On April 26, 2003, Aron Ralston was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Hiking and rock climbing alone in Eastern Utah, his right hand was crushed between a shifting boulder and the rock wall. Over a period of five days he made various attempts to free himself. Nothing worked. When he ran out of his water supply, he was certain of death.

Rock Climber, but not Aron Ralston

Since no one knew where he was, and they would not find him any time soon, he tried one final desperate plan. He broke both bones in his forearm. Then, using what was left of his dulled cutting tool, he amputated his own right arm. He repelled into the canyon and hiked out to meet searchers.

I have used this story, as have other preachers, to talk about Matthew 5:29-30. It vividly illustrates the picture of cutting off something that seems important but in comparison to life itself is not. That is a great lesson. But it is not the greatest lesson to learn from this illustration.

The Real Lesson

While the cutting off principle is profound, the more fundamental lesson I learn from Ralston’s experience is don’t take this trip alone.

Yes, his bravery and courage at making that amazing sacrifice is noteworthy. But it might have been unnecessary if he had gone with a partner or at least told someone where he was going. As it is, he took the trip alone and got himself caught in a life or death situation that demanded the amazing sacrifice.

I’m sure you already know I’m not really talking about Aron Ralston. I’m talking about you and me. I’m talking about most of the Christians I know. I’m talking about most of the people I’ve met in churches all over who meet on multiple occasions in a building to talk about the Bible and worship God, but are actually taking the trip alone. They bump into others on the same journey on a regular basis, but they never invite them to actually travel together.

The Preacher said that two are better than one because when one falls the other can lift him up (Ecclesiastes 4:10). “But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” And I see this happen over and over and over again. Christians coming in contact with each other all the time, but not traveling together.

The Great Physician’s Hospital

Can you imagine walking into a hospital emergency room in which everyone whose name is called immediately begins to cover up their symptoms and protest that they aren’t really sick? You can see the blood trickling out of the sleeve of one potential patient, but he’s clamping it off and protesting that there is no problem. Another is coughing and hacking up blood, but claims that really she is alright and thinks she can go home now. Another has a slightly green hue about his face and keeps making trips to the restroom. You can hear him vomiting in there but when he comes out he is wearing a smile, sucking on a breath mint, and proclaiming that is all in the past and he’s okay.

I can imagine it because I see it every Sunday. Christ’s church is His hospital for the sin sick and death struck. He is providing the medicine that heals us. Yet, most Christians I know spend most of their time trying to prove to everyone how little they need the Great Physician. Oh, sure, we’ll admit that there are a few things that we just can’t handle, and Jesus will take care of those minor details in the judgment. But mostly, we’ve got it under control. In fact, it’s because we’ve got it under control that Jesus will take care of us (“unlike that tax collector over there,” we say under our breath).

I saw this happen with one of my best friends. It still breaks my heart. When I say one of my best friends, I mean it was a brother who I invited to travel with me. I shared with him my darkest confessions because I knew I needed help. My insides didn’t match his outsides. I couldn’t imagine that he had the kind of struggles I did and he never let me know that he did. But he was my friend and I wanted to invite him in. We talked. And we moved forward. Nothing much happened after that except I was open with my struggles. That is until about two years later when I received a call from a mutual friend (another one that I had invited on my journey). My friend, my brother in Christ, had been caught in an ongoing affair. Instead of repenting, he was leaving his wife. They are now divorced and my friend has never returned a single call I have made to him. I know this is not what he wants for his life. I know he has to be eaten up with the guilt and shame of it. But what really happened? He was taking the trip alone. And now he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Because he is alone, he can’t muster the courage to cut off his right arm. Sadly, he has been invited to have help, but he refuses.

I see it again and again. Christians who have shallow connections with their brethren, never actually sharing the journey. They have their struggles as we all do. But they want to keep up the charade of spiritual health. They don’t want to admit they’ve come to this hospital because they need treatment. They want to act like they are one of the Physician’s Assistants. So they stuff their own symptoms; they hide their own struggles. That is, until it has gotten so bad they can’t hide it anymore, but then it is too late (or, at least, so they think). The gaping wound is so large it can’t be covered up. Then, ashamed, they flee the hospital.

Invite Someone on Your Journey

We’ve all read, and some of us fear, James 5:16–”Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (NASU).

What is James really saying? Invite someone on your journey. Invite them to look into your closets and see the skeletons. Invite them to pray with you about them. Invite them to know the real you, to walk with you, to love you anyway.

