5th Edition FOUNDATION CLASS VICTORY CHAPELFoundation Class MANUAL
5th Edition 2022
(Foundation class is class is a teaching for those who intend to be a child of God and grow in their knowledge about God .)
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Matthew 6:33 states, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If the success of a journey lies with knowing the address first, then every true person who want to reach the destination will do all he/she can to know the address first! This is the essence of this teaching, to know what will make you succeed as a Christian.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God made His mission on earth clear. He had ONE BUSINESS to do in the world. John 10:10 “…. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
INTRODUCTION
This teaching is for those who intend to be a child of God and grow in their knowledge about God. It is important to note you are the one to take decision and determine the height you want to reach in the God kingdom with the help of Holy Spirit.
It takes two basic steps to become a child of God (Born Again). 1. Repent. 2. Accept Jesus. It is important to note that no one has power to give birth to him/her self. To be a child of God is a miracle from God. Our complete salvation will not be received until Jesus returns and we will be caught up to meet Jesus Christ and our bodies are changed (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 15:50-53). In the meantime, we must “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), and this bible study contained fundamental truth that will make you a born again Christians, grow in God’s faith in order to enjoy victorious life here on earth and to receive the final salvation when Jesus returns.
1. Repentance
There is no other way to be a Child of God except to repent and believe in God. Any other way that claims to make you a child of God is a deception.
Repentance is not an emotion. It is a willful decision. Repentance means, change the way you’ve been thinking/ living to the way God wants you to think and live.
How have we been living? Bible said “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; …” Isaiah 53:6. Everybody on earth turned to his/her way of living and this is why God wants all to return back to Him through Jesus.
See a good picture of repentance: Luke 15:17-18, 20 “When he finally came to his himself (senses), he said to himself, ‘… I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, … and he arose and came to His father”
Note: “When he came to himself he said… and he arose and went to his father.” And God has always treated everyone the same way He treated prodigal son. See Luke 15: 17 – 24.
Take few moments now to ask yourself “have I through decided to stop living my life to please myself to living to please God?”. If your answer is yes, then confess Jesus now as your Lord and Savior if you have not done it before now. Confess this “My Father in heaven, I come to you now through your son Jesus Christ. I accept Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior. In Jesus name I pray, amen”
2. Believe in God.
If you have followed the above step, Congratulations!!! You have believed in God. Receiving Jesus is receiving God’s life. So, immediately you receive Jesus, you received nature that will make you great in life no matter your education, color, sex, race, culture. The bible said, anybody that receive Jesus, God will make the person His child. John 1:12. So, you are now a child of God. Be conscious of this truth. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 clearly state and 1Peter 1:23 affirms that if you are in Christ, you have been recreated into a new person. And your new nature (spirit) came directly from God. Your physical appearance may look the same, the bad urge for bad life may not stop immediately but your spirit has changed from Evil spirit to God’s own good spirit.
Note: You are now a child of God, you now have Eternal Life. 1 John 5:11-13, John 3:16, John 5:24
3. Know That Your Sins Has Been Forgiven
Ignorance of God’s Word has made many to think that when they received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, their old sins are still there to pray for forgiveness.
2 Cor. 5:17-18 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ ….”
Born Again is Man accepting the Life (gift) of God. 1 John 5:11-13 “…God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life, … These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Ephesians 2: 8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. NIV. It is not what you did or will do that made God to forgive you and make you His child, it is a covenant God made with Jesus.
Read: Galatians 2:21, Acts 13:9, Galatians 5:4, Romans 3:20-30, Romans 4:1-7, Romans 9:31-32
4. Faith
Everything a believer will do with God and get result must be done by faith. Christianity is a faith kingdom. For without faith, it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6. And in Matthew 17:22, “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus used the size of Mustard seed to illustrate how powerful a believer’s small faith in God can produce great result.
Almost every Christian believer’s number one need or desire is to have faith in God.
So, what is faith in God? Faith is agreeing that what God said is true and the ability to act on it.
There are two kinds of faith. 1. Faith with work and 2. Faith without work. James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
- Faith in God is the ability to HEARwhat God said, CONFESS it and ACT or DO it without minding any other fact. John 2:1 – 9.
- Faith without Work is the ability to HEAR what God said, CONFESS it and without action or doing it based on another human factor. James 2:17 “Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!”
Hebrews 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death”
The word of God that you believe but did not do what you ought to do does not produce result. And so, God want you and me to hear or read His word and do what He asked us to do without asking Him why.
5. Study The Word Of God
The Word is a food to your Spirit. You feed your body with rice, beans and drinks while you feed your spirit by studying Word of God which is Bible. God is the same with His Word and JESUS is the Spoken Word of God (John 1:1-3). It is important to note here that our Greatness and your Failure in life as a Christian lies on HOW MUCH you KNOW and ACT on the WORD of God.
You need to consciously spend time to study your Bible, no short cut for your greatness than the Word. You are to study and to meditate on the Word (Joshua 1:8) and put them into practice in your life and your life will be prosperous and have good success. (Joshua 1:7-8; Hebrews 5:9; James 1:22, Psalms 1:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:15).
