Growing in God

Student Handouts
Assurance
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-
10).

I. Assurance of Salvation

A. The _______________ for assurance

1. Do you think you will go to heaven when you die?
2. Suppose you want to go to heaven, why do you think God should let you
in?
3. Do you think that before you could go to heaven, God would have to
change anything about the way you live right now?
B. The _______________ of assurance
1. Many Christians are insecure in the relationship with God because they
lack assurance of salvation.
2. Assurance of salvation is a powerful catalyst of spiritual growth.
C. The _______________ of assurance
1. We can be sure of our salvation _______________ (1 John 5:11-13).
2. The Holy Spirit gives us an _______________ assurance that we children
of God (Rom. 8:16).

II. Plan of Salvation

A. We are not saved by works

1. Man is ________________ a. God is holy
from God b. Man is sinful
 2. Man cannot ____________ I _________________
the divide
T _________________
H _________________
Man
C. We are saved for works
God SIN

Death

Life
B. We are saved by grace through
Faith Grace
faith 1. Grace is God’s part
Man
G _________________ God Jesus
SIN
R _________________
A _________________
Death
C _________________
E _________________ Life

2. Faith is our part

F _________________
A _________________

Good works are not the cause of salvation, but they are the result of it!
Three changes occur when you get saved:

1. You become _________________ to God

2. You become _________________ to sin
 3. You become _________________ like Christ
Bible

I. The Reasons
A. The Bible
1. The Bible is the Word of God and contains the very ________ of God (2
Tim. 3:16-17).
2. The Lord has commanded us to read the Word. Bible reading is an act of
____________ to God (Josh. 1:8; Col. 3:16).
B. The Blessings
The Bible is …
1. _________________ 1 Peter 2:2
2. _________________ Ephesians 5:26
3. _________________ Psalm 119:105
4. _________________ Psalm 19:7b
5. _________________ Psalm 139:16-18
C. The Benefits
1. B ________________
2. E ________________
3. N ________________
4. E ________________
5. F ________________
6. I ________________
7. T ________________
8. S ________________

II. The Regularity

We should cultivate the holy habit of __________ Bible reading (Ps. 1:2; Josh. 1:8).
III. The Rendition
 A. The best Bible is the one you _______________
B. The Bible you will read is the one that you can _______________ C. There
are two philosophies of translation: literal and _______________

Literal Dynamic

Awkward English ____________ English

____________ interprets Translator interprets
Hard to understand Easy to understand
Good for serious study Good for ____________
Suitable for ____________ reading Suitable for
everybody

D. This table shows where well-known English translations fall on the literal–
dynamic continuum:
Literal Dynamic Free Paraphrase

ESV GW CEV Living Bible

LEB NET GNB (TEV) Message
NASB NIV NCV Philips
NKJV ISV NiRV
NRSV NLT

IV. The Routine

A. The Mission
1. Your objective must be …
a. NOT: to _________________ the _________________
b. BUT: to _________________ the _________________
2. The two primary goals of devotional Bible study are (Deut. 28:1-2): a.
to _________________ the Lord

b. to _________________ the Lord

3. We aim to move the words of scripture
 the __________
__________ _____________
from
the _____________
__________
_____________
into onto the
B. The Method

C. The Maximisers
1. SPECS
S _________________ to confess
P _________________ to claim
E _________________ to follow
C _________________ to obey
S _________________ to render
2. Colour coding
3. Journalling
Communion (Prayer)

I. The Paradigm

A. Prayer is intimate communion with God

1. _________________ to him
2. _________________ to him
B. Prayer is not a _________________
but a _________________
II. The Principles

A. Prayer should be _______________________

1. Scriptural examples of regular prayer
a. Daniel prayed three times per day Dan. 6:10
b. Jesus often withdrew to pray Luke 5:16
c. Paul mentions his unceasing prayer Col. 1:9
d. We must ‘be faithful in prayer’ Rom. 12:12
e. We must ‘pray without ceasing’ Eph. 6:18
2. Regular prayer demands that we must …
a. We should devote _______________ time to prayer
b. We should devote _______________ time to prayer

