The Grace Course

The Grace Course consists of six teaching sessions and a ministry component that comes between Sessions 5 and 6. The course will be delivered weekly through Calvary Family Church’s Life Groups, with Sunday services also focussing on each topic as we move through the course.

Sign up sheets will be located in the auditorium foyer in the lead up to The Grace Course. If you are not in a Life Group you are invited to place your name on one of the group lists and participate through the 6 week course. If you choose, you are then very welcome to continue attending the Life Group you have been a part of.

Life group leaders can present the teaching themselves using the Leader’s Guide which comes with a powerpoint presentation CD or they can use video presentations available on DVD presented by Steve Goss. There are Participant’s Guides with notes for each session which also include the ministry component ‘Steps to Experiencing God’s Grace’.

Session 1: Free!

We all know that we are saved by grace through faith alone. Yet when it comes to living out our Christian lives, it’s easy to slip into thinking that it comes down to obeying a set of rules or living up to certain standards. But God is not looking for slaves who obey because they have to — instead, He wants to free us to rest in His grace so that we serve Him because we really want to.

Session 2: Innocent!

Many of God’s people struggle with a low-grade fever of guilt which makes us “act like we think a Christian should act”. Understanding that we have been declared not guilty once and for all brings us back to a real relationship with God where we can be ourselves and do what we do purely out of love. In Christ we measure up in full to God’s righteous demands!

Session 3: Unashamed!

Past experiences, what others say and our struggles to break free of sin can leave us feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with us. The truth is that we have become completely new people who can break the cycle of returning time and again to the same old sin issue. In Christ we have become completely new creations at the core of our being!

Session 4: Courageous!

Our God is an awesome God. But His children can come boldly into His presence without being afraid — we are absolutely secure and safe. And if this God is for us, who can be against us? We need fear no one and nothing except God Himself, and the fear of God is not a cringing mistrust but a deep awe of His great majesty and holiness.

Session 5: Humble!

In the Old Testament, God gave His people the Law. When Jesus came, He stated plainly that He had not come to do away with the Law but to fulfil it. If we understand how this works, we will resist the temptation to set ourselves up as nit-picking “guardians of the truth” but will be guided by the Law that is now written on our hearts. We will humble ourselves before God and before each other.

Ministry component: The Steps To Experiencing God’s Grace

This kind and gentle ministry session will help us deal with the things that get in the way of experiencing God’s grace. It is designed to be run on an day retreat between Sessions 5 and 6 or in an individual one-on-one appointment. Further details on options will be available soon.

Session 6: Fruitful!

When we feel ground down and exhausted, Jesus makes us an astonishing offer: a light yoke and an easy burden. And He really means it! It seems a paradox, but genuinely fruitful ministry that will have value for eternity comes only when we enter into that rest through the gateway of brokenness and learn to depend completely on Him.

Adapted from http://www.ficm-australia.org/