Jesus and His disciples have gathered for the Passover.  Jesus, knowing full well who He was and what was in store for Him, demonstrates the full extent of His love (13:1) and strips to His underwear, wraps a towel around His waist and begins to wash His disciples feet.

The disciples were the Church and here is our picture of Jesus serving them.  We can look at this picture and get a glimpse of what it meant in the context of the times and of the Man/God who was humbling Himself in this act of service, but we will never know all that this act meant and implied.  First, because this was Jesus; we will never understand what it took for God to humble Himself in becoming a mere mortal.  Second, because we cannot understand what it meant in the context of the times for Jesus, or anyone, to become the one who washed feet.  We have no cultural equivalent to use as an analogy to get our heads around just what this act of service meant.  But this does not mean there is nothing for us to get hold of here.

One of the pairs of feet that Jesus washed were those of Judas Iscariot.  Jesus served Judas in this way in the full knowledge of what Judas was about to do (13:18).  Stop and think about that.  Knowing that Judas was about to betray Him and set into motion the events that would end with His death on the cross, Jesus knelt before His betrayer and humbly washed his feet.

The question before us is how do we serve the Church?  Every church has tons of stuff that needs to be done and we need to be about doing our part in getting that stuff done.  But the church is not made up of ‘stuff’.  The church is made up of people.  When we serve the church, we serve the people who make up the church.  The example that Jesus set and specifically calls us to imitate (13:14-15) is to wash each other feet.  The disciples had dirty feet and they needed to be washed.  We are to serve those around us in what it is that they are in need of.  The example and call includes the John’s that bring us joy and intimacy, the Peter’s who always disagree with us and try to boss us around and the Judas’s who have every intent of betraying us.

Every grudge and excuse that you and I hold as reasons to not serve that ‘special’ someone in your life and in the church pales before Christ’s example; every petty irritation and bad attitude we have is exposed for exactly what it is, no matter how serious they may appear to be from our own point of view.  In the face of the Son of God humbly serving as a slave the man He knew was about to walk out the door to betray Him, any reason I may have to hold aloof from doing the same evaporates.  If we claim to be followers of Jesus, His example cannot be ignored.

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Questions:

1. What do you see in these verses?  What are the ideas and concepts that strike you as important here?
2. What is your attitude towards serving others?  Do you have a gift for service?  If so, how does that gift tend to be demonstrated through you?
3. What do you think your reaction would have been to Jesus washing your feet?
4. What is your reaction to the example that Jesus has set for you and me?
5. What do you think Flatland or any church would look like if even a portion of those who attended took this example to heart and behaved in a like manner?
6. Who is it that you need to serve?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

Hosea was a prophet who was active, primarily in the northern kingdom of Israel in the second half of the eighth century B.C. (c.755-715).  The Lord has commanded Hosea to marry an ‘adulterous’ wife (Hosea 1:2).  When Gomer, the wife that Hosea marries, continues in her adulterous ways, Hosea divorces her (Hosea 2:2) and then buys her back out of slavery (Hosea 3:1-3), all of which the Lord uses to make a point about Israel’s behavior in regards to Him and His love for His people.  As we pick up our story in chapter four, the Lord is specifying His charge against Israel; ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.  There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.’

The first thing that I see in these verses is that three times, the Lord specifically references a lack of understanding or lack of knowledge being one of the roots of what is going on (vv.6,11,14) in Israel.  His people are dying because they just don’t know any better.

The second thing that I see here is that immediately after the first reference in v.6, He singles out the priests as having rejected knowledge and because they have ignored His law, He will break His covenant with them as priests.

What does this all have to do with Christian Education and why we should all be involved in the Core Classes that are being offered at Flatland?  A priest is a go between, standing between God and mankind mediating between the two and, among other things, bringing to man what God has to offer them.  If you are a follower of Christ, a born-again believer, you are a priest (1Peter 2:9), belonging to God and having the duty to bring His light into the darkness of the world.  If you don’t know that light, if you don’t know how that light relates to the world around you and aren’t building the knowledge and understanding that God has for you through His Spirit, you stand in the same position as these priests in Hosea’s day did.  They had a responsibility to educate the people about who God is and what He is about and they failed in that responsibility because they themselves had no clue.

