03-15-2008, 01:29 AM
L E S S O N 20
Summary and Practical Application
Once again, I congratulate you, and I commend you, for completing The
Theology of Everything. I don’t know about you, but when I come to
the end of a teaching like this, I’m usually stirred up with a lot of good
ideas and food for thought. But I don’t always have a real clear sense about what
to do next – how to apply what has been taught and live it out in a practical way.
Fortunately, the Theology of Everything and the Universal Spiritual Principles of
Increase and Decrease are so powerful that you don’t have to understand them
completely in order to apply them. In fact, if you’re honest, you’ll admit that God
has been increasing Jesus and decreasing you long before you even realized what
was happening.
Think back over your life – how you were raised, how you lived your life before
coming to the Lord. How you first came to trust Jesus for salvation. How Jesus
began to reveal Himself to you. Maybe you had the impression that coming to
Jesus would eliminate all your problems. Instead, you discovered that you still had
problems to be worked out and circumstances to go through. Maybe you even got
a little discouraged and your spiritual growth became slow and difficult.
Now that you know something about The Law of Increase and The Law of
Decrease, doesn’t your life make a little more sense? Without having met you, I
can say this much about you: The Holy Spirit has been steadily doing His work of
increasing Jesus, and the Cross has been steadily doing its work of decreasing Self.
You may not have understood it, and you might not have always cooperated with
it.
The good news is you don’t have to blame God, or blame your parents, or blame
the Church, or blame the devil for where you are today. You can make a fresh start
right now: by acknowledging that God is working everything in your life – the
good, the bad, and the ugly – for His Purpose.
As a disciple, my duty is to submit to this Purpose. As a teacher, my calling is to
explain this Purpose. But as a brother, my responsibility is to encourage you to
surrender your life – all that you have, and all that you are – to that Purpose. If
you’ve never given your life over to Jesus, now is a good time to do so. If you are
a disciple of Jesus, now is a good time to rededicate your life to Him all over again.
Now I’d like to leave you with some practical things you can do to reinforce the
Theology of Everything in your daily walk with God.
The first thing I would recommend is this: go back and take this course again!
Now that you see the big picture, feel free to go back and quickly review the
lessons. You can start at the beginning and work through each of them, or you can
go back and only study the lessons you want to better understand. Pretty soon the
truths will become second nature to you, and it will be a lot easier to connect the
dots between the teaching and your daily experiences.
Second, seek those things that increase Christ in your life. We know that the Holy
Spirit will use things like the Scriptures, prayer, and fellowship with other
believers as tools to increase Christ and help us grow spiritually. So, take
advantage of those opportunities when they are available to you. If prayer helps
you to better know Jesus, then pray. If studying the Bible helps you to see Jesus
more clearly, then study the Bible. If fellowship with others helps you to grow
spiritually (especially if you’re a new believer), then seek the fellowship of strong,
mature Christians who are focused on Christ and can help you stay focused on
Him. At The School of Christ, we sometimes sponsor weekend workshops where
people can come together and learn on a more personal, face-to-face basis. If you
can attend one of these lives workshops I encourage you to do so.
Now, as you seek things that increase Jesus in your life, begin to eliminate things
that do NOT increase Jesus – religious things that distract you from the simplicity
of Christ, or teachings that sounds good but don’t really lead you into a greater
revelation of understanding Who Jesus is. The Internet is a valuable resource for
Bible teaching, but that doesn’t mean you should read and listen to everyone and
everything. We have plenty of online and offline resources available here at
TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, and if you want to learn more about the increase of Christ
and the decrease of Self, that’s a great place to begin.
Lastly, if you got something out of this online workshop, and if you’re in
agreement with what we’re teaching, why not tell others about it? Can you think
of one, two, five, or ten people who would benefit from knowing what you’ve been
learning? Invite them to visit TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, and encourage them to sign
up for this free online workshop. Or, if you’d like to make this workshop available
to people in your home meeting, Bible study, church, fellowship or small group,
get in touch with us and we’ll show you how easy it is to get started. When we
teach about the increase of Christ we are cooperating with that increase. And when
you help others to experience this teaching, you are cooperating with the increase
of Christ also.
QUIZ
Lesson 20 – Summary and Practical Application
1. The Universal Spiritual Principles of Increase and Decrease were working in your life long
before you understood them or knew anything about them. This means that
a) you must be incredibly wise
b) you need to memorize them to get them to work
c) you can apply them without fully understanding them
2. If you don’t like where you are in your life today, you should blame
a) God
b) the devil
c) yourself
d) your parents
e) none of the above
3. The most important thing to ask when you find a new teaching, ministry, or Christian website
is
a) does this sound spiritual?
b) does this help to increase Christ?
c) does this say it is for Christians?
