Mary Bennett - Beginning the Walk: 18 Sessions on Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life

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Beginning the Walk: 18 Sessions on Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Collected edition copyright 2018 by Navigator Church Ministries. All rights reserved.

Individual titles (Jesus the Way, Jesus the Truth, Jesus the Life) copyright 2004 by Navigator Church Ministries.

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ISBN 978-1-63146-924-4

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Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

COLOSSIANS 2:6, NASB

WELCOME TO AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY called your new life in Christ. When you came to a personal faith in Christ, you began a lifelong journey that you will complete only when you see Jesus face-to-face. He made this claim and promise in John 10:10: I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Whenever the Bible talks about new life (or as The Message puts it, more and better life), it is talking about more than just new habits or patterns for daily living. The life that results from faith in Christ is life with a new spiritual dimension. It is a relational journey that has adventure, excitement, and purpose. The Bible uses the term eternal life to describe this new reality. Jesus explained it like this in John 17:3: This is the real and eternal life: that they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

Life, in the language of the Bible, is not a single event. It is a journey of knowing Christ, experiencing the reality of His presence in your life, and discovering more of who He is as you walk through each day. This life has both quality and quantity. In terms of quality, God gives meaning and purpose to the practical experiences of life. In terms of quantity, this relationship with Christ lasts from the moment of your faith discovery until...forever.

Jesus Christ is the central focus of this life. As you become more familiar with the Bible, you will discover how important Jesus really is. Most of us have developed a working concept of God based on our past experiences. For some, God is a distant landlord; to others, He is a vigilant policeman. Still others see God as an impersonal force or a cosmic Santa Claus. Jesus Christ came into our world to reveal the true nature and person of God. He came to correct and clarify our understanding of God. To know Christ is to discover God, as we see in Hebrews 1:1-3:

Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with Gods nature. He holds everything together by what he sayspowerful words!

The journey of knowing Christ is more than gathering information, yet it needs to be grounded in truth. This journey is more than an emotional event, yet it contains many significant experiences. This relational journey touches every part of who we are. It affects our minds, emotions, and wills. It works from the inside out and the outside in. It is personal. It is private and public. It is visible and invisible, simple and complex. It is incomprehensible yet understandable. It is beyond our experience yet touches everything about us that is real.

God is the designer and author of life, so understanding who He is will help you appreciate the gift of life He has given you. Beginning the Walk will move you along on your journey of knowing and experiencing Christ personally.

As you begin your journey, you may wish you had maps or blueprints to show you where to go or what to do. This study can help. Some of the concepts introduced in these pages may be totally new for you, and some may be familiar. Some may challenge what you previously thought, and others may even be confusing. Remember that this is a lifelong journeya journey that will take you into new discoveries and experiences. Clarity will come as you continue on the journey.

The Bible is our primary source for truth on this journey. Written over the course of fifteen hundred years by various authors who were inspired by God, the Bible includes a number of literary styles. Some of it is written as history, some as poetry. Some of the books are letters to individuals; others are letters to groups of people. The Bible claims to be the revelation of God to man, Gods own story line with man. By studying the Bible, we can move beyond the general revelation of God that we see in nature to discover His character, heart, and purposes.