Christian Way of Life (CWL)

Basic Techniques

(Umbrella)

Introduction

The objective of this booklet is to introduce the basic techniques of the Christian Way of Life (CWL).  A technique is a method or way to accomplish a desired purpose.

The purpose of the believer in his day-to-day life (CWL) is to have a friendship relationship with God, to serve God, to accomplish God’s’ will, and to make God and His glory known.

The basic techniques are the essential foundational skills and methods that God has given to the believer so that he may fulfill this purpose.

This book will better serve its purpose if you will use it as a study and reference book.  Think your way through each doctrine and the Scripture references.  As you do, make notes in the margins and text.  Ask questions of the material.  Look for key words and phrases.  Define important terms.  Sort ideas and relate them to each other.  Try to integrate the doctrines into the entire flowing body of Truth that God has given to us.  Put yourself into the stream of Truth so the doctrines flow in you and through you so God’s thought and life become your thought and life.

Space has been provided following each doctrine for you to put your observations and conclusions into writing.

Occupation with Christ—Love God

1.      Occupation with Christ means that Jesus Christ is the center of our attention and love. We focus on Him – our Savior, advocate, and head of the church. We love God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 5:1-3; Luke 10:27).

2.      The Christian life, as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, emphasizes the day to day walk by faith in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:2 speaks of this as “fixing our eyes upon Jesus.”  Romans 8:28 says “those who love God.” Occupation with Christ is a short way to identify this day by day walk by faith in Christ and love for God.

3.      The believer occupied with Jesus Christ is exercising true loyal love for, imitation of, and conscious faith-dependence on Jesus Christ and His provision.

4.      Occupation with Christ is the dominant and unifying technique for the church age believer (Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 12:1-2; Romans 8:28).

5.      The fear of the Lord emphasizes this same faith walk. Occupation with Christ, then, is similar to what the Old Testament called living in fear of the Lord
(Deuteronomy 31:12-13; Psalm 19:7-9; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 5:21).

6.      Jesus Christ merits the believer’s loyal love, imitation, and faith-dependence for a number of reasons:

§         His person (John 1:1; 1:29).

§         His incarnation (John 1:14-18; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

§         His session at the right hand of the Father
(Ephesians 1:20-23).

§         His provision for the Christian way of life
(John 13-17).

§         His provision for the believer’s future (John 14:2).

7.      Occupation with Christ is God’s will (Colossians 3:1-2) and should be the believer’s desire (Philippians 3:8-10).

8.      The believer needs to continue learning the Word of God in order for occupation with Christ to increase and strengthen (John 8:31; 2 Peter 3:18).

9.      Paul is an illustration of a believer occupied with Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:12-30).

Occupation with Christ Review

Knowledge of the Word of God

1.      The Bible is God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

2.      The Bible is the believer’s spiritual food (Matthew 4:4; 1 Peter 2:2).

3.      Knowledge of and confidence in the Word of God is absolutely essential for normal growth in the Christian life (2 Peter 3:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:11-14).

4.      True learning of Bible doctrine has results (James 1:22-25; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Colossians 1:9-10):

§         The believer lives Bible doctrine.

§         The believer grows to spiritual maturity.

5.      Moses (Deuteronomy 6:1-6), the Psalmist (Psalm 119), Daniel (Daniel 9:1-3), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36), Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 24:44-48), and Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15-17) demonstrate and illustrate the importance of learning and using God’s Word, the Bible.

Knowledge of the Word Review

Faith Rest

1.      Faith rest means believing what God has said in the Bible and therefore relying upon God and resting instead of worrying.

2.      Faith rest requires a knowledge of Bible promises so one has God’s word to believe (Psalm 119:49-50; Lamentations 3:19-26).

3.      When pressure comes, the believer trusts God’s promises. When this is true, the believer is not worrying; is not upset; is not trusting himself, others, or circumstances
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 15).

4.      Faith rest is illustrated in the story of Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 13-14):

§         Caleb and Joshua were part of a reconnaissance force of twelve sent into Canaan.

§         The mission was to gather intelligence on Israel’s enemy.

§         Caleb and Joshua trusted and rested in God’s Word. This gave them courage to give a favorable report.

§         The remaining ten were fearful, rejected God’s promises, and gave a bad report to Israel.

5. There are many Bible promises to learn, believe, and in which to rest, including Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7; Matthew 6:33; Proverbs 3:5-6; Hebrews 13:5-6; 1 John 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13;  Hebrews 4:15-16; Philippians 4:19; and Psalm 16:8.

Faith Rest Review

Confession of Sin for Fellowship

1.      The believer is no longer under God’s judgment for sin (John 3:16-18), but he will commit personal sin even though he is a believer (1 John 2:1-2).

