LESSON ONE

Growing a Relationship with God

Aim:
Your picture of God may have become tainted or blurred; if so, pray for greater clarity as you study. You might be wondering how to refresh your devotional life (prayer and Bible study), or you might be pondering other areas that impact your relationship with God.

Prayer -- "Praying that the Holy Spirit will move upon us individually and as a worldwide church to draw us closer to God as never before. For surely there could be nothing more important than having a strong relationship with God."

Lesson One:

REALITY CHECK

Read for This Week?s Study: Rev. 3:14-22; Rev. 4:9-11; Gen. 2:7; Gen. 3:8-10; Jer. 31:3-4; John 15:1-11; Rom. 8:9-11

Memory Text: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love" (John 15:9, NKJV).

The lesson asks us to evaluate our present relationship with God.
It then discusses principles that will draw us closer to God.

To help us evalute ourselves we are pointed to Revelation 3 which contains a letter from God describing the condition of the last day church.

Revelation 3:15-17 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because you are saying, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:



A rather serious picture --
The people in Christ's end time church are:
blind, wretched and miserable.
And worst of all we think we are the opposite, Not knowing our true condition.

But God has the solution!

Revelation 3: 18 - 20
Buy of Christ, gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that you may see....Repent, Christ is knocking upon our hearts door, open your hearts door and invite Jesus into your life!


We have just read the words of Christ to His last church.

How do follow the recommendation He gives?

Lesson One
Reality Check

The first step is recognizing our need.

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten," Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:19. "Therefore be zealous and repent." (NKJV)

The biggest hindrance to growth, according to Revelation 3, is not knowing how much we need Christ, and thinking we are in need of nothing.

"Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life." {SC 23.2}

But how can a person repent if they don't realize their need?

"When the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience will be quickened, and the sinner will discern something of the depth and sacredness of God's holy law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth. The "Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," illumines the secret chambers of the soul, and the hidden things of darkness are made manifest. John 1:9. Conviction takes hold upon the mind and heart. The sinner has a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and feels the terror of appearing, in his own guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. He sees the love of God, the beauty of holiness, the joy of purity; he longs to be cleansed and to be restored to communion with Heaven. {SC 24.2}

The key phrase
"when the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God"

The choice is always ours. The Holy Spirit is actively influencing us, yet the choice to yield or to dismiss the call is ours.

The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before they can respond to the invitation of Christ, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.
Repentance is not something we can generate on our own.

Yet the Bible does urge us to "yield" and to come to Christ, come to the light and the light of Christ will illumine the darkness within us and lead us through repentance, forgiving and cleansing.

"Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one that can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is an evidence that His Spirit is moving upon our hearts. {SC 26.3}

A person can resist and refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if that person will yield, they will be drawn to Jesus; and as they begin to comprehend what Jesus did at the cross in order to rescue them from sin and death, there will be repentance, a turning from sin and a growing love and relationship with Christ.

To him that overcomes I (the true Witness, our Savior, Redeemer) will give.....


Rev. 2:7 To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev. 2:11 He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.
Rev. 2:17 To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives [it].
Rev. 2:26 And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.. I will give him the morning star.
Rev. 3:5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels
Rev. 3:12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Rev. 3:21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Beautiful, wonderful promises!
These are the things Christ wants to give each one of us, but there is obviously a condition.
He that overcomes....

In another letter the same apostle shares the secret of overcoming:

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
5:5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?


In Revelation 3, we also see the solution to our lukewarm, stagnate condition is to
1. Invite Jesus into our hearts and lives (He is knocking at our hearts door, longing to come in)
2. Buy of Him the precious gold of FAITH.

" I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich;"
The gold tried in the fire is faith that works by love. Only this can bring us into harmony with God. We may be active, we may do much work; but without this relationship of faith and love with Christ, we can never be overcomers. This is the victory that overcomes, it is Christ being the center and focus of our lives.

Every one needs a practical experience in trusting God for themselves. Every experience with Christ brings a precious realization of the God's love and care! We will be obtaining and growing in faith and love, which is the gold that the True Witness counsels us to buy of Him. We are learning to go to God in all our troubles and perplexities; and as we learn these precious lessons of faith, we will overcome the world and be drawn ever closer to our Savior and Lord.

Lesson 2

TO KNOW GOD
Read for This Week?s Study:
Genesis 3:1-5, (God's word is true)
Leviticus 20:26, 1 Samuel 2:2, (God is holy)
1 John 4:7-19, (God is Love)
Genesis 1:1, Genesis 2:7, (God is our Creator)
Matthew 1:23, Matthew 28:20. (Immanuel, God is with us, even to the end)

Memory Text:

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NKJV).

How can we know God?
It is only by knowing Jesus. He is God manifested. He reveals God to us.

John 1:18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared God.

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory..

