“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Guilt usually arises out of unrealistic expectations, and these expectations are either created by you or given to you from other people.

Maybe those expectations come from your parents. Maybe those expectations come from your religion. Maybe those expectations come from the other people you work with, or work for. Or maybe, just maybe, you feel like you’ve let God down, that He is terribly disappointed with you, and you can never measure up no matter how hard you try.

Quite frankly, religion is very adept at motivating people with guilt. They want you to attend more, give more, volunteer more, and if you don’t, they have an incredible way of making you feel guilty, and leading you to believe that not only will the church be disappointed with you, but God will be disappointed with you also.

When the guilt goes unresolved, it develops into condemnation – a feeling of worthlessness. A feeling of dispair. A feeling that there is no hope for you. A feeling that life is not worth living. That feeling of condemnation is NOT healthy. That is something that needs to be dealt with. And that is the purpose of this teaching.

This teaching is Part 3 of our Overcomer Series which offers a Biblical perspective on spiritual and emotional issues.

“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

Do you have trouble forgiving others? You’re not alone. Almost everyone agrees that we need to forgive. We know what we “ought” to do, but actually doing it is the hard part.

When Peter asked Jesus this question he sounded very weary indeed. Can you hear it in his voice? How often! How many times! Peter had reached the limits of his patience and was looking to the Lord for some direction in this matter of forgiveness. At least he was willing to forgive! And he was even willing to overlook seven transgressions against him! That sounds very, very generous from a human standpoint. But something didn’t feel quite right, so he went to Jesus to find out for sure: is seven times enough?

Peter was surely disappointed to hear Jesus say, “Not seven times, but seventy-times-seven!” Literally speaking, that is four hundred ninety times. That’s a lot of forgiveness! But there is prophetic significance to this number also. With His teachings on forgiveness, Jesus gives us a unique perspective into the Kingdom of God and the unique position we occupy as kings and priests in that Kingdom.

Over time bitterness begins to creep in and our spiritual life begins to decay and deteriorate. Forgiving someone seven times sounds excessive when you can’t manage to forgive someone once or twice. And forgiving someone up to 490 times sounds ridiculously impossible.

Or is it? Join us as we discuss what Jesus means by forgiving to the uttermost. With God’s grace you CAN overcome bitterness and unforgiveness.

This teaching is Part 2 of our Overcomer Series which offers a Biblical perspective on spiritual and emotional issues.

“Fear not, for I am with you…” (Isaiah 43:5a).

Jesus said that there would come a time when men’s hearts would fail them for fear of what was happening on the earth. We are living in that time! Fear is a very powerful emotion and can have a negative effect on our spirit, soul, and body. We all have things that we are afraid of, and life provides us with plenty of things to worry about.

Being a Christian does not mean we will never experience fear or have worries. The Bible does not ignore this very human emotion. Instead, it offers us an alternative to living in bondage to fear. Are you afaid? Fearful? Worried? Anxious? You can overcome fear and worry! Join us as we explore this issue together with sound, Scriptural teaching and practical wisdom.

This teaching is Part 1 of our Overcomer Series which offers a Biblical perspective on spiritual and emotional issues.

Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus said, “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The Early Church was known for its power and simplicity as it carried the Gospel far and wide. They were known as “the ones who have turned the world upside down.”

Few people would honestly dispute the fact that Christianity today bears little resemblance to the Christianity of the Early Church. In fact, “Churchianity” is a more accurate description of what we have seen in modern times. According to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are more than 38,000 Christian denominations in existence. This is a testimony to the world, not of our unity, but our division.

Christian leaders and television personalities are constantly in the news for some moral or financial indiscretion. Scandal, controversy, and cover-up are commonplace. For the first time in history the number of Christian divorces has surpassed the number of non-Christian divorces. The message to the rest of the world is that Christians are no different than anyone else.

At the same time, there is a mass exodus of people who are leaving their churches. This number is greater than anyone realizes, and the number grows by the day. Some are leaving because of hurt or anger, but many are leaving simply because they cannot play the religious game anymore. They attended, and supported, and gave money, and got little or nothing in return. The social benefits of going to church could no longer compensate for the lack of spiritual life.

