<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Absolutely exhausted from my week of late nights, I am about to wake up my sleeping wife (I lose her often) and go to bed. In the mean time...<div><br></div><div><b>What happened Friday</b></div><div>I'll share some info with you guys that were not able to be there this past Friday. First of all, you missed a good one. However, if you have trouble with tension or conflict, you might be glad you weren't there. In the end, I think it was good. I don't think we we left until 11:30, but I think God gave us some good opportunities (remember?) to bring him Glory.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Songbooks</b></div><div>Jill put together some great songbooks, so we are committed to singing together every week. I am excited to get to sing some hymns that I have missed. Let me know songs that you would like included. Beware, I may ask you to give a little theological reflection where by H.S. might tune our hearts as we sing. </div><div><br></div><div><b>New Study</b></div><div>We started our study of Holy Spirit, you know, the third person of the Trinity. We began by listing some questions that we might like addressed in the coming weeks. I'd encourage you to send me questions in addition to these if you were there or just thought of a new one. I can't promise we will satisfactorily answer them all, but at least we can be on the alert for biblical data. I'd like to keep our discussion focused on this very thing. It is easy to let either emotions or reason take us off track in any study. I think this topic may be especially sensitive to these temptations. Consider it your job to keep us grounded in the Word.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Children and Catechism</b></div><div>We talked about a new way to engage the children in the group. We will alternate the responsibilities of presenting one question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism each week and sing a song to help us all memorize it. This could help us all maintain a balanced skeleton of the teachings of scripture in topical form.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Retreat Date</b></div><div>Finally, we discussed a date for the retreat and all agreed that <i>Sept 25</i> was the perfect date for the retreat. Just kidding. We need to pick a date. I have just seen a few dates on the calendar, so I'm assuming I can just propose a date. How about Sept <i>25th</i>? It will start with dinner on Friday and end sometime Sunday afternoon. We have gone with a format that will create the least barriers in that we will be doing it at houses in town. Please participate in the date selection process so that I can enjoy you being there. Sorry, I'm selfish. The focus of the weekend will be relationship building and vision development. We need develop a clearer vision of how we fit into God's kingdom so we can be faithful servants to our savior and victor Jesus Christ.</div><div><br></div><div><b>H.S. Question List:</b></div><ul class="MailOutline"><li>How do we explain HS to others?</li><li>What are the attributes of HS, and how do they differ from those of the other members of the Trinity?</li><li>How does HS speak to us?</li><li>How do we know if something is of HS?</li><li>What does the HS do?</li><li>What are the limits of HS?</li><li>How can we know if we are grieving HS?</li><li>Does HS work in the same way know as in OT times?</li><li>How do we open ourselves up to experience HS?</li><li>When does HS operate?</li><li>When was the first experience of the promise "Helper"?</li><li>Look at historical examples of the workings of HS?</li><li>How does HS operate differently in different people?</li><li>Why does HS do what he does?</li><li>Are all of the gifts of HS in operation today?</li><li>How do we "grow" the fruit of HS?</li></ul><div><br></div><div>Good night!</div><div><br></div><div>P. S. I am trying to refer to the Holy Spirit as if Holy Spirit is his name. This is just a technique to remind us that he is a real person and should be consider as such and not just a "force"</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>