Sunday Morning
Adult Bible Studies
9:15-10:15 a.m.

9:15 a.m. Lower Level

In-Person, or by Conference Call (618-942-0025)

Class Outline

Word and Spirit (Sunday, May 1, 2022)
Spirit of God (Sunday, May 8, 2022)
Spirit of Life (Sunday, May 15, 2022)
Fruit of the Spirit (Sunday, May 22, 2022)

Word and Spirit

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Part One: The Word and the Spirit

1. In the Nicene Creed we confess that God created all things visible and invisible. The invisible part of God's creation includes what we often call spiritual. It is real, but it does not come in the form of atoms or molecules. What would this include?

One invisible thing that God created in each of us is our soul. Our soul is the seat of things like: love, beauty, morality, faith, evil, etc. We know these things transcend our molecules. Remember by Parable of the Two Boxes:

You find two boxes in your attic that amazingly belonged to a long lost relative that fought in the Civl War. One box contains physical things like a uniform, boots, rifle, etc. The other box contains all the letters that your relative wrote during the war. These letters describe his experiences in the war and his feelings about it. If you could only keep one of these two boxes, which would you keep? I would keep the letters because these words reveal to me the heart and soul of the man not just the body.

2. As I fall asleep I often like to contemplate on the mystery of God. My first thought is that God is a "You" not an "it." What is the difference? Why is this important? What is the relationship between the spiritual and the personal?

Genesis 1.27

Ecclesiasties 11.5

Psalm 103.1

John 4.24

3. The amount of information in the works of Shakespeare or the Holy Bible is about five megabytes. The amount of information in one human cell is estimated to be fifty gigabytes. What is information? How is science pointing us toward the reality and the importance of the spiritual?

All of life boils down to words. We are what we are by the word of God that created this world.

4. How does God, as a spirit, speak to our spirit?

God has spoken to us in the words of the prophets and apostles.

Acts 1.2

1 Corinthians 2.12-13

1 Corinthians 3.16

2 Peter 1.21

5. Why do we have difficulty knowing God?

Our sinful natures do not want to listen to the words of God.

1 Corinthians 2.14

1 Corinthians 3:15-16

Nehemiah 9.30