Kootenai Church: Adult Sunday School - Walk By the Spirit

Christ empowers sanctification through His perfect humanity, as explored in Hebrews 2:5-18. Simon Pranaitis examines four powerful incentives for believers to persist in their spiritual growth: Christ's redemption of our right to rule, His suffering for our holiness, His victory over Satan, and His role as our High Priest. Understanding how Christ empowers sanctification gives Christians the motivation and means to pursue spiritual transformation despite life's challenges.

Where do you find the motivation to fight sin and pursue holiness?

• Do you contemplate the future reality of the kingdom and how the saints will rule with Christ?
• Does your pursuit of holiness reflect a desire to see the Son of Man coming in glory?
• Do you embrace suffering and allow it to complete God’s work in your sanctification?
• Do you contemplate your spiritual and physical unity with Christ often enough?
• What sins are you battling? Are you waging war with inferior tactics?
• Do you overestimate the power of Satan? If so, how?
• Do you meditate on the victory of Christ as you pray for victory over sin?
• As you return home today and work this week, what areas of weakness are the most in need of the power of the Spirit?
• How are you filling your mind and heart with Christ as you battle sin?
• Will you commit to praying fervently for God the Father to fill you with His Spirit and aid you in your sanctification?

The book of Hebrews counsels us to come to God for grace in times of need through the ministry of Jesus, our great High Priest, who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses. But, was he really tested in all things as we are? Is His humanity genuine? When tested, how did He respond? Examining the Gospel account of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness helps us answer these questions. It directs us toward how we should learn to pursue obedience through Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

Application Questions

• Have you meditated on the reality that Jesus experienced the fullness of human frailty?
• When you experience times of trial or testing, do you see them as God’s gift to you as a means to draw you closer to Himself through Christ?
• Do you believe that Jesus can have genuine compassion for you in your trials?
• Do you fight temptation with Scripture? What is preventing you from doing so?
• Do you trust God enough to allow His timing to reign in your circumstances?
• Are you tempted to take matters into your own hands rather than trusting in God to provide during times of difficulty?

The relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit reveals how being full of the Spirit enabled Christ's earthly ministry. Through Isaiah's prophecies, we see how being full of the Spirit equipped Jesus with divine wisdom, understanding, and counsel. This Spirit-empowered life demonstrated God's personal nature and commitment to dwell among His people, ultimately fulfilling ancient promises through the incarnation.

Application Questions:

• When you sin, do you look to the grace of God our Savior through the gift of the Son by the Spirit?
• Have you meditated on your personal relationship with God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit?
• Is your theology of the baby Jesus big enough to include His role as the Davidic Messiah?
• If you are joined with Christ through salvation, does your prayer life reflect the priority of establishing His kingdom?
• Do you read the Old Testament and, specifically, the prophets regularly? If not, why?
• Are you united by faith with Jesus and therefore able to access the power of the Spirit in His life?
• This Christmas season, will you commit to slowing down and refreshing yourself anew with time with God as you ponder the magnificence of the Incarnation?

In his letter to the Philippian church, Paul challenges them to have the same mind as Christ Jesus. How is this possible? This lesson focuses on how Paul commends Christ-like humility as critical to church unity. It points us to Jesus' humanity as the example of humility that believers are to embrace as we battle selfishness and guard the unity of Jesus' body—the church.

Application Questions

1. How highly do you regard the importance of church unity? What are you doing to demonstrate this?
2. What is currently threatening the unity of our body, and how are you guarding against this threat?
3. Will you commit to protecting the unity of the body by choosing to submit joyfully to the authority of Jesus through the elders and their exposition of the Scriptures, even if you disagree in areas of preference and application?
4. Will you commit to reading the Gospels frequently and contemplating how Jesus exemplifies humility?
5. Will you humble your heart by cultivating a consistent prayer life where you confess your sins and where you pray for the needs of others above your own?
6. Will you ask God to give you a genuine love for other believers and help you build up your love muscle by serving others regularly?

In this sermon, Simon Pranaitis explores 1 Peter 2:21 and how Jesus' example of suffering provides a pattern for believers to follow in their trials. Pranaitis explains that just as Jesus endured unjust treatment and hostility without sinning, Christians are called to bear up under suffering while entrusting themselves to God patiently. By studying Jesus' fully human life and example of suffering, believers can find encouragement and guidance for handling life's difficulties in a way that honors God.

Applications

1. What are the ways in which you are currently suffering or have suffered in the past?
2. How do these sufferings compare to the sufferings that Christ experienced in His life?
3. Discuss your sufferings with other believers, and rather than complaining, talk about the ways in which sufferings enhanced your sanctification.
4. When you encounter new suffering, immediately pray that God would help you endure like Jesus and follow His example for bearing up righteously.
5. Refuse to accuse God of injustice and rather remember that suffering is a sign of His love toward you as sons/daughters.
6. Read the Gospels regularly and remind yourself that Jesus lived a fully authentic human life more like your own than you could ever imagine.