1.  What is God's will for us as revealed in these scriptures?
    Matthew 10:22_____________________________________________
    Matthew 24:9-23___________________________________________
    Revelation 2:10___________________________________________
    How would you define enduring and faithful as a Christian?
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
2.  I Peter 5:8-11: What is the devil going to do now that we
    have decided to follow Christ?____________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
3.  I Corinthians 10:1-13: What great promise is made for us
    by our Lord in this passage?______________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Does God remove the promise of temptation to help us
    resist it?________________________________________________
    What are some escapes He provides for us?_________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
4.  James 1:12-15: We will all be tempted. What is the source/
    basis of temptation?______________________________________
    Does God tempt us?________________________________________
5.  Hebrews 4:14-16: Even Jesus was tempted. Temptation is
    not sin; when does it become sin?_________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    What concept of Jesus is suggested in these verses?_______
    __________________________________________________________
6.  What can we do to resist temptation to sin?_______________
    Colossians 3:2____________________________________________
    Galatians 5:24____________________________________________
    Romans 12:1_______________________________________________
    I Corinthians 15:33_______________________________________
    Psalm 101:3_______________________________________________
7.  What quality do we need to develop to aid in resisting
    temptation?
    I Peter 2:21-24___________________________________________
    II Peter 1:5-7____________________________________________
    I Corinthians 9:24-27_____________________________________
    Galatians 5:23____________________________________________

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8.  Luke 6:22-23; Matthew 5:10-12: We all like to be approved
    of by others. How can this be a source of temptation to
    sin?______________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
9.  Acts 8:14-24; I John 1:9: When we as Christians do yield
    to temptation to sin, what then should we do?_____________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    If the sin is publicly known and/or if we need help in
    overcoming the temptation, what provision is made in James
    5:16-18?__________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
10. II Peter 2:4-10; 3:3-10: What is God's attitude when we
    sin and then seek forgiveness?____________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Romans 6:1: Because God is gracious, are we free to sin?
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
11. At this point, what do you understand concerning:
    a.  Our need to resist temptation?________________________
        ______________________________________________________
    b.  God's attitude when we do not resist?_________________
        ______________________________________________________
    c.  God's help in resisting temptation?___________________
        ______________________________________________________
    d.  What we need to do when we sin?_______________________
        ______________________________________________________
12. What temptations do you feel the weakest in resisting?____
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
13. What will you do to strengthen your resistance to these
    temptations?______________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________

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1.  It is often said: "Ask what Jesus would do" when a choice
    of action is to be made. How do you feel about that sug-
    gestion?__________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
2.  Hebrews 5:11-14: What stages of Christian growth do you
    recognize in this scripture?______________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
3.  What specific sins do these scriptures have listed?
    I Corinthians 6:9-10______________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Galatians 5:19-21_________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Romans 14:13-16___________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Ephesians 4:25-31_________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Ephesians 5:3-6___________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    Colossians 3:5-9__________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
4.  In Galatians 5:19-21, it includes things like those
    listed. What would you include in the list?
5.  What does the Bible say about our conscience in:
    Romans 14:23______________________________________________
    Acts 24:16; I Timothy 4:1-2_______________________________
    I Corinthians 9:19-23_____________________________________
6.  I Corinthians 8:1-13: What consideration should Christians
    have in mind as they determine right and wrong?___________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
7.  I Corinthians 6:12-20; 10:31-33; Romans 12:1-2: How is
    my physical body related to determining right and wrong?
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
8.  What Biblical teaching is seen in each of these scriptures
    concerning my mind/thinking?
    Proverbs 4:23_____________________________________________
    Matthew 15:17-20__________________________________________
    Philippians 4:8___________________________________________

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9.  Ephesians 5:15-16; Matthew 25:14-30: What guidance is
    provided as we use our time, money, and possessions?______
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
10. Revelation 21:8; 22:1-5; Matthew 7:13-14, 21-27; Why is it
    important to develop our ability to determine right and
    wrong?____________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
11. What questions do you have concerning right and wrong?
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
12. How can we continue to develop our abilities to determine
    what is right and what is wrong?
    II Timothy 2:15___________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    II Timothy 3:14-17________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    I Thessalonians 5:17______________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    James 1:5-7_______________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
13. What plans are you making for your continued growth in
    this aspect of serving Christ?____________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________

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Someone has suggested stages of Christian growth similar to
human physical growth. Let us consider these:

Honeymoon Stage:                    Happy and joyful in a new
                                    relationship. We also need
                                    to begin planning how to
                                    retain this relationship.

