| Excerpts from Directions In Christ Manual |
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| SIN IS FIXABLE ROMANS 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This disposition clearly stated that sin is not something we do or an act we commit with the intent to sin. On the contrary, it invites our very nature. From the earliest times, revealed in Genesis chapter 3, man is separate form God and His goodness and will. Thus, destined, through this separation, to be found wanting in every aspect of life. Man's efforts to bridge this chasm through justification of works, deeds, and wealth come to no avail. No matter how much effort is put forth by man, the gap that separates God from mankind cannot be bridged. In desperation, man attempts to flee or hide from his guilt with drugs, alcohol, misappropriated love and/or devices that fill the mind with temporary happiness. All this only o find that the separation has broadened due to our lack of courage in dealing with the truth and the eventual hardening of man's heart. Even through man's attempts at piety, by way of temperance, courage, justice and wisdom, a void still exists. But God, in His omnipotent wisdom, has given man the way of bridging this chasm and eradicating sin once and forever. Understand that this separation came about through man's disobedience (Adam in the Garden) and lack of faithfulness towards God. This separation is known as sin. Thus God have his only begotten Son for sacrifice and remission of this sin, and bridged the gap forever (John 3:16) for those who trust and believe. Through Jesus Christ man can once again bask in the glory of God's love. Any man who but ask for the grace of forgiveness by virtue of Christ's finished work on the cross and as a result of the resurrection, it shall be given, and through faith alone can man be turned from his sinful nature and be made a new creation in Jesus Christ. (II Cor. 5:17) Through the knowledge and strength of this redemption and through the glory of God's grace, man can turn away from the sins of this world and the sins of his life and begin anew with a new identity. |
| A NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST My identity in Christ: Because of Christ's Redemption, I am a new creation of infinite worth I am deeply Loved I am completely forgiven I am fully pleasing I am totally accepted by God I am absolutely complete in Christ When my performance reflects my new identity in Christ, that reflection is dynamically unique. There has never been another person like me in the history of mankind, nor will there ever be. God has made me an original, one of a kind, really somebody! Living in Christ: I am expected to submit to His will And accept His control of all circumstances! |
| Vocabulary of the World and the Bible Secular vs. Christianity Secular Christian 12 Step Groups Bible Studies Recovery Sanctification Addiction Life Dominating Sins Relapse Trials & Testing Count the Days (of sobriety) Count your Blessings daily Self-Will God's Will Denial Resistance to God's Will (Submission) Twelve Steps One Step (Salvation) Alcoholic Sin Drug Addict Sin Workaholic Sin Abuser of Others Sin Co-dependent Sin Blaming Others Acceptance of God's Will Trade-offs for God's Love Anger Love Resentment Trust Fear Forgiveness Condemning Judgment No Judgment |
| THE TRIUNE MAN This study will be introduced with an excerpt from the book, "The release of the Spirit" by Watchman Nee. Briefly, Watchman Nee was a man of God, an evangelist in China who God richly blessed. Firstly, we must become accustomed to the terminology Watchman Nee has chosen. First, he calls man's spirit the "inner man". Secondly, he calls the soul of man the "outer man". And third, his term for the body is the "outermost man". He shows the triune man as three concentric circles (that means one inside of another). The innermost circle is the spirit, the second circle is the soul, and the outermost circle is the flesh, or body. Gen 1:27 "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." The image that we shall see of God in our beings is that of the triune man, not in physical image, for God is a spirit. John 4:24 "God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The trinity of man that we shall investigate is that of "the outermost man, the outer man, and the inner man." Another way of perceiving this is "the body, the soul, and the spirit." However, in I Thessalonians the Apostle Paul's list of this trinity is somewhat different. "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may our spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." |
| LOVE THE CEMENT THAT HOLDS A CHRISTIAN TOGETHER! To fully understand the true meaning of the word 'love' we must first look at the Greek definition of the word. There are four different ways in which the word love is used in the Bible: 1. EROS: This is the word from which we derive the word erotic. This is the sexual, close kind of love that we should have in marriage. 2. PHILO: This is what we would most closely compare today with brotherly love,k the kind of love that we have for a close friend. 3. STORGE: This is the kind of love that we would show for a family member, a brother or sister or mother or father. 4. AGAPE: This last definition of love in the Greek is the one that we will be dealing with in this study of love. Agape (from Agapao) is the love that God shows us in sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. This agape love is the love that we find at the foot of the cross when we finally give our lives to Jesus. |
| The Directions In Christ Manual is available in its entirety. |
| THE LINEAR PATH OF SANCTIFICATION Before coming to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our lives were nothing more than a cycle of successes and failures, brought on by our inability to continue in a straight path and maintain any kind of balance. As we grow apart from the families that we were raised by (a closed system of society) we have a season of success. We slowly become what we call independent, when in reality we are becoming more and more dependent on the world and its process of self-centeredness. (This is an open system of society.) The world apart from God issues forth the ideology that one must provide for one's self at all times and keep self at the center of all things. This in turn breeds within the individual slavery to the things of this world, things that will never fulfill that emptiness in our hearts. The more we strive with man and this open society and his self- appointed goal-oriented world, the farther from God we fall, until eventually we, through this separation, ultimately fail. We never find the happiness that we so longed to find when first we left the security of our families and home. This is the cycle of the world that we fall into. As all are destined to do who are separated from God. So this cyclical life continues over and over until one of three things gets our attention and we finally turn to the Maker of all things, God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. What are these three things? The jail, the hospital, or the graveyard. Without exception, any who have fallen prey to this cyclical way of the world has come to a point in one of these areas. This is the end of that cycle for a time. But, if God is not turned to then and there, the cycle is destined to repeat itself over and over until we finally are broken by those self-willed tortures and have nothing left but God. Once we finally face our own inadequacy and turn to God, through Jesus Christ, then the cycle can and will be broken and replaced with a Linear Path, laid before us that God, from the foundations of time, has been preparing. |