You do not have to look very far to see that Hosea’s description of Israel 2700 years ago is a fairly accurate description of the culture and world that we live in today.  While there is whole lot more going on both in these passages in Hosea and our culture than an issue of education, the fact remains that people both inside and outside the church do what they do because they just don’t know any better, they are stumbling in the darkness.

If you have made the commitment to follow Christ, to grow in your relationship with Him, then it would seem that the Core Classes are a must.  They just aren’t a box to be checked on your spiritual resume, but the light that they offer needs to be consumed.  Go to class, do the homework, think and pray about the material.  Offer your thoughts and insights in and out of class, don’t let your questions and lack of understanding slide by because you think that they may be ‘stupid’, offer what you see can be done better to the leadership of the church, put yourself into a position to be transformed by the Holy Spirit as you work through the material.

The world around us is in desperate need of what Christ has to offer.  We have been given the responsibility as a royal priesthood of bring that offering to the people in need around us.  The core classes are a vehicle for us to learn about who Christ is and what He has for us in order that we have something to offer to that needy world when we come face-to-face with it.

For Further Study: Proverbs 1:1-7; Isaiah 5:11-17; Isaiah 56:9-12; James 1:2-8
Questions:

1. What do you see in these verses?  What do you see as the important ideas and concepts that God is presenting to Israel through Hosea?
2. What is your attitude toward Christian Education, towards taking the Core Classes being offered?  How important do you see your participation?  Are you willing to do the work needed to maximize the opportunity?
3. Does your current understanding of who you are in Christ include this idea of being a priest, a go-between standing in the presence of God in order to bring light to a dark and needy world?  Do you understand what it is that God has to offer?  Do you have an idea of just what it is that the people around you are in need of?
4. What is the class in the upcoming trimester that you could attend?  Are you willing to begin setting aside the time for study now so that when class arrives, the habit is already begun?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Life Groups are a vital part of the Body of Christ known as Flatland Church.  They provide additional times when we can serve one another and grow in the Lord.  They are a continuation of the Sunday morning service and its purposes.

Life Groups have a goal to “transform your life.”  Getting involved in a Life Group means getting involved in the lives of others within the church.  As we get to know others within a more personal setting, we can help each other along in our walk with Christ.  We become more than just a passing face in the crowd and a friendly handshake.  We become friends who can laugh and cry together as we struggle with everything life throws at us.

For most Life Groups, we take a closer look at what God is trying to say to us during the Sunday morning service.  Other Life Groups will examine other issues.  But for all Life Groups, we motivate each other to live as God would have us live, to serve as God would have us serve, and to be what God would have us be.  To be transformed through fellowship and study.

As we grow together in Life Groups, it then feeds back into our main corporate worship service on Sunday.  We become more and more one big family as we get to know each other better.  The transformation we get in Life Groups then in turn transforms our experience on Sundays.  But even then there is more that Flatland offers that we may grow in our relationship with God and each other.

Questions:

1. What do you see in these two verses from Ecclesiastes?  Look up these verses in your favorite translation and read the surrounding verses.  What strikes you as what the Teacher is trying to say?
2. Do you have a friend with whom you can work for the Kingdom?  Do you have a friend to whom you can turn when you are face down in the mud?  Do you have a friend who is face down in the mud and needs you to reach out a hand?
3. Is there anyone in your life with whom you can laugh?  How about with whom you can cry?
4. Do you belong to a Life Group?  Is so, why do you belong?  If not, why not?
5. How would you characterize your Life Group?  What are its strengths?  What weaknesses?  What do you think a newcomer would see?  Have you pursued a visitor to your Life Group when they have failed to return in order to find out why?
6. If you do not currently belong to a Life Group, what is it that is getting in the way?
7. What can you do today to improve your Life Group, to make it a place where Christ is honored and His children gather to worship His Name?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

Hebrews 10:24-25 “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (NLT)

Many question the value of the traditional Sunday morning church service.  It is often called an old boring ritual that has long out lived its purpose.  There is some truth to that statement.  Many Sunday morning services are just that, a ritual that has no purpose or meaning.  One attends because one “is suppose to” and nothing more, it is a religious duty to perform.  It turns the Sunday service into an empty, meaningless act.