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet you have not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how is it that you say then, Show us the Father?

Many think the God of the old testament is a different God from Jesus in the New Testament. Yet, they are One God. Jesus is God manifested -- manifested means to demonstrate, to show, to reveal.

Jesus was the active member of the Godhead all through the Old Testament.

What does it mean, to know God?

Yes, it is important to know that He is Holy, perfectly holy, no evil or darkness in Him at all.
It is important to know He is our Creator.
It is important to know He wants to save us, and has sacrificed immensely to redeem, cleanse and save us.
It is important to know He is love --
It is important to learn about Him.

But knowing the information about God is not enough. We need to be drawn into a heart to heart relationship with Him. We need to know Him as our personal Friend, Savior, councilor, and loving guide and protector.
Is He part of our life? Do we know His presence in our daily life? Do we talk with Him, listen to Him, walk with Him, fully trust Him and believe Him, and know Him in a personal way?

Lesson 3


Pride Versus Humility

Read for This Week?s Study:

1 John 2:15-17, (Love not the world with it's lusts and pride, it opposes God, and will end someday, but God's will abides forever)

Luke 18:9-14, (Pharisee's proud prayer in contrast with the Publican's prayer in humility)

1 John 1:9, (Confess sins and be forgiven and cleansed)

Heb. 11:24-26, (Moses laying aside the pride of Egypt, esteems Christ as the greatest riches to seek)

Luke 22:24-27, (Disciples are concerned as to which one of them would be greatest in Christ's kingdom, Jesus points them back with a question.... Who is greater...?

Phil. 2:3-8 Having the mind of Christ within us

Memory Text: ?For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted? (Luke 14:11, NKJV).

The lesson asks if there is a positive pride and a negative pride.
We can also ask is there a positive humbleness and a negative humbleness.

The words in themselves can be either positive or negative -- thus we must unpack those words to realize what is meant when we use them.

NEGATIVE PRIDE
There is a pride that lies at the root of sin itself as we see in Lucifer's downfall and which he uses to lead people into sin and ruin. He wanted self to be exalted above God and felt it was his right and place to do so. He felt he was perfectly capable of being his own god.
A pride that exalts self above God's Word, leads to spiritual blindness. When people place their own understanding and abilities over or above God's Word and strength, they become resistant to correction and harden their hearts toward guidance and truth. Self-interest becomes paramount, self expects to be served and honored.

Psalm 10:4 tells us that "In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God." A prideful heart feels no need for God and effectively closes the door to divine wisdom and salvation.

Also:
When a person with pride in their own supposed worth, looks down on others as lesser beings than themselves does not know God. As 1John 4:8.20 says, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ...If someone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he can see, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"


POSTIVE HUMILITY
Scripture presents the opposite of pride as humility. In true humility a person recognizes their dependence on God's power, wisdom and strength, thus leading them moment by moment to seek that divine guidance and strength. Humility is not self focused, it values and helps others, seeing all as people Christ died to save. Humility loves, serves and gives for others.

Philippians 2:3 instructs, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves."

Christ is the ultimate example of true humility in love. Philippians 2:5-7 reveals Christ, Who is equal with God the Father, putting that all aside humbling Himself to the lowest -- even the death on the cross, to save humanity.

Humility, according to scripture, is a conscious, ongoing choice to seek God's will, and to submit to Him, living one's life always in connection and dependence on Christ, and to seek to uplift others.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The Bible presents pride as a negative and humility as a positive --so can there be
"POSITIVE PRIDE AND NEGATIVE HUMILITY"?

True humility puts God first and foremost and others ahead of self. But when humility loses sight of God it becomes negative humility.
When a person is feeling worthless, beating themselves up, and showing no confidence, simply letting everyone walk over them, not standing for anything. That is negative humility, not Biblical humility. Being apologetic in everything and fearful of what people think of us; doing things to please everyone mainly to get their approval, and letting that control us, is not biblical humility. It is worrying about self, not focusing on Christ.
The other side of negative humility is when humility is turned into pride -- neglecting ourselves in a show to prove how humble we are, again it's drawing the attention to self with our strange show of humility.

In both these cases a positive pride is needed, not in any selfish way, but in sensing from whence our true worth comes. Our worth is in Christ! He paid a huge price to save us. We are precious in His sight. We are to "glory in the cross". This should lift our confidence (always in Him not ourselves) so we can have a courageous boldness to stand tall in honor of Him. We can walk and relate to others with confidence because Christ is with us. He is our Savior and example.

