An Invitation

          As most of you know, last year I published my third book, Freed From Sin. It was not an easy book to write. Years of study, of writing, and of God’s working in my life are contained within its 430 pages. One of the things I included in the book was a discussion guide. I know in spots it is a fairly technical work, and I realize that many of the topics take much time and thought to work your way through. In spite of that, because of the value of the subject matter, I wanted the book to be as accessible as possible and I thought a discussion guide at the end of each chapter would contribute to that.

          For many years now Mandy and I have homeschooled our children. Part of my responsibility in relation to that is to teach my older two high school students a Bible class. Through the years I have taught them why we are fundamentalists, what we believe about music and alcohol, how to approach dating, and a biblical view of money. We spent one whole year in Proverbs and another doing systematic theology and hermeneutics. As I approached the spring semester this year, the fact that Jack was about to graduate from high school weighed heavily on me. This would be the last home school Bible class he would take from me. What did I most want to communicate to him?

          With some embarrassment, I tell you that God led me to my own recently published book, Freed From Sin. I want my son to love and serve God for a lifetime. I want him to live a life that resembles his Saviour. What better subject could I teach him in our last class than the meaning and means of sanctification? So taking my own book, we sat down three hours a week for sixteen weeks and studied it out. Reading each paragraph by turns, we read the entire thing front to back. From time to time, I would pause the reading and interject with some explanation or question or answer or illustration. At the end of each chapter, we would review by means of the discussion guide.

          We finished recently. I laid the book on the dining room table, resting in my conscience, knowing I had done a good work to prepare my children to follow on to know the Lord. I confess, I wish I had had a larger class. It is just good stuff, helpful stuff, edifying stuff. But I had done what I could with what I had.

          A few days ago I was contemplating the situation in which we find ourselves. As I mentioned on my Brennan’s Pen Facebook page the other day, I have never been a video guy. I am a word man. I think words allow for precision and thought where video mostly only allows for surface contact and emotion. But this pandemic has forced me to embrace video. We are streaming our church’s services live on YouTube several times a week. Mandy has begun a livestream of her own teaching a ladies’ Bible study. And just a couple of weeks ago I launched a Facebook live reading program via Brennan’s Pen.

          …then an idea hit me upside the head like a boat oar: why not stream a class on Freed From Sin to whomever wants to take it? Everybody is home. God’s people are craving connection and teaching both. I know I have a book chockful to the brim with helpful biblical content. I just watched how teaching it patiently and slowly helped my own children. The technology is available to teach it more widely. Ergo, this blog post is being written.

          Beginning next week, Tuesday, April 28, at 8 PM Central time, I will be offering a free online class on Freed From Sin. I am inviting you to join me, if you would like.  

          There are a couple of parameters I need to mention at this point.

First, you need to have a copy of the book. If you do not already have one, you may purchase print editions in paperback or hardback on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The digital version is available on Kindle or iTunes. I am not going to put a bunch of links here. You can figure it out.

Second, a potential student needs to be at least 15 years of age, and a relatively mature fifteen. This is not a class for children. Beyond that, I do not care if you are a pastor, a Bible college president, or a nursery worker, you are welcome.

Third, I am choosing to use the Zoom platform. I realize there have been some questions about its security recently, but I will not publish the link to each class online. You will receive it via email on the day of class. In order to ensure you receive the link for each class you will need to subscribe to my blog. Simply navigate to concerningjesus.blogspot.com and enter your email and name in the box on the right hand side of the page. The classes will not be archived. You must participate live. Also, I cannot be your tech support. You will have to figure out how to use Zoom on your own. Zoom is free, and if you are a reasonably intelligent individual you ought to be able to handle figuring out how it works.

Fourth, the class size is limited to 100 in attendance each time. You do not have to enroll. I am not going to take attendance or try to police who shows up. I will not and cannot hold a spot. I will open the Zoom meeting 15 minutes early each night and the first 99 people to sign in will be able to take that evening’s class.

Fifth, and most importantly – by taking the class you are agreeing to teach someone else the material when we get done. If we cover one or two chapters a week the class will last for some months. At the end of that time, you will have a solid foundational understanding of the doctrine and practice relating to holiness. And, may I say, you will have an excellent textbook at your fingertips. <grin> I am not interested in just teaching you. I want to teach you so that you will teach someone else. Teach your Sunday School class. Teach your youth department. Teach your small group. Teach your Christian school Bible class. Teach your college. Teach your staff. Teach your church. You can even, like me, teach your older children. Just teach it to somebody else. Do not worry. I will teach you how to teach them. Just watch how I teach. Then sit down with them over a copy of Freed From Sin and work your way through it together.

          So join me on Tuesday nights beginning next week at 8 PM Central. Let us journey into the heart of the purpose for which God saved you and me – forming us into the image of Jesus Christ.