Let’s get rid of that common invitation plea: “If you have a private sin take care of it between you and God, but if you have brought shame and reproach upon the congregation make it known while we stand and sing.” Hogwash! There isn’t a Bible verse that says this, and it is destroying our brothers and sisters right and left. Certainly, if everyone knows you’ve been in sin, coming forward at the end of a sermon is a great way to let everyone know you want to do right. But I’ve learned that keeping my private sins between me and God is a good way to just keep hanging on to my private sins. If you have a private sin, I’m not saying you have to “go forward.” But if you really want to overcome, you have to find someone to walk the journey with you. The more you try to hide your wounds, the bigger they get. Don’t take the trip alone. Invite someone along.

I Invite You on My Journey

Let me be perfectly clear. I’m not the Great Physician. Sometimes I like to think that I am. Sometimes I envision myself as the one who has all the answers. But I’ve faced enough in my life to disillusion me of that notion (though at times I do forget and that part of me rises back to the surface).

Not only that, I’m not even the Great Physician’s Assistant. I’m not even a nurse for the Great Physician. I’m a patient. I’m a registered, admitted, wrist-band wearing patient. I’m walking around with the gown open in the back, my back pressed up against the ice-cold, ceramic tile wall so no one can see my shame. Every once in a while I sneak into the locker room and try to put on a doctor’s white coat so I’ll seem more important than I really am. But in the end, I’m just a patient who has to be led back to his room, patted on the hand indulgently, and reminded  that I still have a long way to go.

A week ago, someone expressed to my wife, Marita, that they could never be as good as her because she is a preacher’s wife. I asked my wife, “Did you tell her about me? Or did you just let her keep believing that?” Oh how I wish that simply because I’ve decided to be a PR guy for the Great Physician that meant I was really all that great. But I’m the guy who plans on having a conversation with Paul about that not-quite-truth he expressed in I Timothy 1:15. (With me on the list there is no way he is the foremost of sinners. Though since I wasn’t around when he wrote that, I guess this small mistake can be overlooked.)

There was a time when I was sure I would be the perfect husband, the perfect father, raising the perfect kids, being the perfect preacher, producing the perfect congregations, writing the perfect blog, because I was the perfect Christian. There was a time when even though I knew it wasn’t true, I tried to get others to believe it. But no more.

In every aspect of my life, I’ve blown it. I’ve sinned as a husband, as a father, as a friend, as a brother, as a son. I’ve sinned as a preacher, as a counselor, as a teacher, as a brother in Christ. I struggle with covetousness, lust, materialism, pride, outbursts of wrath, gluttony, arrogance, selfishness. Marita and I have fights. I’ve had to crawl back to my kids begging forgiveness for not responding to them appropriately. I’ve been full-on involved in the competition for who is the best preacher. I wish I could say that was all before I was baptized or before I became a preacher, but I’m really just talking to you about the litany of things I did last week.

Hello, my name is Edwin and I am a patient.

But I’m in the right hospital. I’ve come to the Great Physician. He is healing me. He is giving me progressive victory over all my sins. He promised that I shall know the truth and the truth shall set me free. And it is. Jesus didn’t flip a switch. He invited me on a journey of growth. A really hard part of that journey was to invite others along. And I’m glad to say that I do have some real friends and brothers on that journey (you guys know who you are…THANK YOU!). I’d love for you to be on that journey too.

Trust me, no matter how great things seem today, you are going to fall at some point and you’ll need someone else beside you. Invite someone on your journey. Don’t be like Aron Ralston. Don’t take this trip alone.

So, last Thursday night, our exchange daughter, Viktoria, came out of the bathroom. “Edwin, you need to see this!” The shower stall was filled with water backed up from a clogged drain, the sink was filling up  as well, and the toilet was leaking water from underneath the base.  Oh, great! Yep, you guessed it. Blocked up septic system. The septic guy came out Friday morning, cleaned it out, and said we should think about using different toilet paper. I got to thinking about how this mirrors a lot of troubled relationships.

I hope I can develop this illustration without sounding crass or gross. But what was going on with my house’s plumbing? The problem was we were stuffing junk down those pipes, but apparently not the right kind of junk. Above the surface everything seemed to be fine, but underneath a problem was brewing. All the while we just kept stuffing and stuffing and stuffing the wrong paper down the pipes. Eventually, the system just couldn’t handle it and big problems erupted to the surface.

