WAR ROOM WEEK 3 LIVING THE GOSPEL

LIVING THE GOSPEL

This week is about the power of the gospel.  The gospel is more than being saved from living eternity in hell. We are to be TRANSFORMED. This is a DAILY process to be more like Christ.

What is the definition of “grace” to you?

I love acronyms. I have uses them a lot in my schooling and learning processes. When I first went to the church that I go now, the pastor said “Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”.

READ Ephesians 2:4-9

Notice how many times that grace is used in this scripture. Grace is NOTHING that we EARN or DESERVE.

Write in your journal what Grace means to you.

What separates Christians for all other religions is that we have SALVATION by GRACE through FAITH. Many think that is all there is about grace, the atonement for us by Christ on the cross. BUT it is more. Grace should also go into our lives and change us to become a NEW person.  Just as we relied on God’s grace to save us, we must rely on his grace DAILY to provide everything that we will need that day, to obey his commandments and be more like Christ.

Using the scripture about answer the following questions:

1.  What do these verses say about the character and heart of God?

2.  According to this passage, why has God granted us grace and forgiveness?

3.  What danger is associated with works in this passage?

Work-based salvation first of all IMPOSSIBLE and furthermore it seeks the honor of man. Grace-based salvation is a gift to use through Jesus Christ and it honors God, and God alone.  Every sin we commit can be based on one word. “ME”. That’s is what is this center of every bad and evil thing. People are living the motto “It’s all about me”. Even when they are trying to become a Christian through works of doing good, but not through Jesus Christ.

READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES:

COLOSSIANS 3:12-17    TITUS 2:11-14     EPHESIANS 4:22-32

According to these scriptures, how are believers supposed to live? How are they not to live?

When we receive our salvation, we are to “take off the old self and put on the new self”.  In order to do this we have to act. It doesn’t just happen. You can’t take anything off without moving some part of your body, can you? It requires ACTION.  After salvation, the rest of our live in a work in progress, constantly moving and changing, getting more and more like Jesus.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE: “ HE GIVES US GRACE AND HE HELPS US TO GIEVE IT TO OTHERS EVEN WHEN THEY DON’T DESERVE IT. WE ALL DESERVE JUDGEMENT. AND THAT IS WHAT A HOLY GOD GIVEN US WHEN WE DON’T REPENT AND BELIEVER IN HIS SON.” Miss Clara

God’s grace is free gift. No one can earn it. The grace of God is not only what saves you, it also SUSTAINS you. When you are fighting the enemy you need even more.

READ THE FOLLOWING VERSES AND WRITE IN YOUR JOURNAL WHAT EACH SAYS ABOUT GRACE OR THE GOSPEL:

ROMANS 5:8     ROMANS 6:23     ROMANS 8:1     2 CORINTHAINS 5:21     1 TIMOTHY 1:15

WRITE OUT THE SCRIPTURE ROMANS 3:23-26 IN YOUR JOURNAL.

Now underline everything God has done for you in this passage.  Then write down everything you have done to earn God’s grace, according to this passage.

We all fall short in this life because of sin. What God does is grant us that “amazing grace” .

QUOTE FOMR THE MOVIE: “ ELIZABETH, THERE’S NOT ROOM FOR YOU AND GOD ON THE THRONE OF YOUR HEART. IT’S EITHER HIM OR IT’S YOU. YOU NEED TO STEP DOWN. IF YOU WANT VICTORY, YOU FIRST HAVE TO SUREENDER” – Miss Clara

READ 1 SAMUEL 5:1-5

Here in this story notice two things: 1) God had no intention of sharing space with a false idol in a temple. 2) God had no intention of sharing space in our hearts with false idols either.

Surrender. It is hard to surrender in any situation.  In fact, it is unnatural because it feels like we are giving up. Relinquishing control and no one wants to do that.