But that doesn’t mean that Sunday services should be abandoned.  Rather, the services need reinvigorated by the Holy Spirit and our hearts and minds need transformed to see the purpose of meeting together.  I believe Flatland does just that.

First and foremost, we come together to give honor and praise to the God we serve.  People are often motivated to attend church that they may get blessed.  But in truth, we should come together in order to serve the Lord, worship Him, and bless others.  The Psalms are full of passages that speak about praising the Lord together as a congregation (Psalms 22:22; 35:28; 100:1-5; 149:1).

Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches us that our meeting together is a time to encourage, motivate, and build one another up.  Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 12-14 that meeting together is “done for the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26).  We are provided the gifts of the Spirit that we may minister to one another, helping each other become strong in the Lord.  If we abandon meeting together, we abandon becoming strong Christians.

Sunday morning services are a time for us to hear the Word of God from the pastors that God has appointed to us.  He leads and directs them in the ways He would have us go. The words they speak are what God would have us hear.  The gift of pastor-teacher that God has given us through our pastors is one that we should cherish and desire.  The Sunday sermon isn’t something to sleep through (or browse the web on our smart-phones) but something we should look forward to hearing, learning from, and being motivated by that we may serve God better.

Questions:

1. What do you see in the verses mentioned here?  What do you see as the important concepts and ideas that the Bible is teaching about our meeting together as a congregation?
2. How do you look at Sunday services?  Why do you go to church on Sundays?  What is your motivation?  What is it that you look forward to on Sundays?  Do you look forward to Sunday?
3. How have you been motivated to acts of love and good works by another believer?
4. In what ways are you encouraged by meeting together with other believers?
5. How does the church need to be strengthened?  What do you see as its strengths?  What are its weaknesses?
6. How do you think that our meeting together strengthens the church?  What do you see as your part in that process?
7. What can you do this weekend to motivate others to acts of love and good works?  How can you encourage someone this weekend at church?  What can you do to play a role in the strengthening of the church?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

To follow is to submit to authority.  We hire a guide in an unknown city to show us the sights or get us to our destination and we accept that he knows where he is going and knows how to get there, and we follow because we want to get to our destination.  We submit to his authority and trust that he will get us where we are going.

One of our primary guides as we follow Christ is the Bible.  One of our first tasks needs to be settling this question the authority of the Bible.  Does its claim to being the inspired Word of God hold up?  Does the Truth that it proclaims stand up to inspection?  If we are going to follow, we have to trust that what it is that we follow is true.  If we are half-hearted in our following, we will end up lost and in a worse place that when we started.

Paul is writing to one of his protégés, a man named Timothy, whom he has left in charge of the church in Ephesus and Timothy is apparently struggling with this very issue.  He has run into persecution of some kind because of his following Christ.  Paul’s encouragement to Timothy is to ‘continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of’ (v.14) and that continuing has to be founded on Scripture.  We can and need to study and think about the context of Scripture, the evidence that points to its Truth, the archeology and science that continue to reveal the soundness of what it says about history and the times about which it was written.  But when push comes to shove, we have to come to an internal decision, a ‘crisis’ decision, that is an entirely personal one as to whether or not the Bible is true and authoritative and if we are going to follow, regardless of the cost.

We have taken to following Jesus in order to find salvation.  When we are born again of the Spirit, that salvation is given to us a gift from God.  The task then becomes hammering out that salvation in the real world, in the day in, day out drudgery and crisis of our lives.  The question is whether or not we are going to accept our Guide as authoritative, as really knowing what the Truth is, in that following.  When we accept the authority of the Bible, it enables us to become ‘wise for salvation through faith in Christ’ (v.15).  We are taught, rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness with the end result being we are thoroughly equipped for every good work (vv.16-17), for following Christ through whatever it is that life has to throw at us.