Church leaders are leaving, too. Every week a new group of pastors resigns and quits the ministry – disillusioned, burned-out, and beat up by the unrealistic and unscriptural expectations of their congregations.

The question being asked by the world, by those still attending church, and by those who no longer attend, is: “What’s wrong with the church?”

With clarity and simplicity we attempt to answer that question from the Scriptures – beginning with God’s original thought for the Church – and show how that original thought was compromised through the ages.

But our focus is not just on “what’s wrong.” In all fairness, we point out the good things. And in addition to sounding the alarm and giving a clear warning of what to expect, we use the Scriptures to show God’s way of recovery and restoration.

Finally, we respond to some of the more common accusations leveled against those who no longer attend church, including the number one objection: “You must forsake not the assembling of yourselves together!” By the time you finish listening to this message you will be able to answer that (and other objections) with confident assurance from the Word of God.

The end result is a balanced, thoughtful message that you can listen to and give to any pastor or church member who is concerned for your well-being and wonders why you don’t go to church anymore. Instead of avoiding the issue, tell them the truth! Give them this teaching and plant a seed in their heart. At the very least, there will be no doubt in their mind as to where you stand, and why.

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).

When I talk about the wilderness, when I talk about the desert, what am I talking about? Spiritually speaking, it’s that place where you feel all alone. It’s that place where you no longer have the sense of God’s manifest presence. That is, you know mentally that God is with you, but you don’t have the sense of it. Everything feels like you have been abandoned or forsaken by God.

Perhaps you are discouraged, or depressed. Perhaps you’ve been hurt or disappointed. Perhaps it’s something in your body, some weakness or ailment that you can’t seem to get the victory over. Maybe you’ve been under attack, either from other people, or attacked in a spiritual sense. Maybe you’re just pressed under the weight of circumstances. It could be a problem at work, or a problem at school, or a problem in your marriage. For many people it’s a financial difficulty, struggling to make ends meet, or trying to recover from a hardship.

Or maybe you’ve come out of Organized Religion, and there’s a great big void, a great big empty place in your life that used to be filled by “church”, and so you’re trying to find fellowship, but there seems to be no fellowship. Or you thought you found fellowship in a house church, but you were disappointed to discover that it was not what you thought it would be. For whatever reason it didn’t meet your need. Maybe you don’t even know why, but the point is you’re still seeking something you haven’t found yet.

Maybe there’s something lacking in your relationship with God. He seems distant, or uncaring, or unavailable. You don’t have a sense that you are making any progress. You feel like you’re either standing still or going backward. You pick up the Bible and try to read but you get nothing out of it. Perhaps you keep this up for awhile and then maybe you give up reading it altogether. Maybe you try to pray but it seems like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Maybe you keep praying or maybe you just give up.

Then perhaps you think you’ve done something wrong, that you have displeased the Lord terribly. You try to confess your sins but can’t really think of anything you’ve done wrong. You try to get back to the way you used to feel but nothing seems to work. Maybe you start to wonder if you’ve lost your salvation, or if you’ve committed the unpardonable sin, or grieved the Holy Spirit so badly that He’s left you.

If you can understand God’s Purpose for the desert, if you can understand how and why and that He wants to prepare a way for you in the wilderness, then I think it will encourage you. Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. There is such a blessing in the desert. There are things you learn in the desert that you cannot and will not learn anywhere else. But what I see too many times is people seeking a quick deliverance! God calls them to the wilderness, He calls them to the desert, and they resist it, or they go and immediately look for a way out. They don’t stay there long enough to derive any spiritual benefit.

You’re trying to avoid the desert, or get out of the desert, because the desert doesn’t feel good. And I’m saying the desert you’re trying to get out of is exactly the place where God intends to bless you and reveal more of Christ to you!

There is no higher place in the universe than to be seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Indeed, since Christ is larger than the universe, then to be seated with Christ is to be above and beyond all time and space and dimension as we know it. To be seated with Christ is to overcome as He has overcome. It is entering into His victory. It is not a fight to obtain victory, but a sitting down having already been made victorious. It is rest, but it is not “rest” in the sense that we do nothing. It means we have rested from our labors and now we work according to His power which works in us and through us.