J.D. Greear wrote this “ The gospel has done its work in us when we crave God more than we crave anything else in life- more than money, romance, family, health, fame – and when seeing His kingdom advance in the lives of others give us more joy than anything we could own. When we see Jesus as greater than anything the world can offer, we’ll gladly let everything else go to possess Him.”

What do YOU CRAVE most? List anything and everything in your journal that to tend to place first in your life AHEAD of God.

Would you be willing to lay aside these or anything else, even good things, in order to keep Christ first in your heart?

Do you understand the fullness of God’s grace in your own life?

The gospel of Jesus is cheap if those who have received it, can’t be distributors of it. Only when we come down off our throne in our lives can we truly see how much God has given us. THEN and ONLY THEN we will desire Him more than anything else the world offers.

READ MATTHEW 13:44-46

What was required of the man and the merchant to gain their treasures? How does that illustrate the kingdom of heaven?

So, if we want to win battles, we have to surrender.  What do you need to surrender to God in the following areas of your life: In your family, In your marriage, At your church, At your work, In the way you use your time and resources.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE: “YOU NEED TO DO YOUR FIGHTING IN PRAYER” – Miss Clara

TAKE TIME TO MEMORIZE HEBREWS 4:16

There is nothing more worshipful than vulnerability. Being vulnerable indicates trust and humility of the heart. Also being vulnerable before God indicates a truer understanding of who he is. That HE is trustworthy.

Boldly means fearlessly, not in a disrespectful or prideful way.  Because of Jesus dying on the cross for you and me, we are no longer “shackled” to our sin, guilt, shame and doubts. We are God’s children who can approach their Father, who cares for them and has the ability to handle any request made by his children.

REFLECT ON A TIME WHEN YOU FELT YOU NEEDED GOD’S HELP THE MOST.

God uses people’s weakness for His purpose.

READ JOHN 18:25-27   What was Peter’s weakness?  READ ACTS 2:37-42 How did God use Peter?

READ EXODUS 3:1-10; 4: 10-13  What was Moses’ weakness?  READ EXODUS 13:1-6 How did God use Moses?

READ JUDGES 6:11-16 What was Gideon’s weakness? READ JUDGES 8:22-35 How did God use Gideon?

READ 1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-31

FILL IN THE BLANKS:

       GOD CHOOSES THE _________TO SHAME THE _______ AND THE_______TO SHAME THE _______SO THAT ____________.

 

What areas in your life have you been trying to use your own strength? Ask God to make you strong in all your areas of weakness.  Ask Him to remove anything that would hinder you from coming to Him boldly, daily. Ask Him to help you down off “the throne” in your life so that He can take His rightful place. Thank Him for His Grace.

 

WORSHIP MUSIC

 

 

 

 

 

WAR ROOM WEEK 2 ACCOUNTABILITY

REAL ACCOUNTABILITY

This past week was an eye opening for me. I hope I wasn’t the only one.  This week is about accountability.  Man do we need some accountability in this country. I won’t get into that because it would be very long.

Before we start please READ PSALMS 141:3-5A OUT LOUD.

One of the best things about being in a Christian community is accountability. I never really thought much about it until I went on the Walk to Emmaus. It is like a Christian Retreat. We spending a lot of time together, listening to talks about what it means to be a Christian and eating. A weekend full of laughter, tears, and renewal to walk closer to God.

It doesn’t end there. Those that have been on the walks have a “gathering” once a month. And it is strongly recommended but not required to get involved with an “accountability group”.  When you get together you talk about when you felt close to God the past week, when you failed God, when you felt like God was using you as a vessel and some other question. It is great to share with other Christian women.  The group I attend gets together once a month, because most of us are still working and weekly is practically impossible.  The group is small and they also recommend it to be small.

In the video below, you can see the clear accountability between friends. Background: Tony has gotten away from God and his marriage. He is being tempted and basically “playing with fire”.  His friend Michael is a genuine friend and confronts Tony. WATCH NOW.

 

 

Noticed how Michael was will to speak difficult truth, even when he’s friend didn’t receive it well.  This short video clip shows us the importance of value of having godly relationships with others.