So…the question comes down to ‘Do you trust your guide?’  Has Holy Spirit proven Himself to be authoritative through the Bible?  In the crunch of the real world, has the direction that you have received through the Word and the Spirit proven able to get you to your destination?  If so, follow on.  If not, where was the failure?  Was it in the Word or your ear for direction?  Were the directions faulty or did the fault lie in your heart for obedience?  The answers to these questions come only with practice in the discipline of following as are hearts and minds are remade in the crucible of discipleship.

Questions:

1. What do you see in these verses?  What are the ideas and concepts that stand out to you as you read them?
2. What is your take on the authority of the Bible?  Do you truly believe that it is able to train and change you, making you wise for salvation and equipping you for the work God has for you?
3. What is your attitude when you come to the Bible to read, study and meditate?  Are you looking for validation of what you think or are you looking for the Truth that the Holy Spirit would reveal to you?  Are you looking for ammunition to convince others of your ‘truth’ or are you looking to be changed as Holy Spirit reveals His Truth to you?
4. What are the challenges and crisis that you face today?  Does the Bible have anything to say about them?  Are you willing to apply what it does say in the midst of those challenges?
5. Are you willing to be rebuked, corrected and trained under the authority of the Bible?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

When we accept Jesus as our savior, everything changes as we pass from spiritual death to life. We become a new creature, the old has gone, and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19), and with it a new identity.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord, we are not forgiven sinners anymore but redeemed saints. The moment we became Christians, our core identity changes from someone who was excluded from God to someone who is ACCEPTED, SECURE, and SIGNIFICANT in Christ.

We are accepted as God’s children (John 1:12). No matter what we do, our Father is only interested in what’s best for us, sometimes through rewards, sometimes through disciplines, but ultimately He just wants us to grow in Him. We have been redeemed and forgiven of all our sins (Colossians 1:14). God will not use our past sins against us. In fact the faithful in Christ are addressed as saints (Ephesians 1:1) so we are indeed redeemed saints in Christ.

We can be secure in the fact that we are liberated from the worldly law of sin and death by the law of Spirit in Christ and therefore we are free from condemnation (Romans 8:1-2). When our new spirit, the Holy Spirit guides us we don’t have to worry about committing sin against the law. And nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39), not even death. Jesus has conquered death. We have become a citizen of heaven, and eagerly await a savior from there (Philippians 3:20) with the peace of mind that we already have the passport.

With our new identity also comes our new significance in Christ. With our new spirit, the Holy Spirit, we have become a personal spirit-empowered witness of Christ’s (Acts 1:8). We become ambassadors of the greatest king ever. We will be seated with Christ in the heavenly realm for eternity (Ephesians 2:6). Not a small feat, but in fact we are endowed with the greatest privilege. Last but not least, we’re so significant in Christ that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). There could be many variations to this famous quote, but it is an important part of our identity when we live through Christ, and put Christ first in everything we do.

Questions:

1. Have you felt rejected or shameful in the past?  Who rejected you?
2. Have you felt guilty, alone, or abandoned in the past?  Who condemned you?  Who abandoned you?  To whom have you tried to reach out?
3. Have you felt insignificant in the past?  Who has belittled you?  What is it that made those experiences painful?
4. Who do you see yourself to be?  What is the source of who you are and what you are about?
5. Who is it that you want to be?
6. Read the verses detailed above.  What do you see in them that agrees or disagrees with what you think about yourself?  What do they say about what your Heavenly Father thinks about you?
7. How would accepting what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about who you are in Him change how you see the people around you?
8. What can you do today to accept and follow this new identity that you are being offered in Christ?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist.  As He emerges from the Jordan, the Holy Spirit comes down on Him like a dove and the Father speaks, saying ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’  In these verses we see all three Persons of the Trinity together in finite time and space, with both Father and Spirit witnessing to the Son.  There is nothing here that proves the Trinity, but the foundation is certainly laid for the step of faith needed to accept Father, Son and Holy Spirit as One in the same.

