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This study looks at six ways that the Bible teaches Christians to grow spiritual. This study also presents the reasons that churches either die or grow. Christians need one another to grow and increase. The Scriptures are clear that hearts will harden to the deceitfulness of sins without the fellowship of Christians. The first church began and they devoted to the apostles’ teachings and the togetherness of disciples. All churches thrive through the fellowship of Christians in God’s Word. The Gospel produces life in repentant believers. The Christian faith must grow upon the foundation of Christ. Jesus died, was buried, and overcame the curse of death by rising from the dead. Those that join the church in study will remain committed when they draw closer to God and have deep relationships with other Christians.

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:1-8 (read by Christopher Howell)
Lesson by Scott Shifferd
​Recorded April 23, 2017

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On the evening that some found Jesus’s tomb empty, the disciples locked the doors for fear of the Jews. Jesus appeared to them and blessed the disciples, “Peace to you!” This frightened and startled the disciples who should have already believed the reports that Jesus rose. The disciples thought Jesus was a spirit. However, Jesus challenged them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:38–39). Jesus rose bodily like none other. His body had put on immortality and glory. Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of the Christian’s hope of resurrection for eternal life. Faith in Jesus requires believing that all will rise one day. This lesson presents reasons to believe in Jesus’s resurrection, implications of Jesus’s resurrection for eternal life, and resurrection as the focus of evangelism.

Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 15:1-4 (read by Marcq Rhodes)
Lesson by Scott Shifferd
Recorded April 16, 2017

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What do you think about lukewarm soup, water, or coffee? Some Christians have a faith that is lukewarm and unappealing. For some reason, many of us lose our zeal, enthusiasm, and passion for the faith. We seem to float on our faith like a life raft not looking for more from our faith in Christ. In this study of the seven churches of Asia, Christians learn how Jesus see churches and what Christ expects. In Revelation, Christ spoke to the church at Laodicea urging them to be zealous and repent. Christ described them as lukewarm because their works were neither cold nor warm. Jesus declared that He would spit them out of his mouth. Jesus affirmed that He rebukes and disciplines those whom He loves. When we as Christians drift in our zeal, how can we restore that enthusiasm? This lesson will help.

Scripture Reading: James 2:17-19 (read by Undre Griggs)
Lesson by Scott Shifferd
Recorded April 9, 2017

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Late one afternoon, a king was walking on his roof when he saw a woman bathing. Instead of going out to battle that spring like other kings, David stayed in Jerusalem. On that roof, David looked with lust and commanded his servants to bring Bathsheba to him. Bathsheba later sent word to David that she was pregnant. After David tried to get her husband Uriah to go home to his wife, David ordered his commander Joab to withdraw his men from Uriah in battle for him to die. This one event devastated David’s integrity and character as a faithful man. Likewise, Christians face similar temptations. In Revelation 2, Christ spoke to a church that allowed the influence of sexual immorality to lead them away from Christ. What would God have to learn from the church at Thyatira?

Scripture Reading: Psalm 52:8-12 (read by Gerrit Dekker)
Lesson by Scott Shifferd
​Recorded April 2, 2017