{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Bible Lessons from Jeff Gulleson","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.jeffgulleson.com\/bible-studies","author_name":"Jeff Gulleson","author_url":"https:\/\/www.jeffgulleson.com\/bible-studies\/author\/jgulleson\/","title":"EVANGELICAL SPIRITUALITY - 01 - Bible Lessons from Jeff Gulleson","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"JJqrBPYksZ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffgulleson.com\/bible-studies\/the-christian-mystic\/evangelical-spirituality-01\/\">EVANGELICAL SPIRITUALITY &#8211; 01<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jeffgulleson.com\/bible-studies\/the-christian-mystic\/evangelical-spirituality-01\/embed\/#?secret=JJqrBPYksZ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;EVANGELICAL SPIRITUALITY &#8211; 01&#8221; &#8212; Bible Lessons from Jeff Gulleson\" data-secret=\"JJqrBPYksZ\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n<\/script>\n","description":"EVANGELICAL SPIRITUALITY &#8211; # 01\u00a0 INTRODUCTION: \u00a0The overall term describing what we will be looking at in the weeks ahead is \u201cEvangelical Spirituality.\u201d \u00a0QUESTION: What would be your definition of \u201cEvangelical\u00a0Spirituality?\u201d What do you think this term might mean? \u00a0The key to \u201cEvangelical Spirituality\u201d is maintaining what Christians have called \u201cQuiet Time\u201d or \u201cPersonal Devotions.\u201d\u00a0 QUESTION: Describe what you feel \u201cPersonal Devotions\u201d looks like? If someone said that they had a \u201cQuiet Time\u201d or \u201cPersonal Devotions\u201d what did they do?\u00a0 \u201cPersonal Devotions\u201d is the key to \u201cSpiritual Formation.\u201d\u00a0 QUESTION: If someone asked you to explain \u201cSpiritual Formation,\u201d\u00a0what would you say?\u00a0 Answer: Could be described as \u201cChristian Growth,\u201d \u201cGrowing in Christ,\u201d or \u201cBecoming a Godly Person.\u201d\u00a0 Evangelical Spirituality sought via Personal Devotions will not produce Biblical Spiritual Formation apart from \u201cChristian mysticism.\u201d\u00a0 QUESTION: What do you think the term \u201cChristian mysticism\u201d or \u201cChristian mystic\u201d means?\u00a0 Answer: \u201cA [Christian] mystic is one who experiences God in trans-rational and non-empirical ways. This kind of transcendent intimacy with God is what is involved in being \u2018born again\u201d and in \u2018getting to know Jesus\u2019\u201d (The God of Intimacy and Action, Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling).\u00a0 \u201cTrans-rational\u201d \u2013 Going beyond or surpassing human reason or what is rational. \u201cEmpirical\u201d \u2013 Truth based on observations or experience, capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment. Based on testing or experience. (Her theory had not yet been tested empirically. A rock will sink in water. You take a rock, put it in water, and if you see it sink you have empirical proof.) \u201cTranscendent\u201d \u2013 Beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience.\u00a0 \u201cThe heart has its reasons, which reason does not know . . . . \u201c (Blaise Pascal).\u00a0 QUESTION: What do you see in this verse that indicates that Paul and\u00a0the early Christians were \u201cmystics\u201d?\u00a0 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor. 2:12-14).\u00a0 QUESTION: What truths might we mine from this text that would prove that Paul and the early Christians were \u201cChristian mystics?\u201d\u00a0 1. Apart from the Holy Spirit teaching us a Christian cannot understand spiritual truth. 2. What God the Spirit teaches us is beyond human wisdom. 3. The Holy Spirit gives some, not all, people understanding of spiritual truth.\u00a0 ILLUSTRATION: Without Spirit teaching us it is as if we were deaf. If 99 of 100 people in a room were deaf, only one would hear the intercom. So apart from God\u2019s Spirit teaching us, we will not hear from God.\u00a0 QUESTION: Can you think of other [&hellip;]"}