Advanced Class Weekend I Complete Assignments List The BCDASoCal Advanced Class provides powerful studies from God s Word for Christians in active ministry. You can benefit from the teaching of some of the top professors and biblical counselors in Southern California. Here is detailed class information along with the assignments students will complete before and after the Advanced Class, Weekend I. The complete list of Pre- and Post Class assignments for Weekends II and III, along with the list of books, will be posted online by mid-august. The set of Advanced Class texts can be purchased for about $100. Saturday, September 14 : Hours 1 and 2: Women Only Shelbi Cullen 8:45-9:35am Helping Your Counselee Run the Race and Finish Strong Classroom Hour 1: Shelbi will teach this topic from Hebrews 12.1-3. Pre-Class Work: 1. Read one chapter per day in the Book of Hebrews for thirteen days prior to class. Answer the following questions for each chapter in Hebrews: a) What did you learn about Jesus from your reading? b) How should what you've learned help you in your walk with Jesus? 2. Study Hebrews 12:1-3 by filling out a "Discovering Wonderful Things" sheet (see below). Response Paper: Type a 2 page paper including: a) a brief summary of the most important points learned, b) application of truths learned to the student's own life, c) how the lecture and assignments might be helpful to a counselee. Answer the three Application Questions from the Student Notebook. Mary Somerville, Shelbi Cullen, Aliza Hawkins 10:00-10:50am Open Q&A Classroom Hour 2: Students will ask the panel questions about any issue of life. The three woman panel will respond with answers from Scripture and the perspective of years of biblical counseling and discipleship experience. Pre- and Post-Class Work: None
Saturday, September 14 : Hours 1 and 2: Men Only Carl Hargrove 8:45-9:35am The War Against Masculine Fathers Carl Hargrove 10:00-10:50am The War Against Masculine Fathers Classroom Hour 1: Classroom Hour 2: Pre-Class Work: Carl will teach this topic and how the Scriptures address it. Men will break into groups to make a list of the culture s attempts to undermine biblical fatherhood and the biblical solutions to counter them. None. Write a two page paper explaining the issue at hand and the short and long term solutions to it within your particular ministry. Saturday, September 14: Hour 3: All Students Wayne Johnston 11:00-11:50am Theology of Counseling: Hamartiology Wayne will teach on Sin and Biblical Counseling Pre-Class Work: Read Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, chapter 24 Answer Questions for Personal Application 1, 6, and 7 Read A Christian s Guide to Dealing with Sin (see below) Answer two of the four questions posted online for open discussion among students of this class. Saturday, September 14: Hour 4: All Students Bill Shannon 1:10-2:00pm Homosexuality Lecture Bill will teach on Homosexuality Pre- and Post-Class Work: None Saturday, September 14: Hour 5: All Students Bill Shannon 2:10-3:00pm Gender Issues Students will discuss the Case Study in small groups.
Bill Shannon will conduct an Open Q & A session with the class. Pre-Class Work: Read the Case Study (printed below) and come to class with answers to the six questions. None. Saturday, September 14: Hour 6: Women only Mary Somerville 3:10-4:00pm Gospel Centered Hope for a Marriage in Trouble Mary will teach on this important topic. Pre- and Post-Class Work: None Saturday, September 14: Hour 6: Men Only Bob Somerville 3:10-4:00pm Loving Leadership in the Home (Eph 5.21-33) Bob will teach on this vital topic. Pre- and Post-Class Work: None Saturday, September 14: Hour 7: All Students Bob Somerville 4:10-5:00pm Oneness in Marriage with Open Discussion Mary Somerville 4:10-5:00pm Oneness in Marriage with Open Discussion Pre-Class Work: Bob and Mary Somerville will teach for 15 minutes on Oneness in Marriage. The balance of the class session (including men and women students) will feature an Open Discussion with the entire class, considering how to develop oneness in marriage. None. Write a two-page paper on the Case Study presented in class.
Discovering Wonderful Things Psalm 119:18 Before you begin to study...pray for understanding! (Proverbs 1:23) PASSAGE DATE: OBSERVATION What does this passage say? Write out the text. Read the text out loud slowly in different translations. Memorize it. INTERPRETATION What does this passage mean? (Define words, see cross-references, examine the context). Write out the interpretation. Is there a doctrine (teaching) to know? What declarations of the Gospel are included in this text? How does God s work in the Gospel motivate you to obedience? What are the imperatives in this text? - Is there a reproof (a sin to avoid)? Is there a correction (a command to obey)? Is there instruction in righteousness (practical steps in how to put off the old nature and put on the new nature)? Eph 4:17-32; 2 Tim. 3:16 APPLICATION How does this passage apply to me? How does this passage show us God s love & grace given to us in the Gospel? Be specific. Write out the Gospel declarations related to this passage. These may be found in the greater context of the passage. How should this change my life? What specific things can I do to apply this truth to my life? Write down what you are going to do, with whom and for whom and when you will start. PRAYER Write out a personal prayer praising God for what the passage affirms about God s work on your behalf and asking God to accomplish in your life what the passage demands.
A Christian s Guide to Dealing with Sin valleybible.net When I have sinned 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Psalms 32:3-5 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD ; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. I confessed my sin to God (I agree with Him, I hate my sin also). 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. I genuinely regret my sins, not because of their consequences, but because I sinned against the Lord. Proverbs 28:13 Revelation 3:19 Psalms 51:16-17 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous And repent. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. I prayed and meditated on these Scriptures until I repented of sin. I told God that I intend to not sin in this way again.
Romans 6:11-12,19 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. As I turned away from sin, I turned toward righteousness as the purposed direction of my life. Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come to present your offering. I confessed my sin to the person(s) aware that I sinned against them and asked for their forgiveness. When I have been sinned against 1 Corinthians 13:5 Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just As God in Christ also has forgiven you. I forgave as God, in Christ, forgives me. I chose to remember no more the sins against me in terms of holding those sins against those who committed them. Therefore, I no longer think about or speak about those sins to hurt or stand opposed to that person, but only for the purposes of loving and helping that person grow in sanctification. Matthew 18.21-35 Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said * to him, I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, Have patience with me and I will repay you everything. And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out
and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, Pay back what you owe. So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, Have patience with me and I will repay you. But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said * to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you? And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. Isaiah 53:3-5 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. When I find it difficult to forgive as God in Christ has forgiven me, I meditate of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for my own sins. Then, from that vantage point, I choose to regard my sins, forgiven through the blood of Christ, as an insurmountable debt, and the worst sin against me as only three months wages, which I gladly forgive. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. I actively replace the thoughts of thinking unbiblically about the sins against me and those who committed them with the thoughts described in Philippians 4.8
The conclusion: Psalms 51:1-12 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Hour 5 Pre-Class Assignment: Case Study JD a 28 year old who attends your church fairly regularly has come forward looking for help. He has hesitated to call upon you because he does not know how he will be treated once he unveils his burden. He has struggled with his faith for many years believing that God made him homosexual since he is only attracted to men. He grew up in a conservative Bible believing church and knows about the gospel and has a generally solid testimony but this one nagging thing about attraction to men plagues his mind. He has never dated girls and has pleasant relationships within the church but no intents of future marriage. Lately he has been plagued with temptation and is looking for help. 1. Where do you get started with such a case? 2. What would you tell JD in the first session? 3. What are the heart issues? 4. How would you establish hope for JD? 5. Could God have created him to be attracted to men and not women? 6. What Scriptures would you use teach into this situation?