study guides by David W. Chadwell

Written by David Chadwell, these exhaustive Bible study guides were used by him in teaching weekly adult Bible classes. We share them here for your personal education and for Bible class teachers to use for group study, free of charge. See our copyright guidelines.

The Before and After of Conversion, 2006. A 13-lesson series of adult Bible studies of Ephesians 4:17 through 5:2 focuses on divinely acceptable Christian behavior after baptism into Christ. Most problems occurring in congregations today happen because the converted do not know how to behave like the converted. Conversion of idol worshippers turned their world upside down when they became Christians. Conversion still demands a radical change in behavior. There is a new way to live for the “new self.”
 

Building a Healthy Faith, 1999. These 13 lessons from Matthew 6 and 7 reveal that Jesus' insights stress what must occur in our minds, hearts, motives, and priorities to enable our faith to mature.


Caught In The Middle, 2008. This series of 13 Bible lessons concerns the dilemma faced by a Christian when he or she spiritually develops faster than does the congregation of which he or she is a member. It focuses on the dilemma created when a person's conscience is more developed than a congregation's demands.
 

Christian Growth Series, 2002. A 40-lesson Bible study guide which covers basic beliefs and behaviors for new Christians.


Christians and Hardships, 2005. Few things stress a Christian's faith in God as much as hardships and struggles. This study challenges Christians to do four things: (1) deepen their understanding of spiritual commitment and divine purpose; (2) understand everything revolves around God and His purposes, not us; (3) realize eternal issues are more significant than our physical comfort; (4) realize great people of faith in the Bible were not shielded from the disappointments of hardships. These lessons seek to stimulate the roots of faith.
 

Christian Responsibility and Accountability, 2005. This series of 13 lessons stress Christian responsibility as we seek God's balance between the joy of God's grace and the horror of our sinfulness.
 

Climbing on the Altar, 2001. A 13-lesson Bible study of Romans 12:1-15:13. Here we learn that Christians who deeply appreciate God's mercy "climb on the altar" each day. This causes us to treat people differently, especially other Christians.


David: The Man After God's Heart, 2005.  This series of 13 lessons focuses on David's incredible acts of godliness and his horrible failure in the incident with Bathsheba. The point of the study for Christians today: Incredible closeness to God is not produced by perfection in human conduct, but by a heart that stands constantly ready to repent when one realizes he or she has committed an evil act. The issue is not will a human do evil? -- all humans do evil. The issue is what will the man or woman do when he or she realizes, "I have done evil!"?
 

Discovering Jesus, 1997. Examine the many ways the Bible refers to Jesus of Nazareth. This study looks at the comparative terms, the beneficial roles, the abstract concepts, and the relationship between Christ and His church.


The Early Outreach of Jesus Christ, 2001. A 13-lesson study about the similarities and differences between first century converts to Jesus.


Faith: In Our Gifts or Our God?, 2000. These 12 lessons examine Satan's ability to deceive us into basing our faith in ourselves. Do we trust in our gifts or in the God who gave us the gifts? Can Satan convince us to believe in us instead of in God?


First Century Conversion, 2001. This 13-lesson Bible study examines the biblical meaning and importance of conversion. To what is a Christian to be converted?


Godly Character and Integrity , 2002. Character and integrity are demonstrated in the manner people treat people. If Christians are a people of godly character and integrity, they must treat others in the manner God emphasizes. This 13-week study of Christian character and integrity is based on the foundation of "loving others as we love ourselves." This is the consistent measure of character and integrity throughout the Bible.


God's Contrasting Approaches, 1999. These 11 lessons contrast the nature of God's approach to Old Testament Israel with God's approach to New Testament Christians. Understanding this contrast focuses us on God's desire to seek a relationship with people.


God's Gift: Jesus, 2003. This 13-lesson Bible class study focuses on why Jesus Christ is the essential link between God and people. God did and continues to do something special, something incredibly unique for us in Jesus. This series focuses on God's unique achievements in Jesus.


God's Plan In the Church: Christians Nurturing Christians, 1999. A common love for God and for each other formed and guided the first century church to become a unique, functioning community of believers, not an institutional organization.


God's Rule, 2003. This 13-week Bible study focuses on the meaning and significance of God's sovereignty, which involves much more than acknowledging His authority and giving Him obedience.
 

