The mission of our church is, “To glorify God by making disciples through the power of the gospel.” This mission is based on Jesus’ great commission to His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. This passage clearly becomes the guiding passion of God’s followers for the rest of the New Testament. The book of Acts describes the history of this mission impact on the known world. The epistles are Paul’s practical outworking of that mission in local churches. There is no question that God wants His people to be making disciples of others.

All of us have a response to the word theology.  For some, “theology” has positive connotations.  For others, theology is something that you’ve seen as divisive.  Maybe for you, theology is something that’s for people who like to read and that’s not you.  Wherever you are, there are two things you need to know.  First, everyone is a theologian.  Second, theology has massive implications for the way that you live your life.

Our Lord commanded His church to make disciples and baptize believers. It is quite clear that the early church understood His teaching and obeyed it. Numerous references tell us of their immediate baptism after their salvation. Since baptism is our Savior's imperative and was faithfully practiced by the New Testament church, every believer must carefully study and heed Christ's teaching on baptism.

When you received Jesus Christ as your Savior, 1 Corinthians 2:10-15 declares that you now have a new ability: you can begin to understand and comprehend Scriptures like never before. This is accomplished through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are the source of truth that not only have taught the Gospel message, but also helps us know our great God more fully. This study is designed to give you a greater reverence for God's Word and also equip you to use the Scriptures more effectively in your everyday life.

Relationships are hard. Perhaps you have found that your trust has been broken. Maybe you shared something deeply personal and it was used against you. Maybe you have shared a struggle and had it dismissed, or worse, laughed at. Perhaps you have experienced the deep hurt brought about by an argument that resulted in the loss of a relationship. Is this whole “living in community” thing really worth all of the heart ache and struggle?  Why are we so focused on pressing people into small groups and community as a church?

According to Romans 8:28-29, God’s plan is to transform us into the likeness of His son.  Verse 28 indicates that He will do so by working all things together for our good.  Times of conflict can reveal the sinful attitudes and actions in us that God desires to change for His glory and our good.  So, while conflict is difficult ,it can bring about a personal transformation to the likeness of Christ as we recognize our weakness and take Biblical steps of growth and change.

Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He was buried and on the third day, rose again defeating the power of death.  Jesus then appeared to many and ascended into heaven. This truth, when we believe it, has massive implications for every area of our lives. The gospel is not just true to save us from our sins, it has the power to help us grow and change.  We don’t leave the Gospel in the rearview mirror after our salvation, instead, it becomes the motivation for living a life that honors the Lord.

“I hate who I am.” “I don’t want to be this way anymore.” “If I could stop doing the things I hate.” “If only I could change.” Maybe you have muttered one of these phrases (or one like it) at some point in your life. If so, you are in good company. The desire to change and grow is within all of us, and yet the power to actually change is often times allusive. Lasting life change in people is very rare. But, as believers in Jesus, we are called to grow and change.

In Part 1 of Growth and Change, we learned that our hearts are at the center of who we are and what we do. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” That being the case, in order to experience lasting change, we need to address our hearts.

There’s a saying that goes something like this, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” In the other words, the more you do something, the less special that activity becomes. Think about how exciting the first day of school is for many kids, but a few months in and most kids are far less excited to get up and catch the bus! For Christians, attending church is a regular event throughout the year. Since it’s an activity repeated with such frequency, it’s easy for church to become a fairly “normal” thing. One may even say that for some Christians, it becomes less important as time goes on. But after a careful study of the concept of church in the Bible, we begin to see that it is anything but mundane and unimportant.

There is simply no greater or more impacting truth than the gospel. Because of the gospel, we have been given eternity in Heaven with Jesus. Because of the gospel, we have joy and purpose in our lives today. Once we believe the gospel and make it the center of our lives, everything comes into place. Yet, while all of that is true, But all that being true, it’s still hard for us to share the good news of Jesus with the world around us. Many Christians today don’t believe it is their personal responsibility to share Christ with others. Most have never intentionally shared the gospel with anyone. In this booklet, we will focus on what Scripture tells us about Personal Outreach.

Any good coach knows how important the fundamentals are to their sport. For example, a good football coach will spend a lot of time on tackling. They know that a team cannot be successful if they can’t tackle with effectiveness. The fundamentals are vital. Without question, one of the key fundamentals of the Christian life is prayer. From the first few pages of the Bible to the last, we see God’s people calling on Him. Learning to pray with effectiveness will be one of the most important disciplines you develop in your Christian walk.

