Billy Graham - Building a Christ-Centered Home: The Journey Study Series

Building a
Christ-Centered
Home

The Journey Study Series

Searching for Hope

Living as a Christian

Leaving a Legacy

Dealing with Doubt

Confronting the Enemies Within

Embracing the Good News

Building a Christ-Centered

Home Learning to Pray

The Facilitators Guide

Building a
Christ-Centered
Home

A Thomas Nelson Study Series
Based on The Journey
by
BILLY GRAHAM

2007 by Billy Graham Literary Trust

Additional material written by Terry Hadaway

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The HolyBible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Building a Christ-Centered Home: A Thomas Nelson Study Series Based on The Journey by Billy Graham

ISBN-13: 978-1-4185-1768-7
ISBN-10: 1-4185-1768-2

Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 11 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

One Day
at a
Time

T O GET THE MOST FROM THIS STUDY GUIDE, READ pages 227236 of The Journey.

Many things can disrupt our journey through life ifwe arent careful. Life is full of daily challenges andminor annoyances. And unless we take measure toprevent it, they will smother our faith.

BILLYGRAHAM

The Journey

THINK ABOUT IT

I determined never to stop until I had come to the endand achieved my purpose.

DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that soeasily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the racemarked out for us.

HEBREWS 12:1

A college student once quipped that he just wanted to get through one day without having a major life event take place. Maybe you can echo his sentiments. Life seems to come at us faster than we like. From nagging aches and pains to major catastrophes, none of us is immune to the small and large problems of life.

Occasionally, someone will get the idea that a believers life will be free of problems. Thats not true. Believers do have the advantage of Gods presence when dealing with problems, but the problems persist. Some even argue that Satans attacks on believers may cause them to experience more problems than non-believers.

REWIND

Think back over the past twenty-four hours and list the problemsyou have encountered.

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What has been the overall spiritual effect of these problems?

____ I have been made spiritually stronger.

____ I have been made spiritually weaker.

____ The problems had no spiritual effect.

____ I havent thought about it.

One of the challenges of living in a family is that the issues demanding our attention seem to multiply. Not only do we get to handle the problems we face, but we also face the problems of our family members. If we arent careful, the pressures of life will suffocate our faith and well find ourselves wondering what happened.

JOURNEY THROUGHGODSWORD

What does the Bible mean when it refers to worldliness? It has to do with the concept of the world and its effect on our spiritual lives. The world is used to describe the spirit of evil that permeates the culture in which we live. In the writings of John, the world is painted in a particularly negative light.

People who are governed by the world lack the ability to understand the significance of the cross and the death of Jesus Christ as the atonement for sin. The world is described as being dark and without hope. To counter the darkness, Jesus Christ brought light to keep us from being tripped up in the darkness.

So, we understand what the world is, but what is worldliness? Worldliness is the worship of the things of the world. In Colossians 3:5, Paul instructed us to put to death the worldliness in our lives. Many things of the world are not inherently evil or bad. What makes them bad is their use or abuse. Whenever anything in the world is used for purposes other than those designed by God, it is wrong.

Peter described the world as being corrupt or lacking the ability to be good. This is a reference to the spiritual effects of the worldit cannot point you to God without the intervention of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:4). James said that anyone who is in a relationship with the world is committing spiritual adultery (James 4:4). John discouraged followers of Christ from loving the world and the things in it (1 John 2:15).

Spiritual rebirth (or salvation) brings about the death of a person to the world and awakens the person to spiritual life (Galatians 6:14). Jesus warned that pursuit of the world and its pleasures is dangerous (Matthew 16:26).

What does it mean? It means that the pressure to seek the world and its pleasures is a natural desire. The only defense we have against the desire is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Even then, the pressures of the world can become more of a focus than our spiritual obligations, and the Spirit can be choked out in our lives. Its not that the Spirit leaves us, we just allow other things to influence our actions more than we allow God to influence us. This is why so many believers are spiritually lethargic and frustrated.

As we walk through the halls of our churches, we encounter people just like usthey have problems and issues they are facing. Only as we work together to allow God to live through us can we overcome the problems and stay focused on Gods desires for us.

RETHINK

Describe a time when your faith in God went cold.

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What caused the situation described above?

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Biblical characters werent exempt from the pressures of worldliness. The story of Demas is a good example of what happens when someone falls in love with the things of the world. Demas was one of Pauls companions and had been an integral part of the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24). When Paul was imprisoned, Demas stayed close by. Demas, however, got distracted and began to see the world as more attractive than his faith relationship.

Read 2 Timothy 4:10. What was the cause of Demas downfall?

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