Welcome back to our small group study! John Barnett here. I want you to imagine we are sitting right across the table from each other with our Bibles open and a fresh cup of coffee.
Today, we are tackling a profound danger in our spiritual lives: the danger of studying the Bible just to get smarter, rather than letting it actually change us. If you want to learn how to move from just gathering prophetic facts to experiencing true, daily life change, you absolutely must join us for this lesson. I am incredibly excited to introduce this class.
Let me walk you through three memorable, life-changing truths we will unpack together:
1. The Backward Sweater and the Biblical Mirror
Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3.
Summary of What’s Covered: We kick off the class with a hilarious and humbling story from my early days pastoring in New England. Because our 160-year-old parsonage had no hallways, I used to get dressed in the dark to avoid waking up Bonnie and the kids.
One morning, I went to a 5:30 a.m. Bible study, met with people, and even got filmed for the local TV news—only for my 82-year-old secretary to finally point out that I had been wearing my three-button cable-knit sweater completely backward all morning! I had dressed without looking in a mirror. We will see how Paul warns us that knowledge just "puffs us up," and how we must use the Bible as our mirror (2 Corinthians 3) to look at ourselves, expose what needs to be fixed, and let God change our lives.
2. Praying Through the Ruins of Jerusalem
Scripture References: Zechariah 12-14.
Summary of What’s Covered: Next, we get incredibly practical. The true goal of this course is not just to master the outline of the Bible, but to learn how to write an application prayer. I am going to share the exact prayer I wrote in my own journal after reading these chapters. Together, we will thank the Creator who inspired Zechariah to look across the ruins of Jerusalem and proclaim God’s perfect plan. We will ask the Lord—the very one who was "pierced for me"—to take these massive prophetic truths and use them to help us love and serve Him all of our days.
3. The Flowing Fountain of Grace
Scripture References: Woven from Zechariah and Paul’s letters ("Whoever calls on the name of the Lord").
Summary of What’s Covered: Finally, we look at the ultimate result of studying prophecy: a renewed passion for evangelism. In Zechariah, God promises to open a fountain of grace and mercy for the unbelieving Jewish remnant at the end of the world. But here is the incredible application for us today: every single time you share the gospel and someone comes to Christ, that exact same fountain is flowing! We will rejoice in the truth that everyone—whether a Jewish survivor in the Tribulation or your next-door neighbor today—is saved the exact same way: by calling on the name of the Lord.
If you want to stop getting dressed in the spiritual dark and start letting God’s Word actively transform your heart, you need to grab your Bible, get your journal ready, and let’s look into the mirror of God’s Word together!
From FTGC-24d – https://youtu.be/Lt_uCiKI8Dw
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