We recently talked about accountability on another Bible study. As you can see, it is important to God. With “worldly” friends we have no one to confront us when we sin.

Consider a moment in YOUR life when you found yourself “playing with fire”. Being drawn to do something that you knew was wrong in God’s eyes.  Did you have someone in your life confront you with truth and love?

READ PROVERBS 27:6

What does this say about accountability? How can wounds from a friend be better than kisses?

LOOK UP AND READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE. Write in your journal what each says about accountability.

PROVERBS 27:17; HEBREWS 3:13; JAMES 5:19-20; GALATIANS 6:1-2; ECCLESIATES 4:9-12

Which verse describes the value of Christian accountability in YOUR life?

READ Ephesians 4:15. What does it mean to “speak truth in love”?

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE “ WE’VE BEEN FRIENDS FOR A LONG TIME, BUT SOME THINGS ARE JUST NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.” – Tony

 

READ EPHESIANS 5:1-4.

Take a moment and reflect what in your past or present resembles a fruitless “work of darkness”? Make a list of things that you NEED to GET OUT of your LIFE.

READ JAMES 5:16

When we hear the word healing we think it means cured.  But another meaning that healing means when it comes to confession is made whole.  That is what happens when we give our life to Christ after living in the sin. Our salvation.  This is also what happens in our hearts when we walk in an accountable connection with other believers.

When someone is in darkness, they will cry out “none of your business” just as Tony did in the video. So is it our business to speak to other Christians this way? We were made to have connections.  We are made to walk in healthy and honest relationships so that others cane see Christ by our love for each other.

WRITE OUT ISAIAH 29:15 in your journal.

Confessing brings forgiveness and healing. Concealing brings grief and pain. Have you ever felt the pain and grief of concealing something? Do you have someone who holds you accountable for sinful patterns in your life? We ALL NEED ONE.

Secret sins lead to shame and unheard prayers. Ask God show you someone that can be your accountability partner so that you can walk in healing, wholeness and confidence that your prayers are heard.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE “ SINCE WE’VE BEEN FRIENDS FRO A LONG TIME, I’M NOT JUST GONNA WATCH YOUR MARRIAGE DIE. SO IF IT’S BLEEDING, I’M NOT JUST GONNA KEEP EATING MY SALAD”- MICHAEL

There is a great responsibility in relationships.  Note what each of these verses say about responsibility.

EPEHESIAN 4: 19-32     JOHN 15:13     JOB 6:14     PROVERBS 18:24

Being part of a Christian community is having friends who will walk with you through whatever you are going through. They will also hold you accountable to your commitment to Christ. (They are supposed to). When we are alone, that is when we are most vulnerable to sin.

Proverbs 18:1 says “One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires. He rebels against all sound judgement”. A good accountability partner can be trusted to keep a confidence. Closeness in relationship is built upon trust.  (See Proverbs 11:13)

It is hard to find someone like that , that you can truly trust to keep a confidence.

READ 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-26

Look at verse 25. This talks about have the same concern for each other.  This means we are to suffer when others in our community suffer. We are to rejoice when others in our community rejoice. If we didn’t have each other, the body of Christ would not be complete.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE, “ SEE YOU IN CHURCH” – TONY   “I NEED TO SEE THE CHURCH IN YOU, BRO” –MICHAEL

I loved that quote when I heard it in the movie.  We as Christians, are sometimes the only “sermon” people will ever hear or see. There is a saying that says that people are all Saintly on Sundays at church but on Mondays and the rest of the week they live like the world. People who are lost, WATCH people who proclaim they are Christians to see if their ACTIONS confirm it.  That is what Michael was saying to Tony.

Being in an accountable relationship with other believers helps us not only to walk in integrity, but to avoid the consequences of FOOLISH decisions.                

Look up the following verses and write in your journals, what they say about freedom.