What is the meaning of life? The answer to this question has plagued mankind from the beginning of time. Let’s take that question a step further. What is the meaning of your life? What gives you purpose and direction? Most importantly, what does God say your purpose should be?

If you are new in your walk with God, this lesson is going to be important for you. This booklet will help you establish a solid understanding which will help set your spiritual foundation. If you have been a believer for a long time, these truths are important and vital to successful Christian living and they bear repeating over and over again. In fact, in our church you will often hear the importance of preaching the gospel to yourself daily. These truths are vitally important to keep close to our heats.

If you are new in your walk with God, this lesson is going to be important for you. This booklet will help you establish a solid understanding which will help set your spiritual foundation. If you have been a believer for a long time, these truths are important and vital to successful Christian living and they bear repeating over and over again. In fact, in our church you will often hear the importance of preaching the gospel to yourself daily. These truths are vitally important to keep close to our heats.

Imagine that you walk into church on a Sunday morning and see a group of people singing, lifting their hands, and clapping. It’s strange. Why would a group of adults be singing so loudly with hands raised?  Why would these adults be clapping or even cheering? Why does this group of people gather together, week in and week out? What drives all of this? Perhaps these have been your thoughts. Are you confused about what would drive a group of people to act this way? The radio calls this singing worship. It’s called worship music. There is a worship team on stage. It’s a worship service.  So in your mind, worship must be the singing happening each week.  

We live for God through the power of the Gospel in our lives. When we dwell on the Gospel and then reflect the Gospel to our spouses, we are pursuing God in our marriage. God’s glory then becomes more precious than our marriage. We live for God by fulfilling the roles that God has designed for us in our marriage. God has given us instructions on how life will go best for us. That is ultimately for our good and His glory. When we seek to model those roles from a heart of gratitude, God’s glory becomes more precious than our marriage.

Most people want to enjoy relationships with others, but they want those relationships to happen automatically. That just isn’t the way relationships are made or preserved. Good relationships require an investment in many things — one of which is good communication.

As God established the purpose for marriage, he also designed how that purpose would be accomplished. One of the things he established was a specific role for the husband and wife. The husband must take the lead in orienting his life around the gospel as he sets the example of self-sacrifice, commitment, and obedience to God’s design - for the glory of God and joy in the home.

As a wife, God has given you a unique opportunity to bring Him glory specifically through your marriage.  His plan for marriage is to glorify Him – to display or reflect what is true of Him and show the world a picture of the gospel. What a joy to think about the fact that we can reflect the character of God and the heart of the gospel to our husbands in a very personal and beautiful way.

A healthy marriage must stem from living in the power of the Gospel and for God and His glory. This is counter-cultural. Relationships by the world’s standards are all based on what we can get and not what we can give. Approaching your marriage with the world’s mentality will ultimately lead to difficulty and struggle. To maintain a healthy marriage it is important to understand what keeps the marriage wheel spinning, what stops the wheel from spinning, and how to get it spinning again. The following series of booklets will work through these.

You cannot be both servants of God and of money. It is one or the other. Money is also one of the leading causes of conflict in marriage. So to be honoring to God in your finances and to strengthen your marriage, you need to understand how to serve God as a couple with your finances.

To say that we live in a sex-crazed culture is an understatement. One can hardly turn on the TV without explicit or implicit sexual content. And it is now in both the programming and the advertising. Popular music is filled with sexual imagery and, in many cases, brash and unashamed lyrics about sexuality. Unfortunately, the evangelical church over the past several decades has dealt with the issue of sex largely with silence. When we actually talk about it, it’s always in the negative. Teaching on sex often boils down to,  “Sex before marriage is wrong!” and “Homosexuality is a sin!” So, although we don’t take the world’s stance and treat sex as a god, we end up communicating a different, and wrong view that sex is dirty.

Someone once said that marriage is simply two sinners committing to spending the rest of their lives together. Obviously, God’s Word teaches us that it is much more than that. However, the reality that two sinners are now coming together as one holds true and has many implications. The biggest implication is that every person, without the work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying them of their sin, is bent toward selfishness and their own desires. In marriage, when both husband and wife pursue desires that compliment each other, there is peace. But often, those desires are heading different directions. And as a result, conflict arises.

Worldly forgiveness is focused primarily on the self. It is therapeutic, not restorative. Therefore, its only goal is to remove the difficult emotions and pains you are feeling that result from sin done against you. This worldly view of forgiveness does not necessarily have the goal of reconciliation of the relationship. While finding healing from pain is appropriate and biblical, confusing this goal with the biblical model of forgiveness can end up making matters worse not better.