The Trinity has always been a controversial concept, sometimes within the church and nearly always outside of it.  The Muslim world holds that Christianity is heretical because we worship three Gods rather than the One God of Abraham.  The Jews argue along the same lines, denying that Jesus is divine.  Nowhere in the Scriptures is the doctrine of the Trinity specifically defined.  Needless to say, trying to get a grip on an Infinite God within the context of a finite world is a challenge to most everyone.

Yet, if we remove the doctrine of the Trinity from our faith and understanding, Jesus becomes just a man, and the Holy Spirit is not the Living God come to live within us.  God becomes aloof and distant instead of the personal God, Immanuel; God with us.  Without the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all equal, yet each distinct, the whole of Christianity begins to unravel.  Salvation becomes questionable rather than assured and none of us can enter into our day with the comfort and assurance that the Holy Spirit goes with us, united to our own spirits through being born again of that Spirit.  To reject the Trinity is to accept that I am truly alone.  I find that prospect unacceptable, not to mention more than a little distressing.

Ultimately, it seems to me that the whole point of the Trinity lies with God’s expanding revelation of Himself.  He spoke Creation into existence in the Old Testament and walked with Adam in the Garden.  He established His Covenant with Abraham, which He then expanded to include the entire nation in Israel.  He sent His Son to deal with the sin of that nation and the world in order to make it possible for Him to send His Holy Spirit to you and me, today, to communicate and live with us personally and intimately, to lead us in a way that is only possible because of His Triune nature.

Trying to get a definitive grip on an infinite God defined as three separate, yet equal Persons, is not an easy and perhaps even an impossible task.  We can speak of eggs with shell, yoke and white or the sun with star, light and heat, analogies which are helpful.  But when it all shakes out, if God is not a triune God, He is not the God of the Bible.  He is not the personal, saving God who came to reveal Himself to us, to save us and lead us into a transforming relationship with Himself.

For further study: Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 1:9-11; John 14:6-20; Acts 2:32-33; 1Corinthians 12:4-6; 1Peter 1:2
Questions:

1. What do you understand about the concept of the Trinity?  What do you see as important about the whole idea of Father, Son and Holy Spirit being separate but equal, different yet the same God?
2. What are some of the analogies and ideas that have helped you come to a better understanding of the Trinity?
3. How does the idea of this Infinite God being a Father help or hinder you in understanding Him better?
4. In what ways does God being a Son impact your thinking?
5. What does it mean to you that this same God comes to you as Holy Spirit?
6. How should this understanding impact your faith and behavior as you go out into you day?
7. What can you do today to get a better grip on this whole idea of the Trinity?

Please login to Flatland Teaching to post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says what it means to follow Christ.
Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.

Salvation by Grace is one of the foundational concepts that separate following Christ from every other religion in the world.  If our desire is to follow Christ, then grasping just what it means to be saved by grace is a must.  Being saved by grace strikes at the heart of who we see ourselves to be and who we see God to be and when we come to understand and accept the Holy Spirit’s definition, it radically transforms our lives.  So what is it about salvation by grace that makes it so important?  Why do I say that it is foundational to our faith and walk with God?  How does this salvation impact our day-to-day view of ourselves, the Holy Spirit and the world in which we live?

We were dead in our transgressions and God reached out and saved us.  We deserved death, we were objects of wrath, we effectively were dead as far as God was concerned because we have all sinned, we have all fallen short of His Glory.  We have all chosen to ignore and reject Him and instead follow the ‘prince of the kingdom of the air’.  We have ignored the One who gave us life and chosen to follow another.  We are all traitors and deserving of death.  We have no hope whatsoever of any kind of relationship with Him except as Executioner.  And there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it, nothing we can do can please this Holy God and mitigate the sentence of death that each one of us has earned.