B. Prayer should be _______________________ (Matt. 6:5-6)

1. Your prayer life is a private matter between you and God.
2. Your prayer life should not be flaunted to impress men.

C. Prayer should be _______________________ (Matt. 6:7-8)

Prayer is a matter of the heart. God responds to a sincere heart, not to
smooth words.
1. God delights in ______________ prayers
2. God delights in ______________ prayers
D. Prayer should be _______________________
1. Persevering steadfastly in prayer shows great _____________
(Luke 11:5-13; Luke 18:9-14)
2. Persevering prayer often goes through three stages (Mark 11:24): a.
_________________

b. _________________
c. _________________
 E. Prayer should be _______________________ (Mark 9:29)
1. Prayer is our source of spiritual _____________
2. Prayer changes things; prayer also changes _____________
3. Prevailing in private prayer produces power in public _____________ F.
Prayer should be _______________________ (Luke 22:42)

1. God answers _______________ prayer

2. God has _________________ answers
a. _________________: respond, “Thank you.”
b. _________________: respond, “You know best.”
c. _________________: respond, “Prepare me.”

III. Pattern

A. _________________
B. _________________
C. _________________
D. _________________

IV. Pointers

A. _________________ in song
B. _________________ in a journal
C. _________________ and talk
D. _________________ through Scripture
Disciplines

I. Fellowship

Mark 10:45 • John 1:29 • 1 Tim 2:5-6

A. The meaning of fellowship
1. The Greek word for fellowship, koinōnia, has two meanings:
 a. _________________: sharing a task
b. _________________: sharing your life
2. Fellowship is sharing your life with other Christians in intimate and
invigorating friendship in which you meet each others’ social,
emotional and spiritual needs.
B. The motive for fellowship
Hebrews 10:24-25
1. Spur one another on
2. Love and good works
3. Encouragement
C. The means of fellowship
John 13:34-35
1. The chief command: ‘_____________ one another’.
2. The supporting commands tell us ___________ to do it.
D. The mechanism of fellowship
The _______________ _______________ is God’s chosen instrument in which
we are to build these kinds of relationships.
II. Witness

A. The _______________ for witnessing

1. The church is the only organisation in the world that exists primarily for
the benefit of those who are not yet _______________
2. Winning the world is the primary mission of God. Therefore, witnessing
is the church’s greatest _______________

B. The _______________ of witnessing

F Fear of _________________
E Expect to _________________
A Ability to _________________
R Remorse for _________________
 C. The _______________ of witnessing
1. _________________ Luke 9:57-62; Luke 18:22
2. _________________ Acts 17:2, 17; 18:4, 19
3. _________________ John 1:40-42; 43-45
D. The _______________ of witnessing
1. _________________ Matt. 5:13-16
2. _________________ Mark 5:19-20
3. _________________ Acts 8:4

III. Giving

A. _______________ for giving: Why should we give?

Matthew 6:19-24; 1 Timothy 6:10
Jesus wants us to give more for the good of our souls than for the needs of
the church!
1. We should give because we love _________________
2. We should give because we love _________________
B. _______________ for giving: How much should we give?
2 Corinthians 8-9; 1 Corinthians 16:2
The New Testament does not prescribe by law how much we should give, but
rather teaches us to be stewards of all our possessions who excel in the grace
of giving.
1. We should give _________________
2. We should give _________________
3. We should give _________________
4. We should give _________________
5. We should give _________________
6. We should give _________________
7. We should give _________________
 C. _______________ of giving: To whom should we give?
1. Give to the local _________________ 1 Tim. 5:17-18; Gal. 6:6
2. Give to advance the ______________ Phil. 4:10-19
3. Give to brothers in _______________ Prov. 19:17; 1 Jn 3:17-18

IV. Service

A. The desire to do great things for God is ____________________ (1 Tim. 3:1).

B. The willingness to be _________________ for God is necessary ( Phil. 2:5-7).

C. The path to greatness starts with menial ___________________ (Mark

10:35-45; Luke 16:10; John 13:1-17; 1 Tim. 3:6).