Isn’t that what happens in a lot of relationships–whether husband/wife, parent/child, brother/sister, employer/employee, labor/management, neighbor/neighbor, etc.? Perhaps somebody said or did something to hurt us, maybe they have a habit that bothers us, perhaps they repeatedly do something that we believe takes us for granted. However, we are afraid to rock the boat. The relationship is going smoothly so we just stuff it down the pipes. On the surface, everything seems to be fine; but underneath, trouble is brewing.

The problem is sooner or later all that stuff is going to come back up the pipes. No matter how hard you try to stuff it and ignore it, eventually it is going to erupt all over the “floor” of you relationship. You just can’t stuff this stuff and expect it to stay stuffed. It has to go somewhere and when there’s too much of it in the plumbing of your relationship, the septic system will back up. That get’s nasty.

So, what do you need to do? Learn how to talk about stuff as it’s happening. When something bothers you, learn how to bring it up. Learn how to express yourself. Do it with gentleness, of course. But also do it with firmness that says you are allowed to have your feelings and you need to be able to talk about this. The great thing is if you learn to bring up stuff that bothers you as it happens one at a time, the back up doesn’t happen. Most people can handle it when you bring up one thing that bothers you. It’s when the eruption of all the stuff you’ve been stuffing for weeks, months, maybe even years finally comes up that real problems and destroyed relationships happen.

If it bothers you that someone touches you every time they talk to you, let them know. If someone’s habitual tardiness is causing you problems, talk about it and develop a plan. If someone’s pet nickname for you doesn’t make you feel loved and appreciated, let them know. If someone is repeatedly dropping the ball on their part of the project, have a conversation with them.

Do it early. Do it gently. Do it firmly. Develop good boundaries. Yes, there are some people who are so wounded that they may not be able to handle it. But I guarantee that no matter how healthy they are, if you wait until you’ve stuffed too much of that stuff down in the pipes, when the septic system erupts, the relationship will be damaged.  So figure out how to have that conversation now.

By the way, if you want more information on how to keep your relational septic system from backing up on you, check out the book review I posted last week.

Most of us love the psalms. They hit us right where we are. They move us to praise God, love God, honor God. They help us deal with some of the difficulties we face in life. But if you’re like me, you always feel like you are missing something when you read one. You know there is a deeper meaning, you just can’t seem to grasp it. Maybe I can help.

I’ve been teaching a class on the Psalms at the Brownsburg Church of Christ and just getting an immeasurable amount of wealth from psalms I have read my whole life. I feel like I’ve finally started getting beneath the surface of these poems and songs. This past Sunday, instead of just examining the psalm assigned by the workbook we are going through, I used it Psalm 8 as an example psalm to show how to study a psalm.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m no scholar. I’m not a psalm expert. But I’ve really been helped by following this 8-step process in examining the psalm. If you, like me, are just a simply Bible student and want some simple tools to help you study deeper, perhaps this will help you as it has me.

I’ll share the 8 steps here in this post. However, I have also uploaded a pdf of how I used these steps to study Psalm 8, along with the visual map of the psalm I shared with the class at Brownsburg. Use it if it is helpful. Download it by clicking here.

8 Steps to Study a Psalm

Step #1: Pigeonhole the psalm

What kind of psalm is it? Being able to label a psalm helps us know which direction the psalm is going and lets us see the forest before looking at the trees. Different authors have delineated different genres. I use the genres defined by Tremper Longman III. Find out more by downloading my example of studying Psalm 8.

Step #2:  Be leery of reading yourself into the psalm too quickly

Okay, this is not so much a step as it is trying to keep you from taking a misstep. No doubt, you will eventually read the psalm in the context of your life. But if you do it too quickly, you may miss the real meaning of the psalm and then not apply it to your life as intended. Psalm 8 is a great example of where I had made this mistake.

Step #3: Look for context clues of when and why the psalm was written

Some psalms come with an attribution and even a setting. There is some question regarding how accurate those are. But, if they can’t always tell you exactly when a psalm was written, they can at least give you the concept that an early editor of the Old Testament hymnal had about when and why the psalm was written.

Beyond the attribution, look for statements in the psalm that give evidence about when and why the psalm was written. For instance, Psalm 8:2 speaks about God giving strength to defeat enemies. This indicates that this psalm was written in response to some victory granted by God.

You can’t always get a specific setting for every psalm. But at least you may be able to determine a general basis for the writing of the psalm.