2.      Personal sin breaks the believer’s fellowship with God, but his family status is unchanged (1 Peter 1:15-16; 1 John 1:5-6).

3.      A believer recovers his fellowship with God by confessing his known personal sin to God (1 John 1:9).

4.      Confession means to acknowledge, admit, to agree with God that something is sin, to name the sin to God.

5. The reason God forgives and cleanses is because Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for the sin (1 John 2:1-2).

Confession/Fellowship Review

Spirituality—Living by the Holy Spirit

1. Spirituality refers to the believer’s right relationship with the Holy Spirit enabling him to live the Christian way of life. Spirituality emphasizes function or doing, whereas fellowship emphasizes the friendship relationship with God.
2. Though the Holy Spirit lives in every believer, a believer is not always spiritual. Paul in Romans 8:1-2, says that we believers now can live under the power of the Holy Spirit instead of under our sinful human nature. Do we want to live each day by our sinful human nature and fail God, or do we want to live each day by the Holy Spirit and please God (Galatians 5:5, 13-26 and Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 5:17-20)?
3. Spirituality is referred to as walking by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Galatians 6:1).
4. Walking by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) is the condition when the indwelling Holy Spirit lives God’s kind of life inside the believer (1 Corinthians 6:19).
5. When the believer is in fellowship with God personal sin is not interfering with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and so the believer is walking by the Holy Spirit (1 John 1 with Galatians 5:16-25). Paul, in Ephesians 5:18, calls it “filled with the Spirit.”
6. The opposite condition from being filled with the Holy Spirit is carnality, which is control by the sinful nature or living by the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Galatians 5:16-17). John calls it walking in darkness (1 John 1:6).
    
7. The spiritual believer is one:

8. The fruit of the Spirit is a product of spirituality
   (Galatians 5:22-23).
9. The Bible illustrates many times the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Three illustrations:

Spirituality Review

 Prayer

1.      Man communicates with God through prayer expecting that God listens and answers (John 16:23-24).

2.      Sometimes God’s answer is not exactly what we expected, and sometimes God’s timing is different from ours.

3.      Prayer demonstrates the believer’s dependence upon God and is a way of life for the believer (Ephesians 6:18-19; Colossians 4:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

4.      The persons involved in prayer are

§         The believer, who prays (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

§         The Father, to whom prayer is addressed (Ephesians 3:14).

§         Jesus Christ, in whose name the believer prays (John 16:23-27; Ephesians 5:20).

§         The Holy Spirit, who controls and enables the believer (Ephesians 6:18).

5.      The principle of effective prayer is found in John 15:7. The believer should be in fellowship with the Lord by confession of sin when necessary, and by learning and applying the Word of God.

6.      Basic promises regarding prayer are found in John 15:7 compared with 1 John 5:14-15:

§         Pray when in fellowship.

§         Pray according to the Word of God and therefore
according to the Father’s will.

7. Prayer is part of the believer’s spiritual armor and an important way to support believers (Ephesians 6:18-19).

Prayer Review

Ministry and Love

1.      Ministry and love refer to serving God and people. Ministry and love are the Christian way of life—loving believers (John 15:12-13; Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Peter 4:8-11; 2 John 5-6) and serving God and others (Ephesians 4:12-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; Colossians 3:17 and 23).

2.      Ministry and love require three things: God’s love working through us (1 Corinthians 13:1-7), God’s plan (Ephesians 2:10), and spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11).

3.      In order for the person ministering—serving—to participate in the blessing and to receive reward, he must be serving in love — God’s love produced through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 13:1-7; Galatians 5:22-23).

4.      God has a production plan for each believer, and that plan forms the basis for his ministry (Ephesians 2:10). David is an illustration of serving God’s purpose (Acts 13:36).

5.      God gives a spiritual gift to each believer and spiritual gifts provide the specialized ability for the ministry of each believer (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Peter 4:10-11).

6.      Ministry and love are results of proper spiritual equipping for Christian service (1 Corinthians 12:12 through 13:7; Ephesians 4:12-16; Hebrews 5:12-14).

7.      Effective ministry is dependent upon

§         The preparation of the believer in the Word of
God by the evangelist and pastor-teacher
(Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Peter 4:10-11;
2 Timothy 3:16-17).

§         Walking by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-6:1;
Ephesians 5:18).

§         Fellowship with Jesus Christ (John 13:1-10; 15:1-5;
1 John 1:1-9).
 

8.      We participate in the blessings of ministry when we

§         Abide in fellowship with Jesus Christ (John 13:3-10; John 15:4-5).

§         Walk by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 22-23,
25-26).

§         Serve with divine love (1 Corinthians 13:1-7).

9.      God will reward believers for fruitful and productive service (1 Corinthians 3:14-15; 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).

Ministry Review

Notes: