Basic Discipleship Audio Podcast

The Bible was written, copied, and preserved. It was then translated from the original languages into other languages. It is important for disciples to understand the process of how we received the Bible. Disciples must also have some wisdom concerning Bible translations so that they can be thoughtful and understand word meanings.

Scripture has come to us by a heaven-sent process. Along with inspiring men to write (2 Timothy 3:16), the Lord led the church to accept certain books as being worthy of inclusion in the Bible. Today we have 66 commonly accepted books of the Bible because of a process known as "canonization."

The Bible is indeed an incomparable book! Part of what makes the Bible unique is its otherworldly nature. From eternity past, God ordained a process for delivering the thought of His mind to the mind of man. On top of that, He personally promised to preserve His Word for us. He not only inspired Scripture, He has protected it and kept it undefiled.

Like never before, the Bible is facing attacks from historians, scientists, entertainers, and even theologians and clergymen. Christians must be equipped with a reasonable defense of their faith. To do so, they must be aware of the means that the Lord used to deliver the Bible to mankind.

"Sufficiency of Scripture" = The Bible is "of itself sufficient for faith and for life." Inspiration + Inerrancy + Authority = Sufficiency

"Authority" = the power or right to decide a course of action. In reference to Scripture, such activity means that "all the words in Scripture are God"s in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God." Some stumble over this truth. They let other things be the authority for their lives — feelings, emotions, religious traditions, the opinions of others, false philosophies, culture, political leanings, entertainment, and past experiences. It is worth noting that Jesus upheld this doctrine of authority.

"Inerrancy" = the theological conviction that the Bible is accurate in every respect about all it affirms.

Many volumes have been produced, but only one has been composed by God. The Bible is the only book God wrote. Many books have been penned by human authors (Ecclesiastes 12:12), but only one comes from God. We believe this to be true because of the Bible doctrine of "inspiration."

A study of the Bible must start with a study of God. When we study Scripture, we learn that we have a communicative Creator. We have a holy book, because we have a Lord who has chosen to reveal Himself. He exists and He speaks! There is a God, and He is not silent!

Studying scripture is an integral part of the Christian life. It is important for Bible-believers to be self-feeders when it comes to the Word of God. Some never become mature in scripture because they never gain the skills to study scripture.

The doctrine of the trinity sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. God exists in three persons. We see this reality early on in Scripture. The work of the Holy Spirit can be confusing to many. We"ll look at four important concepts on the role of the Holy Spirit.

If you really want to live the Christian life, and experience the life of Christ, you have to have assurance of your salvation. Most believers are going to struggle with this issue of assurance at some point. Satan is a master of doubt, but God wants us to live in assurance.

Temptation is an ever-occurring problem in the Christian Life. For some reason, I had this expectation that when I became a Christian, I would become perfect. Certainly with sanctification, we get to the place where we experience victory in this area. However, there is no perfection until the resurrection.

If you want to know how to live the Christian life well, you need biblical truth to help you face trials. Hardship in life is inevitable. Throughout scripture, those whom were used greatly were tried greatly.

Christianity is not a religions of rules, it is a religion of relationship. But, there are two acts of worship we should participate in regularly. In this lesson, we discuss baptism and the Lord"s Supper.

In order to be Christ-followers, we need to have a solid, scripture awareness considering the Church. The church exists to give glory to Jesus. It is not a building, it is a people who are made to make Jesus known on earth.

Prayer has been likened to spiritual breathing. Prayer is one of the ways that we receive spiritual nourishment and encouragement from the Lord. Many Christians are gasping for their spiritual breath. We"ll give you 4 action steps to help you make prayer an actualized value in your life.

In order to be a strong Christ follower, you need to know some truth about the Bible. The Bible is a book unlike any other book. Most books are given for mere information, the Bible is given for life transformation. The pathway to spiritual growth travels through the pages of the Bible.

The Gospel simply means "good news." It is a fitting designation for the message concerning Jesus. This lesson will go over basic truths of the Gospel, and give you tips to help you share the Gospel.

Prayer is something Scripture clearly tells us to do. Unfortunately, sometimes prayer becomes stale. When that happens, we will be less likely to pray. We need Biblical insight to help keep prayer fresh.

Prayer can be likened to a gym membership at the beginning of the year. Christians sometimes make a new commitment to prayer. However, after a short season, it"s easy to fizzle out. Prayer should become a way of life.

We"ve looked at scripture in a topical fashion to see what the Bible says about prayer. In this session, we want to have a practical approach to prayer. We need some practical things to implement prayer in our daily lives.

Intercessory prayer is regularly mentioned in scripture. You can learn a lot about prayer, but if you never tap into intercessory prayer, you will never experience the power and the presence of God that is available through prayer.

Spending time in prayer is something that we should look forward to. It should excite us, and not be a dreadful time. This is at the heart of developing a strong prayer life.

There is a need for disciples to learn to not give up in prayer. Prayer can be one of those things that we sometimes make a fresh commitment to, but we fail to stick to that commitment. In this lesson, we focus on how to keep on praying.

In our Christian experience, we sometime have barriers to our prayer life. As a result, we become prayerless. If we want to experience the life of God, we have to learn to break down the barriers to prayer in our life.