On a very full AfterWord, we discuss what it has looked like to to create space to hear from God. 

What does space look like for each of us? How have we seen the Spirit work in that? Are there moments we've experienced God in unexpected ways, and how can we discern that those moments are really from the Spirit? 

Now that we know the aim of spiritual formation and how our love for God is able to grow, a question that likely has been developing is this:  What is our own role in spiritual formation? 

This week, that question is answered by examining how we receive God's revelation of Himself and how we hear the Spirit.

This week, we discuss our response to God's love for us and the ways we are shaped by the objects of our love.  

Discussion questions: 
- What are things we love, and how do they shape us? 
- Is our own love for God ALWAYS a response to His love for us? 
- Since God is the one that reveals His glory to us, are there things that we do that keep us from seeing and responding to his glory? 

Last week, we covered the aim of spiritual formation and how our love for God influences how we live. 

That leads us to a new question: How does our love for God grow? This question is answered by defining what love for God really means and considering how this love shapes us. 

When you think back on your life, what has spiritual formation looked like for you? Has the key emphasis been a growing love for God? What are some pitfalls we can face when we view love for God as the main goal of spiritual formation? We examine these questions and more on this week's Afterword. 

Please bear with Vince's hosting skills. It gets better. 

The term "spiritual formation" is often defined in different ways by different people. 

As we enter into a short series on spiritual formation, two pivotal questions are examined: What is the true aim of spiritual formation? How does that connect to the way we live? 

Our series through Advent has made it clear that God chooses the lowly and imperfect to accomplish His purposes. As we conclude the Advent season, we celebrate the coming of Jesus, who is enough.

Brock joins us this week as we reflect on Sunday's sermon.  

• How does the fulfillment of prophesy we've seen throughout Advent increase our own certainty in the validity of Scripture? 
• Are there times we've wrestled with the reliability of the Bible? 

The visit of the wise men is an important story in the Christmas narrative, especially as we consider how these Gentile men even knew about this prophesied Jewish Messiah.

From Genesis to Revelation, God has declared that the gospel will reach every nation. God's heart for the whole world is why we, like the Magi, get to know Christ and worship Him as our Lord. 

As we look at Christ's birth, it is evident that God was clearly at work in each piece of this story. From fulfillment of prophecy to the details given to the shepherds, none of this happened by chance.

In our conversation today, we address some other questions this story brings up: 

• How have we seen God clearly orchestrating events in our own lives?
• Is there any relevance to the angel appearing to the shepherds?
• Especially for those who've grown up in the church, the familiarity of the Christmas story can often make us numb to the beauty of it. Do we have any practices in place that have helped us push against this?