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Life in the Bible Club
Maple Woods College

Bible Study Outlines

November 15, 2006

Christian Experience - Enjoying Grace (Part 2 of 3)

  1. An Introduction to Christian Experience - Grace continues
    1. Last week we saw that grace cannot be considered in a complete way without describing the action that our God and Father took both in sending His son Christ and by giving us "another comforter," "the Spirit of reality" which has been made available because of Christ's going away (dying) and being resurrected to become the life giving Spirit. This we saw clearly in John 7:38-39 which is the promise that was fulfilled in 1 Cor. 15:45b. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the enjoyment of this grace are meant to be the content of our human life for the rest of the time that the Lord gives us to live the human life while on this earth.
    2. We have to be clear that even before man became fallen, there was no life in the spirit of man. When we called on the name of the Lord, He came into our spirit to be our life. When He came into our spirit, He immediately became life to our spirit (Rom. 8:10). In the Bible this is called regeneration, which is a new birth. In John 3:6 the Lord said, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." To be born of the Spirit means to be born of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. When we call upon Him, He comes into us as the life-giving Spirit. Then our spirit is born of Him, so we have a rebirth in our spirit. This rebirth is a new start of our being, a new start of our history, a new start in Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This start is something in our spirit.
    3. The teachings in today's Christianity cause people to pay attention to outward activities. But today in the Lord's recovery, He has brought us back to the inward aspect. The inward aspect is the life in our spirit. We need to forget about outward activities, outward improvement, outward correction, outward behavior, etc. We have to turn back all the time to the spirit. The Christian life and the church life are a matter of us being in our spirit. Do not try to do anything outwardly. Instead, always return to your spirit, where the Lord Jesus is. This is to receive grace.
  2. Verses and footnotes from the Recovery Version of the New Testament
    1. Hebrews 4:161-2 - Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.
    2. Ephesians 4:72 - But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
    3. Romans 12:61 - And having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith
  3. Questions
    1. How is grace related to our gift that is meant for the building up of the Body of Christ?
    2. If we feel empty and without joy, what shall we do?

 

NOTE: The footnotes referenced in the outlines are from the The Holy Bible, Recovery Version © 2003 Living Stream Ministry. An online Recovery Version may be searched for verses and footnotes at: The Holy Bible, Online Recovery Version. You may also obtain a free Recovery Version New Testament by filling out a request form on the Bibles for America website.