Fight Stage:                        Old habits, feelings, and
                                    attitudes try to come back
                                    into our life. Time to
                                    learn to resist the evil.

Doubting Stage:                     Wondering begins about
                                    the meaning of salvation.
                                    A need for more informa-
                                    tion develops. Good Bible
                                    Study habits help.

Panic-Search-for-Truth-Stage:       Questions and decisions
                                    arise. Decisions must be
                                    made about right and
                                    wrong. Some uncertainty
                                    and confusion common.
                                    Need Christian friends
                                    and helpers.

Silent Christian Stage              Beliefs known but not
                                    shared. Inner calm. Time
                                    to learn how to share
                                    Christ with others.

Do you find yourself in one of these stages. Let's outline
briefly the available help provided by the church:

 1.  Older Christians—let them know your needs.
 2.  Small group studies-help Christians grown.
 3.  Life group meetings-fellowship and encouragement.
 4.  Bible classes Sundays and Wednesdays--grow in know-
     ledge.

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 5.  Worship assemblies--commune and be strengthened in the
     faith.
 6.  Individual counseling--elders ready to help as needed.
 7.  Special classes--Family, Training to Multiply (evange-
     lism), others as announced.

You have begun a new life in Christ. This study has been one
means of aid in your first days. You have grown. You have
made spiritual progress. This needs to continue all the days
of your life. Let's consider the continued growth needed.

 1.  What are these passages emphasizing?
     Ephesians 2:19-22________________________________________
     Ephesians 4:14-16________________________________________
     II Thessalonian 1:3______________________________________
     I Peter 2:2______________________________________________
     II Peter 3:18____________________________________________
 2.  I Corinthians 15:58: Discouragement comes from feeling
     useless. How can we avoid this?__________________________
     _________________________________________________________
 3.  Philippians 3:12-16: What is our goal in our growth?
 4.  Mark 4:1-20: What hindrances are noted by Jesus to the
     work of His word in our lives?___________________________
     _________________________________________________________
 5.  What activities can we be involved in to help us grow?
     Matthew 4:19_____________________________________________
     John 1:40-46_____________________________________________
     Galatians 6:10___________________________________________
     Matthew 5:13-16__________________________________________
     John 15:1-11_____________________________________________
     II Corinthians 13:5______________________________________
     James 1:26-27____________________________________________
     I Thessalonians 5:17_____________________________________
     Matthew 10:32-33_________________________________________
     Acts 20:18-21____________________________________________
     Acts 2:42________________________________________________
     Hebrews 10:19-21_________________________________________
     James 5:19-20____________________________________________
 6.  What questions do you have concerning your continued
     spiritual progress?______________________________________
 7.  Share your plans to grow in Christ.______________________
     _________________________________________________________

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In all probability someone has shared this study guide with you immediately following your decision to die with Jesus Christ in baptism. You have just come forth from the water and all your sins have been forgiven, and there is now a new power at work in your life, the Holy Spirit of God. You were willing to count yourself nothings and now God has raised you up to life on the higher plane.

One of the things a disciple of Jesus learns is that there is much that he or she doesn't know or understand. This should in no way discourage you. It just means that you have a lifetime of growing and developing ahead. It will never become boring. God's love is wide and deep and long and high, and the more we grasp the better it all becomes.

This study guide is designed to help you have some direction each day for the next forty days as you start listening to the voice of God as He speaks to your whole life. Why forty days? That was the length of testing Jesus himself went through following His own baptism. He passed victoriously through that testing because He knew the word of God and each time Satan came, He drove him away by using the very words of Scripture. Satan will make his attack on you. He knows you are young and more vulnerable, but God is with you, and with the weapons of righteousness in your right hand and left, you can defeat anything that would take your new life from you.

Determine right now that you are going to make this a rich and powerful study. Open wide your heart and let God do with you all he wants to do. Make sure that you have a definite time and a definite place reserved each day to study the scriptures so you can keep hearing the word of God. Don't let anything or anyone keep you from this most crucial time.

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This week you will study passages in the scriptures that show clearly the problem. The problem is self. Christ calls us to crucify the old self and He promises to raise up a new, different self.

1st Day

1.  Before you actually begin your Bible study program, take a
    few minutes and write down, in your own words, what your
    baptism into Christ meant to you. Why did you do it? What
    is it going to mean? If you will keep this in a safe
    place it will mean a great deal to you for years to come.
    As the years pass, it will serve as a reminder to you of
    the serious commitment that you made.
2.  Turn to Luke 9:18-16. Read and study this passage several
    times.
3.  Now turn to Luke 18:28-30 and look at the promise that is
    attached to discipleship, indeed to the decision you have
    just made.
4.  These two passages will become very important as you
    share your life in Christ with others. Remember where they
    are and what they say. As you continue to go through this
    study, remember that everything you learn is something you
    will be responsible for passing on to someone else. Don't
    skim over it. Learn it as you go.

