DISCOVER THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF

DISCOVER THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF

Lesson Four
A PERMANENT HEAVENLY KINGDOM

1. Acts 2:47 says ________________ added to the number of believers, the church. You do not have to go through any special orientation to be added to the church. Whose church is it (Matthew 16:17-18)? ______________________ The moment anyone becomes a saved Christian, that person is automatically a member of the (Romans 16:16) ________________. Even if you lived on a small pagan island and were the only Christian, you would still be a member of the church. You do not have to know who the others are. God knows.

2. There are three different terms used to describe saved people who belong to Christ as a group ~ the church. Look up the scriptures below, and check all the columns that apply to see how they inter-relate:

SCRIPTURE	KINGDOM	BODY	CHURCH

Luke 9:27
I Corinthians 1:2
I Corinthians 12:12-13; 25:27-28
I Corinthians 15:24-25
Ephesians 1:22-23
Colossians 1:2; 13:18
Revelation 1:6, 9

3. Being a Christian entitles a person to many blessings. Look up these scriptures and list some of the Christian's blessings:

Romans 1:7b - ____________________________ and ___________________________
I Corinthians 1:5 - Enriched in word and _______________________
II Corinthians 1:4 - ____________________________________ in troubles
Galatians 1:4 - _____________________________________ us from evil
Ephesians 1:3 - Every spiritual ____________________________
Ephesians 1:4 - ___________________ and __________________ in God's sight.
Ephesians 1:5 - ____________________________ of our sins
Ephesians 1:8 - Lavished with godly _______________ and ____________________
I Thessalonians 1:4 - _____________________ by God.
II Thessalonians 1:5 - Citizens in the _____________________ of God
Titus 1:2 - Hope of _________________________ promised by God
I Peter 1:3 - A new birth and living _________________________
I Peter 1:4 - __________________________ in heaven
I Peter 1:5 - By God's power ____________________________ for salvation
II Peter 1:3 - Everything we need for ________________ and ________________ through our
_________________________ of him.
II Peter 1:4 - Participation in the ______________________ nature and escape from the _________________________ in the world.
Jude 1 - Loved by God and ______________________ by Jesus
Revelation 1:5b - Loved by Jesus and washed from our _____________ by his blood

We must share the news with others! We must tell them of the blessings they may be missing out on!

4. In addition to unfathomable blessings, Christians have certain responsibilities. Look up these scriptures and list some of them:

II Corinthians 1:11 - Help others with our ________________________
Ephesians 1:15 - Show __________________ for the other saints (Christians).
Colossians 1:6 - Bear (bring forth) __________________ and grow
I Thessalonians 1:6 - ____________________________ of the apostles and Lord despite suffering
I Thessalonians 1:7 - _____________________ for other believers
I Thessalonians 1:8 - The _______________________ ringing out from them
II Thessalonians 1:4 - _______________________ and faith
Philemon 2 - Church meeting in our home _______________________
Philemon 6 - Active in sharing (communicating) our __________________
Hebrews 10:25, 24 - Not forsaking _______________________________________________________
together to encourage mutual love and good __________________
James 1:4 ______________________________ that makes us perfect and complete in God's eyes
James 1:5 - Ask God for ______________________
I Peter 1:6-7 - Endure trials so our __________________ may be tried by fire and proven genuine
II Peter 1:5-7 - (List) _________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
II Peter 1:10 - Make our calling and election _______________ so we will never _______________
II John 6 - Prove our love by walking in Jesus' ___________________________
III John 3 - Continue to walk in the ___________________

5. Christians should pass on the good news that Jesus saved them. How can we keep it a secret. By wearing the name Christian, it means we belong to Christ and we are Christ-like. Jesus went everywhere to (Luke 19:10) ___________ and save the ____________. John 3:16 says God so loved us that he actually _________________ his only _______________________.

Paul said in I Corinthians 9:19-23 that he made himself a _________________ to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews he became like a ________ to win them. To the weak he became ______________ to win them. He became _________ things to ________ men so he might ________ _________________. Why? So he could share in the gospel's blessings! I Peter 3:15 says we are always to be _______________ to give an _________________ to ____________ who _____________ us to give the reason for our _________________ of heaven. Jesus said in John 15:5 that he was the _______________ and we are the ______________. If we remain in him, we will bear ___________ fruit.

6. Christians must also ask God to help them stop doing things we know are wrong. The Apostle Paul had to do some major changes when he became a Christian. He said he once (I Timothy 1:13) ______________________________, ____________________________ and _______________________. Paul even said he was the (I Timothy 1:15-16) ___________________ of sinners, but Jesus had unlimited __________________ with him.

The Christians in Corinth had previously been sinners like this (I Corinthians 6:9-11): __________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
But they turned from them (repented) and were forgiven. NO SIN IS TOO BIG FOR GOD TO FORGIVE. He loves to forgive!

7. Change is hard to accomplish. II Peter 1:10 urges us to make our salvation ________________ so we will never ______________________. Therefore every Christian should become like the noble Bereans who received the word, and then did what (Acts 17:11)? ______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Set aside a specific time every day to read the Bible. There are two approaches to studying the Bible alone. (a) If there are certain subjects with which you are struggling or interested, use your concordance (explained below) and search out everything God had to say on that subject. (b) Read the Bible through every year. There are charts available in the backs of some Bibles and special Bibles with every date of the year already printed in them.

God said in II Timothy 3:16, "All _________________________ is ______________________________ and is beneficial for __________________________, ________________________, ______________________
_______________________________________ so the man of God may be __________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________.

8. Also, pray daily. Jesus said (Luke 18:1) his disciples should _____________ pray and never _____ ____________________. Ephesians 6:18 says we are to pray on all occasions for all the ____________ ________________. We are to learn to NOT (Philippians 4:6-7) _________________________ about anything. BUT through prayer make our _______________________ known to God. Then, the _______________ of God that passes all ______________________ will guard our hearts and minds.

9. Because the Christian life is difficult to live alone, try to find others who have become Christians the Bible way as you learned. Be wise. Paul warned in I Timothy 4:2-3 about false teachers out there who are ___________________ whose ____________________________ have been seared with a hot iron. Some forbid people to _____________________ and require that they abstain from certain _________ ________. II Peter 2:1, 3 says false teachers bring _____________________ heresies, and because of their greed, they tell stories with words that are ______________________ ____________________. False teachers are (II Peter 2:10b) ______________________ and ___________________, springs without (II Peter 2:17-18) _____________________ who speak _____________________________ words. Don't let people's "holy" smiles fool you; even Satan can (II Corinthians 11:14) transform himself into an _________________ of light.

10. Study for yourself. You may have a small concordance in the back of your Bible. An unabridged one the size of a large telephone book is an index to the entire Bible containing every word. Most large bookstores carry Bible concordances and the price is always kept down on them. Your library may also have one you can borrow. Get together with friends if you like, look up topics, and learn together.

Using your concordance, read everything in the Bible God has to say about a topic. If something's not there, God never said it. That way, you do not need anyone else telling you what to believe. God did not create a Bible that cannot be understood by the average person.