Step #4: Look at the structure of the psalm

 Strive to develop an outline. Look for the sections of the psalm. What are the themes? What are the supporting points? How are they made? Did the psalmist use statements, questions, commands, praises, laments? Does the psalm shift in person and who is speaking? Are there repeated structures? Are there parallel concepts? Are there repeated words or phrases?

This is the toughest and most involved step. In this step, I often do what I call a visual mapping of the psalm. That is I print the psalm out on paper and start drawing connections between the words and phrases. It can produce a messy sheet of paper, but when you step back, a map of the psalm stands out that almost always helps me see the structure and meaning of the psalm.

Once again, I encourage you to download my example study of Psalm 8 to see greater detail of how to accomplish this step and to see an example of a mapped out psalm.

Step #5: Examine keywords

Keywords are words upon which the meaning of the psalm hinges. They may be words repeated throughout the psalm. They may be words used in special ways with which you have to come to terms. They may be words that you struggle with to know the meaning. They may be words that you can tell are simply important because of how they are used. Don’t just work on the denotations of the words–the actual definitions. Also, work on the connotations in the context of the psalm. Consider not what the word means all by itself, but how the psalmist is using the word in the psalm.

Step #6: Consider the Old Testament Context

Does the psalm include any concepts, references, allusions, or even quotes from other passages in the Old Testament (even in the Psalms). Keep this step in the Old Testament. That will help provide the original intended meaning in the Old Testament context. We need to know that meaning before we can see how the psalm applies to our lives and before determining any New Covenant or Messianic meaning.

Step #7: What lessons do you learn from the psalm based on your study so far?

Having pigeon-holed, outlined, examined the keywords, and considered the original context, what lessons do you get out of the psalm for your own life? List them and test them against the psalm to see if they really are there.

Step #8: Examine how the psalm is used in the New Testament to see if there is a greater New Covenant/Messianic meaning

In many cases, the New Testament writers quoted the Psalms and demonstrated that while the psalm had a meaning in the original historical context, God had a greater meaning behind the psalm that was not understood until the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is not necessarily the idea of double meaning or dual fulfillment. This is the concept that in Jesus, the meaning of the psalm is intensified and made more full. I often refer to this as a greater fulfillment or an ultimate fulfillment.

Please, don’t discount the meaning in the original context and just skip to the ultimate meaning in Jesus. If you do that, you’ll gain insight into the nature of Jesus, but you may miss the personal help and direction the psalm can give you for your life. At the same time, don’t stop with simply having figured out the meaning in the original context. If you do, you may gain help in your daily life, but you’ll miss the truly awe-inspiring nature of the prophetic nature of the psalms and exactly how Jesus fulfills all that God revealed in the Old Testament.

In this step, I exercise some caution. While there may be some psalms that seem Messianic, and we can develop some interesting points, I’m leery of supplying my own Messianic meaning to a psalm. I tend to only supply that meaning if the New Testament writers pave the way to find that meaning.

 

I hope this was helpful. Let me know if it is. Also, let me know what you do to help you study the psalms. Make sure to leave a comment with your suggestions and helps.

And, once again, I encourage you to download my study example of Psalm 8 to see these steps and the mapping worked out in a real-life Bible study example.

P.S. I know this may shock you. But there are absolutely no affiliate links in this post. I don’t get any kickbacks from anyone for sharing the links in this post. However, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d check out some of the links in the sidebar and purchase stuff to your heart’s content. Hey a blogger’s got to make a living somehow, right?

Last week was New Year’s and many of us resolved to watch less tv, read more books. Whether or not that’s the case for you, if you only have one book that you have time to read this year…well, of course, make it the Bible. But if you have time to read two books this year, I’d like to make a recommendation: How to Have That Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding by Drs. Cloud and Townsend.

Check out the video review by clicking the link below.

(For my e-mail subscribers who can’t see the video, click here.)

These are the authors of Boundaries and their work just keeps getting better. This book came out in 2005 and, frankly, I’ve been kicking everyone for not telling me about it sooner. And I promise you this, you’re hearing this post today, if you don’t get this book for a week, a month, a year, two years, five years and then you read it, you’ll be kicking yourself too. In fact, you may even give me a call and let me come kick you.

