by Dr. Randy Johnson with contributions by: Roger Allen Scott Johnson Noble Baird Shawna Johnson Holly Boston Debbie Kerr Trevor Cole Chris Knuth Caleb Combs Josh Lahring Carole Combs Lorna Lyman Isaiah Combs Pat MacDermaid Jen Combs Jim Mann Bryan Fox Jill Osmon Donna Fox Philip Piasecki Michael Fox Dani Reynolds Debbie Gabbara John Sanchez Danielle Hardenburg Ryan Story Sue Harrington Kyle Wendel Matt Hatton Ty Woznek Larissa Hicks Katrina Young John Hubbard Tommy Youngquist Randy Johnson Copyright © 2016 The River Church All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of The River Church. Inquiries should be sent to the publisher. First Edition, June 2016 Published by: The River Church 8393 E. Holly Rd. Holly, MI 48442 Scriptures are taken from the Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS WEEK 1: THE LAW 11 Study Guide 17 Testimony 1: Ryan Story 21 Testimony 2: Sue Harrington 23 Testimony 3: Isaiah Combs 25 Testimony 4: Debbie Gabbara 27 Testimony 5: Donna Fox 29 Testimony 6: Debbie Kerr WEEK 2: THE CROSS 33 Study Guide 43 Testimony 7: Danielle Hardenburg 45 Testimony 8: Katrina Young 47 Testimony 9: Carole Combs 49 Testimony 10: Pat MacDermaid 51 Testimony 11: Kyle Wendel 53 Testimony 12: Shawna Johnson WEEK 3: THE RESURRECTION 57 Study Guide 65 Testimony 13: Jim Mann 67 Testimony 14: Holly Boston 71 Testimony 15: Josh Lahring 73 Testimony 16: Dani Reynolds 77 Testimony 17: Roger Allen 79 Testimony 18: Philip Piasecki WEEK 4: REPENT AND BELIEVE 83 Study Guide 89 Testimony 19: Lorna Lyman 91 Testimony 20: Ty Woznek 93 Testimony 21: Tommy Youngquist 97 Testimony 22: Chris Knuth 101 Testimony 23: Matt Hatton 103 Testimony 24: Bryan Fox WEEK 5: BE BAPTIZED 107 Study Guide 115 Testimony 25: Michael Fox 117 Testimony 26: Jill Osmon 119 Testimony 27: Noble Baird 125 Testimony 28: John Sanchez 129 Testimony 29: Larissa Hicks 131 Testimony 30: John Hubbard 133 Testimony 31: Jen Combs WEEK 6: HELL IS FOR REAL 137 Study Guide 147 Devotion 1: Goats and Sheep 149 Devotion 2: The Great Commission 151 Devotion 3: The Need for a Savior 153 Devotion 4: Rejection of Sharing of the Gospel 155 Devotion 5: Lifestyle Sanctification 157 Devotion 6: Can Anyone Share? WEEK 7: WORSHIP JESUS A-Z 161 Study Guide 167 Devotion 1: Encourage One Another 169 Devotion 2: Birds of a Feather 171 Devotion 3: More Than a Song 173 Devotion 4: Filling the Temple 175 Devotion 5: Look Up 179 Devotion 6: God and Us WEEK 8: STUDY THE WORD 183 Study Guide 201 Devotion 1: Time to Grow Up 203 Devotion 2: Babies 205 Devotion 3: Tests 207 Devotion 4: Growing Pains 209 Devotion 5: Jesus Grew 211 Devotion 6: Read and Pray 6 7 8 For Dee, A faithful Martha, who became a loving Mary. 9 10 1 THE LAW Pastor Ty Woznek | Pastor's Academy Lead Instructor hristianity is a wheelchair, not a crutch. A coworker at the deli I worked at responded with a common Cphrase about the Gospel: “Religion is just a crutch.” I replied that Christianity is not, in fact, a crutch. Christianity is a wheelchair. A crutch assumes we had or will gain the ability to walk. The Bible says we cannot. Suddenly she was listening. While training staff for a day camp, I mentioned that anyone who says people are innately good has never worked with children. Many of the staff were students at Penn State. This did not sit well with them. Various rebuttals were fired at me. None of them had worked with kids yet, surprising for education majors. Two hours into camp a young lady storms up to me, finger pointed and tersely said, “Don’t say a word. You were right.” Positive thinking is looking at reality and then seeking out a solution. The Gospel is a positive story, but “The Law” is that hard dose of reality. The bottom line of the law: We are all broken. The solution? Jesus died and rose again to fix that. So, take a deep breath, and this week we learn how bad we are first. Walk through these 11 verses and pick out where the law comes from, list the problem, and list how it affects you. Read The "Law" of The Problem My Problem Romans 1:18-23 Romans 2:14-16 Romans 2:17-24 Read The “Law” of The problem My problem Romans 1:18-23 Romans 2:14-16 Romans 2:17-24 Paul gives us three “laws” from God: Nature, our conscience, and the Law (first 5 books of the Old Testament). If we violate any of these we are? _______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Is the problem with God or with us? In these passages do we really want God, and can we really be perfect/ just/ right/ etc.? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Paul concludes his thought on the law. Read Romans 3:21-23. True or false, we are all broken and why? ____________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 12 It gets worse… Read Ephesians 2:1-3. How does Paul describe people before they trusted Jesus? ______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ What do dead people do? Can dead people save themselves? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ It gets even worse than that… Ever hear the advice “oh, just follow your heart?” Read what Jeremiah 17:9-11 says. Why is following your heart bad advice? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ What will be the end result if we follow our heart? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Oh, way way way worse! Romans 7 deals with a critical issue, is the law good? The Law is a good thing, but there is a problem. We cannot follow the law! Here is how following the Law worked out for Paul: Read Romans 7:13-24 and Philippians 3:4-7 Where did the Law get Paul? ________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 13 How can Paul say he was stuck in Romans 7 and yet say he was blameless in Philippians 3? (Hint: Ever put on a smile when stepping out of your car at a gathering after arguing on the way there?) Recap, and it gets worse. In our brief discussion on “The Law,” we learn that we are horrible, awful, deceitful, foolish, misguided, really bad, dead people. In these discussions, people often say that the environment is the problem. There is one HUGE problem with that response. Read Genesis 1:31. In Genesis 1 and 2, the world is perfect and without sin. God even walked with Adam and Eve. They had ONE LAW; Do not eat of the tree of good and evil lest you die. Satan deceives them saying “you will not surely die” (Genesis 3:1-4). Read Genesis 4:8, Genesis 5, Romans 6:23. In a perfect environment, with one law, and with God meeting them face-to-face, what did Adam and Eve do? What was the result? We need a wheelchair, not a crutch. The Bible teaches that you and I are horribly broken. It does not mean we do the worst things possible, but we could. God even gives us instruction on what He wants for our best, but we cannot follow it. Try as hard as we will; we are stuck sinning. We cannot be perfect even when we try. In the 20th century, we had the most scientific and engineering expansion in world history. We had more access to education and literacy than any other period. We had more secular human governments than ever before. At the pinnacle of human 14 achievement, knowledge, government, and education, we witnessed more humans being killed unjustly than any point in human history. The law of nature failed us. The law of human conscience failed us. The law can only show us for what we are: Broken. It gets better Read Romans 5:6-8. Despite our brokenness and our weakness, what did Jesus do for us? ___________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Positive thinking is looking at reality and seeking a solution. We cannot ignore our brokenness, but it should not be our focus. We do not have to stay broken. The rest of this guide we will seek the solution. What are you most looking toward to as we share “My Story”? ____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 15 16 TESTIMONY 1 RYAN STORY Student Pastor efore I ended up at The River Church, I went to The Rock in Fenton. This was the first church I ever willingly Bstepped foot in. Now when I was 23, I had my view of what religion was. I knew what Christianity was. I was a smart guy. I made an informative, logical decision of what and who I believed god was (note the emphasis of the lowercase g). A girl who I was dating at the time invited me to church one night, and I remember her telling me about her crazy pastor. I went to church and truly loved listening to this man. To be honest, I could have cared less about the Jesus he was preaching about at that time, but I loved the morality, I loved the public speaking ability, I loved seeing a man truly love and encourage people. It blew my mind that this man would come and shake my hand every week I was there. His first message I ever heard him preach was about changing. “You do not want to be the same person you are in 2007 as you will be in 2008.” I was hooked; I wanted to become better.