Bible Study Outline April 1, 2014 Lessons of Lent >> Penitent Preparation: Crucified In The Place Of The Skull Pastor / Teacher: Pastor Eric Gladney

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2 Bible Study Outline April 1, 2014 Lessons of Lent >> Penitent Preparation: Crucified In The Place Of The Skull Pastor / Teacher: Pastor Eric Gladney Christian Church YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT THE LOCATION WHERE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED WAS CALLED GLAGOTHA, WHICH MEANT THE PLACE OF THE SKULL. IF WE ARE TO LEARN FROM THE ACTIONS OF CHRIST, THE FIRST FIELD OF CONFLICT WE MUST LEARN IS THAT WARFARE IS THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE MIND; I.E. THE PLACE OF THE SKULL. FOR THE TERRITORY OF THE UNCRUCIFIED THOUGHT LIFE IS THE BEACHHEAD OF SATANIC ASSAULT IN OUR LIVES. TO DEFEAT THE DEVIL, WE MUST BE CRUCIFIED IN THE PLACE OF THE SKULL. WE MUST BE RENEWED IN OUR MINDS! 1. LET HIS MIND BE IN YOU A. When we think about Christian growth, it requires us to move from belief to behavior. Christian growth requires that life is not stagnate Everything in God is alive it s moving and changing See Genesis 2:7 B. No Growth is contrary to how the Spirit is supposed to produce things. The Spirit is supposed to produce energy and life and a growing desire to manifest the glory of God; but often-times the emotional response of the people of God is that they are full of disappointment. C. We are not interested in quickening the spirit or making the spirit alive as much as we want to make the soul alive.. because once the soul is alive, it stops fighting with the your human spirit that has been joined by the Holy Spirit. D. Our lives must be in constant transformation (Romans 12) until we are clothed and wearing the full holiness of God (see 1 Cor. 15:51-57). 2. BATTLEGROUND OF THE MIND A. Much like Golgotha, the term spiritual warfare introduces a new but not necessarily welcomed piece of our Christian journeys. B. Whether we know it or like it, there is a war going on; and is being waged in the spiritual realm!!! 1. That s why it s real problematic for us to be half-way Christians.. The consequences can be devastating!! 1

3 C. There is a principle called the Law Of Thought; and the Law Of Thought says that you become what you think. (See Prov. 23:7) D. IQ vs- EQ E. Scientists have found that the brain changes its structure when you act a certain way. The more it learns and does something.it changes and develops!! 3. GET CRUCIFIED IN THE PLACE OF THE SKULL (I.E. RENEW YOUR MIND) A. There is a difference between your brain and your mind. Your brain is a three power universe which houses or stores everything that you touch, taste, feel and here; but my brain is not my mind.. My brain is directly and inseparably related to my mind, but is not my mind. B. My mind controls my thoughts. My thoughts control my choices.. And my choices determine my behavior / how I act. 1. Right choices, lead me to divine perfection. Wrong choices, lead me to the level beyond animalism. C. This is why God has got to renew our minds / the place of warfare, because He knows that when we come to the place of perception. without God, we will become a victim of our past. D. Victims of the past will usually spend too much time in darkness; and darkness is not just lightless regions / areas void of visible light, but it is also a place of moral darkness, where Satan has legal access. (See Jude 6) 4. REMOVE THE STRONGHOLD OF THE ENEMY A. In order to be successful in spiritual warfare, we must remove that which defends the enemy.. The Stronghold - which is in a general sense, a vigorously protected spiritual reality. it is a Spiritual fortresses where Satan & his demons hide and are protected (e.g. our old ways of thinking, wrong attitudes & lies that the enemy has sown into our thought process which we accepted as truth). B. Strongholds originate from many sources. The 1 st source is the world in which we were born. C. Our experiences & the conclusions that we have drawn are sources of strongholds. The strongholds can be cast down by using your Spiritual power. (2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Cor. 10:3-5) 2

4 Bible Study Outline April 8, 2014 Lessons of Lent >> The Leadership Of Christ: Leading On Your Knees Pastor / Teacher: Pastor Eric Gladney Christian Church I. Leadership and prayer (Genesis 18:17-19) A. People of prayer 1. The greatest leaders in the Bible were people of powerful prayer. Without prayer, no one can be a spiritual leader. Our personal success in the vision of God is directly related to our understanding of prayer, spiritual warfare, and intercession. 2. Abraham was nowhere near Sodom, but he played a prominent role in determining the outcome of events in the life of Lot, his nephew. When we become people of prayer, our influence extends far beyond our normal leadership capabilities. II. The three levels of prayer A. Crisis prayer 1. This is prayer for emergency needs. It is basically defensive, meaning a reaction to an attack of Satan in some area of our lives. It is the type of prayer that people are most familiar with and usually comes and goes with each passing storm. It is prayer that is dictated by need and crisis. 2. The apostle Peter was often portrayed in Scripture at this level of prayer. For example, the storms on Galilee and his imprisonment by Herod in Acts 12 demonstrate times of crisis prayer. This level of prayer deals with urgent prayer needs, and although it is important, it is not the only level of prayer. B. Confrontational prayer (I Timothy 2:1) 1. This is prayer that is ground level and offensive in nature rather than defensive. It centers on obvious needs that are always present: prayer for pastors, missionaries, government officials, our cities, neighborhoods, etc. The key to successful prayer at this level is CONSISTENCY, wearing down the enemy through faithfully and persistently calling out the names of those we are praying for. 2. Prayer of this type is accomplished in corporate / congregational prayer meetings as well as in individual prayer lives. To be great leaders, we must develop a daily routine of praying for our families, our churches, and the 1

