The August Study assignment in Digging Deep is to find someone with whom you can personally study. You can make it a little group or just make it a duo. You can study with a Christian or a non-Christian. The big idea is to ask someone to study the Bible with you. It’s good for getting out of the typical comfort zone. (I am talking to me!) I asked my lady last night and we have a plan! I am excited! Here’s a jumpstart study starter for anyone who may be looking for one for study with a non-Christian. I have used this one many times and then it just kind of goes wherever you need it to go.I am praying about your study! Let me hear how it goes.
(Thanks to Arnold Wright for help in compiling this. He’s a great shepherd at WH. Hannah, by the way, used this study when she brought her very first person to the Lord when she was about 15. It works! Most of all, the Word has the power. The blood is the cleanser. The Lord is not willing that any should perish.)
Soul Survivor’s Guide
Begin by discussing God’s plan for man’s salvation as it unfolded in the patriarchal age; the fact that God called people to obey him through the fathers even in that era. Then discuss God’s first written law, the Mosaic age, and the system of cleansing for the Jews in that era. Then point out that since the death of Christ, God has called his people by a new name. What is that new name?
Isaiah 62:2—-What is that new name?
Acts 11:26—God kept that promise. Are you a Christian? How did you become a Christian? Have the person detail her “salvation experience” if she has “been saved”.
Eph.1:3, 7—-Here you are beginning to make a list of the blessings that are only found IN CHRIST. Have the person mentally if not literally keep a note of the things that can occur only IN CHRIST. (Here are a number of passages from which to choose to list these blessings: II Tim. 2:1; Eph. 2:6, 10, 12, 13; II Cor.5:17; Rom. 3:24; Rom.8:1; I Thess.4:16)
I draw a circle at this point and inside the circle, I write all the things that are in Christ: (redemption forgiveness, no condemnation, all spiritual blessings.) Outside the circle I write the things that are outside of Christ (no redemption, condemnation, no spiritual blessings, etc…)
Then launch a study of verses that tell how to get IN CHRIST.
John 8:24; John 14:6 (additional if needed for belief include Heb.11:6; Rom.10:17; James1:21-25)
Luke 13:3; Acts 26:18 (definition of repentance is TURNING) (additional verses for repentance if needed: Acts 17:30; II Cor. 7:10; II Pet.3:9) This is the point at which I ask what kinds of things might have to be changed or sacrificed to live for Christ. I recall Romans 8:1 at this juncture and talk about the two conditions there for NOT being condemned. They are (1) being IN CHRIST and (2) walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Then I define this pure walk plainly and practically using the fruit and the spirit from Galatians 5:19-25. This is a great time to talk about faithfulness in all aspects of daily living.
Romans 10:10; Acts 8:37 (WHAT did he confess?) (Additional passage for confession if needed: Matthew 10:32)
Here are the clinchers in the IN CHRIST study: Romans 6:1-5; Gal.3:27. (Additional powerful passages about the nature and purpose of baptism are Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16 and I Peter 3:21)
At this point I usually try to illustrate the difference between being outside the room and inside the room. At what point did I get IN the room? When I was knocking at the door was I IN? Only when I had passed through the doorway did I get IN the room. Baptism is the door! I usually emphasize also according to Rom.6 and Gal.3 that baptism is the point at which I contact the death without which there is NO remission. Heb.9:22. This is also the point at which to refute infant baptism, a baptism which would precede or preclude repentance and sprinkling, a baptism in which the death of Christ is not mirrored or met.
(Here I also go back to my circle and open a “door to get in” the circle. “what is the door to get into Christ?)
The obvious question at this juncture is either “Are you a New Testament Christian?” or “Don’t You want to be a Christian?” or “Are you in the circle?”
