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, maybe at Panera or Starbucks, with our Bibles open and our notebooks ready.
Today, I am incredibly excited to introduce a class that zeroes in on the single most important tool you need for living a victorious Christian life and helping others do the same. If you want to break free from the crippling venom of your past, deal with the stubborn sins that keep tripping you up, and learn how to run the Christian race with endurance, you absolutely must join us for this lesson.
Let me walk you through three memorable, life-changing truths we will unpack together:
1. The Shaving Cream and the Biblical Mirror
Scripture References: James 1; Matthew 7.
Summary of What’s Covered: We kick off the class by looking at the true foundation of biblical counseling and discipleship: looking in the mirror of God’s Word. I will share a hilarious and humbling story of how I once navigated an entire Sunday morning with shaving cream sitting on my glasses like whipping cream, all because I failed to properly look in the mirror! We will learn that before we can ever help others biblically or try to remove the speck from someone else’s eye, we must actively practice personal sanctification by examining our own lives and letting God’s truth change us first.
2. The Ultimate Operating System and Extracting the Venom
Scripture References: Colossians 2:6-23; Ezekiel 36:26; Genesis 41.
Summary of What’s Covered: Next, we dive into Colossians 2 to discover that you are entirely complete in Christ. You will learn that at salvation, God gives you the ultimate, never-needing-to-be-upgraded operating system—a brand new heart! We will also tackle the heavy burdens of guilt and past abuse. Looking at the life of Joseph in Genesis 41, we learn that while God may not erase the memory of past pain, He acts like a surgeon pulling out a bee stinger—He extracts the venom so that the past no longer has the power to cripple us. Because our past is buried, we can walk forward in total confidence.
3. The Agonizing Race and the Ultimate Coach
Scripture References: Hebrews 12:1-2; Isaiah 40:31; Romans 13.
Summary of What’s Covered: Finally, we look at what it takes to finish well. We will dive into the Greek word for "race" in Hebrews 12, which is agon—the exact root of our English word for agony! The Christian life is a hard, agonizing endurance race, but we are commanded to lay aside our besetting sins. We will look at the fascinating Greek phrase for these sins: the sins we comfortably allow to take "good standing" all around us. The incredible news is that we have already won, because Jesus Christ is our goal, our coach running right beside us, and our umpire waiting at the finish line to hand us the crown of life!
If you want to stop carrying the weight of past hurts and start running your spiritual race with absolute confidence in Christ, you need to grab your Bible, get your journal ready, and let’s master the Scriptures together!
BC&D 06* Foundations For Sanctification Part 2
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