friday September 6 Further Study: “Let no man present the idea that man has little or nothing to do in the great work of overcoming; for God does noth-ing for man without his cooperation. Neither say that after you have done all you can on your part, Jesus will help you. Christ has said, ‘Without Me ye can do nothing’ (John 15:5). From first to last man is to be a laborer together with God. Unless the Holy Spirit works upon the human heart, at every step we shall stumble and fall. Man’s 1efforts alone are nothing but worthlessness; but cooperation with Christ means a victory. . . . Never leave the impression on the mind that there is little or nothing to do on the part of man; but rather teach man to cooperate with God, that he may be successful in overcom-ing.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 381. 2“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with 3God, sin will become hateful to us.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 668. Discussion Questions: l1 Growth comes in the Christian life as we claim God’s prom-ises by faith, believing that He will do just what He says. What are the promises made to us here? 1 John 1:7–9, Phil. 4:13, James 1:5–8, Rom. 8:31–39. How can you learn to believe them for yourself? More important, what choices can you make that will help these promises to become more real in your life? l2 Dwell more on this idea of working out your own salvation with “fear and trembling.” In class, talk about what that means, especially in terms of salvation by faith alone. What should we fear; what should cause us to tremble? l3 When was the last time, like Peter, that you made a promise to God that you, however sincere at the time you made it, utterly failed to follow through on it? What did you learn from that mis-take? What principles can we find in the Bible that will enable us to have the victories that we are promised?
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 15:54:37 +0000
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