Homerun Series Base 2 Week 2 Student PDF

COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 8 NOTES COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 9 NOTES 03 MADE NEW “26 I will give you a ______________ and put a new spirit in you; I will ____________ from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my...

COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 8 NOTES COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 9 NOTES 03 MADE NEW “26 I will give you a ______________ and put a new spirit in you; I will ____________ from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV) Each of us must strive towards that which is ahead of us. To let go of the old and search for the new. The promises of God that lie ahead of us. “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining ______________ to what lies ahead,” Philippians 3:13 (ESV) 03 MADE NEW COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 10 NOTES Paul shows us that to put faith into action is to lean into what is ahead of us—to let go of the old, to lean into the truth of His Word, and the promise that you are a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a ______________ creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) When Paul says the new has come, he gives us an additional perspective on the search for the Kingdom. When Jesus says in Matthew 4:17 that the “Kingdom of heaven is at hand”, He is saying it is now available and within reach for those who seek it. The new has come but must be pursued. To step into the future God has for us, we must step away from the past, and manage the present with His future in mind. What follows is an overview of the basic and fundamental steps that each Christian must follow to walk in the newness of life that God has given us. We often resist and neglect these fundamentals, to our detriment. COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 11 NOTES  04 THE JOURNEY BEGINS 04 THE PROCESS 4.1 THE POWER OF YOUR CHOICE “No temptation has overtaken you that is not ______________ to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also ______________ the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) The truest sign of God’s love, and of our freedom is that we really do have the ability to choose. He always makes a way for us to choose. No matter where you are now or what you have been through, God has a redemptive way out. His power is always available, but He asks of us to choose His way. COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 12 NOTES He wants to give us freedom, just like the Israelites of old, to release us into our future, a place where we can freely serve Him without being slaves to our nature. God does not want us to ignore where we come from, and what we have been through, but rather to confront it by our power to choose differently. “I call heaven and earth to ______________ against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore ______________ life,…” Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV) 4.2 SET FREE BY HIS BLOOD Even in our most impossible situation, the punishment of death we deserve for our sins, God intervenes to give man a choice. Even in this, despite our rejection of Him, He provides the way out through the power of His blood. The life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus calls Himself the door of our salvation (John 10:7). As Moses led the people out of an impossible situation of slavery through the miraculous work of God and was passed over by the judgement of death through the blood on the doorpost, so we must step into Christ through the door of salvation. We cannot be made free without the powerful work of His blood. This step is simple but not negotiable. You must repent of your sin (Luke 13:3), believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9), and you will be saved. You must rely on His blood, not your works, and He will set you free (Rev. 12:11). “If you ______________ with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and ______________ in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be ______________. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 (NIV) COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 13 NOTES 4.3 BAPTISED INTO HIS BODY His blood changes our nature, gives life to our spirit and gives us access to the Kingdom. We cannot find His Kingdom if we cannot trust His instruction. He leaves us with an immediate step of obedience filled with power. “And this water symbolizes the baptism that now ______________ you also— not the removal of dirt from the bod, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the ______________ of Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter 3:21 (NIV) Baptism and Salvation are covered in depth in Homerun Series Base 1. 4.4 TURNING AWAY FROM OUR YESTERDAY Salvation frees us from the bondage of sin; the old nature does not disappear. Often, our very past follows us and deceives us. “The Israelites said to them, “If only we had ______________ by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:3 (NIV) The familiarity of our past often seems more desirable to our flesh than the yet unrevealed promises of God. Our way of seeing the world has to change; our past influences our perspective. God not only changes our nature but offers us a change in perspective as well. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except ______________ me.” John 14:6 (NIV) COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 14 NOTES 4.5 WALKING WITH THE WORD To have a new way of life, we need a new measure of truth. The Bible is given for our instruction. Paul reminds us that: “16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is ______________ for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for ______________ in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the man of _____________ may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (AMP) Have you ever drawn a line only to find it’s not straight? Your freehanded line might look good, but when you put a ruler against it, you discover it’s crooked. A ruler helps you realise what’s straight and what’s not. The Bible is like a ruler for us. Something might look right to us, but the Bible gives us a perspective of truth; often, what we thought was right does not measure up to the truth of His Word. To walk in the Kingdom, in the way of the Spirit, and in the fulness of your potential, we must turn to the Word for our instruction. His Word becomes our path of light: “Your word is a lamp to my ______________ and a light to my ______________.” Psalms 119:105 (NKJV) Through His word we can walk into the light. “But you are a chosen ______________ , a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the ______________ of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” 1 Peter 2:9 (KJV) The Bible is the word of God. The reliable truth. It was true when it was written, it is true today, and it will be true forever. The Bible is the standard for Christian faith and action. When we aren’t sure if a belief or action is true, we should look at what God says in Scripture. God never contradicts himself. COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 15 NOTES  “The word of God is ______________ and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to ______________ soul and spirit, joints, and marrow; it judges the thoughts and ______________ of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) As we walk with the Word, we come to know the one who is the Word. The Bible shows us who God is and what He has done, still does and will do. It also shows us who we are and how we should live. Because Christ has already won the victory over sin, death, and the devil, we know that this victory will be ours. 4.6 A CHANGED IDENTITY “There we saw the ______________ ; and we were like grasshoppers in our ______________ sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:33 (NKJV) Once again, we see how their history as slaves influences the perspective of the Israelites even after they had seen God fight on their behalf. In a similar way, our perspective has often been swayed by the flesh, instead of being led by the Spirit. “For we walk by ______________ , not by ______________.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) To live in the abundance of life Christ has given us, and to walk in the Kingdom, we must walk and speak by faith, not sight. Our identity is now in Christ and no longer in our old sinful nature; this, by effect, changes the very reality of our lives, removes the limitations of our past, and opens all possibilities through Christ. “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s ______________ ; and since you are his child, God has also made you an heir.” Galatians 4:7 (NIV) We must think about how God sees us, and then adjust our views of ourselves and our future to align with God and the promises of His Word. COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 16 NOTES  A slave speaks like a slave; a son speaks like a son. David understood that God determined the view of self when he wrote Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.” David is very much aware of his shortcomings and reality, but he chooses to define himself through the lens of His creator. He decides to determine his value, not by looking at himself but by reflecting on the value of the One who made him. Paul also affirms this when he wrote Romans 9:20, “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Clearly, Paul admonishes us to find our value not from our carnal evaluation of ourselves, but by reflecting on our Creator. 4.7 A REDEEMED PAST All our experiences are not negative, some are positive, but none are unimportant. “And we know that all things work ______________ for good to those who love God, to those who are ______________ according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NKJV) We find meaning in our lives by realising that God can use everything for His good purposes in us. The Gospel which means ‘good news’ is exactly that to everyone, it is an invitation to not only the good news of life but the promise of life in abundance (John 10:10). “For by the ______________ given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with ______________ judgment, in accordance with the measure of ______________ that God has assigned.” Romans 12:3 (NKJV) COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 17 NOTES We must redefine our view of self through the lens of faith. To redefine and confront our reality, we must reflect on it first to establish what it is that we aim to redefine. Rick Warren advises a powerful model called ‘SHAPE’ to help us in this task: Spiritual Gifts – The grace Gifts that God has entrusted to us (Romans 12) Heart – Our passions, desires, and things that drive us daily Abilities – The natural talents and skills we possess Personality – The preferences we carry and the character traits we function in Experiences – The culmination of experiences throughout our history For this course, we specifically focus on experiences since the enemy so often uses these experiences to limit our self-belief. Our experience is influenced by where we were born, who our family is, our friends, our ethnicity, and our language. On a more personal level, our experiences can be influenced by trauma, disappointments, achievements, abuse, relationships, and much more. Spend some time now to think and reflect on the things that have SHAPED you: _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 18 NOTES 4.8 FORGIVE We cannot go through the process of redemption, without feeling the grace of His forgiveness. Bitterness to your past, to others, or to yourself is a force of destruction and bondage. “23 One dieth in his full ______________ , being wholly at ease and quiet... 25 And another dieth in the ______________ of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure." Job 21:23,25 (KJV) Some people are still breathing but living in the pain of bitterness, which has brought death to their souls. “bearing with one another, and ______________ one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ ______________ you, so you also must do." Colossians 3:13 (NKJV) Forgiveness is not negotiable. It is an outflow of our acceptance of His forgiveness towards us. COPYRIGHT © 2022 UNITE180 NPC | PAGE 19 NOTES