This audio program is simply titled Victory. The premise is as simple as the title suggests. There are no complicated formulas, methods, techniques, or steps. We do not spend a lot of time talking about the devil; in fact, we discourage focusing on “darkness” and encourage you to look to Jesus. Our goal is to present Christ in all His preeminence, and then show that every believer, by virture of their union with Christ, may overcome even as He has overcome.

Our journey into the Wilderness began in 1999, when a church board illegally fired me from my pastoral position and demanded that I vacate the parsonage. A week later the ushers stood at the door of the church and handed out letters to everyone who attended, letting them know the reasons why I had been fired.

Someone sent me a copy of the letter they passed around. I still have it in my files, and sometimes I pull it out, read it through, and remind myself of the price my family and I paid for being faithful to the truth. I haven’t regretted the decision.

I won’t reveal everything written in the letter, but I will share one thing that may shed light on why this church and this denomination was so anxious to get rid of me. Rest assured it was not due to any moral failure or besetting sin on my part.

I actually took it as a compliment.

Quote:

“Chip Brogden maintains an extensive website where he has displayed attitudes and teachings that demonstrate a compromised loyalty to the church and the leadership…”

This “extensive website”, now known as TheSchoolOfChrist.Org, continues to speak the truth concerning Jesus with an UNCOMPROMISED loyalty and jealously for the preeminence of Christ over all things. That will never change.

But it is true that back in 1999 I did not have as much GRACE as I do now.

One article in particular sealed my doom and made my excommunication virtually assured. The title of that article was “Terminate The Tithe!”

In that essay I attacked everything I had grown to hate about the church, the clergy, the denomination, and the religious system that I was still very much a part of. Eventually I removed it from the website because even through it was true, the spirit behind it was wrong. It was written in anger and bitterness. I didn’t feel it deserved a place with the other Christ-centered essays I had begun to write.

But that didn’t stop people from writing in, begging me to send them the article on tithing!

Well, the article (as far as I know) is gone forever. Probably for the best. But this is still a controversial issue and it is one of the more commonly asked questions we get here at The School of Christ.

With a little more grace, and a little more wisdom, and a little more Christ-centered revelation, I have put together a two-part audio series designed to give you peace of mind and freedom from bondage in this area.

PART ONE: Tithing in the Old Covenant – gives a complete history of tithing, all the commandments on tithing, a description of the different tithes (there were several), why those commandments were given, and why Organized Religion desperately wants you to believe they all apply to you today.

PART TWO: Giving in the New Covenant – shows how a Spirit-led believer in Christ is free from the curse of the Law, including tithing, and gives a complete history of giving from a New Testament perspective so you can experience joy, not fear, when God leads you to give – or, to NOT give.

If you have questions about tithing and you need Scriptural teaching from someone other than the pastor of a church that expects you to pay tithes, this teaching is for you. I hope you’ll check it out, listen to the evidence, and come to your own prayerful conclusion.

But be careful! Churches get nervous when I talk about this.

(From the introduction)

“What I’d like to share with you in this message is a spiritual principle that I believe most of us overlook, because this spiritual principle operates in a manner in which we are not used to dealing with. It is a spiritual principle that teaches us how to be strong, and how to be strengthened, through adversity.

“Of course many prosperity teachers and preachers bring a very popular message, designed (I believe) to try and get people to believe that if they pray the right prayers, and if they do the right things and confess the right confessions, then they can avoid adversity.

“However, the Scriptures teach something quite different, and I believe that we are missing an opportunity for spiritual growth and maturity by not accurately discerning and recognizing the dealings of the Lord – how He deals with us particularly in the area of adversity.

“Now this message will apply to most people that hear it, because whether it is you, or whether it is someone that you love, or someone that you know, most of us are going through some kind of adversity; some kind of distress; some kind of trouble; some kind of affliction; some kind of persecution; some kind of tribulation; some kind of suffering; some kind of trial. Either you are coming out of adversity, or you are in the midst of adversity, or you are about to go through adversity – or, you know someone that has been, is going through, or will go through adversity.