2nd Day

1.  Turn to Romans 6:1-14. Read and study this carefully.
    Each time you come to the word we or us substitute your
    own name. For example: Romans 6:2: "Certainly not! How
    shall John who died to sin live any longer in it?"
2.  Write down some of the things about your old self that
    caused it to receive the death sentence.
3.  Write down some thing about your new self that you really
    want to express.
4.  How do you specifically plan today to live out verse 13?

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3rd Day

1.  Before you start today's study, ask yourself a very
    important question about everything you have learned. It
    is something that you will be responsible for passing on
    to someone else. Don't skim over it. Is there anything in
    you that does not want to be with other disciples? If so,
    you can be sure it is something not of God and must be
    crucified. It is your old, independent self; not the new
    self God is giving you.
2.  Turn to Romans 7:14-24 and read how powerless we are to
    live the new life alone. Do you see why we must exalt
    Christ? Especially note verse 24.
3.  But now go on to Romans 8, where we see how we can do
    the impossible. You were told at your baptism that you
    would receive the gift of the Spirit. Now study some of
    what the spirit means in your life. Read and study verses
    1-17, making notes on the thing that strike you. Remember
    to continue substituting your own name for the pronouns.

4th Day

1.  As you have questions about things that you are studying,
    or things that are happening to you, seek out some other
    brother or sister in Christ and let them help you. They
    have been through many things you will go through. Benefit
    from their wisdom and understanding.
2.  For this Bible study, you will need both an Old Testament
    and a New Testament. If you don't have both, make
    arrangements to get them.
3.  We are children of God. As His children, we need His
    correction and instruction. This is true for every
    Christian. How you take correction is going to make a
    great difference in your growth in Christ. Turn to
    Proverbs 12:1-2. Next look at Proverbs 12:15. Then go to
    chapter 10, verse 17.
4.  Write down you own attitude toward being corrected.
    Distinguish between those things that are left over from
    your old self and those things Jesus Christ is putting in
    your heart.
5.  Go to the New Testament now and read II Timothy 3:16-17,
    and answer the question: what is going to be your attitude
    toward God's word?

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5th Day

1.  In your new life, you will find that attitude is imporant.
    If you develop a critical, negative, pessimistic attitude,
    you will put out the Spirit's fire in your life. Today the
    Bible study will focus on the reason you can keep a great
    a great attitude even in the worst circumstances.
2.  Read and examine each of the following passages: John
    16:33; Romans 8:28; Phili8ppians 4:12-13, 19; and James
    1:2-4.
3.  When these are all put together, what are they promising
    you about everything in your life?
4.  How does this fit with having a good attitude regardless
    of what is happening?
5.  List anything tha tis tending to cause you to have a
    negative, complaining, pessimistic attitude. Confess these
    to another Christian and ask for their prayers and
    encouragement.

6th Day

1.  By today you have probably realized that you are not doing
    all for Christ that you determined to do. You want to love
    him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength but you
    fail in some specific areas. What you will study today
    will be very important in dealing with this for the rest
    of your life.
2.  Turn to I John 1:5-10. Read it once; carefully.
3.  Think of the difference between light and darkness. In
    one, things are out in the open. You can see them as they
    really are. In the other, things are hidden and covered by
    darkness. With this in mind, what does he mean when he
    calls us to "walk in the light?" Do you see how this
    fits with verse 9 and the call to admit our sins?
4.  We all, from the oldest to the youngest in Christ, sin. If
    we claim that we don't, we lie (verse 10). How then are we
    to handle all this? Do we cover and hide our sin? Or do we
    bring them out into the open?
5.  Look at the two results of walking out in the light, as
    described in verse 7. How will this cause a deeper
    fellowship with the brothers and sisters?
6.  Remember this trustworthy saying: "Satan's only ground is
    darkness. When we confess our sins and bring them out
    into the light, we take away from him his only base of
    operation."

