Fullness of Life in Christ
A Distance Education Study from Good News
Written
by Ken Walker
These studies have been
designed primarily to introduce Christians into the Biblical way of obtaining
fullness of life in Christ in our earthly lives. I consider it is better that the study of such a course is better than
simply directing people to web pages on the subject, because the course is
themed and sequenced to provide optimum learning of the intellectual biblical
components and resource materials used.
These studies are available
free of charge to any who see the need to do such a course on how to
obtain the fullness of life in Christ that the Bible teaches. The course is
available by email request only. The
nature of these studies are that they teach the Biblical concepts of Christ
in You, Christ in us, or Christ Who is our life and true
faith, as the fullness of these are not too often taught in full in
churches. All I am doing in writing the studies is providing the resources you
need. Although I may help your understanding with help and guidance by email,
the Holy Spirit Himself is your teacher.
These studies grew out of the
following four factors.
• Many years of private study with help
from others who were more enlightened than I was on these things. My own experience of being in several
churches over 20 years had not provided this knowledge and wisdom.
• The great need in the (otherwise
believing) church to know and live out these truths that are not normally known
or taught in full.
• The expression of a need for some
help from one family in
• At that time, the Lord then required
me to put my response to this need into a properly constructed Distance
Education Study Course. Being a professional teacher in classroom, seminar and
in distance education, that was not too difficult.
Since
beginning the writing in September of 2002, it has been a delightful experience
to sit and construct the course according to the guidance of the Lord. The course writing was completed in June
2003, just ten months after its surprise beginning. Whilst the written Word of God has been my
constant reference point, the revelation of His Spirit in guidance and personal
maturity has been central, both to my life and the writing of the course. Pastor Dan Stone from
Time needed to
attempt these studies
Apart from the
daily study of a devotional you will receive online, (about 10 minutes to read
and reflect) the course is designed to take 1.5 to 2 hours twice a week. There will be enough
study in each unit to provide a month=s work B i.e 12-16 hours of study. There will be a very
short written summary at the end of each unit to check to see if you have
understood the fundamentals provided. This will need to be returned to me by
email. It should be emphasized that the time needed is flexible. Some will do
it at a slower pace and some faster. Any
speed is OK with me. Also, bear in
mind that you can choose to do any number of units you like. You don’t have to do the whole course. Try it
out and aim to do at least three. Then
if you want to take on more, say 5-10, then choose to go that way. Then review how you are going and what you
want to do next. Whatever number of
units you do, will help you immensely in your
life.
Books required
There is only one
book to purchase. ($12‑95
Other books are
available online. All written by Norman Grubb. The Key to Everything written in 1960
and his last book written in 1984 - Yes I Am
All other written
material used in this course is available online, including those written by
myself as I came to grips with these issues, all of this being listed at
Fullness of Life in Christ at http://www.goodnews.org.au/fullness/index.html Hyperlinks are provided to link to each
writing.
