DC 101 - week 2

Going through the workload this week, we find that there is much more to discuss than in week 1. We could easily spend the entire meeting time on John 1-9. In fact, we could easily spend the entire meeting time on John 1:1-18. John Piper once took a 15-week seminary course on the Gospel of John, and the first 14 weeks were devoted to this prologue. See my blog posts, which serve as a commentary on the prologue, here.

Next, as the DC leader's guide notes, a discussion of John's gospel can break off into tangents that naturally flow from a reading of the text. But we don't have time in our meeting to deal with many of them. Thus, we'll try to focus on personal application, rather than issues of doctrinal debate. We'll also sneak in a brief discussion of Proverbs 8 in the first few minutes of our meeting; how do we understand the personification of wisdom found there?

Finally, we'll discuss a number of questions regarding theology - the study of God. We'll focus specifically on the character traits of God the Father, His eternal purpose, and His role in salvation. We won't be able to cover everything adequately; rather, we'll try to focus on the key points and overarching application of the topics at hand.

DC 101 - Week 2 - God the Father

Our group met yesterday to discuss the character traits of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Humility was one of, if not the main, one noted. Thanks to all who participated in the discussion of Ephesians, Titus, and Proverbs 1-4 as well. This week, we are focusing on God the Father. Our plan for the workload might look like this:

Monday - Read John 1-9
Tuesday - Read Proverbs 8 and the article on fearing God
Wednesday - Memorize Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" - and consider the context of this verse, especially in light of having read Ephesians last week.
Thursday - Answer questions "1a-e" and "2a-e" (10 questions total) and review the memory verses learned so far (both 2 Peter 3:18 and Ephesians 2:10).
Friday - Answer questions "3a-d", "4a-c", "5a-c", and 6 (12 questions total), and review those memory verses.

Louisville has experienced quite a wind storm from Hurricane Ike, and if you lack electrical power, you may have to be creative in finding time to get the work done this week.