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Welcome To The Learner I
12 Chapters The Learner I (12 Week Course)
Chapter One Becoming A Disciple
Chapter Two What is Man?
Chapter Three Man: From Fall Unto Faith!
Chapter Four These Three Are One!
Chapter Five Light Vs. Darkness!
Chapter Six Who Is Man With Christ?
Chapter Seven Prayer And Confession
Chapter Eight Forgiveness
Chapter Nine How To Handle Hard Times
Chapter Ten God And Deliverance
Chapter Eleven Faith In Action
Chapter Twelve Workers Needed
Plus Memory Verses at the end of each Chapter!
Sample of Chapter:
Chapter Two:
What is Man?
Primary Message: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27
Worldview: Man evolved from apes through the process of evolution. Science will soon be able to clone man!
Evangelistic Emphasis: And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7 Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
In the first chapter we learned about the importance of the decision about who we say Jesus is. In this chapter we will address the importance of who man is. Understanding who and what we are as we begin this walk with Jesus is vital. Jesus had selected disciples to walk with him and to learn the ways of God, but often it was difficult for them to understand because they had to mature in the things of God. Jesus began to teach His Disciples the things of God as they followed Him. Since the beginning, man has had a difficult time understanding the things of God, but God is faithful to us and teaches us through Jesus as we follow Him. Here we will take a look at man and how he was made and why it is difficult for man to walk with God without understanding who man is and what Gods purpose is for his life. The issue of not understanding the things of God is common to us all. Not understanding the difference between the ways of man and the ways of God prevents us from experiencing Gods benefits in life.
Lets look at what scripture says about man and who man is.
Genesis 1:26, - 2:7
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all creeping things that creepeth upon the earth.
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28. And God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29. And God said, behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2. And on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made.
3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
After reading these verses what questions do you have?
Cloning is a big topic these days, man has recently successfully cloned sheep and other animals, but there has been ethical and moral issues concerning the cloning of man. Stem Cell research and many scientific things seem to be playing God. All the science in the world could never do what God has done though!
Who we are and who God is are two totally different things. We are created in His image, but we are very limited in many things unlike God who is without limits in anything. When we attempt to play God we soon see how small and powerless man is.
Would you say that man has been the first clone that ever lived since we are created by God in to be in His image and likeness? Do you believe that science will be able to clone man and if so what might they miss? Can science clone the soul and spirit?
If so how would his soul be created and whose image might he eventually evolve into?
Answer the following questions:
Whose image was man created in?
How did God create man?
Why is it important that we should be created in the image and likeness of God?
When you were a young child who did you want to be like and why?
Did you know if you were to study a sample of the dirt of the earth you would find the same ingredients that we are made of? For example Phosphorus, iodine, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, chromium, chloride, potassium, nickel, lead, and many more! When God made man from the dust of the earth he made us from the same ingredients that make up the earth and the same ingredients that we take everyday called vitamins.
Man is created from dirt.
Recently there was a story about an Ethiopian woman who had been selling dirt pies to make a living for many years. She would take the dirt from the ground and mix it with some water, salt, and some other flavor and then bake it like bread and then she sold it to hungry buyers as a snack and was very successful! Wow can you imagine eating dirt! Well that is some of what we are made of, but not all; we also have a soul (the breath of God).
Genesis 3:1-13
1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3. But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God, hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.
4. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall surely not die:
5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; as I hid myself.
11. And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, Whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12. And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.
Ok, so we have been talking about the image of man, we learned that man was created in the image and likeness of God and that man is a living soul. What has happened to man now? He has disobeyed Gods command because he was tricked, does this now change who he is? Has his image changed, has his identity changed at all? Gods image and likeness is one of purity, perfection, and promise. Mans purity changed when he witnessed his nakedness, his perfection changed when he broke the commandment of God, and his promise was broken when he listened to another.
After reading these verses what questions do you have?
Answer the following questions:
Man falls, what does this do to mans image?
Does mans image begin to resemble the serpent now that he tries to hide from God and even trick God by claiming he is not responsible?
God desires us to always live in his image and likeness and whenever we listen to any other than God, we distort our image of purity, the image that he created us in. When we fall into sin our image becomes like that of the serpent and when we follow Jesus and keep his commands our image returns and remains in the likeness of God.
Job 5:6,7
5 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.
7. Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
In many ways this has been a hard concept to imagine, that man is born unto trouble, and that a brand new baby would be anything but pure and innocent is a thing that is hard to swallow! Wait! God is not saying that we are trouble when we are born; instead he is saying that we are born into trouble! The world is full of trouble, trouble is already here when we come out of our mothers womb, the minute that we are born we are born into a troubled world and despite the fact that we are created in Gods image and likeness we can take on a new image that resembles the troubles of this troubled world, a world that is full of a myriad of challenges, many of which we fall captive to without the proper defenses. This has a great deal to do with maintaining our original image in which we were created. How do we maintain this image? Our fallen nature or sin nature is not how it is supposed to be, in fact Gods design is purity, without sin, and living out all of the fruits of the
spirit, meaning love, joy peace and so on. That is who we are until we are tempted to listen to another voice and to not follow the voice of God.
After reading these verses what questions do you have?
Answer the following questions:
Trouble doesnt come from where?
Where does trouble come from?
Romans 3:10-18
10 As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one:
11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13. There throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips.
14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15. Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16. Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17. And the way of peace have they not known.
18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Who is man is our question. It seems a bit harsh to say that we are so terrible and yet who is among us that is good? None! Who can do right by God all the time? Who can keep all of the law? Who can speak such great words that can convince God that we are ok? No one! Does God look at us in such a wretched way? Of course not, in fact he loves us and died for us to prove it, but he must share this talk with us because in truth there are those that think more highly of themselves than they ought, God simply puts things into it | 