5.0.0 Experiencing God
This course invites you on an incredible journey to transform your relationship with the Lord from "knowing about God" to knowing God by experience in a real and intimate love relationship. This isn't a program or a method; it's a profound, personal encounter with the living Christ that promises to revolutionize every aspect of your life.
At its heart, the course reveals that God is always at work around you. He consistently takes the initiative to pursue a continuing love relationship with you, desiring to involve you in His redemptive purposes for the world. God communicates His will and activity through powerful, interwoven means: the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. The Holy Spirit serves as your personal, 24/7 teacher, guiding you into all truth and enabling you to understand God's heart and recognize His unique voice through a deepening, trusting relationship, rather than relying on mere formulas.
When God reveals His plans and extends an invitation to join Him, it invariably leads to a crisis of belief. This pivotal moment demands faith and action. It's a turning point where you must decide what you truly believe about God – whether He is who He says He is, and capable of doing what He promises, even when it seems humanly impossible. Responding in faith then requires making major adjustments in your life. You cannot continue life as usual or stay where you are and simultaneously go with God. These often costly adjustments, exemplified by the sacrifices of biblical figures like Noah or Paul, prepare you for obedience, which is the ultimate outward expression of your love and trust in God.
As you wholeheartedly obey, you will witness God accomplishing His work through you – work that is always "God-sized," far beyond your human abilities or resources. This divine activity is precisely how you, and a watching world, will come to know God intimately by experience. By becoming moldable clay in the Master's hands and fully dependent on Him, you'll realize your unlimited potential as God works through you. The course also highlights the vital role of the church as the body of Christ, where interdependent believers collectively discern God's will and experience His presence. This Koinonia – a vital, living fellowship – extends beyond your local church, fostering powerful relationships that magnify God's kingdom impact. Prepare to be amazed as God uses ordinary people like you to do extraordinary things for His glory.
At its heart, the course reveals that God is always at work around you. He consistently takes the initiative to pursue a continuing love relationship with you, desiring to involve you in His redemptive purposes for the world. God communicates His will and activity through powerful, interwoven means: the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. The Holy Spirit serves as your personal, 24/7 teacher, guiding you into all truth and enabling you to understand God's heart and recognize His unique voice through a deepening, trusting relationship, rather than relying on mere formulas.
When God reveals His plans and extends an invitation to join Him, it invariably leads to a crisis of belief. This pivotal moment demands faith and action. It's a turning point where you must decide what you truly believe about God – whether He is who He says He is, and capable of doing what He promises, even when it seems humanly impossible. Responding in faith then requires making major adjustments in your life. You cannot continue life as usual or stay where you are and simultaneously go with God. These often costly adjustments, exemplified by the sacrifices of biblical figures like Noah or Paul, prepare you for obedience, which is the ultimate outward expression of your love and trust in God.
As you wholeheartedly obey, you will witness God accomplishing His work through you – work that is always "God-sized," far beyond your human abilities or resources. This divine activity is precisely how you, and a watching world, will come to know God intimately by experience. By becoming moldable clay in the Master's hands and fully dependent on Him, you'll realize your unlimited potential as God works through you. The course also highlights the vital role of the church as the body of Christ, where interdependent believers collectively discern God's will and experience His presence. This Koinonia – a vital, living fellowship – extends beyond your local church, fostering powerful relationships that magnify God's kingdom impact. Prepare to be amazed as God uses ordinary people like you to do extraordinary things for His glory.
Section 1 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- understand that having a relationship with Jesus Christ is a prerequisite to knowing God’s will and responding to it
- discuss how God has worked through people throughout history
- apply the Bible as a practical guide for faith and daily practice
- demonstrate how to seek and know the will of God
- explain the roles of master and servant used to describe our relationship with God
- display obedience to God’s command and not based on our own initiative
- list and discuss the seven realities of experiencing God
- compare/contrast the concepts of self-centeredness and God-centeredness
- recognize that God’s revelation of His activity is an invitation for us to join Him.
- list the six expectations we are promised from the Holy Spirit
- conclude how God speaks to us today and for what purposes
Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain why a love relationship with God is primary to finding His will
- discuss how God develops a love relationship with us
- conclude that it's possible for a person to actually have a real, personal and practical relationship with God
- list and explain the many names by which we know and experience God
- list and explain the many ways we can worship God
- summarize the connection that obedience has to our expression of love for God
- interpret how God’s commands serve as expressions of His nature of love
- understand Jesus’ example of accepting God’s invitation (John 5:17, 19-20)
- distinguish factors that are important to recognizing the activity of God around us
- recognize God’s role in including us in his work
Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- recognize the many ways that God speaks to His people
- list and discuss four important factors we know about how God speaks to us
- explain the key elements in how we can know the will and voice of God
- discuss the different instances in the Bible when God spoke through the Holy Spirit
- understand how God uses the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth
- explain how God reveals himself to us in order to help us respond in faith
- outline the connection between revelation, to increased faith, to action
- list the different ways God speaks uniquely to individuals, and how they can hear and recognize His voice
- explain how we should respond to God when circumstances are difficult or confusing
- describe how God uses the church to help us hear and understand God’s call
Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain how God uses a crisis of belief as a turning point in our faith
- summarize the different stages of the crisis of belief
- discuss how God uses challenging situations to develop our faith
- discuss how God uses God-sized encounters to demonstrate His nature and strength
- recognize the direct connections between what we believe and how we act
- understand how making adjustments our lives is a requirement of obedience
- list and explain different kinds of adjustments God requires us to make in our lives
- evaluate the cost of obedience and the price of following God’s will
- explain why we must depend on God to carry out His purposes
Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain the role of obedience as it relates to our love of God
- evaluate how God deals with different cases of disobedience
- discuss how God accomplishes His purposes through those who obey
- list the different ways Jesus identified Himself with the I AM
- recognize God’s supreme timing, direction and empowerment in our lives
- explain the role of the church in identifying God’s will
- summarize the purpose of the church in knowing and doing God’s will
- explain how the Holy Spirit equipped people to complete an assignment of God
- List the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit can use to work in and through a person’s life
Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- discuss how God uses local churches to carry out His will in every part of the earth
- list possible ways that a person could be used by God to impact world missions
- reference New Testament parables that describe God’s Kingdom
- define Koinonia as it relates to our fellowship with God
- define Koinonia as it relates to our fellowship with churches
- explain God’s remedy for broken fellowship
- list and discuss the essentials of Koinonia with God
- summarize our dependence on a body of believers to fully experience God
- identify the seven spiritual realities as described by Henry Blackaby