All believers are engaged in a cosmic spiritual battle. The conflict may not be within the obvious spheres of personal or physical enemies. Satan is our arch-enemy and inculcates his false system of thinking on the human race in various guises. At the core of Satan-promoted thinking is an assault on God’s authority. However, Satan is the master counterfeiter and disguises his false religions and philosophies with the robes of righteousness and light. This makes these systems attractive to our sin nature. Learn in this lesson the commonalities and dangers of Satan’s worldly thought systems that sabotage our reliance on the all-sufficiency of Christ and our spiritual growth.

Legalism has been described as a list of things one should and shouldn’t do, and, by adhering to that list God will bless us. It reduces spirituality to morality. Is there anything wrong in aspiring to Biblical standards? No, as long as we understand that adhering to standards does not cause us to grow spiritually nor does it cause God to bless us. Every spiritual blessing already belonged to us at the moment we believed. All we have to do is live in light of that reality. How is that accomplished?

For a believer, dominion of the sin nature died with Christ. To have new life the old life must die. Because our sin nature died with Christ (though our new natures continue to war with it during this life), we have the new life Christ’s resurrection makes possible. Our new life in Christ is empowered only by another gift, the Holy Spirit – something an unbeliever cannot have, no matter how moral.

The family is where the next generation is trained. Its health is related to the health of a society. Honoring parents shows humility and respect which is the essential response to authority. A leader must first learn to follow. Observe a child’s response to the parent of the opposite sex as an indicator of the way he will relate to his spouse. In Proverbs, verses concerning how to train children are practical guides of implementation. See the nature of Proverbs as wisdom sayings, not promises. Understand what it means to “train up a child” and when that begins. When is the “rod of correction” appropriate? What is the common starting point of every baby? Is discipline always negative? What is the direction of our culture regarding child rearing? How does discipline relate to God’s love for us? What was God’s ultimate expression of judicial punishment?

"Me! Me! Me! It's all about me. You may think it's about you but it's really all about me!" None of us would say this out loud but it's what we think. Listen to this lesson to learn about the enemy of every believer called the sin nature. See how Proverbs teaches that character must be taught from the crib and that no one is born with self control or discipline. Discover how God the Holy Spirit enhances moral values and makes them spiritual values that lead to character transformation.