'Light bulb" moments at Bible study

Bible study at the Love In Action Ministry Center on Wednesday nights is always a great time. It's a much smaller crowd than on Tuesday nights, and that leads to more interaction and discussion among those attending. What's really cool is when you see the "light bulbs" coming on - those moments when people look at you and say, "I get it."

We had some "light bulb" moments last night.

Many of the people who come on Tuesday nights for Celebrate Recovery go to their churches on Wednesday nights, and that's what we want to happen. We're an outreach ministry, not a church. But others just enjoy being at Love In Action, so they come on Wednesday nights and go to their churches on Sundays.

I started a new series last night called Identity Theft, which was written by Craig Groeschel, who is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. It's not about stealing a person's credit card and stealing their identity. It's about knowing our identity as Christians in Jesus Christ, and how the devil tries to steal our identity.

In this series, we are studying several different lies that the devil wants to use to rob us of our identity in Christ. Last night we looked at the lie, "I have to be strong." In other words, too often, we rely on our own strength. We try to accomplish everything on our own. When we do, we fail. We succeed when we rely on God's strength.

The scriptures we covered were: John 8:44, John 8: 32, Isaiah 40: 30-31, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, and Zechariah 4:6. The "light bulbs" really started coming on when we got to 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, which reads, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

That's where the Apostle Paul is asking God to take the torn in his flesh away from him. But God told him, "My grace is sufficient for you." As Pastor Groeschel says, after breaking down those verses in the Greek, a very literal translation of this verse could go like this, "God’s divine influence is exactly enough to meet your every need for His explosive miraculous power is made completely perfect in you when you are broken before Him."

One of the men looked at me and said, "So when I'm weak, I'm really strong because of God's strength." I said, "You've got it!" Then more people started sharing and they all understood it. We need to embrace our weaknesses and rely totally on God's strength. For, it's not by our might, or by our power, but it's by God's Spirit. (Zech. 4:6)

That was only the first lesson is the four-part series. It's going to get better and better. And the coolest thing is seeing people really beginning to understand who they are in Jesus Christ. By the end of the series, everyone will have a much better understanding. Praise God!