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    Intentionality for Christ: What’S My Aim?
    Intentionality for Christ: What’S My Aim?
    Intentionality for Christ: What’S My Aim?
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Intentionality for Christ: What’S My Aim?

    By Robert Davis Smart

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    About this ebook

    There is nothing better than a Christian secure in their identity in Christ and grounded in their calling to Christ. This third season of spiritual formation is about aim. It is the season of midlife where Christians can slay the warlords of waste with Gospel intentionality in order to make their greatest contribution to the kingdom of Christ. In this book, Dr. Bob Smart helps those in midlife discover their God-given aim for Christ so that their last season of spiritual formation is a rich legacy from Christ.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateApr 3, 2017
    ISBN9781512782059
    Intentionality for Christ: What’S My Aim?

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      Book preview

      Intentionality for Christ - Robert Davis Smart

      Copyright © 2017 Robert Davis Smart.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1 (866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, USA. All rights reserved. ESV® Text Edition: 2016

      Interior Graphics/Art Credit: Krista Kuniyoshi

      ISBN: 978-1-5127-8206-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-5127-8207-3 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-5127-8205-9 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2017904812

      WestBow Press rev. date: 4/3/2017

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Foreword

      Introduction: Intentionality for Christ in the Four Seasons of Spiritual Formation

      Chapter 1: Coming to Grips with Gospel Intentionality at Midlife

      Chapter 2: The Warlords of Waste in the Battle for the Affections

      Chapter 3: Gospel Transformation at Midlife: Repentance, Healing, and Faith

      Chapter 4: The Convergence of Experience and Grace

      Chapter 5: This One Thing I Do

      Conclusion: What is the Next Season of Spiritual Formation?

      Bibliography

      Appendix: Seasons One and Two Templates

      Acknowledgments

      My deep thanks to Christ Church staff and members involved in the last twenty years of spiritual formation classes for sharing your precious sense of intentionality for Christ from the heart. I have so much gratitude for my wife, Karen, who has helped me take aim in my calling as a husband, father, and grandfather, especially as a partner in the pastorate.

      I am particularly grateful for my elders for tithing me five Sundays to invest in seminary teaching overseas since 2008. Dave and Cathy Bowman have helped me with intentionality in ministry by example and with counsel over the years. Finally, this and many projects could not be possible without the constant encouragement from Gary and Farole Haluska.

      Foreword

      The concern of the series on spiritual formation lies at the heart of the gospel. The gospel invites humans to draw near to God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. This revelation is the revelation of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He who was, is, is to come, and ever will be invites human beings to connect with him, to see his glory and reflect it, and to partner with him as members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church Father, Irenaeus (ca. 175), wrote, For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. (AH IV.20.7) The gospel truly opens human beings to a vision of God in Jesus Christ. It transforms a person’s orientation from religion, which is man-centered, to revelation, which is God-centered.

      Dr. Smart develops the process of this gradual reorientation as Four Seasons of the Christian life: Identity in Christ, Calling to Christ, Intentionality for Christ, and Legacy from Christ. The danger lurks continuously for Christian men and women to enjoy the spiritual benefits of the gospel without a true transformation. We often and easily deceive ourselves into acting and speaking as followers of Jesus Christ, while clinging to our old identity in Adam. The apostle Paul spoke of an inner battle that often leads to the negative observation: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24) The lessons on spiritual formation open a greater awareness of an inner struggle that grows in intensity as we become more mature in the faith. It is not until we see the fullness of Jesus Christ that we grow in intentionality and maturity, as John R. W. Stott observes:

      It is when people see Christ in his fullness that their faith, obedience and worship are stimulated and so they become mature. It is the Word of God, confirmed and enforced by the Spirit of God, which effectively matures and sanctifies the people of God. ¹

      During the many years of midlife we see more clearly our identity in Christ and find our calling to Christ. In the intervening years, we learn to decenter our lives and passions. A new intentionality is borne. It is a time of internalization and evaluation, because so much of life turns out to be empty in comparison with the fullness that Christ offers. We find renewal by intensely looking at the things above of which Paul writes, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-2). We experience the glorious transformation and purification by the inner renewal of our soiled lives.Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:9). We also find Scripture becomes more precious as we spend more time reflecting on the Word of God, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).

      The German pastor-scholar Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life by resisting the Nazi regime in 1945, observed so well on Christian intentionality. Eric Metaxas recounts in a recent biography on Bonhoeffer,

      [Bonhoeffer] dismissed the standard responses to what they were up against and showed why each would fail. Who stands fast? he asked. Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God—the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.²

      I close on a personal note. Over the last ten years my wife, Evona, and I have come to know Pastor Bob and have appreciated his ministry in and the fellowship of the Christ Church community in Normal, Illinois. I have witnessed his passion for spiritual transformation. It is grounded in the Word and flourishes in individuals and in the community. I thank the Lord for his fruitful ministry.

      —Willem A.

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