It’s no secret that the body of Christ is divided today. There are all manner of sects, churches and ministries to fit any particular tribe, taste or temperament that exists. There are even entire ministries dedicated to specific topics and categories. Personally I think that there should only be one category: Christ and His Finished Work – and from that, everything else will flow and every problem solved. Now, not surprisingly, when I mention this, some people get put-off and offended… they think that it is narrow-minded to say that the finished work of Christ can solve every problem, and when they tell me that, I typically respond by telling them that they have a very limited view of what He accomplished.
Sometimes that statement makes them curious and they want to know more; and sometimes it offends them even deeper – especially if they have been a believer for many years. Yet regardless of how long someone has been a believer, that doesn’t change the fact that there are countless people who have not been properly shown what the finished work of Christ actually accomplished, and so they have a dim view of what Jesus has really done for them.
The phrase “Jesus Loves You” is powerful. Never has there been three simple words that have the ability to break bondages and transform lives like this one phrase. I have been in situations where this one simple phrase has totally delivered people, broken down emotional walls and set captive hearts free. And I have also been in situations where the phrase has been mocked, snickered at and downplayed to be less than what it is. The sad reality is that much of the latter, has actually happened by church-goers.
In many Christian-circles, we have reduced the powerful phrase “Jesus Loves You”, and we see it is something less, because our own vision and understanding of it has been lessened. I have talked to believers who respond to the phrase “Jesus Loves You”, with a “Yeah but...” – I know He loves me, but I still need more, kind of mentality. We fail to see the vastness of His love, and all that it includes. Today we will be looking at the wonder and majesty that is the love of God, demonstrated in Jesus Christ, and by seeing the truth, we can receive it for all that it is.
As believers, when we hear the phrase “stronghold” most of us think of demons, evil powers and maybe even demonic possession. The term stronghold has come to be used in our language as an almost blanket term for the things I just mentioned, and many times people use the word almost as a default for when they cannot label a bondage to be something else. This practice has led to a lot of confusion, frustration and even fear over the years as people begin wondering if they have a stronghold, and if so, are they demon possessed, or oppressed.
I have actually had people ask me flat-out if they had a demon (either through possession or oppression). The very fact that they would ask such a question, is an indicator that these subjects are not being talked about or clearly taught well enough. So today we will be studying the topic of strongholds, to see what the Bible actually says about them, and how to be free from them through Jesus Christ.
Sometime in the past you have probably heard the famous advice that everyone likes to give: “Just be yourself!”. This advice is usually given when someone is nervous or apprehensive about meeting new people or standing before a crowd. Just relax! Be yourself! This phrase also implies the negative, don’t be someone or something that you are not. Stay true to the truth.
Spiritually speaking, this advice is very Biblical… both regarding ourselves personally and in judging others, in both cases we should always stay in the truth and be ourselves. This has some surprising benefits for us as believers, and a vast majority of Christians today do not even realize that this advice is in their Bible. So we will be taking a look at this today, and seeing the glorious benefits of being ourselves in Christ.
You may have heard it said before that Christianity is different than all the religions of the world. It is a true statement, but do you know why it is true? One of the ways that Christianity is fundamentally different is that in all the religions of the world, man is reaching for God; either through good works, or other forms of self-effort in an attempt to attain an elevated status.
This is not so with Christianity. Now unfortunately, Christianity (and the message of Jesus Christ) has been vastly misrepresented by pastors and leaders who have twisted the message into one of self-effort and works, but this is not the message that God originally gave. So today we will be exploring how in reality, it is not man that reaches for God, but how He actually reaches for us, and as we see this, it will not only strengthen our faith, but draw us closer to Him as well.
What are you afraid of? Fear can be one of the most debilitating forces in our lives. Fear can cause a person to never venture out into the world, to stay at home, to avoid others, and to miss many great and wonderful opportunities. Fear can also cause us to miss many blessings from God, including salvation if we are too afraid of God to come to Him.
So in this study today, we are going to take a look at how Jesus frees us from fear, and how as we truly listen to His Words, the bondage of fear is broken in our lives.
There are many forces in this world that put themselves in a place of leadership. Men desire to lead other men; simply turn on the television and you will see countless people all eager to give their opinion and advice on all kinds of things, setting themselves up in positions of leadership. We in moments of pride, desire to lead ourselves, and of course Satan has always desired leadership as well.
However, when we follow these leaders, or ourselves, where do we end up? The Bible says in 2nd Peter that those who follow other things and people are led into sin and darkness. However there is One Good Shepherd; One who does not lead astray, but leads into true rest and freedom from all bondage and oppression. This is what we will be studying today. Following the Good Shepherd into Righteousness.
We live in a world that is constantly tearing us down and attacking us from every angle. News broadcasts tend to attack our hope by displaying the very worst of the day, while songs on the radio tend to sing about depression, loneliness and hatred. Movies and television shows usually sensationalize godlessness and sex... and we accept it in the name of “entertainment”.
So after all of this tearing down and attacking every day, it's no surprise that people are looking for satisfaction, for love, and usually turning to less than perfect sources that can be found in the world; settling for whatever they can get. Yet it may surprise you to learn that the Bible has a simple and effective, method for receiving more of the love of God into our lives, and strengthening us against the attacks of the world and the enemy (yes the love of God connected with strengthening). This is what we will be studying today.
In the past weeks we have seen how Jesus brings success in every area of life when He is the central focus. Today we will be studying in greater detail exactly how to do this, because there is still some confusion about it. Not reducing Jesus to a formula or a set of rules, not at all, but the scriptures are quite detailed in describing how Jesus is to be applied to our lives – and the very reason such things are described is for our benefit, because God loves us and He actually wants us to receive His provision for us.
If you have been needing the provision of Jesus in a specific area of your life, this study is going to benefit you today.
Wisdom. It's a fairly common word, we often say that this person is wise or that person has great wisdom. But what exactly is wisdom? Specifically when it comes to the Biblical wisdom of God, many people confuse wisdom with trivia, they equate wisdom with merely knowing facts about God or having head-knowledge.
So today we will be studying about the wisdom of God, specifically what it is, how to apply it and how it benefits us in our daily life. I believe that at the end of us study, perceptions of God will be increased and chains will be broken as a result.