My Utmost for His Highest: Temptation and Deliverance (Chris)

Temptation is a constant in life.  We are lured in ways large and small away from the light and love of God and towards sin and darkness.  Even Jesus was tempted.  Oswald Chambers asks a provocative question: "Is there good in temptation?"  He also contrasts our typical, worldly temptation with the more advanced versions overcome by Christ.  This lesson explores how we should address temptation in our discipleship and how it can serve as a gauge of progress in our spiritual journeys.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Christ's Agony and Our Access (Randy)

The night before Jesus gave himself up for us, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed earnestly to God. A great spiritual battle took place as he agonized over what was to come the next day. What happened that evening, and why does his anguish give us such confidence in our access to God? In this lesson, we explore the decision Jesus made to go to the cross and why it makes all the difference in our lives.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Loving Christ (Chris)

"Jesus loves me."  This truth is the foundation of our faith from earliest childhood, but it is difficult for us to comprehend the magnitude of Christ's love.  Jesus loving us enables us to love him fully and to be connected to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the process.  This week, we will use C.S. Lewis's "Four Loves" (affection, friendship, romance, sacrifice) to explore just how wonderful and miraculous Christ's love is, and how we can be spiritually transformed by it.

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My Utmost for His Highest: Friendship with God (Randy)

We continue our study of select passages from My Utmost for His Highest by early 20^th century Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers. In his March 20^th entry, Chambers challenges us to recognize and delight in the true friendship we have with God through Jesus. Despite the call to invest deeply in this friendship, we often treat our relationship with God transactionally instead. What does a true friendship with God look like, and what does it mean for how we understand God’s will when we pray?

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My Utmost for His Highest: Who You Are, What to Do (Chris)

As we continue to study passages from My Utmost for His Highest, Chris will explore the passage from June 21^st, “The Ministry of the Inner Life.” Identity and activity are linked directly.  Who we believe we are drives what we do.  This program explores that connection in light of Christian Discipleship.  It further seeks to answer the question, how do we live the Abundant Life in Christ to which we are called in a world of scarcity, difficulty, and darkness?

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My Utmost for His Highest: Becoming Closer to God Through Constant Stewardship (Chris)

Our recent classes in Open Door have addressed a general theme: "How do I transform spiritually by building a stronger and more personal relationship with Jesus Christ and by getting closer to God in the process?"  This entry from My Utmost for His Highest reflects on what it means to be a "vigorous saint" -- a faithful and effective Disciple.  The key is to recognize that our lives exist wholly in relationship to God.  There is no division or distinction between things that belong to God and things that do not.  Everything rightly is God's.  In the Wesleyan tradition, "stewardship" is the word used to explain this basic truth about our lives.  We will explore this concept and its potential to help us in our personal relationship with Christ.

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My Utmost for His Highest: My Brother and Sister's Keeper (Randy)

We have focused the past few weeks on our relationship with Jesus and what results from that.  In addition to the internal transformation, which I have covered in past weeks, and the supernatural peace "that surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), which Chris covered last week, it also generates the power to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are all on this journey together, and Christ calls us to love one another, but we cannot do that (very well) if we don’t focus on our love for Jesus first.  Oswald Chambers asks, “Are we our brother and sister’s keeper?” and, if so, what does that look like?  Where do we find the power to serve in that way?

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