FUNDAMENTALS of the Faith

This course is designed to take us deeper in our understanding and relationship with God. In this session we will answer three questions: What is doctrine? Why is sound doctrine so important? Where does sound doctrine come from?

The Goal of this week’s lesson is to understand the Bible better! If we consider most of the major social and moral issues of our day, at the root of them all is the question of authority. What is truth and where does objective truth come from? As Christians we believe in the authority of God’s Word - The Bible.

So, in this session, we want to answer two questions:

1. Can we trust the Bible?

2. What do we believe about the Bible?

In the last chapter, we learned that we can trust the Bible as the authoritative word of God. This week we’re going to talk about HOW to study the Bible? But, before we get into that, let’s answer the question, “Why study God’s Word?”

1. It’s God’s Word

2. It feeds us Spiritually

3. It helps us grow in salvation

4. It strengthens us to not sin against God

Our view and belief about God shapes EVERYTHING! Your personal theology can set the entire trajectory of your life. As His creation, We can’t know EVERYTHING there is to know about an infinite God, but we can know some things! This week we dive into “Theology Proper” or the doctrine of God.

There is no more controversial figure than Jesus Himself! You can talk about God, you can talk about religion, but when you talk about Jesus things get heated. No one has been more discussed and debated than Jesus! This week we dive into the doctrine of Christ (Christology)

Knowing who we are is VITAL to our existence and well-being as people! And it’s impossible to know who we are without knowing who GOD is and who He created us to be! In other words, we have to look at God and His Word to know who we are and our created purpose! We cannot know who we are apart from knowing God and who He is.

Having studied the doctrine of God, Christ, man and sin, we are now at a crossroads and ask a couple of key questions:

• Will God overlook/tolerate sin

• How is Christ's redeeming work applied to man?

• How do we know whether someone is a Christian?

In this lesson, we will learn how He saves those who believe.

Who is the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit a force? An IT? Is the Holy Spirit a sense, a feeling, goosebumps? How do we know if we have the Holy Spirit? This week we look to scripture to answer some of these questions and gain a better understanding of the third person in The Trinity.

This week we look at the importance of prayer in the walk of a believer. Charles Spurgeon is quoted saying “What can you do without prayer? Oh, it is but little worth preaching unless it is backed up with strong pleadings with God… Preaching, [Sunday] school, teaching, missionary and other agencies, are like the machinery, but the prayer-meetings — the overlooked engine — [is what] supplies the motive power, and gives the real energy which works the concern.” May we be a church known for prayer.

John MacArthur wrote in his book ‘Biblical Doctrine’ that “The church is ‘the dearest place on earth.’ That eloquent description, articulated by renowned nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon, captures a proper Christian perspective regarding the church. For all who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, no place in the world should be sweeter or more cherished than the church.” This week we study what scripture says about The Church and learn more about ecclesiology.

In what way have you seen God use you the most? Where do you feel joy that you were or are being used by God? What are you doing in those moments? This week we are diving into the Bible and discussing the topic of spiritual gifts. We will be observing their biblical context, and educating on the different schools of thoughts and beliefs as it relates to the gifts.

Consider the subject of evangelism. What is the hardest part about it for you? What makes it so intimidating? This week we look at the Christian’s call to evangelize and answer the following questions:

• What is evangelism?

• How are we to evangelize?

• Why are we to evangelize?

What comes to your mind when you think about obedience? Why is obeying God so difficult? How can we be obedient God? What does obedience demonstrate and produce? What impact does it have on our walk with God. All of these questions and more are answered In this week’s study on biblical obedience.

In this final chapter we look to scripture to better understand the will of God. We learn about terms such as God’s Will of Decree and God’s Will of Command and how to distinguish between the two. We also learn what scripture says about God’s will for each and every christian.