Jesus Continued ― Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better Than Jesus Beside You

Jesus, Continued Bible Study Book includes a small-group experience for eight sessions, individual study opportunities for each day of the week, applicable Scripture, a personal note from author J.D. Greear, “How To Use This Study,” and a group discussion guide. Back matter includes some tips for the leader.

Why do so many of us think of Christianity as a lifestyle to which we conform, rather than a God with whom we commune? Jesus gave His disciples the audacious promise that it was to their advantage that He go back to heaven because the Holy Spirit could then come to live inside of them. How many of us consider our connection to the Holy Spirit so strong and so real that we would call his presence in us better than Jesus beside us?

Throughout his Christian life, J.D. Greear felt disconnected to God and unsure about how to interact with Him. Although he had learned a lot of truths about God, these truths didn't seem to bring him any closer to Him. He tried to have such a relationship, but all of God’s work seemed stockpiled in the past: He created the world, died on a cross, and left a Bible. God seemed like a busy teacher who had given an assignment and then stepped out of the room, leaving students to get the work done on their own.

But Greear discovered it doesn’t have to be like that. And this Bible study has been created to help you relate to the Holy Spirit in new ways. Over the course of this study, you’ll see how you can have a satisfying, powerful relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. Sessions include:

1. Why "God in Us" is Better
2. The Gospel of God's Presence 
3. Surrendered to the Spirit for Mission
4. You are Gifted
5. The Spirit Shepherd 
6. Hearing the Spirit Speak
7. When God Seems Absent
8. God's Greatest Gift

Features:

• Biblically rooted and gospel-centered content
• Leader tips
• Eight-session Bible Study Book with group and personal components

Benefits:

• Replace guilt-driven missional living with gift-driven empowered living
• Overcome the paralysis of indecision by experiencing God’s promised presence
• Leave the stale and dry doctrinally driven faith for a fresh and dynamic Spirit-driven faith

Authors:

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC and author of Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary (2011) and Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved (2013). Two main things characterize The Summit Church: its gospel focus and sending culture. J.D. has also led the Summit to further the kingdom of God by pursuing a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. In the last ten years, the church has sent out more than 300 people to serve on church planting teams, both domestically and internationally. J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a faculty member, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. Having lived serving among Muslims, he has a burden to see them, as well as every nation on earth, come to know and love the salvation of God in Christ. He and his beautiful wife Veronica live in Raleigh, NC and are raising four ridiculously cute kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon.

Trevin Wax is managing editor of The Gospel Project, a gospel-centered small group curriculum for all ages, published by LifeWay Christian Resources. A contributor to numerous publications including Christianity Today and World, Trevin writes daily at Kingdom People, a blog hosted by The Gospel Coalition. He is also the author of Gospel-Centered Teaching; Clear Winter Nights: A Journey into Truth, Doubt, and What Comes After; Counterfeit Gospels; and Holy Subversion. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin was recently named by Christianity Today as one of 33 millennials leading the next generation of evangelicalism. He lives in middle Tennessee with his wife, Corina, and their three children.