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"Gospel Motivation" Bible Study
Click on the links below to access the courses:
Short Course 2 PDF
This Bible Study is a companion to the book “Gospel Motivation” from Northwestern Publishing House.
Every aspect of our life in Christ is inseparably bound to what Christ has done for us. This course covers many of what we will call “Gospel/motivation pairs” found in Scripture, that is, places where the writer encourages us to serve God and links that encouragement to what God, in Christ, has done for us. This study will help the class spot Gospel/motivation pairs on their own when they read Scripture.
This study contains eleven lessons.
The first two lessons are introductory. The first lesson defines the Gospel as the message of God’s forgiveness and impresses on the class how important it is. The second lesson helps the class understand the concept of Gospel motivation.
The next four lessons are foundational. They help the class understand Romans 6:1–8:17, where Paul explains why the Gospel enables and motivates us to serve the Lord. As such, the four lessons are a unit.
The last five lessons are topical. The Bible writers combine these topics with the Gospel to urge us to serve the Lord.
This site links to a full course and two short courses in MSWord and PDF formats. The short courses can be used if you want to divide the material and teach it twice in your Bible study program.
1. The Full Course contains all 11 lessons.
2. Short Course 1 contains the introductory and foundational lessons.
3. Short Course 2 contains the introductory and topical lessons.
Note: the Leader’s Guide includes all 11 lessons, and can be used for the full course and the two short courses.
The full course works for classes that are accustomed to spending a long time on a particular topic. Other classes like to change the topic every five to eight weeks., hence the short courses. Some lessons might not be covered in a single class session. Of course, this depends on your teaching style, how long your class sessions last, and how much discussion there is. Some lessons contain “practice” sections. Lessons can be shortened by not using all the practice material.
Note: The author of this study produced Northwestern Publishing House Bible studies for many years. However, this Bible study is not a Northwestern product. As such, it has not gone through the rigorous copy-editing and proof-reading process all Northwestern products go through. Nor has it undergone a synod doctrine and content review. The author has carefully checked the manuscript for typos and grammar mistakes. But before you print out the lessons, please read them through in case some typing errors were missed.
Refrigerator Magnets
Printer Ready Magnet Files
Below are nine refrigerator magnets that combine stained glass and Scripture. Below each image is a link where you can download a high resolution images which you can send to a professional printer. The printer can produce the magnets in large quantities.
One way to get God’s Word into the home
Everyone likes refrigerator magnets. These magnets feature a stained glass window and a corresponding verse from the Bible.
Give them away in evangelism doorhanger bags and as gifts to family members and friends. They might find a way into the home of a Christian who has fallen away. Even a person who doesn’t yet believe in Christ as their Savior, might find the message comforting.
What happens when I click to download?
A high resolution TIFF image will automatically be downloaded to the “downloads” folder on your computer. (To go to the downloads folder, click on the up arrow next to the name of the file you downloaded and click “show in folder.” This will take you to your downloads folder where the image has been stored.)
Click the image you downloaded and it will open in a viewer. You can move or copy this file into any folder you wish..
These files can be sent to any company that manufactures refrigerator magnets.
Technical information: The images are business card size (2 x 3.5 inches). They are 300 dpi TIFF files. They also contain a “bleed” (which allows the printer to cut the magnets to size without any white space around the edges.)
A suggestion about magnet thicknesses: You might want to get samples of what a company offers before you place your order. Some magnets are rather flimsy. Magnets are offered in “mil” thicknesses. Some rate them in “pts.” Mils and pts are the same, one thousandth of an inch. Some companies offer 17pt magnets. Usually, however, business cards are offered in 20 or 30 mil thicknesses. 20 mil is standard, but in my experience, a higher mil thickness gives a feeling of quality.
"Paul and Luther" An Adult Confirmation Class Based on Romans
This is more of an idea than a finished product. That’s because some of the material is currently under copyright. When this Adult Bible Information Class was written, some of the material used in this course was not under formal copyright. The content in reference was created by David Valleskey and Forrest Bivens for use in their own churches. Subsequently, it was copyrighted by the WELS Board for Parish Education in 1986 and Northwestern Publishing House in 1996. It is currently offered by NPH as the “New Life in Christ” course. Permission would have to be granted by NPH to use the sections under copyright. (However, the pages that contain the outline of Romans and many of the “Review” and “Home Study” pages are public domain.)
Pastors often toy with the idea that an Adult Class could be build on a book or a major section of Scripture. This is one example of doing that. And it has proven to be very workable over many years of use with a wide variety of class members.
In the column to the left are links where you can download a PDF document of the adult class itself and a another document explaining how the class is structured. This document offers some observations about using it. Perhaps it will generate some ideas and encourage you to write a similar study.