Lesson 4-B: Receive the Life and Power of Christ
Purpose: to show the disciple how to grow spiritually and to encourage him to seek maturity in Christ
Objectives:
1. to show that the Christian life is a growth process
2. to show how reading the Bible and praying are important for growth
3. to define the sovereignty of God and show how it relates to the growth process
Introduction: As we saw the last time we got together, a Christian
can walk by the Spirit by looking to God in faith
to empower him. But what are some of the other means that God has made
available to us to help us to grow and
what does God Himself do? This is what we are going to discuss today.
Read Romans 8:29
Q. What is God's goal for our lives?
A. That we become like Christ.
God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us mature so that we will become like Christ.
Q. What are some
of the other means available to help us maintain our spiritual walk and
grow to
maturity?
A. [Let them answer.]
Read 2 Timothy 3:16, 17
Q. What help is the Word of God to our walk with God?
A. It teaches
us God's will, points out our wrong actions, trains us to live righteously,
and equips us for
every good work.
Q. How is the Word of God important in helping us walk in the Spirit?
A. The Word of
God is inspired by the Spirit; it teaches us how to be empowered by the
Spirit and
what the Spirit
desires to do in our lives.
Read 1 Peter 2:2
Q. What should be our attitude toward the Word of God?
A. We should long for it like a newborn babe longs for milk.
Q. What is the result of spending time learning from God's Word?
A. We will grow
spiritually from feeding on God's Word - just as a baby grows physically
and in every
other way from
feeding on milk.
Read Matthew 6:6-13
Q. Here Jesus assumes His disciples will pray. He says, "When you pray..." (v. 6. What is prayer?
A. Communication with God.
Q. What are some things this passage tells us about prayer?
A. [Let them answer and interact on their answers.]
Prayer, then, is not only a way to ask God
to empower us, but there are many other things to pray about as well and
trust Him for.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Q. In this verse
we can see that we do not automatically follow the Spirit of God. How do
you think
we quench the
spirit?
A. One way is
to ac tively rebel against God by deliberately doing something which we
know is wrong.
The other is
to drift away from God through passive indifference by simply not spending
anytime with
Him in His Word
or in prayer.
Q. The Christian
life is a relationship with the living God, not a set of rules. Therefore,
it has to be
maintained as
a relationship is maintained. How do you build a relationship with someone?
A. By spending time with that person.
Q. How does a person spend time with God?
A. By spending
time in His Word (a personal letter to His people) and prayer. [Tell them
we will deal
with this more
later in Pursuing Christ Daily, because it is so important.]
Q. Have you been spending regular time with God?
A. [Let them
answer. If they haven't or if they have been inconsistent, ask them what
they could do to
improve. Would
they like you to help them learn how to spend time with God?]
Q. How is it
affecting your life? [Skip this question if they answered no to the last
question, OR share
how spending
time with God has affected your life.]
So far we have talked about what we can do to maintain a healthy walk with God.
Read Philippians 1:6
Q. What can we expect God to do about our continued growth toward Christlikeness?
A. God had committed Himself to bringing to perfection the good work He has begun in us.
Q. What are some
of the things that we have talked about that God does to bring this to
pass in our
lives?
A. He has given
us the Holy Spirit to empower us (Psalms 32:4, 5); He convicts us of sin
through the
Holy Spirit
(John 16:8); He has given us a means to communicate with Him through prayer;
and He
communicates
with us through His Word.
God also has ways of putting pressure on us when we get away from the right path (or stop walking in the Spirit).
Read Hebrew 12:7-11
Q. What is one thing that God does to keep us on the right path?
A. He disciplines us.
Q. No one enjoys
discipline, but the results are worth the price. What is the result of
God's discipline?
(v. 11)
A. Righteousness or right living.
Q. What does this discipline teach us about our relationship with God?
A. That we are truly His sons and daughters and that He truly loves us.
Q. Have you ever
felt that God was "disciplining" you? How did you react? What did you learn?
[It
would be helpful
to share your own experience here.]
God not only puts pressure on us when we
get away from right path, but He also brings other kinds of experiences
into our life.
Read James 1:2-4
Q. What does this passage say that God allows in our life?
A. Various trials
Q. What is your attitude to be toward trials?
A. Joy.
Q. Why?
A. They strengthen
our faith, teach us perseverance, and bring about maturity in our lives.
[Once again
it would be
good to share an example of this from your life.]
Read Romans 8:28
Q. What is another reason to be joyful about our trials?
A. Because God uses all events, even difficulties, to work for our good.
God is more concerned about developing our
character than providing for our comfort. There is no event of our lives
that He does not allow for a purpose. This
indicates two things about God's character. First is the sovereignty of
God. God is in control of all the events
of the world. The second is the providence of God; that is, He providentially
allows events to affect us for our own
good.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Q. What does this verse tell us to do even in trials?
A. Give thanks to God.
Q. Why can we give thanks for everything?
A. Because every circumstance we find ourselves in is from God and in His will.
In this study we have seen that both we
and God play a part in our growth toward Chris tlikeness. On the one hand,
we need to spend time learning God's Word
and building our relationship with Him through prayer. If we don't, our
growth in Christ will be stifled. On the
other hand, like a potter molding a lump of clay, God continues to put
pressure
on us, to shape us into the image of His
Son even when we are rebellious or indifferent.
Assignment: Read Psalm 119 and list the value of God's Word to you.