God Is Not on Your Side: A Book Study

By Joshua Opperman

God Is Not on Your Side, but that is good news! Understanding why and discovering what the application of this truth means for each of our lives is quite the adventure.

This sixteen-week book study has been written for the purpose of encouraging the individual to explore the topics and themes of God Is Not on Your Side in a group setting. It is an excellent curriculum for group Bible study, written with a focus on those who have been actively involved in church for some time or maybe have recently stopped attending church after being involved for many years.

God Is Not on Your Side begins with the author’s testimony as an individual who believed he was a follower of Jesus living a Christian life, but one day came to realize he was actually far from God. From this humble place, the reader is then invited on a journey of self-reflection and revelation; evaluating not only personal belief but external influences that have had a significant impact on the American Christian Church. What is discovered challenges one to compare commonly accepted cultural norms and the worldview of Christians in the American Christian Church against Biblical truth.

The Christian life is not one of theory alone. The truths conveyed in God Is Not on Your Side are best learned and lived out in community. May you enjoy the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664222229

Joshua Opperman

Joshua Opperman is a physician assistant in community health practice. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Point Loma Nazarene University and a master’s degree from Western University of Health Sciences. He has served both locally and globally as a lay minister in various capacities including missions, worship, and teaching. Opperman and his wife, Marlene, have two children. He lives in California.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Joshua Opperman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2221-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2222-9 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/4/2021

Contents

Introduction

Study 1 Getting Started

Study 2 My Peter Moment

Study 3 Good or God?

Study 4 God Is

Study 5 Whose Side Is God On?

Study 6 Character Studies, Part 1

Study 7 Character Studies, Part 2

Study 8 Living the Dream

Study 9 Salvation

Study 10 Fruit of the Spirit and Spiritual Fruit

Study 11 Prayer and Fasting

Study 12 Evangelism

Study 13 Worship

Study 14 Money

Study 15 Living as Exiles

Study 16 Final Thoughts

Study Leader Notes

Introduction

I realize when you saw the title God Is Not on Your Side, it may have been a little jarring or off-putting. One of the best ways to process something that may initially strike you in such a way is simply to talk about it. God was gracious to me in that He showed me this truth in the process of writing God Is Not on Your Side. I knew that the Lord wanted me to write the book, but I also knew that the information contained within it would be a little difficult for people to work through as it challenges many norms within our current culture and the church.

Once I had a general outline for the book, I approached my Bible study leaders at the time to see if maybe they would allow me to spend some time working through the chapters of God Is Not on Your Side in our Bible study group. Their response was gracious and affirming, and I want to say a special thank you to Chris and Sabra Hoyle and the Parsonage Study Group for giving me the opportunity to teach this study. Going through this study with the group taught me two things: It confirmed that God was calling me to write the God Is Not on Your Side book, and it showed me that the book should be published along with this book study to help facilitate processing of the information it contained. Many of the additional thoughts and comments contained in the Study Leader Notes section of this book were actually from the Parsonage Study Group, and I am eternally grateful for each and every person who contributed through that group.

We are meant to be in community, and though the initial chapters of God Is Not on Your Side are about theology and personal belief, the bulk of the book is about how we are to live as individuals and in community. For this reason, I am so glad that you have decided to go through this book study. Every time I have gone through the material in this study with others it has challenged and blessed me, and my hope is that your experience will be the same.

If you are leading a group study, I want to encourage you to review each week’s study in advance along with the Study Leader Notes that you will find at the back of the book. The Study Leader Notes are meant simply to be a supplement to help facilitate the study and group discussions. If you are interested in continuing to discuss and engage with others regarding the topics in this book, I encourage you to visit the God Is Not on Your Side blog, which can be found at www.GodIsNotOnYourSide.com. May God bless you richly!

37843.png

Study 1:

GETTING STARTED

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

—Matthew 28:19–20

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

—Revelation 7:9–10

T here is a certain challenge trying to convey in written form the truths that God has been teaching me over the past few years. My spiritual journey with God has been a process of seeking Him and getting to know myself. Along this journey, He has revealed to me what is contained within this Bible study. I felt compelled to write this study as God revealed to me that the truths I am learning from Him also apply to many others, but I humbly submit that I alone am unable to convince anyone of the truth. As has been the case in my life, it is Almighty God who opens eyes to the truth and changes hearts and lives. So I pray that as you read and go through this Bible study, God will speak to your heart and bless your life as you grow in Him.

This study has been written specifically to those within the Christian church in the United States and directly references the current culture in America. I mention this at the outset simply because if you are not familiar with American culture, some of what is contained within this text may be foreign to you. Nonetheless, the truth of God’s