Let’s face it. We’ve all got those conversations we need to have. Whether it’s with a husband or wife, a brother or sister, a parent or a child, a church leader or a church member, a boss or an employee or a co-worker, a neighbor, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and yet we’ve been avoiding them. Why? Well, maybe we’re just afraid of conflict. Or maybe we don’t know how to say what needs to be said. Or maybe we’re afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, or even worse that they may turn it around on us and hurt our feelings. But you only have to put that conversation off long enough to get this book and read it.

This book is jam-packed with powerful principles to help you make your conversations better. When you read this book you’ll learn things about clarifying the problem, making sure to keep “I” and “you” clear, balancing grace and truth, and other profound principles that help us know where conversations go wrong and how to keep from making those mistakes again.

But in addition to that, this book is filled to the brim with practical pointers. They don’t just talk about ethereal concepts and mystical ideas. They bring out real life conversations and real life situations and let us know this is how a conversation can be conducted and bring about good results.

Maybe you’ve had that conversation that you’ve been wanting to have with a wife or a husband, maybe with a boss, a co-worker, a church leader, even someone that you’re dating. There’s a chapter for that filled with profound illustrations that hit right at home where you’ve been, where I’ve been and help us know how to have those conversations. And help us know how to make those conversations draw us closer together instead of dividing us even further apart.

I just finished this book yesterday, and already it’s changing the way I communicate with my family. I have no doubt that if I continue to follow the principles that I’ve read about in this book, that I’m going to make my wife happier, which means my marriage will be happier. Not to mention, my family will be more productive. I won’t have to continue wasting time in those arguments about issues that don’t really matter. Instead, we’ll be able to spend time conversing and communicating with one another in a way that brings us closer together and helps our family have greater unity.

I want to thanks Drs. Cloud and Townsend for writing How to Have That Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding. I know it’s changing my life, and I know it will change yours. Pick up your copy today. Trust me. You won’t regret it.

—-

P.S. If I were a betting man, I would bet that you don’t need this legally obligated disclaimer to let you know that this post does in fact contain affiliate links. I’m not recommending the book just so I can get a kick back. I’m recommending it because it helped me and I know it will help you. But, while it’s helping you, why don’t you go ahead and help me. Use the affiliate links to get your copy ordered today. In fact, here are a few more.

As I’m sure you could see in the video, I read this book on the Kindle app on my iPad. Here’s the link for the kindle version.

Oh and maybe you need an iPad. Here you go.

Or perhaps you’d like to have the new Kindle Fire. I hear it’s smoking and so much cheaper than an iPad.

Perhaps you’d like to check out more books by Cloud and Townsend. Here you go.

You get the idea. Have a great week and some great conversations.

I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” What does that mean? Find out in this video representation of giving thanks called “The Thanksgiving Chair.” How often do you sit in the thanksgiving chair? Who are you teaching to sit there with you?

For my e-mail subscribers who can’t see the video, click here.

The first week of January is halfway over. How are you doing on your resolutions? Yeah, me too. Although, I did go to the gym this morning. That’s good. Would you like to know the skinny on resolutions? Then check out the video by the Skit Guys letting us know about how different people handle Resolutions. Enjoy!

For my e-mail subscribers who can’t see the video, click here.

The moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. “Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer” has finally hit the stands. Just in time for the New Year, you can now read the full story of Steve and Sarah, a Christian couple who woke up one Sunday morning in a spiritual rut.

Steve and Sarah didn’t really know what to do next. They just didn’t want to continue on in the rat-race of just going to church as usual. They thought maybe they just needed a change of scenery. Maybe a new church would do the trick. Providentially, one of their shepherds, brother Davis, checks in on them and challenges them to a “High Voltage Prayer Challenge”–thirteen weeks of prayer. You can read their story and face the “High Voltage Prayer Challenge” with them.

“Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer (The Classbook)” takes some of the major themes found in it’s predecessor Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer (plus a couple new lessons) and presents them in a format perfect for a small group study or a quarterly Bible class. Or go through the study with a friend, with your family, or on your own.

The great thing is this is a downloadable pdf. You don’t have to wait for shipping. Simply purchase the license option you want, download and print your copies. For more info, visit the product page, click the banner above or the box below.

Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer (The Classbook)

The story of Steve and Sarah, a Christian couple in a spiritual rut. Learn about the power of God through prayer as you read their story and work through the challenges and questions they face as they figure out the place prayer really has in their spiritual lives.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on my special Bible class material project: “Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer-The Bible Class.” I am excited to announce that within the next few weeks the story of Steve and Sarah and their victory in Christ through prayer will be released for personal and congregational use. I’ve received great feedback about this class material and I’m truly excited to be able to offer it to you.