4. The best way to reinforce the truths you’ve learned in this course is to
a) take the course over again
b) study the lessons you want to really focus on
c) share the teachings with others
d) all the above
Summary and Practical Application
Once again, I congratulate you, and I commend you, for completing The
Theology of Everything. I don’t know about you, but when I come to
the end of a teaching like this, I’m usually stirred up with a lot of good
ideas and food for thought. But I don’t always have a real clear sense about what
to do next – how to apply what has been taught and live it out in a practical way.
Fortunately, the Theology of Everything and the Universal Spiritual Principles of
Increase and Decrease are so powerful that you don’t have to understand them
completely in order to apply them. In fact, if you’re honest, you’ll admit that God
has been increasing Jesus and decreasing you long before you even realized what
was happening.
Think back over your life – how you were raised, how you lived your life before
coming to the Lord. How you first came to trust Jesus for salvation. How Jesus
began to reveal Himself to you. Maybe you had the impression that coming to
Jesus would eliminate all your problems. Instead, you discovered that you still had
problems to be worked out and circumstances to go through. Maybe you even got
a little discouraged and your spiritual growth became slow and difficult.
Now that you know something about The Law of Increase and The Law of
Decrease, doesn’t your life make a little more sense? Without having met you, I
can say this much about you: The Holy Spirit has been steadily doing His work of
increasing Jesus, and the Cross has been steadily doing its work of decreasing Self.
You may not have understood it, and you might not have always cooperated with
it.
The good news is you don’t have to blame God, or blame your parents, or blame
the Church, or blame the devil for where you are today. You can make a fresh start
right now: by acknowledging that God is working everything in your life – the
good, the bad, and the ugly – for His Purpose.
As a disciple, my duty is to submit to this Purpose. As a teacher, my calling is to
explain this Purpose. But as a brother, my responsibility is to encourage you to
surrender your life – all that you have, and all that you are – to that Purpose. If
you’ve never given your life over to Jesus, now is a good time to do so. If you are
a disciple of Jesus, now is a good time to rededicate your life to Him all over again.
Now I’d like to leave you with some practical things you can do to reinforce the
Theology of Everything in your daily walk with God.
The first thing I would recommend is this: go back and take this course again!
Now that you see the big picture, feel free to go back and quickly review the
lessons. You can start at the beginning and work through each of them, or you can
go back and only study the lessons you want to better understand. Pretty soon the
truths will become second nature to you, and it will be a lot easier to connect the
dots between the teaching and your daily experiences.
Second, seek those things that increase Christ in your life. We know that the Holy
Spirit will use things like the Scriptures, prayer, and fellowship with other
believers as tools to increase Christ and help us grow spiritually. So, take
advantage of those opportunities when they are available to you. If prayer helps
you to better know Jesus, then pray. If studying the Bible helps you to see Jesus
more clearly, then study the Bible. If fellowship with others helps you to grow
spiritually (especially if you’re a new believer), then seek the fellowship of strong,
mature Christians who are focused on Christ and can help you stay focused on
Him. At The School of Christ, we sometimes sponsor weekend workshops where
people can come together and learn on a more personal, face-to-face basis. If you
can attend one of these lives workshops I encourage you to do so.
Now, as you seek things that increase Jesus in your life, begin to eliminate things
that do NOT increase Jesus – religious things that distract you from the simplicity
of Christ, or teachings that sounds good but don’t really lead you into a greater
revelation of understanding Who Jesus is. The Internet is a valuable resource for
Bible teaching, but that doesn’t mean you should read and listen to everyone and
everything. We have plenty of online and offline resources available here at
TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, and if you want to learn more about the increase of Christ
and the decrease of Self, that’s a great place to begin.
Lastly, if you got something out of this online workshop, and if you’re in
agreement with what we’re teaching, why not tell others about it? Can you think
of one, two, five, or ten people who would benefit from knowing what you’ve been
learning? Invite them to visit TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, and encourage them to sign
up for this free online workshop. Or, if you’d like to make this workshop available
to people in your home meeting, Bible study, church, fellowship or small group,
get in touch with us and we’ll show you how easy it is to get started. When we
teach about the increase of Christ we are cooperating with that increase. And when
you help others to experience this teaching, you are cooperating with the increase
of Christ also.
QUIZ
Lesson 20 – Summary and Practical Application
1. The Universal Spiritual Principles of Increase and Decrease were working in your life long
before you understood them or knew anything about them. This means that
a) you must be incredibly wise
b) you need to memorize them to get them to work
c) you can apply them without fully understanding them
2. If you don’t like where you are in your life today, you should blame
a) God
b) the devil
c) yourself
d) your parents
e) none of the above
3. The most important thing to ask when you find a new teaching, ministry, or Christian website
is
a) does this sound spiritual?
b) does this help to increase Christ?
c) does this say it is for Christians?
4. The best way to reinforce the truths you’ve learned in this course is to
a) take the course over again
b) study the lessons you want to really focus on
c) share the teachings with others
d) all the above