Structure of Course
Unit
|
Topic Area
|
Aims of each Unit
|
|
1 |
Testimonies & Gospel Introduction both Aspects of the Cross of
Jesus Christ. |
• To
understand the nature of the whole
course (fullness of life in Christ through Christ in you). • To
indicate how both blood and body of the Cross contribute to our full
salvation, via Dan Stone’s article Double Cross. • To consider
the testimony of Linda Bunting that speaks of the application of these things
to her own life. • To
understand something of the author’s own early learning about these things. |
|
2 |
The Nature of Man & the Blood Aspect of the
Cross. |
• To
understand that man has never had a nature of his own, but only the nature of
either Satan or God. • To know
that man is primarily a receiver of one nature or the other. • To confirm
the generally held view that the blood of Christ provides forgiveness for
sins and eternal life. |
|
3 |
Sin & the Christian & the Body Aspect of the
Cross. |
• To clarify
about the issue of sin and whether or not Christians sin habitually or
incidentally. • To recognize
and know the part that the body aspect of the Cross plays in the salvation of
the sinner. • To recognize how the Christ’s physical death makes us
dead to sin and provides the
opportunity for fullness of life to the believer. |
|
4 |
Man’s Relationship with God |
• To
recognize how man may commune with God through an inner knowing provided by the Spirit of
God. • To clarify
the correct meanings of sanctification and compare the spiritual and temporal
realms. |
|
5 |
The
Role of your Soul and Spirit |
• To
understand the differences between soul and spirit and what they mean in the
life of a believer. • To know
that it is the task of the Holy Spirit to discern between soul and spirit and
to divide between them for us. • To understand how God uses the fluctuations within our
soul to teach us how to operate from our human spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit. |
|
6 |
The necessity of Faith and relation to Adversity |
• To fully
realize that everything in the Christian life revolves around faith and that
faith becomes a fact by inner spiritual knowing. • To gain an
understanding of how God uses adversity in our lives to refine our lives and
develop our faith. |
|
7 |
Lifting the lid on Romans 7:14-25 |
• To clarify
the true meaning and interpretation of Romans • To realize
that Paul did live in fullness of life and that these Romans verses only
describe his state for a short 3-6 years of his life as he learned from the
Spirit that he was truly free and in full communion with the Holy
Spirit. |
|
8 |
Freedom from the Law |
• To understand
the background history to the law in the Old Testament. • To know
that New Testament believers are free from the law and are able to live in
the freedom of grace. |
|
9 |
Moving from Self-deception to Realness and Knowing. |
• To further
understand that man has no inherent nature or independent self of his own,
but only reflects the nature of the
deity with
whom he has chosen as his master. • To know that
unbelievers have gone from having Satan as master (this was unknown to them)
to living with Jesus Christ as Lord and master, now being a
precious asset of God’s and having a new Spirit within. |
|
10 |
Maturation - Stages of the Christian Life. |
• To
understand something of God’s overall eternal purposes for man and the stages
of spiritual life expressed in the New
Testament. • To understand how through God’s love we are able to
move from spiritual poverty into the maturity available to all believers,
enabling fullness of life on earth. |
|
11 |
What is a Person? Moving from Negative to Positive Belief and
Faith. |
• To
understand the nature of a person and how personhood is the result of choices
made in life in relation to God and other spiritual beings in the
universe. • To see
life as a process of moving from negatives to positives in the form of a
loving God, Who is willing to be in full communion with us. This also involves God’s definitive uses of
evil to bring mankind into full communion with Him. |
|
12 |
God’s Process of Growth |
• To
understand God’s process of growth and who does what in relationship with
Him. • To understand
the need for yielded-ness or surrender to God (beyond basic salvation) as a
daily necessity. • To
understand the issue of “self” and how these things may be applied in our
lives. |
|
13 |
Spiritual Revelation and (more on) Faith |
• To understand
the nature of the revelation of the Spirit of God and how we get our real knowing
from that revelation. • To
realize that seeing beyond problems and issues to God is His way and how He
wants us to do things. • To understand
more about God’s guidance and how His Spirit fills us and with what purpose
He does these things. |
|
14 |
Temptation and Misery as Faith Opportunities |
• To
understand what temptation is and be able to distinguish it from sin and see it
not as a problem but as a faith opportunity. • To
recognize how God uses such temptations as faith opportunities to mature
us. • To see
how the miseries of life can be viewed as a positive gift to mature our
faith. |
|
15 |
God’s Rest, and Man’s
Passion. |
• To recognize that believers are able to
reach that particular REST of God that is promised in Hebrews 4. • To know
that the perquisites for rest are obedience and belief. • To know that
in God’s rest, they are able to stand under all forms of duress. • To
recognize that meekness and faith are also requisite attitudes leading to
rest. |
|
16 |
A Life of Prayer
|
• To be able
to understand and utilize prayer guided by the Holy Spirit and to be able to
use it to obtain guidance from the Spirit of God. • To be able
to change negative beliefs into a positive recognition of God in all
things. • To extend
your knowledge of our union with God and how He uses us as a son to fulfil
His purposes. |
|
17 |
Ministry and Intercession |
• To bring
some understanding of true intercession and how our lives may be used to bring
life to others. • To
understand what God hopes and expects He will be able to do through us. • To
realize that it is God who chooses His intercessors. |
|
18 |
Interaction in the Human Realm |
• To understand
how we might improve our horizontal relationships with those around us. • To learn
something of how to facilitate the needs of others through Christ. • To extend the teaching on intercession for others as
we use the life of Christ within us to further our relationships
harmoniously, as we learn that God uses these relationships with others to
deepen our union with Him. |
|
19 |
History and Truth
|
• To understand the historical and truth background to
life on earth and the implications for mankind in knowing or not knowing
these things. • To
understand how true believers can play their part in the redemption of further
sons and daughters, who would otherwise perhaps never know the Lord. |
|
20 |
Witnesses Who Say
Yes I Am |
• To learn
from the testimonies of others to affirm the life of Christ within, as
believers and intercessors seeking life for those around us, according to how God organizes
those things to happen and the grand plan of redemption mastered before
the beginning of all human
activity. |
Why do such a course?