“Plugged In: High Voltage Prayer–The Bible Class” takes the 12 greatest lessons about prayer and brings them to you in the midst of a story of Steve and Sarah. They are in a spiritual slump, ready to turn their back on their congregation and their own spiritual growth. But one shepherd takes them under his wing and leads them through a journey of faith, teaching them how prayer can connect them to God and bring the spark of power back into their walk with the Lord.

In each lesson, you get to see how a powerful principle of prayer helps bring Steve and Sarah back into a closer walk with the Lord. They will meet with several different Christians from different backgrounds who help them get back on track.

The great thing about this different approach to Bible class material is you do not learn these lessons about prayer in a vacuum. Rather, you learn them in the context of a true to life story. You easily see the immediate application of the principles you learn about and discuss in the class or small group setting.

The story is at times humorous and at other times heart-wrenching. Steve and Sarah’s lives are not easy. But the God they serve is powerful enough to help them through. And they learn that prayer is the connection to that power. You will too.

The time is drawing near for you to learn what Steve and Sarah did. The book is presently in the midst of editing, revision, and design work. But we are fast approaching release. If you’d like to see what is coming, download the sample and read through the introduction and the first three lessons.

I know that many of your congregations are presently considering what to teach in your Bible classes in 2012. Please pass on this information to those who plan your curriculum and classes. I’m certain this is one class they will want to offer.

Click the book or here to download the sample.

God’s Way Works is excited to announce the latest class book in our Bible Class Material department–Ezra: Rebuilding God’s House, Restoring God’s People.

Would you like to know more about the post-captivity period of God’s Old Testament nation Israel? I’ve often found that even good students of the Bible have not studied this part of Biblical history in depth. That is a travesty because Ezra gives some valuable insights into restoring God’s plan and pattern for His covenant people. In this material, you and/or your class can learn about the rebuilding of the temple following the Babylonian captivity, learn of the stellar example set by Ezra, and discover the  the restoration of God’s people after they had intermingled with the foreign nations.

What really sets this class apart from many others is the special effort made to bridge the gap between the mere history described in the Biblical text and the practical help we need to serve God today. This will not be simply a dry look at historical information. It will provide the seeds of lively discussion about what it means for our lives today.

This class book contains 12 lessons and 1 Review lesson. Many congregations have special events scheduled that eat up one week of classes in any given quarter. If that happens to you, then you can burn the review lesson. If not, then you have enough material to teach each week of the normal Bible class quarter.

Ezra: Rebuilding God's House, Restoring God's People

This is a 13 lesson adult Bible class book covering the Old Testament book of Ezra with a special emphasis on restoration.

Download a Sample

If you’d like to check out the Student Workbook before you purchase, feel free to download the free sample, which includes the Introduction, Table of Contents, and the first 3 lessons. Just click the link below to access the free sample.

Check out the first 3 lessons!

Downloadable PDF

“Ezra: Rebuilding God’s House, Restoring God’s People” is a downloadable pdf file that you will be able to download immediately upon payment. You will be able to print your own copies and use them personally, in your small group, in your Bible class, or with your entire congregation depending on the licensing option that you purchase.

Licensing Options

Make sure you checkout the different licensing levels below.

Buy your Personal License for $4.97. That allows you to print one copy of this material for your personal use. Of course, you can purchase multiple personal licenses. However, if you want to print more than 14 copies, you’ll want to consider one of our other licensing options.

The Small Group License is $69.97 and gives you the license to print up to 20 copies (that’s only $3.50/copy).

The Bible Class License allows you to print up to 40 copies and is only $99.97 (that’s only $2.50/copy).

The Congregational License gives you the license to teach this class as often as you want and print as many copies as you want from now until Jesus returns within one congregation (this license is not transferable to congregations other than the one for which you originally purchased it even if paid for by an individual). This amazing deal is only $199.97.

Ezra: Rebuilding God's House, Restoring God's People

This is a 13 lesson adult Bible class book covering the Old Testament book of Ezra with a special emphasis on restoration.

Check Out Our Other Material

In addition to Ezra, you can check out our other materials available to you here at God’s Way Works. For instance, you can check out our class book on Grace: God’s Power to Overcome Sin by simply clicking the picture to the left. Or click on My Store to check out the other materials we have available at this website.

