 8 Principles?
— 4 Practices?
— 1 Supreme Purpose?
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Every blessing to that course… God’s anointing on you and your preaching. Wow… a quiz for us!! ha ha! I can’t guess right now cos am answering phones at work.. will be back
Maria in the UK
http://www.inhishands.co.uk
for the 4 practices I nominate:
worship, fellowship, Bible study/teaching, and prayer
i will guess the supreme thing probably involves either love or glorifying God
hope you share more about it, God bless
thanks for the link
The supreme purpose is indeed “to glorify God”. Better be, right?
As far as the four practices, you are definitely in the neighborhood. Here’s a hint: I’m really big on alliteration. The four words identifying these practices all end with “fy”. The first practice is a repetition of the supreme idea: “Seek to Glorify God in all you do.”
Blessings,
-bill
I love John Piper, in that everything he writes, says, preaches, he always focuses on God and not man.
I think if we are to have an integrative motif for the whole Bible (fancy phrase I learned in grad school recently), it should be that one. God’s Glory.
4 practices ending in -fy? How about
Pray-fy, Fast-fy, Study-fy, Worship-fy
Now Bill, you know I’m a brat, so don’t scowl. 🙂
I’m not scowling! Smiling from ear-to-ear though! 😀
I say glorify, magnify, intensify, and clarify.
Close??
No idea, but I’m looking forward to hearing it.
Are you the pastor at your church?
this is fun!
God bless
Maria in the UK
http://www.inhishands.co.uk
I like John’s entries above.
But then there’s objectify and . . . ha~
Thanks to all. You have made some excellent comments!
So, here are my offerings in the first two categories:
The one supreme purpose is: Living for God’s glory and the good of all. Yes, I know that my “one” supreme purpose is two-fold. But, my thinking is that one cannot truly live for God’s glory without seeking good for all. Does that make sense?
Four practices:
1) Glorify
2) Edify
3) Testify
4) Multiply
The eight principles are based on Mike Breen’s discipleship series: LifeShapes. You can learn more about LifeShapes by clicking HERE.
Lord willing, I’ll be posting updates on our progress. Stay tuned and, please, offer your thoughts and suggestions!
The sermon sounds wonderful. I’m sure it will be.
I’m late getting in on this, but how ’bout: glorify, edify, testify, and multiply? Am I close?
Actually, I don’t like these types of questions … so I use them often in my teaching. My congregation accuses me of asking “guess what I am thinking” questions.
Sounds like a good series, though. Give us some more as you develop it.
Sounds like a good series, Bill. I like A. W. Tozier’s classic Pursuit of God on this subject.
http://tinyurl.com/y5clhs
Peace.
I am not sure what they might be but I would guess that adding up to 13 is no accident! I think it is kind of funny when authors write in 13s to make their work useful for a quarter system. It is really pretty clever and if it works, more power to you!