Proverbs 16:17     Psalm 199:45     2 Corinthians 3:17     Galatians 5:1     Romans 6:22

Being a believer give us freedom. Freedom for eternal death because of our sins.  However this freedom is not a freedom of responsibility. In fact, our freedom in Christ, calls for us to be responsible for our actions.

Even people that are not in our accountability group, we should go to them privately, when needed and hold them accountable when they are living in sin.  This is NEVER an easy thing to do, nor is it fun, but it is necessary part of us helping each other stay right with God.

We ALL are part of the family of God and as family members we love each other.

 

WORSHIP SONG FOR THE WEEK

WAR ROOM WEEK 1 HONEST EVALUATION

 

2 Corinthians 13: 5

NKJV- “Examine yourselves as the where you are in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves? That Jesus is in you?

I love looking a scripture under different translations. Sometime a different translation can make a “bigger” impact on you.

TLB- “Check up on yourselves. Are you really a Christian? Do you past the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t’ at all?

I am excited about this study maybe because I loved the movie. I hope you got a chance to see the movie. I know some of you did. If you didn’t I hope you will make plans to see it sooner or later.

This Bible study is different that our past, in that you will me doing more “homework” than I do preparing the lesson. Well, maybe. There will be many questions for you to reflect on and answer on your own. I pray that you are still journaling. There will be several scriptures for you to look-up as well. I can’t do everything for you. J

I truly believe that you will learn better and quick and more, by doing things yourselves. I am not just referring to looking up scripture but in life in general.

So before we get started let’s evaluate ourselves. This is not to discourage you or to make you feel ashamed. This evaluations is for growth, spiritual growth. We need to understand ourselves better in order to be inspired to improve ourselves . So here we go.

On a scale from 0-10: . (Zero being freezing cold/far away and 10 being you are on fire/extremely close:

1) IN YOUR OPINION, HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO GOD RIGHT NOW?

2) REGARDING CLOSENESS TO GOD, WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE ONE YEAR FROM NOW?

3) ARE YOU CURRENTLY MOVING AT A PACE TO MEET YOUR GOAL ONE YEAR FROM NOW?

4) WHAT MAJOR DECISIONS OR ADJUSTMENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE TO HELP YOU GROW?

After you have honestly answered the above questions, go to God and pray. Ask Him to renew the hunger in your soul to pursue a closer relationship with Him. PRAY NOW!

I don’t know about you but I found it hard to be honest with myself. Maybe because I really wanted to be higher that I really was. It is natural for us to do that, exaggerate the good and minimize or even deny what is bad or what we are lacking.

READ PROVERBS 21:2

You all have heard the saying “ Actions speak louder than words”. Well our actions are better indicators of where we are spiritually. Better than our opinions or guesses.

ASK YOURSELF:
1) How diligently do I seek and pursue a closer walk with God EACH day?

2) How much time and effort do I spend in His Word and in prayer EACH week?

3) Do I make an effort to remember and apply the Word of God after I hear it or do I usually walk away and forget it?

4) How quickly do I obey God when He tells me to do something?

5) When God reveals sin in my life, how quickly do I confess and repent it?

Think about it. What unconfessed sins would you confess if you knew Jesus would be coming back in three days? What commandment would you make sure you obeyed between now and then? WHY WAIT?

WHAT DOES JAMES 1:22 SAY?

Watch this video.

“Some like it hot, some like it cold. Some like it in the pot nine days old”.  Relate your prayer life to the coffee analogy. How do you like yours?

READ OUT LOUD REVELATIONS 3:14-22

What are the two things Jesus said we should do in verse 19?

Zealous means to filled with or showing a strong and energetic desire to get something done or see something succeed :  marked by passionate support for a person, cause, or idea. Basically is mean to be on fire for God. AGAIN. Read verse 20 again. Jesus doesn’t want to be on the outside of the door. He wants to come in, get closer with us, take rightful control and rekindle His relationship with us.

What are 3 specific things in your life keeping you from being more on fire for God?