Into this hopeless situation, God injected Himself.  Because of His great love for us, His richness of mercy, God sent His Son to save and redeem each one of us, to literally buy us back from the one who owned us because of our sin, by shedding His blood on the Cross, taking our punishment, that sentence of death we had earned, upon Himself.  Nor did He stop there as He went on to make us alive again, raising us and seating us in the heavenly places with His Son and sealing us with His Spirit.  And once again, there is nothing we can ‘do’, no good work that will enable us to earn any of this.  It is strictly a matter of grace, of the undeserved merit and favor that God extends to us.

This leaves each of us with a choice.  We can either accept this gift or we can reject it.  And here lies the rub.  Do I really believe that God would do this for me?  Was I really a sinner who deserved nothing but death?  Am I really seated with Christ in the heavenly realms?  Personally, I would rather hang out in the middle of these extremes, which is nothing but foolishness when it comes right down to it.  On the one hand, I don’t want to acknowledge that I was really that bad.  Yes, I made some mistakes and did some things that I probably shouldn’t have, but I am not rotten to the core, I really didn’t deserve that sentence of death for my rebellion and behavior.  On the other hand, I don’t want to accept that I am seated with Christ and all that it implies.  What I really want is to have that sentence commuted and then be allowed to go on as I choose.  Okay, I will quit cussing, go to church, sing in the choir and even teach a Sunday school class.  I am willing to do a few things to make God happy, but I don’t want to do what it takes to truly follow Him.  I do not want to walk in true obedience; I just want to make it look like I am, to fool myself into thinking that I am doing as I should.

This is where being saved by grace leads to transformation.  When I finally come to terms with the fact that yes, I was really that bad and that sentence of death was just and deserved, the fact that Christ came and died for me takes on an entirely new significance.  It changes how I see God.  He no longer is some distant, uncaring, angry and ultimately unapproving God.  He becomes someone that I can talk to, someone that I can begin to trust, and someone that I can begin to love and follow.  When I come to terms with the fact that this same God has come to live with me, has seated me with Him in the heavenly realms, has literally taken me into His Household and has nothing but my best at heart, and there is nothing that I can do to earn His love, He becomes someone that I want to follow, the foolishness of my own way of doing things begins to become clear and the joy of being a part of His Kingdom, who He is and what He is about, begins to grow.

Now my following becomes in earnest.  I no longer want to hang out in between the extremes just doing my own thing and making it look like I am a follower of Christ.  I want to be with Him.  The only way that I can do that is to worship Him in spirit and in truth, seeking His Presence and settling for nothing less and allowing myself to be transformed in that place.

What makes salvation by grace so fundamental and important to our growth in Christ is that is reveals the Truth about my self and the Truth about God and puts my relationship with Him on the only sound footing that makes real transformation possible.  He becomes my Father, in the absolute truest sense of the word and I become His son.  That is a place where I can be transformed and He can transform the world around me.  May we all come to understand what it means to be saved by Grace.

For Further Study: John 1:14-18; Romans 3:21-31; 5:1-21; 6:1-11; Galatians 2:15-21; Titus 2:11-15

Questions:

1. What is it that you see in these verses?  What are the ideas and concepts that strike you as important to understanding the whole of being saved by grace?
2. How do you see your life previous to Christ?  Would you say that you were deserving of death?
3. How do you see your relationship with Christ now?  How do you see the role good works play in that relationship?  What do these verses say about the role good works should play?
4. Do you see God as One who would go to the work and sacrifice needed to save you and then bring you into His Household?
5. Are there concepts within salvation by grace that offend you?  If so, what are they?
6. Are you offended when someone states or implies that you may not be as good as you think that you are?
7. Is there a fear lurking within you that when all is said and done that you might not have gotten it right and God really isn’t pleased?
8. What does it reveal to you about the character and nature of God that He would shed the blood of His Only Son in order to make it possible for you from your own foolishness?

Please post your observations, comments, and questions and move through this study of what the Bible says about what it means to follow Christ.