In this study of angels, the Word of God will be our only textbook.
Our only purpose will be to find what God is saying to us about the angelic world and what He is teaching us through them.
We will look at these important questions:
Where did angels come from?
How are they organized?
What do they look like?
What do they do all day?
and What is the angel of the Lord?
Once we are saved, how do we know that we cannot fall from His grace?
How can we feel secure in our salvation even though we continue to sin?
This is a subject on which the Word of God is very clear. Your ability to remain saved has nothing whatsoever to do with either your worth or your works, but everything to do with the power of God.
For you or I to be lost once the blood of Christ has saved us, God must either change His mind, nullify His Word, disregard His Son and snatch back His gift; or someone or something in this universe would have to be stronger than He is.
As you read this lesson, you will be comforted in knowing “no man can pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
It is the will of God to know whether or not we are Christians. If you are having trouble with being assured of your salvation, this lesson will give you both an understanding of what it means to be saved, and the confidence of knowing that once you are saved, it is for all of eternity.
Belief in God is not a matter of feelings, but a matter of the will. Once we have made the decision to follow Christ, there are several ways the Scripture gives us to assure us of the life of Christ indwelling in us.
On the other side – that’s where we are so much of the time when people are hurting.
We see them – or do we? We hear them – or do we? We have all kinds of theological gems to toss their way, or to toss out behind their backs.
It’s costly to get involved and to cross over to their side of the road. Let’s take another look at the Good Samaritan and see what it means to cross over to the side of the hurting.
If we are going to look at the Church’s role in meeting the needs of hurting people, we simply cannot complete our task without looking at one of the most overlooked essentials in the Christian experience: The matter of right relationships.
We have to begin by asking ourselves, “What is a friend?” and what does God mean when He says “Now you are my friend.”
If we are to be the kind of friend to others that God is to us, what must we do?
Let’s look at our call to friendship.
The most famous passage on love in the Scriptures is 1 Corinthians 13. We are going to take a look at that passage of Scripture and see how love works practically in the life of the believer.
We can’t study it in detail, but we need to pause long enough to examine the key points. The very definition of love means that if it is not demonstrated, it is not real. If we don’t give ourselves away in work, talking about love is not love.
Giving yourself away is love.
What is love? It is perhaps one of the most misused words in our language.
In this lesson we need to establish a definition of love as used in Scripture. Love is an active process of giving oneself away without regard to personal cost.
It doesn’t stop to determine whether or not the person is worthy of that love, and it doesn’t wait to see if the person appreciates that love, it simply gives itself away.
How do we do that? This lesson will give us a few suggestions.
This lesson is designed for those of us who simply do not know how to stop talking long enough to listen.
Those of us who never stop thinking of ourselves long enough to listen, those of us who never stop wanting to be the center of attention long enough to listen, those of us who never hush long enough to hear, or care long enough to respond.
The Bible has a lot to say about hearing problems. It addresses both the negative and the positive side. The first step in meeting the needs of a hurting world is to stop long enough to hear them.
In our last lesson, we asked ourselves ten questions concerning the handicapped. In this lesson, we are going to do three things. We are going to turn those questions into precepts; we are going to take the stethoscope of life and try to measure the heartbeat of some men and women who do understand how the handicapped feel; and lastly, we are going to make a list of some practical things that we, as individuals, and that churches as bodies of believers can do to be God’s men and women in a world of hurting and handicapped people.
This study is about the people the world calls “handicapped” – people God calls “blessed”.
These are the people that Jesus took the time to minister to and love. This study challenges us with ten questions to ask ourselves concerning how we view those who are afflicted or handicapped.
These ten questions engraved on the Living Word will give us at least a glimpse of the mind of God where the crippled and handicapped are concerned.
This lesson is about “Late-life Leprosy”. It is about the elderly of our day, who simply because they are old, have often been separated, treated as untouchable, devoid of love and respect.