The Holy God, 2004. This 13-week Bible class study examines the nature of God and the Christian's response to His holiness.


Jesus' Concept of Hypocrisy, 2004. The Christian's typical concept of hypocrisy is commonly not identical to that of Jesus. Jesus' concept often deals with insights we Christians usually do not consider. This 13-lesson study challenges the Christian to expand our concept of hypocrisy.


Jesus: The Importance of People to God, 2007. An adult Bible study series of 13 lessons about Jesus' teachings and situations that focus on Jesus' emphasis on the importance of people to God. God sent His Son to people because people matter to Him. Ignoring people is ignoring those whom God originally created in His image. If we continue to seek a restoration of God's purposes, we as Christians must express loving concern for people.
 

Jesus and Paul: The Importance of People to God, 2007. This second set of 13 lessons continues the emphasis on God's love for humanity. The first series focuses exclusively on lessons from Jesus. This quarter is a focus on lessons from Jesus and from Paul. By focusing on God's enormous love for people, we see (1) God's enormous love for us as individuals, and (2) God's enormous love for all people in all situations and cultures.
 

Jesus' Kingdom Parables, 1998. The teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of God are relevant to who we are, what we do, and how we function as a community of Christians.


Jonah, 2003. A short set of lessons from the book of Jonah.


The Living Sacrifice, 2006. This 13-week study is a text-centered examination of what it meant in daily life for the Christians in first century Rome to behave as Christians. By studying Paul's instructions to those Christians we better understand the Christ-centered values that should shape our lives as we mature in Christ. The focus of the study is on what happens in our lives after we have been baptized into Christ.

Malachi, 2003. A short set of lessons from the book of Malachi.


My Confidence In My Salvation, 2002. Too often Christians consider salvation primarily from the perspective of human needs created by evil. This 13-lesson Bible study focuses primarily on the depth of God's involvement, desires, and actions in extending salvation to all through Jesus' death.


Obedience, God's Diamond, 2006. This thought-provoking 13-lesson Bible study (1) affirms the necessity of obeying God and (2) challenges us to include all that God declares in Scripture about our concept of obedience.
 

Our Call To Discipleship, 2003. This 13-lesson Bible class guide reminds us of God's emphasis on the Christian being a follower of Jesus, which involves much more than "church membership."


Peter: The Importance of People to God, 2007. This third set of 13 lessons is a study of 1 and 2 Peter. We find that even in environments of suffering and discouragement, the importance of people to God is evident. These lessons are a continuation of Jesus: The Importance of People to God and Jesus and Paul: The Importance of People to God.
 

Repentance, 2004. A 13-lesson Bible class study which emphasizes the nature of repentance and its essential role in turning from evil, receiving forgiveness, and walking with God.


Resolutions, 2003. In a desire to challenge Christians to reflect on their spiritual development and to resolve to grow spiritually in 2003, these 13 lessons asks people to evaluate their spiritiual condition and spiritual aspirations. (Co-authored with Tom Benincosa.)


Spiritual Success or Distress?, 2000. These 52 lessons are designed for classroom Bible study to change the lives of adult Christians by making Jesus their powerful, relevant example.


The Christian's Conscience, 2005. This material focuses on the Christian's conscience. It is founded on and studies scripture. It has basically two objectives. The first: to examine scripture's declarations on the role of the conscience in coming to Christ. The second: to examine scripture's declarations on the role of the Christian's conscience in faithfulness. The emphasis is on the truth that a response to Jesus Christ is a whole person response that includes both emotions and behavior.
 

Understanding "The Church", 2004. A 13-lesson Bible class study which will guide the Christian to a better understanding of God's concept of "the church."


Useful to God, 2008. This series of 13 Bible class lessons examines the lives of specific Old Testament people who either served God's purposes in spite of their failures or refused to abandon their failures. The lessons stress that human perfection is not a requirement to be useful to God.

Why Am I Saved;  What Does That Mean?, a study of Galatians, 1998. What happened to the Galatian church that caused Paul to write, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Christ to a different gospel"? Those who claim to be saved by Jesus must avoid the confusion that false teachers can create.
 

With God, Motives Matter!, 2006. This series of 13 lessons is designed to challenge the Christian to understand the importance of our motives as we seek to live a Christian life that is obedient to Jesus Christ.

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, Arkansas
david@westarkchurchofchrist.org

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