5 nations of the world. The apostle Paul taught the most about this type of prayer. C. Companionship prayer (Ezekiel 22:30) 1. This third level of prayer is strategic level prayer. It is used in the Bible to describe people that we would call intercessors. These people become so close to the Lord that He shows them by revelation what to pray for in their families or nations. 2. Daniel was a strategic level intercessor. Angels showed him exactly what God was doing in the spiritual world, and he interceded before God for that thing to take place (Daniel 9). Both Moses and Abraham were also "companion intercessors." III. Present (2014) opportunities for prayer A. Crisis prayer: the battle for America 1. We should not think that the crisis in America is over. We must persist in praying for the President and responsible officials. 2. We must continue to bind the powers of Satan from destroying our nation. We should be in a state of "high alert" in prayer for our nation. B. Confrontational prayer: the battle for the lost 1. In addition to crisis prayer, we should begin to pray consistently for our families, cities, and nations to be saved. There is a hunger right now for God like never before, and we should join with other Christians and believe God for a regional revival in Western North Carolina!!! 2. The Lord has also spoken prophetically that if the church will pray, the power of radical, militant Islam will be broken over the world. This will represent a spiritual shift of unprecedented proportions, releasing over a billion people to hear the Gospel. C. Companionship prayer: hearing God's heartbeat 1. Like Abraham, we must move to the third level of prayer, which is based on close friendship with God Himself. 2. God wants to reveal to us strategic targets in prayer that will turn entire nations back to God. 2

6 Bible Study Outline April 15, 2014 Lessons of Lent >> The Formation Of Your Character With The Image Of Christ Pastor / Teacher: Pastor Eric Gladney Christian Church 1. MOVING FROM WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO HOW YOU BEHAVE.. A. Psychology is the study of behavior. B. The Christian personality is uniquely different from any other personality anywhere. 1. Many Christians believe God, and know how to believe; we are engaged in believing HOWEVER 2. God is designing experiences to move us from what we believe about Him, to what we know about Him evidenced by our behavior. 3. If the world never opens another bible, we should be their living epistle (2 Cor. 3:1-2). 4. The formation of the Christian personality is based not so much on your genes of your family or the environment, but on the Gen. 1:27 image that you have been create in. 2. IT S DIFFICULT TO WALK IN THE IMAGE OF A GOD THAT YOU DON T KNOW A. Since we ve been created in His image, when we do our reading & study about God, we re really (in a sense) reading and studying about ourselves. 1. The problem is that many of us find out that we are not walking in the image of the creator, because we re only consumers. B. You cannot walk in the image of a God that you don t know. 1. The more that I m in relationship with God, the more I come to know about Him, and thus the more I please Him. 2. Walking with Him takes you from logos to rhema. C. In the knowing process, Jesus always brings us to a crisis point. A decision where we have to DECIDE whether He's LORD or He is not. 1. Some people in the church haven't decided that.. He's their Savior, but not yet their Lord. D. Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you (Matt. 16:17). 1. Peter.you didn't get that by cogitation (human thinking). You got that by revelation. 1

7 3. IMITATE GOD A. We need to learn how to imitate God before creation / before the title. B. While we are our process of becoming, He hides us. (Col. 3:3). C. We clearly know who we are because of who God is. 1. Out of this understanding, we must perform the doing of what we know. 4. REPAIR THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM A. Jerusalem was symbolic (if you look at a layout).. of the body. 1. Jerusalem was laid out like the body soul and spirit.. 2. The temple represented the spirit. the body would represent Israel And the soul.. would represent the wall around the city. 3. The wall has gates in the Old Testament.. gateways.. to get into the temple. When the walls are down, the temple is in danger of being invaded. B. If we are going to have life and have it more abundantly, the soul has got to get in place. C. The spirit will get in line because the Holy Spirit comes and fills us; but it takes progressional work to get the soul in place. D. Until there is a balance between the soul and the spirit, Romans 7:14-28 says that there is going to be constant warfare and struggle!!! 1. Not only do we want to have a spirit that is heavenly ready, but we want to have a soul that is earthly ready to sit in heavenly places now. E. The temple was in place for 20 years, however the walls were down also for 20 years. (Nehemiah 1:3). And so, it is very possible to live saved but never really consistently fulfilled. F. In order to get the soul restored, it takes Nehemiah to do it. You and I can't restore the soul all by ourselves. Nehemiah in Hebrew = God s breath 1. In verse 4, Nehemiah (the Holy Ghost) wept, mourned, fasted and then went to work because he knew that the prize possession of the Father was in danger of never knowing abundance. 2