Pray about these three conditions NOW.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE- You say you attend church occasionally. Is that because your pastor only preaches occasionally?-Miss Clara War Room

We have done our personal evaluations so, do you Profess or Possess? It is a BIG difference claiming to be a Christian than actually KNOWING Christ and LIVING as a believer. Anyone can claim that they know Christ. Even the Devil knows Christ but that don’t make him a Christian. The first book of John tells us what truly knowing Christ will do to our way of living. It will result in a lifestyle of obedience, repentance of sin, a living faith, evidence of God’s Spirit and love for other Christians. And may I add other PEOPLE in general.

READ ACTS 2:44-46

The first century Christians were strongly willing to connect with other Christians. They wanted to share their lives. They were almost like a commune. Now read 1 Corinthians 12:24b-27. What does it say about a member of the body of Christ?

READ HEBREWS 10:23-25

Why should we as believer maintain fellowship with each other?

No one on earth is perfect. And we make up the body of Christ, but we need his Grace and forgiveness every day, because we all stumble, sooner or later. God wants us to stay connected with other Christians. We can do this by loving them, serving them, encouraging them, comforting them, and praying for them on a consistent basis. This is His command.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE- “So if I asked you what your prayer life was like, would you say it was hot or cold.”- Miss Clara War Room

When it comes to prayer, many times it is only for request of things. Think about how your life would change if we viewed and treated God like our closest friend than a casual acquaintance.  If we prayed constantly thank an occasional last option?  Instead of it being a “Want ad” and real weapon?

READ EPHESIANS 6:10-18

How much armor do we put on daily?

List each piece of God’s armor and purpose.

I have been studying Ephesians for my Sunday school class, we just finished the book this past Sunday. I was studying on this Armor of God. A thought came to me about the breastplate. The breastplate initially was to cover the chest area and protect the heart. There was no back. So why would Paul use this as part of the armor of God? First, we are to face our battles head on, no taking a side road and we can “turn our back” on the enemy because it is NOT PROTECTED. And Satan would love that.

I know we have recently did a study on prayer, but you could do one that lasted for many weeks instead of the few weeks we had. WHY? Prayer is one of our greatest resources. Especially when it comes to spiritual growth. It’s a WEAPON we need for battles. How much we pray, depends on how much we depend on God. HOW MUCH WE PRAY, DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH WE DEPEND ON GOD!

We all need God ALL the time. We need His grace every moment so we don’t waste opportunities. So we don’t become self-centered. So we don’t fall INTO sin. If we humbly admit our need of God and depend on Him daily for wisdom and grace, we will have a richer, more active prayer life results.

QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE- “You don’t have to step on the same land mines that I did. That’s a waste of time.”- Miss Clara War Room

We just talked about the importance of connecting deeply with other believers.  One of the greatest benefits we can receive by doing this is, we DON’T HAVE to repeat one another’s mistakes.  Modeling your life after a seasoned saint is a Biblical method.

READ HEBREWS 13:7

What land mines have avoided because of another believer’s example or counsel?

MORE EVALUATIONS

1)                        Is your spiritual life apathetic, joyless and passionless?

2)                        Do you have at least one sin you refuse to repent of?

3)                        Do you have at least one person your refuse to forgive?

4)                        Do you love and seek God less that you once did?

5)                        Are the words of your mouth displeasing to God and dishonorable to others?

6)                        Do you see no evidence of answered prayer or the power of God at work in your life?

7)                        Do you have time for entertainment, but not for Bible study, prayer or sharing your faith?

8)                        Do you let pride, worry or fear stop you from obeying what God has told you to do?

9)                        Does your family see you behave one way at church and another at home?

10)                Is your worship of God half-hearted and mediocre?

READ PSALM 145:4 OUT LOUD

As maturing Christians it is valuable to think about those we follow or look up to and also those that follow us. Think about the things that you can pass on because of your faith.

Next week we will talk about Accountability.


WORSHIP MUSIC

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