“And so I want to share with you something that most people do not understand, and something that most people do not accurately discern as it regards their circumstances, and how they can, instead of being weakened through adversity (the way most people are) they can, by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, be strengthened through adversity.”

Fewer subjects have been more frequently misunderstood and abused than the subject of spiritual authority.

Do any of the following situations sound familiar to you?

• A pastor refuses all correction on the basis that he is the “spiritual authority” in the church, and therefore, above question. Those who disagree are ridiculed and ultimately forced to leave.
• A man who claims to be “the spiritual head of the house” rules his family with such an iron grip that his wife and children are terrified of him.
• In another family, the man shows no outward interest in spiritual things, so the woman takes it upon herself to be “the spiritual head of the house”.
• A certain “house church” expects all the women to be “submissive”, and this means they are to sit separately from the men and are not allowed to speak – but they are expected to keep the children, serve the meals, and clean up afterwards, while the men sit back and watch.
• In another “house church”, the founding “apostle” is treated with guru-like reverence, and no one makes a move or thinks a thought apart from his implicit approval and direction – even on matters of where to live, where to work, and who they may visit.
• Someone questions the church leadership and is immediately labeled as “rebellious” or having “a spirit of Jezebel”.
• An “apostle” convinces a handful of pastors that they should submit to his “authority” and send him tithes and offerings each week.
• A “prophet” gives a “word” that is obviously wrong but no one has the courage to speak up and say so.
• A prayer group spends hours “rebuking the devil” but strangely enough, the more they pray, the worse things get.
• A “healing evangelist” claims to have a “special anointing” to pray for the sick but little lasting improvement can be seen.
• Another “evangelist” attempts to “release the anointing” through the television camera.
• A married couple wants to leave the church but the pastor says they would lose their “spiritual covering” unless he “releases” them first, so they are afraid to leave.

We could go on and on, but the point is clear. We are not making any of these scenarios up. We have personally witnessed these examples, and many more, in churches and ministries all over the world. In addition, we receive email from people each week who are going through experiences just like these. Obviously something is very, very wrong. And the problem is getting worse. Chances are you’ve either experienced something along these lines or you know someone who has.

In almost every case, these problems can be solved with a correct understanding of TRUE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY.

Our goal is not to try and correct false preachers and teachers. Instead, we want to correct the erroneous impressions so many Christians have about spiritual authority and equip them with good, practical, Biblical teaching on the subject so they can be released from the spiritual, emotional, physical, and financial bondage of religious oppression.

Since Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, why do so many others claim to have it? Once you truly discover spiritual authority you will never again submit yourself to the fleshly demands of a hireling. It’s just that simple.

What is spiritual authority? Who has spiritual authority? Who doesn’t have spiritual authority? How do I increase spiritual authority? And how do I respond to people trying to manipulate, control and abuse me under the guise of “spiritual authority”?

All these questions, and many more, are answered in this teaching series, “Spiritual Authority – Who Has It, Who Doesn’t, And What You Can Do About It.” Our perspective on spiritual authority is fresh, liberating, and very, very different from anything you have ever heard on the subject. The reason is simple: we aren’t trying to get you to submit to us. We have no personal agenda. We only have a Kingdom Agenda. Our fondest wish is to see you submitted to Jesus Christ and delivered from man’s authority once and for all.

Paul’s greatest fear was that his brothers and sisters in the Lord might be “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Corinthians 11:3b). Christ is on the side of simplicity, while religion is usually on the side of complexity.

Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Have you made the Christian life too difficult? So often, man takes something easy and light and turns it into something difficult and heavy. Jesus is calling us to forsake the complicated way and to follow Him in sincerity and simplicity.

In these four messages we talk about Jesus, fellowshipping with one another, growing up spiritually, and exercising spiritual discernment in the midst of all the confusion. We try to strip away all the complicated layers and complexities and get to the simple heart of things. If you’re frustrated and fed up with “trying to be a good Christian”, our prayer is that you will find simplicity and joy in the Lord as we examine these truths.