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7th Day

1.  As you come to the end of the first week as a committed
    follower of Jesus Christ, go back to the most basic idea
    in discipleship. Turn to Galatians 2:20.
2.  Every time your old nature tries to assert itself, you can
    say: "I have been crucified with Christ." Concerning what
    things do you especially need to say that today? Write
    them down.
3.  As you determine what you should do with your day,
    remember, "I, ______________ no longer live, but Christ
    lives in me." Meditate on this great idea and then
    determine to let your life today be used for the very
    things that Jesus Christ is most interested in.
4.  Focus on Paul's words today: "You are not your own; you
    are bought with a price" (I Corinthians 6:19-20). Believe
    that--your are not your own, Jesus Christ has purchased
    you for his purposes by his death on the cross. Carefully
    distinguish between your purposes and his purposes and
    live as one who has been bought with such a great price.

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8th Day

1.  Begin today by reading Matthew 28:18-20, concentrating on
    verse 18 and verse 10. What do these two verses say to
    you?
2.  Jesus Christ, who has all authority, taught us that the
    church is important. In Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus hears
    Peter confess Him to be the Christ, the Son of God, and
    immediately Jesus said, "On this rock I will build My
    church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
    it." Jesus saw the church as the center of His plan. He
    wanted to build it and He intended to make it so strong
    that the forces of Satan could not stand against it. What
    Jesus counted as so important, we, too, must count so
    important.
3.  For a true picture of what the church should be striving
    to become every day, look at Acts 2:40-47.

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4.  What can you do today and the rest of this week to
    contribute to this kind of life, the church, among God's
    people.
5.  If the church of which you are a part is not like this at
    all, what should you do? Complain vigorously? Leave the
    church and go it alone? Or, is there a better, more
    more Biblical option?

9th Day

1.  Paul describes the church as the body of Christ. Read
    Romans 12:1-8 and see how giving yourself first to God
    leads to giving yourself to others in the body of Christ.
2.  Notice particularly verse 5, which says: "so we, being
    many, are one body in Christ" or "individual members of
    one another." How does this conflict with the American
    ideal of individualism?
3.  List three things that you know already that you can do
    for other members of the body of Christ. Share these with
    someone close to you and get their reaction.
4.  List at least three things that you need from the body of
    Christ in order to grow in Christ. Share these with
    another person, also.

10th Day

1.  Read Ephesians 4:1-5. Why does it seem to you that God is
    so concerned about the body of Christ being in unity and
    peace?
2.  Turn to Romans 14:13--15:3 and read how far we should go
    and how much we should bend to keep the body of Christ
    together.
3.  Is there anything in your life that is so important to you
    that you would not give it up even if it were keeping
    people from coming to Jesus Christ or growing in Him? If
    there is, look back to verse 21, and seek help if dealing
    with this area of your life.

11th Day

1.  God is greatly concerned about the unity of the church,       but He is also greatly concerned about the purity of the
    body of Christ. We are called to a holy life and a pure
    life, and sin

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    that is hidden or ignored will destroy the power of
    the church.
2.  Read Ephesians 5:1-14. List those things which are de-
    scribed here as improper for God's holy people.
3.  How would living as "children of light" be totally
    different from those things you have just listed? What is
    the basic difference?
4.  You are a young Christian, but what should you do if you
    see brothers or sisters falling into some sin? Read
    Galatians 6:1-2.

12th Day

1.  What is the one thing that must be in the church and in
    our relationships above all else? Read the following
    passages: John 13:34-35; I Corinthians 13:1-3; Galatians
    5:6, 13-14; Ephesians 5:1-2; Colossians 3:14; I Peter 4:8.
2.  For a more precise definition of love, compare John 13:34-
    35 with I John 3:16. List all the things you can think of
    that describe the way Jesus loved us.
3.  How are you progressing in your relationships with your
    new brothers and sisters in Christ? Are they seeing your
    love for them? Many new Christians just want to beloved
    and to be served. Break this pattern and reach out to
    others, because Jesus has reached out to you.

13th Day

1.  One of the things we can all do for one another in the
    body is give encouragements. Read a powerful statement
    about this in Hebrews 3:12-14.
2.  According to this passage, what is to be the specific
    purpose of our encouragement? If this is not clear, be
    sure to discuss it with a brother or sister in Christ.
3.  Look at II Timothy 4:2. Notice we can encourage people by
    sharing the word with them; not just complimenting them.
    In your new relationships, try to share with someone
    every day something that you have found in God's truth
    that is inspiring and encouraging to you.

14th Day

1.  When problems develop in the body between brothers and
    sisters, they must be dealt with so that Satan is given no

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    opportunity to enter in. Read Matthew 18:15-20, which
    gives us the right way to deal with such situations.
2.  Determine early in your Christian life that you will not
    complain or grumble behind someone's back about what
    they have done. Determine that you will always go to them
    and resolve the problem with God's help (verse 20).

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