The more I’ve worked with addicts and dealt with my own sins, the more I’ve realized that most churches are falling short in a very important area–freedom from sin. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Most churches teach freedom from sin. Most command freedom from sin. But very few are helping people become free from sin. Most of them simply tell people to quit sinning and then slap them on the wrist when they catch them sinning again or belittle and shame them for doing so. What can we do about this?

Basically, here is the problem as I see it. Most churches deal with only one aspect of salvation–forgiveness. They are doing a great job at teaching people where to go to receive forgiveness. As a Christian, I believe ultimate forgiveness can only be found through the blood of Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:28). Churches teach that. I certainly think there are a lot of churches out there that aren’t teaching accurately how to come in contact with the saving blood of Jesus. But many are. In either case, these churches are teaching how to be forgiven. But that is not the extent of salvation.

“Saved” is actually a medical term. In the New Testament, it translates the word “sozo.” It means to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger. It has an emphasis on saving one who is suffering, especially one who is perishing from a disease. To be saved means to be made well, healed, restored to health. This is more than just dealing with what has happened in the past. This is fixing what is broken. This is the side that is often missed. Salvation is more than forgiving the sins of the past, it is healing the person spiritually so they overcome the sickness of sin. Salvation is not simply forgiveness, it is freedom. As John 8:32 teaches, Jesus wants us not just to be forgiven, but to be free.

Let’s see if we can see a picture here. Imagine a diabetic who, because of his disease, has had some toes amputated from one foot and the other foot and leg removed up to the knee. Forgiveness can be seen as simply removing the problems of the past. The toes and leg are reattached. On the surface it seems like everything is now fixed. But if the person still has diabetes, what can he expect in the future? He’s just going to lose those appendages again. That is a picture of receiving forgiveness without getting freedom. We don’t just want to reattach the appendages, we want to get rid of the diabetes. That is a full picture of salvation–forgiveness and freedom.

Regrettably, on a practical level, I don’t know many churches that are doing a very good job at this side, especially not with people who are dealing with obsessive sins, compulsions, and addictions. Sure, we can point to people who used to do some bad things and then stopped. We can find some people who even made some drastic changes in their lives when they were baptized into Christ. They become our poster children. But then we meet someone for whom just getting baptized doesn’t seem to do the trick. Instead of helping them, we often look down on them as they repeatedly fall into their sinful patterns. We accuse them of not really repenting. In some cases, that may well be true. In others, they have repented, they just need some really practical help on actually overcoming the sins they wanted salvation from.

By the way, this is the point at which I ask all Christians, “Are you perfect yet?” If not, then maybe you should back off on accusing everyone who struggles with a sin that you don’t of just not being penitent enough.

There are some organizations that I have seen that actually are doing a great job at showing people how to be free and overcome. They don’t purposefully turn people to Jesus to receive forgiveness, so I worry about that. However, I think there is a place for churches to learn something from 12-step groups. I’m talking about those groups that are based on Alcoholics Anonymous. Many who once thought they were hopeless have found hope. Regrettably, they didn’t find it in churches. They found it in groups of people with the same struggle coming together to share their experience, strength, and hope. They found it in working a program outlined in 12 steps and relying on others who also wanted to quit whatever struggle they were having.

I think churches can learn from this. Though I don’t personally like the phrase “God of my understanding” found in the 12 steps of most 12-step groups, I think the principles behind these steps are profound and biblical. They have helped me in having progressive victory over my own sins.

I’ve got way more to say about what churches can learn from these groups. That will come in later posts. In this one, let me simply share a modified version of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Then let’s talk about how biblical they are and how beneficial they can be in helping folks not only be forgiven but be set free.

Step #1: We admitted we were powerless over sin–that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step #2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step #3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God in Jesus Christ.

Step #4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step #5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step #6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step #7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step #8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step #9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step #10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step #11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God through Jesus Christ, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Step #12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to sinners, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

(Adapted from “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,” Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, New York, 2007, pp 5-8)

I’ve seen people working these steps gain a freedom that just being told to stop didn’t give them. I think churches need to learn something from these steps. Not that churches need to become mega-12-step groups, but that there are some truly practical lessons based in the Word of God that can help people who are really struggling. There is hope beyond saying, “Why don’t you just stop?” Let’s learn how to offer that hope and that direction in our churches.

Let’s talk about this. How biblical or not do you think these steps are? How beneficial do you think they can be? How can they be adapted scripturally in a congregational setting? Add your two-cents to this by commenting below.