Bible Study Archives

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=82 BGCOLOR="#669966" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Woman of Grace Internet Magazine</B></FONT><B>     |   </B><B>  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Woman of Grace Internet Magazine"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Bible Study Archives</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>By Shola Ademuyiwa, Pastor of Friends of God Church in London, England</I></div> <div> <I>Let me introduce</I><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><I> </I></FONT><I>Shola.</I><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><I>  </I></FONT><I>I had the privilege of meeting Shola at the Faith Ministries International Network Women's Conference in Coventry, England.  I so appreciate her boldness in the Lord to minister the Gospel.  She sets an example for the rest of us through her consistency and follow- through efforts.  It is my pleasure to present one of her many Bible studies in this edition of Woman of Grace.  If you would like to enjoy more of her ministry, go to the Friends of God web site listed below and link up for Shola's e-mail Bible studies.  </I></div> <div> <I>I know you'll be blessed,  Sherry Green</I></div> <bR> <div> Dear Friend</div> <div> Have you ever been in a situation, where you look at your resources, and it falls short of what you truly need? </div> <div> Yesterday, for one reason or the other, I got into comparing my resources, against the needs that I had. It didn't look too good. Not surprisingly, soon after I had completed my audit, I was attacked by discouragement, and it started to pull me down. Life suddenly didn't look too bright anymore. </div> <div> As quick as lightening the Holy Spirit came to my aid and impressed on my heart that I was looking at the wrong person's pocket. <I>What do you mean? I don't understand, I said.</I> Then the Holy Spirit said, I was to look at what God had and not what I had. I had to look at His sufficiency and not mine. </div> <bR> <div> It then dawned on me that what I have will never be sufficient to meet my needs, but what He has will always fulfill all the needs I will ever have. Paul recognized this truth when he said in 2 Corinthians 3:4-5</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >"</FONT><I>And we have such trust through Christ toward God.</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><I> </I></FONT><I>Not that </I><I><U>we are sufficient of ourselves</U></I><I> to think of anything as being from ourselves, </I><I><U>but our sufficiency is from God</U></I><I>"</I><I><B> </B></I>(NKJV)</div> <bR> <div> At Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension, a "Great Exchange" took place. And all Jesus' resources were credited to everyone who would receive Him as Lord and Savior. Jesus resources have been credited to you as a child of God. And your insufficient resources were credited to Him. His adequacy has overwritten your inadequacy.</div> <bR> <div> You do not need to live in insufficiency any longer, but rather you can live out of His sufficiency. <I>This is "Good News" </I>Jesus has clothed you with His sufficiency. He has given to you amongst many other things...His <I>blood, righteousness, authority, name, word, faith, armour, anointing, wisdom, health, and prosperity. </I>They are all yours for the taking, they are your inheritance. </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011811111100.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Find out about them.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011811111100.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Use them.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011811111100.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Trust in them.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011811111100.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Live by them. </div> <div> Jesus said in John 16:33</div> <div> <I>"I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world.""</I></div> <div> As long as you are alive here on earth, you will experience one difficulty or another. You live victoriously through theses difficult circumstances when you take refuge in Jesus, and rely solely on His provision. You have an unending supply of resources when you live by His supply. You are an over comer when you live by His resources and not yours. The truth is, His sufficiency is all you really need.</div> <div> Bless you.</div> <bR> <div> Shola Ademuyiwa </div> <div> Visit our Web-Site at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.friendsofgod.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.friendsofgod.net"><U><U>http://www.friendsofgod.net</U></U></A></FONT></div> <div> © Shola Ademuyiwa, Friends of God </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> New Life in Christ<FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Placard Condensed" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> By Becky Elmore</div> <bR> <div> Learn to see yourself from God's perspective!  We can now live life by knowing who we are in Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Open to and read Bible text    John 8:1-12</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >This account</FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>of the woman caught in adultery is not just a story of a woman who needed and received forgiveness, but a story of a woman needing and receiving <U>new life</U>.</div> <bR> <div> Jesus knew it was not enough for us to be forgiven of our sin, but He knew that we also needed to be given a <U>new person, a new identity.</U>  God is our creator and knows us better than we know ourselves.  We need to be <I>completely changed.</I></div> <bR> <div> Look at verse 11.  How could Jesus even ask this woman to "go and sin no more?"  He knew about the sinful nature of man.  Jesus gives us the answer to this question in verse 12 when He says, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  This means that Jesus is able to not only forgive but also to give<U> new life - new identity.</U>  By following Jesus, you will not walk in the darkness of your old life anymore, but walk in the light of new life that Jesus gives you.</div> <bR> <div> The adulteress' reputation was shot.  Her old identity had to be done away with.  She had to be made a new creation.  It tells us in <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >2 Corinthians 5:11 that "...</FONT> if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." </div> <bR> <div> How do you become a new creation?  In the book of John 3: 3, 7 Jesus tells Nicodemus that to become a new creation we must be born again.  Jesus says <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.  You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again." </div> <bR> <div> To be born again you must first die.  In Romans 6:6  Christ says we died with Him on the cross.  " For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." This death meant death to the "old self"  ..Death to the sinful self.  Romans 6: 7 goes on to say  -" because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." </div> <bR> <div> But wait.. that's not all.  did Christ stay dead?  No.  and neither did we.</div> <bR> <div> Romans 6:4-5  says "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, <U>just as Christ was raised from the dead</U> through the glory of the Father, we too may live <U>a new life</U>.  If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."</div> <bR> <div> Christ rose!  He says we also rose with him that we too may live <U>a new life</U>. </div> <bR> <div> Christ's death and resurrection made sin powerless in our lives but we have to believe it and know that we are new creations in Christ Jesus.</div> <bR> <div> It is like a caterpillar who turns into a butterfly.  Its life starts as a caterpillar.  a worm... a hairy, ugly, earthbound creature.  It remains a caterpillar until it undergoes metamorphosis (a complete change.)  It has to die to being a caterpillar and be buried in a cocoon.  When it emerges it is a brand new creation...  A butterfly.  A butterfly can never be a caterpillar again.  Nor does it act as a caterpillar again.  It is freed from caterpillar ways.  A butterfly is beautiful and able to soar.</div> <bR> <div> We become new creations freed from sin by being born again.  We are born again through Christ's death, burial and resurrection.  All of this gives us a completely new identity with Christ!  A new identity means new behavior and a new way to see ourselves.  <U>We can now live life by knowing who we are in Christ.</U></div> <bR> <div> So again, How could Jesus tell the adulteress to go and sin no more?  He knew she was not only forgiven, but also made a new creation.  She was given a new identity which gives ability to sin no more.  She was no longer a caterpillar, but now a beautiful free butterfly with all the capabilities of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Christ didn't just give us new abilities to abstain from sin, but he gave us a new person .. Himself.</div> <bR> <div> In his book Grace Stories, Bob George says it like this "This new identity isn't determined by how we act.  Rather how we act will be<I> determined by our identity..</I> our new identity is now the motivation for our behavior."</div> <bR> <div> Learn to see yourself from God's perspective. <I> You are a beautiful butterfly.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>     Becky and her husband Chuck Elmore pastor the Albuquerque Grace Fellowship in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Becky and Chuck also have a new outreach ministry called "Good News Travels"  in which they teach the Gospel of Grace through conferences, missions, and Chuck's music ministry.</I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><I>  </I></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bible Study "><U><B>Back to Bible Study Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>