The Gospel: Different Than You Think - Part 3
OCIA & ST. VINCENT'S
DISCIPLESHIP IMMERSION PROCESS
The Gospel: Different Than You Think - Part 3 - 9-17-24
Click below to listen to the audio recording of Fr. Alex's teaching -- Part 3 of the Gospel series. Includes Q & A at the end and personal testimony from Fr. Alex, as well as prayer to receive Jesus.
Suggested Discipleship Work For the Week
- If you prayed a prayer in your heart to Jesus when Fr. Alex invited us to accept His gift, to make Him Lord of our life, to go deeper with Him, or to just show us who He is, spend some time in a follow up conversation with Jesus today.
- Ask Him to speak back to you.
- Journal what you think you hear
- Remember hearing from God is simpler than we may think -- we were designed to hear God's voice and He loves to talk to His children). We'll have more on this later, in our next 5 weeks on Prayer (all of October). For now, do your best to engage in a back and forth convo with God for at least 10 minutes daily. Setting a timer and challenging yourself to full focus in for a set time can be very helpful!
- Fr. Alex suggested reading through an entire Gospel. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. Perhaps read it in one sitting (he said it took him four hours), or perhaps try to do it by next week -- read 2-3 chapters a day and you will be done by next week (it's only 16 chapters).
- As you read, engage the Holy Spirit in conversation about what you are reading, ask Him questions that come up for you and press-in to hear an answer.
- Ask Jesus to give you wisdom and revelation -- to see and hear what His truth is, and how He wants you to apply it to your own life.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to help you realize the behind the scenes feelings and details in each story that the author of the Gospel didn't have time to record and flesh out.
- *Remember, all the people Jesus encountered, and Jesus Himself (fully God AND fully man) were/are real people with real emotions, mannerisms, back-stories and the same God-shaped holes in their hearts longing for fulfillment and love.
- Let the stories come alive as you engage in the prayer practice that engages Scripture with our Holy Spirit led imagination, lectio divina (divine reading) --more on this one in October as well!
- Ask the Holy Spirit to help you realize the behind the scenes feelings and details in each story that the author of the Gospel didn't have time to record and flesh out.