Yes, the Bible stresses the importance to humble ourselves before God, to follow and depend upon Him. It's all about our connection with God in humble trust. When we surrender our lives to Him, following Him, we can know that God is always with us giving us the courage to face life's challenges head-on. He has promised to be with us, thus we can trust with full confidence in His support and guidance. We draw strength from His promises, dissolving our doubts and fears. Only then can we can share our faith and love with others with a conviction, and true humility, that draws others to Christ.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

LESSON FOUR

The Role of the Bible

Read these verses in the Bible for This Week?s Study:
Lamentations 3:22-23; -- we read that the LORD'S mercies and compassions, are consistent and new every morning --
2 Timothy 3:15-17; -- Scriptures make us wise -- they are given by inspiration
John 17:17; -- God's Word is sanctifying truth
Ephesians 1:13; -- it's the Word of truth, the gospel of salvation
Psalms 119:11; -- the Word, hidden in our hearts, keeps us from sin
1 Corinthians 2:14. -- we need the Holy Spirit to spiritually discern and understand God's truth.

Memory Text:

?For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart? (Hebrews 4:12, NJKV).


Our society has drifted into a relativism that no longer rests on any standard of truth. All foundations of truth have been eroded.
We have been told that:
-- there is no single belief system, no one has the right to claim something as absolute truth.
-- that moral values evolve with culture, and what was considered moral at one time, doesn't mean it has to be held as moral at this time.
--Tolerance, and personal freedom outweigh objective standards.

At first glance, cultural relativism may sound open-minded, even loving.
But basically it is rejecting God's authority. When everything becomes relative, nothing remains sacred, and nothing is regarded as real truth. It promotes the idea that "my truth" is all the matters, not God's truth. In fact there is a movement that would like to relegate the Bible into censored "hate literature", because it warns against following destructive practices.

Is the Bible against "love"?
No! God is Love, and the Bible (with guidance by the Holy Spirit) teaches us about true love, God's love, in His Word.
The Bible defines love and sets boundaries for it (1 Corinthians 13)
The world's relativism will only lead to confusion. God's Word is eternal truth!
It's the only map to true happiness and love for God and for one another.

Without the Bible, our knowledge and understanding of God and His eternal truth would be very limited.
The Bible reveals the nature and character of God.
The Bible points us to Jesus and His saving power.
It tells us about the ultimate love in Christ's character revealed in sacrificial love.
The Bible not only tells us right and wrong, but it is the living Word, with power to transform.
The Bible is our spiritual nourishment. Just like we need physical food to grow and survive, so we need God's Word for spiritual growth and survival.
The Bible connects us to God, the source of life.

In this world of relativism and confusion, God's Word is an anchor.
A lamp unto our feet, and a light to our path.
The Role of the Bible is extremely important in navigating in this world of increasing confusion.
It's Words should be our daily meditation and study.

Whether or not the Bible becomes our compass, the lens through which we view the world and choose to live by it's guidance and truth, depends on "the state of our hearts". Where is our heart, Who has our heart?

In 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 it speaks of "the spirit of man".
Our spirit, which is our inner feelings, motives, thoughts and desires is often defined as "the heart".

2:11 For what does the (natural) man know? Just the things of a man, just the spirit (inner feelings, motive, thoughts and desires) of that which is in him?
In the same way, the things of God no man knows, except the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, Whose whole mission is to reveal Jesus to us, knows the feelings, motives, thoughts and desires of God! His mission is to change our hearts, transform our feelings, motives, desires and thoughts to be inline with Christ, to understand the message of God's Word.

1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,(the worldly feelings, motives, thoughts and desires) but the spirit which is of God; (our hearts have been changed) that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
2:13 We speak of these things, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.


The distinction is made plain -- worldly wisdom with it's relativism, goals, pursuit of meaning and happiness does not give answers of eternal value, nor can a person whose heart is based on worldly wisdom see the Biblical truths as relative.

1 Corinthians 2:14 For the natural man does not receives the things of the Spirit of God: for it is all foolishness to him: neither can he know or understand it, because they are spiritually discerned.

We need to open our hearts to Spirit of God. The promise is given:

Ezekiel 36:23-27 God said: I will sanctify my great name,... I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall obey and do my commandments. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness:

Ephesians 4:22-24 Put away the things concerning your former words and thoughts, that of the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And put on the new man, which is patterned after God, created in righteousness and true holiness.

We are admonished to study and know the Words of God in scripture, and with the power of the Holy Spirit Who gives us discernment, God will reveal truth to us, and make it part of our very being and thoughts.

Man's judgment must not be our primary motivation. The worldly "man" will think God's people "foolish" or even worse. Seeking to follow God's will must precede all popular opinions and laws.

1 Cor. 2:15 But he that is spiritual, spiritually discerns all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

"All things" ! This goes far beyond even understanding spiritual things, it includes understanding common things with spiritual eyesight. The natural man does not judge aright even the common things of this life, as he does not see the purpose and nature of life except as it pertains to the immediate.

This is also why God's followers, while being honest, law abiding, loving, kind citizens in the place of their residence, must not allow "man" to judge them when it comes to their loyalty and obedience to God.