If you are anything
like the writer, who has struggled to find the truth of the gospels beyond how
it is presented in many churches then this may be what you are looking for.
Here is an extract from one of the article written to introduce these truths.
AI am going to
contend that the blood aspect of the cross (dealing with sins), which is
generally taught well in evangelical churches, is incomplete when the body
aspect of the cross (dealing with sin) is not also known, taught and lived by
believers. In fact, I would contend that it is not possible to live the
Christian life in its fullness from the blood aspect alone, because it only
addresses the issue of sins and their forgiveness and does not fully recognize
the sin / body aspect in the living of the present life. This leads to all sorts
of difficulties such as powerless living, self‑effort and the
difficulties in having and applying true biblical faith.
I
want to also say at the beginning that I did not work all this out myself. Yes, I have searched for a long time, and
been down many an endless path. But the
Lord, after initially enlightening me Himself, has now graced my life with
several others who have guided me through the scriptural principles involved.
Also the Holy Spirit has now graciously revealed His truth to my heart B and is
still so doing. Fortunately, one of my
endless paths had not been so far away from the real and full truth.”
Another way to look at it is this. Have you been striving to be a good
Christian? And found out that it is
harder than you thought? Have you
realized that the salvation that fits you for eternity and life in heaven, somehow does not seem to work in normal earthly
life? Many do! That was my dilemma for many years. Is that like your struggle with the
Christian life?
If so, then you might like to know that the same Bible that
majors on Christ dying for our sins, also tells us how the actual life of
Christ living in us ensures fullness of life on earth, without all the
striving! This is something for every
ordinary Christian and it is not so hard to understand, once you get the basic
scriptural truths presented to you.
Norman Grubb in Chapter 10 of his book, The Law of Faith,
says that, “What the Bible does do is to make plain that there
are two aspects of salvation though Christ: there is that which centres in
Christ dying for us, and that which emphasizes Christ living in us.” We have all heard the first one haven’t we – and this study course
fully explains and teaches the second – the Life of Christ living within us, empowered
by the Spirit of God and lived out through faith.
I believe that if
you begin and persist with these studies and follow hard after the Lord, it
will go on changing your life dramatically. Although I am speaking here
primarily to believers in Jesus Christ, those who are born again, who have
already had a dramatic change of repenting and believing, others can benefit
too (after the study of some prerequisites). These studies will provide a much
deeper and fuller understanding of the Christian life and how it can be lived B for both
Christians and anyone else who is interested.
You can read
something of my testimony over recent years, at Linda Buntings Web Site Christ
As Us.
http://www.christasus.com/Testimony/TestimonyKenWalker.htm
If you want to do the studies or if there are any
questions you would like to ask just email me at kgww-alphalink.com.au.
(Leave out the (‑) from address to make email effective)
Ken Walker
Email: kgww-@tpg.com.au
NOTE. When using this email address, please remove the dash (-) before the @ otherwise the email will not work. This dash is there
to stop search engines picking up my true email address and bombarding me with
useless emails.
Fullness of Life in Christ at http://www.goodnews.org.au/fullness/index.html