Our challenge is to put into practice the reality we possess at salvation. Paul is laying the foundation for the spiritual life which begins with KNOWING what has already been accomplished. The provision we possess as believers is the freedom NOT to sin, not the freedom TO sin. We’ve always had the freedom TO sin. An irreversible break from our old nature has occurred and we are forever different. Sin is not dead but our proclivity to be comfortable in it is not the same. Reality is that we are ...
Sep 06, 2012•1 hr 4 min
For the believer, the sin nature’s authority is a dead thing. To keep relying on him for orders and expecting victorious results is like jumping on the chest of a dead man. It’s futile, even a little disgusting. Our assignment is to climb out of the rut of old habits and focus on the mindset that we are completely new, completely different. When the opportunity arises to exercise our volition, relying on truth as its source, we begin building a new path above the familiar trench of muck and deca...
Aug 30, 2012•1 hr
The foundation of understanding our passage is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. At that baptism the Old Man, everything we were before salvation, is crucified with Christ. He’s dead. We never have to kill him again. In his place we have been given a New Nature with new options. We don’t need to slap our New Nature awake periodically, but we do need to learn how to volitionally tap into the new life which is already ours. Sin did not die, but its power to rule is destroyed. This means we still mus...
Aug 23, 2012•1 hr 5 min
As a believer what is my relationship to sin? Did the Baptism of the Holy Spirit destroy it completely so I can approach a higher realm of perfection? Are we in our resurrection bodies? The comfy carpet of self-serving sin has been yanked as our foundation and replaced by the potential of spirituality which we had NO capability to exercise before salvation. That’s a huge difference. We’re supported by a different mattress and given a PhD in spirituality before we’ve even matriculated. Do we risk...
Aug 16, 2012•1 hr 3 min
Romans 6 introduces us to a radical change that takes place once at salvation. The change isn’t an experience. Understanding identification is the reality, a prerequisite to comprehend how experience can be realized. Picture the act of baptism, going under water, as a teaching tool. Just like Christ, we are not only dead to sin, but further, buried to it. Christ did not remain dead and buried, and like Him, we too emerge from burial to a unique position where sin’s power over us is defeated, cre...
Aug 09, 2012•1 hr 4 min
Aug 02, 2012•58 min
We begin with a summary of what Pastor Dean learned at the Southeast AIPAC Regional Outreach Director’s Summit for Christian Leaders. Understand our new identity in Christ and the exclusive role the Holy Spirit has in our walk. This may be an abstract concept, but it is reality that is truer than empirical evidence can support. We are baptized by the Holy Spirit at salvation, a purification rite for us into Christ’s death which creates our own death to the tyranny of sin. But we continue to sin....
Jul 26, 2012•1 hr 3 min
Spiritual life begins when we believe in Jesus Christ as savior. This is not an end moment or a pause, but the initial thrust of God’s after burner that propels our potential to consume truth and focus on the transcendent difference God provides in our nature that empowers us to live differently in this life with consequences in time and eternity. Knowing who we are in Christ is the cornerstone of understanding spiritual growth. From there we move through Paul’s explanation of spiritual growth a...
Jul 19, 2012•1 hr 5 min
Phase II salvation is related to sanctification; learning to think and relate to one another. It takes time to rethink the baggage that comes from living in this world. May we conclude that the ethical, moral man is spiritual? Is the mandate to the Church to make it comfortable for everyone to fit in? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in spirituality? Contrasts and definitions of life, death, spiritual life and sanctification are clearly given in this lesson so that these terms are no longer a...
Jul 12, 2012•1 hr 1 min
May we have a conversation with just anyone about spirituality and have confidence that we’re even talking about the same thing? Spirituality is a popular term today, but its meanings vary widely. Without a Biblical absolute as a definition, any conversation about Spirituality is simply shared ignorance. As one's born positionally dead, how do Christians, in their newness of life, avoid LIVING as though they were dead and realize the potential God has for us to live in the righteousness He has p...
Jul 05, 2012•1 hr 1 min
The instant Adam ate, before transgression was defined in the law, the human race died. There are many kinds of death. What are those deaths and which one, or ones, occurred because of Adam’s sin? There are consequences to all men for the disobedience of Adam and for the obedience of Christ. Understand the differences in those consequences and how they not only apply to eternity, but also apply today in our lives experientially. What is experiential righteousness? How is it related to our spirit...
Jun 07, 2012•57 min
Pastor Dean continues with reports on his trip to Israel with his visit to the Knesset and the Holocaust Museum. Two vital issues for this governing body are these: what’s going on with Arab Spring and what’s going on in Iran. The liberal and the conservative views are explained. In Romans 5:12, we see the comparison and contrast between Adam (the first Adam) and Christ (the second Adam). We also take an in-depth look at sin, including its definition, its penalty, its nature, and how it is passe...
May 31, 2012•1 hr 5 min
May 17, 2012•1 hr 3 min
Romans 5 is a transition from the foundation of justification to the working out of our salvation which Paul is using more in terms of spiritual growth. The barriers between God and man are legal (a penalty required), spiritual death as the consequence of that legal condemnation and man’s works of unrighteousness. How has this legal problem been solved? Is personal sin an issue in our salvation? What is the issue in our salvation? How did sin and death spread to the entire world? What is persona...
May 10, 2012•57 min
May 03, 2012•56 min
What do justification, reconciliation, and hope have in common. In this class we learn how Paul connects these to the cross and the so great salvation we have "in Christ." Only by living in light of this reality can we "be saved," i.e., be delivered from God's discipline and judgment in time ("wrath").
Apr 19, 2012•1 hr
Apr 12, 2012•1 hr 3 min
Apr 05, 2012•1 hr 5 min
Mar 29, 2012•58 min
Mar 22, 2012•1 hr 3 min
This lesson also includes 2 Peter 1:3-11
Mar 01, 2012•1 hr
Hope is the end product of a series of choices and the upward momentum of spiritual growth. Making these choices isn’t always easy. But growth is the result of choices. Maturity and consequent happiness is a choice. We must make grown-up decisions in a world of less than positive circumstances. The spiritual life isn't effortless. Growth and maturity are often the result of facing difficult decisions. This runs contrary to the self-absorbed focus of our narcissistic culture which has rejected ad...
Feb 23, 2012•1 hr
Hope is a process, developed, not given in total at salvation. Hope is a present reality based on a future promise, our assured destiny. Hope stands firm in adversity. Adversity is the building block of Christian character. How can there be joy in adversity? Confidence in God’s promises and His long-term plan produces a mentality of joy. Hope grows through revelation, the disclosure and unveiling of fuller knowledge through His Word. Fuller knowledge develops into an intimate relationship with G...
Feb 16, 2012•55 min
Feb 09, 2012•1 hr 4 min
Also includes Galatians 3:6ff and Galatians 6:16
Feb 02, 2012•1 hr 8 min
Any way you spell it in the Greek, God's Word is clear we have peace with Him.
Jan 26, 2012•54 min
Dec 29, 2011•1 hr
Dec 22, 2011•1 hr 1 min
Dec 15, 2011•1 hr 6 min
Dec 08, 2011•1 hr 7 min