Below are some benefits of studying and doing the word of God (Bible):
(1) The word of God is God (John 1:1). Studying the Bible is spending time with God. Hebrews 1.1-2
(2) word of God is the only source of faith in God. Romans 10:17
(3) It guides us, and shows us the right way to go. Psalms 119:105; Proverbs 6:20-23
(4) It makes our lives prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:1-3
(5) It enables us to know Dos and Don’ts. It saves us from deceptions. Galatians 5:16-25, Matthew 24:24-27
(6) It is the only way to know God. Proverbs 2:1-5, Deuteronomy 4:31, John 6:35, Jeremiah 31:3.
6. Pray To God
Answered prayer is very reassuring of the presence and reality of God in our lives. All our prayers are to be directed to God through Jesus Christ (John 14:13, 16:23-24). We can pray for our own needs, the needs of other Christians, and the salvation of others. There are five points to make on prayer:
(1) We should pray to God the Father. Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2; John 15:16; 16:23; Ephesians 3:14
(2) We should pray in Jesus’ name. John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24
(3) Pray in faith, believe you have received it and you will have it. Mark 11:22-24, Matthew 7:7-11; 21:21-22.
(4) We should make prayer as part of our life. Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
7. Attend Church Regularly
A good church will believe, teach, and practice the true teachings of the bible, and will provide help for a Christians just as a mother provides help for her children. Church attendance will enable us to be one with other Christians (Proverbs 13:20; John 17:11; 17:20-23; Ephesians 4:11-14), to help one another when in need (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Galatians 6:2), to exhort one another (Hebrews 10:24-25), to restore one another when in error (Galatians 6:1), and enable us to be part of the “one fold” (John 10:3-5, 10:11; 10:14; 10:16). Ask God to guide you to remain in a church where he wants you to be at this present time.
8. Be Baptized in Water
This was always done as soon as possible in the New Testament (Acts 8:36-38; 10:47; 19:1-5). The correct method is by immersion, typifying us following Jesus into:
(1) His death (going down into the water). Romans 6:3; 6:4
(2) His burial (going under the water). Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12, and
(3) His resurrection (rising from the water). Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21
9. Be Baptized with The Holy Spirit
This can sometimes happen immediately one accepted Jesus or after one start to grow in the knowledge of God. Note that our hunger for God has a big role to play when it comes to baptism of Holy Spirit. Cornelius and his household for example (Acts 10:44-46), but in the vast majority of cases this is an experience which follows sometime after being born again (Acts 8:5-17; 19:1-6). It is an experience which all Christians need in order to be successful in their Christian walk, because it provides the supernatural power that we need to live spiritual lives, and be witnesses for Christ Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8.
It is important to note that you MUST be BAPTIZE (not optional) in the SPIRIT if you want to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in your Christian life. Born Again is Life of God in man while Baptism of the Spirit is the Energizing the Life of God in Man. Speaking in tongues is one of the physical evidences but necessary the determinant (Acts 2:4; 10:44-46; 19:6). You or your pastor can pray for you to receive baptism of the Spirit if you believe and hunger for it.
10. Pay Tithes
A tithe is one tenth of a person’s gross income, or increase. Tithing is part of God’s financial plan to bless us and it has been since the days of Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7:1-4) and Jesus confirmed it.
When we pay our tithes, it is our acknowledgement that God is the source of our income and we are in a CONVENANT with God. Tithing is act of faith, because God has promised a blessing if we do it, and a curse if we don’t (Malachi 3:8-11). Because the tithe belongs to God (Leviticus 27:30-34), he considers not paying it as robbing him (Malachi 3:8).
Jesus Christ endorsed Believers to pay tithes. In Matthew 23:23, “You pay tithes of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, and mercy, and faith. These it was necessary to do, and not to leave the others undone.”
- Resurrection of the Body
The word resurrect in Greek means “to stand up out of.” So, resurrection is standing up out of death and out of the grave. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify us completely and may our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23. This bible verse shows that man consists of three elements: spirit, soul and body. It’s important to understand that it’s the body that dies and it’s the body that will be resurrected. The spirit and the soul never need to be resurrected because they’ve never passed into death. So, we are talking about the resurrection of the body. Everybody will resurrect. John 5:28-29 “… those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” Read Luke 16:19–26.
One will ask, how will dead body resurrect? 1 Corinthians 15:35–38 “But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?’”…, Every time you plant seed you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up and growing] unless it first dies. Everybody’s flesh (body that falls sick and die) will all be replaced with the one that will not die again.
Jesus was raised from the dead bodily as the first-fruits for all Believers. The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our justification. Romans 4:25–26. Read these bible verses for more. 1 Corinthians 15:42–44, 52, 53, Philippians 1:23, Philippians 3:20–21, 1 John 3:2–3.
- Eternal Judgment
There are two main ways in which God brings judgment on people. The first is His judgments in history; the second is the eternal judgments. The first judgment of God is in history and it involves bringing blessing or punishment on what they did to one and his/her succeeding generations. Romans 2:6 “He will render to each one according to his deeds…” verse 11 “There is no partiality with God…”. God will reward people for what they have done with their life on earth. Ezekiel 18:20, Deuteronomy 28:1-end, Exodus 20:4–6, Jeremiah 32:18, Psalm 103:17–18.
The eternal judgement. Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” This says all the people that were judged in the final judgment were judged according to what was written in the books. So, God keeps a record of every life. And, those whose names are written in the Book of Life will enter into eternity with God. The rest will be banished forever from the presence of God. Thank God there is a Book of Life. This should make every believer to be excited that your effort in service will be rewarded.
May the Almighty God uphold you to the end in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Pastor Mereni David C.
Branch Pastor