5.0.0 Experiencing God

This course is a 12-week study of the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. In this course, we will carefully explore and consider Blackaby's seven tenets of joining God in His work around us. Blackaby believes that: God is always at work around us; God pursues a continuing love relationship with us that is real and personal; God invites us to become involved with Him and His work; God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstance, and the church to reveal Himself, His purpose and His ways; God's invitation for us to work with Him always leads us to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action; We must make major adjustments in our lives to join God in what He is doing; We come to know God by experience as we obey Him and He accomplishes His work through us.

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5.1.1 Section 1 Objectives
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
  

5.1.2 Section 1 Content

• Jesus Is Your Way
  
• Jesus Is Your Role Model
  
• Learning to Be A Servant of God
  
• God Works Through His Servants
  
• God-Centered Living
  
• God’s Plan Versus Our Plans
  
• God Takes The Initiative
  
• God Speaks To His People
  
• God Speaks With A Purpose
  

5.2.1 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
  

5.2.2 Section 2 Content

• Created For A Love Relationship
  
• A Love Relationship With God
  
• Walking With God
  
• God Pursues A Love Relationship
  
• A Real, Personal, Practical Relationship
  
• Know God
  
• Worship God
  
• Love God
  
• God Invites You To Join Him
  
• Knowing Where God Is At Work
  

5.3.1 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
  

5.3.2 Section 3 Content

• God Speaks In Different Ways
  
• God Speaks By The Holy Spirit
  
• God Reveals
  
• God Speaks Through The Bible
  
• God Speaks Through Prayer
  
• What Is Happening When You Pray
  
• God Speaks Through Circumstances
  
• The Truth Of Your Circumstances
  
• Spiritual Markers
  
• God Speaks Through The Church
  

5.4.1 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
  

5.4.2 Section 4 Content

• A Turning Point
  
• Encounters With God Require Faith
  
• Encounters With God Are God-Sized
  
• What You Do Tells What You Believe
  
• True Faith Requires Action
  
• Adjustments Are Necessary
  
• Kinds Of Adjustments
  
• Obedience Is Costly
  
• Total Dependence On God
  

5.5.1 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 
  

5.5.2 Section 5 Content

• Experiencing God Through Obedience
  
• God Works Through You
  
• You Come To Know God
  
• Names, Titles and Descriptions of God
  
• God’s Will And The Church
  
• Discovering God’s Will As A Body
  
• The Body of Christ
  
• Life In The Body

5.6.1 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
  

5.6.2 Section 6 Content

• Our Mission To The World
  
• Kingdom Ways
  
• Koinonia In The Kingdom
  
• God’s Remedy For Broken Fellowship
  
• Essentials of Koinonia
  
• Helping Each Other
  
• Seven Spiritual Realities