As a result, they live out the last of their days like lepers; lonely, hopeless, and without self-esteem. This is not the Biblical perspective of old-age. In God’s eyes the usefulness of man grows greater the older he gets – the more valuable he becomes to the Kingdom.
The Scriptures address the issue of age clearly. It addresses the reality of old age; it issues promises to the aged who follow God’s plan; and it issues priorities to the aged so that they understand their role in the scheme of things.
What is the Christian’s responsibility to the aged? God evidently foresaw the problem and He lovingly wove into the Scriptures passages to warn us of the consequences of not taking care of the aged.
Hurting hearts in hurting homes is the subject of this lesson. We will be spending much time in Genesis, chapters 1-3, because to get to the root of hurting marriages, we must go back to the beginning of marriage itself.
What are the principles established in marriage, and how does Satan try to twist these principles?
Today, in the aftermath of generations of defiance of God’s principles, the Church of Jesus Christ is filled with hurting people whose hearts are breaking because the enemy has established a foothold.
What can we do? Find out as you study this lesson.
In this lesson we will look at a particular part of the Body that God cares a great deal about – children, in particular hurting children.
God intends for us to seriously consider the way we deal with children on a day to day basis, and the way we minister to them as a Church.
We will look at six ways that God views children. In light of how God views children, we will also look at how we should treat the children we come in contact with, and especially how every church ought to view their role in ministering to children.
As we look at the familiar portion of Scripture that deals with the death of Lazarus, we see Jesus as our model of sensitivity in the midst of grief.
Jesus’ spirit was deeply troubled at the death of Lazarus, but He did not move until God’s timing was perfect. He knew Lazarus was about to be raised again, but His heart was grieved that those He loved were hurting.
We are given the challenge to display the mind and heart of Christ, Who met the needs of those placed in his path with compassion.
This is the first in a series of messages about sensitizing the Church to minister to those who are hurting.
In future lessons, we will look at ministering to those who are grieving and lonely, those children crying out to be themselves in a cookie-cutter world, crumbling marriages, the life of the elderly and dying, and those people the world considers “different”.
We will look to see the balance in a Church which calls on men to repent and believe, but also goes out to a hurting, dying, grieving world and demonstrates the heart of Christ.
The New Testament church was not characterized by programs, but by power. It was that amazing thing called grace that enabled a band of nobodys – who had nothing but God – to turn their world upside down.
Only God could change the world, and if He were to use the likes of them, it would only be by grace.
He calls, He enables, and He it is that is to receive the glory.
Although the devil would try to convince us that we have succeeded in accomplishing great things for God, don’t be fooled. It is not I, but Christ in me.
We believe that God’s grace is sufficient for salvation, but we often fail to believe that the same grace can deliver us from the same bondage to the same enemy who once held us captive.
We need to take a fresh look at God’s indwelling grace.
Are you still chafing under the guilt of sins long since forgiven?
Are you using God’s grace to resist the devil in a time of temptation?
There is always a way of escape – through grace.
Grace in adversity. We have all experienced it or will experience it as Christians.
Will God take circumstances away? Not necessarily. Sometimes grace is the ability to endure without defeats of self-pity or bitterness. It could be a calmness that comes over our souls as the storms intensify.
One thing we know is that God’s grace is sufficient. What is the purpose behind granting grace through adversity? It radiates the nature of God to a world that is searching for answers.
See how God’s grace is sufficient for your life.
Grace: It is God’s power implanted in a human body for divine purposes.
It is alive in you and me – doing what we cannot do, being what we cannot be.
How can we grow in grace?
How can we live in the freedom of God’s grace?
Like growing up physically, it requires nourishment, exercise and certain experiences that require us to make decisions and live by the results of those decisions.
We cannot, but He can – totally by His grace.
Amazing Grace – what is it all about?
We talk a lot about grace, but do we actually understand it.
How do we become recipients of God’s grace?
What are the four elements that must be remembered for grace to be grace?
What are the four enemies of grace?
For the next several lessons we will look at the grace life and see how it functions.