Nothing to Prove Bible Study Guide plus Streaming Video

Eight-Session Bible Study in the Gospel of John

Jennie Allen

• Publisher: HarperChristian Resources
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9780310141969
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Let go of the feeling that you have to perform.

In this 8-session video study (video access included), Jennie Allen turns her sights on our performance-based culture and shows you how Jesus offers a radically different and freeing way to live.

Have you ever been made to think that if you could only work harder or be better, you could be enough? Too many of us walk through life feeling like we don't measure up. But the truth is, you don’t have to prove anything because Jesus has proven everything!

Jennie Allen—the visionary founder of the million-strong IF:Gathering—invites you to take a different road, a path where your soul overflows with contentment and joy. Follow her through key passages in John’s Gospel as she calls you to:

• Find freedom from self-inflicted pressure by taking hold of what has already been given to you in Christ.
• Overflow with Christ's abundance, and bring life to others.
• Make it your goal to know and love Jesus, then watch what He does in and through you.
• Grow in your knowledge of Scripture with this exploration of the Gospel of John.

No more pretending. No more performing. No more fighting to prove yourself. As you wade in the refreshing truth that Jesus alone is sufficient for all your needs, discover what God can do through a soul completely in love with Him.

This study guide includes:

• Individual access to eight streaming video sessions
• Personal Bible studies and interactive projects
• Full Leader's Guide with tips and resources
• How to Find God personal salvation guide

Streaming video access included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2029. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code my not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

1
INTRODUCTION ::
ARE YOU TIRED?

Last week, after years of tutors and tears and so much hard work and so little reward, my child received a diagnosis:

Dyslexia.

When I sat down to tell her, her eyes filled with tears. I was so worried this moment would define her view of herself for years to come.

And it will. But what I didn’t expect is that the moment would set her free. After putting her head in my pillow and crying quietly for a few minutes, she looked up at me and said, “So there is a reason all this has been so hard for me?”

Her tears were relief!

The diagnosis helped explain the tension she’s been feeling, why everything felt confusing no matter how hard she worked. It also meant the beginning of access to real help to meet her special needs.

Here’s the thing: we begin this Bible study journey with words that may hurt initially. These diagnostic words are the opposite of everything Pinterest and Instagram are telling you. You may not like these words at first, but I think the truth in them will change everything.

You are not enough.

We aren’t. None of us. It’s a universal diagnosis. But after we absorb the initial shock and hurt of that truth, it’s usually followed by a wave of relief. We understand there is a reason we all feel a deep-in-our-bones problem. Then and only then can we allow Jesus to meet our enormous need.

I am so full of hope. Though we’ve been looking in all the wrong places for freedom, the door to true freedom is now found in a difficult diagnosis. It’s a door to the most tender, kind, freeing, full hope.

A stark truth made my kid more free and full of hope than I’ve seen her in years. I’m believing the same for all of us.

UNFORCED RHYTHMS

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

MATTHEW 11:28–30, MSG

Are you tired?

Worn out?

Burned out on trying to measure up? Trying to prove yourself?

Maybe we are doing this life all wrong.

What if instead of waking up feeling empty, you awoke so full of wisdom and joy you couldn’t help but give it away?

What if instead of living insecurely, you were watching God move through you in ways you couldn’t believe?

What if instead of living in fear, you lived seeing potential?

What if instead of craving things you can’t ever seem to get, you were fully satisfied and at peace?

What if instead of numbing out because you are tired of striving, you were at peace and could enjoy your life?

Jesus has a plan for our emptiness, our fatigue, our inadequacies, our sin.

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

JOHN 7:37–38

Jesus is saying, Keep coming back to Me and I will keep satisfying you. And out of that life with Me, you will overflow and bring life to others.

WHY ARE WE HERE?

We are here because it seems everything in us is fighting to keep us from getting to the water we are so thirsty for. We are here because we need each other in this fight and we need to remember there is water, and it is worth fighting the war currently blazing against us. I see it in every one of your eyes when we sit and talk about how you are really, actually doing. War. We hesitate to use the word because it sounds dramatic on a Tuesday, when the thought before this one was that tomorrow is trash day. But you feel it.

We want to think the war is out there, out there on the Internet, out there on the news, out there in other countries, out there in prisons, out there in everyone else.

So we say, “I’m okay.” We think that and say that and try to mean it.

But the fight is always right here with us. So many of us stay thirsty, even though cold, living springs of water are right over the hill, completely available to us. Pretending to be at peace never ended a war. Engaging. Fighting. Coming together for great purposes. That is what ends wars.

Nothing to Prove is about taking hold of that which has already been given to us.

Nothing to Prove is about reminding ourselves from Scripture who we are in Christ.

Jesus is enough, so we don’t have to be. In fact, it is downright arrogant to keep trying to be. The reality is that He is the enough we could never be.

I don’t have to prove anything because Jesus proved everything.

But we barely know what that means, much less how to rest in that truth. Instead we strive, we perform, we work harder, or we numb out. Why? There is an enemy deceiving us, telling us to go anywhere except the water. Not only are we never satisfied, we also end up depleting every gift and person God has given us here to enjoy.

IF I WERE YOUR ENEMY…

If I were your enemy, this is what I would do:

Make you believe you need permission to lead.

Make you believe you are helpless.

Make you believe you are insignificant.

Make you believe that God wants your decorum and behavior.

And for years these lies have been sufficient to shut down much of the church.

But now, many of you are awake. You are in the Word and on your knees. God is moving through you, and you are getting dangerous. You are starting to get free and lead other people to freedom. The old lies no longer bind you.

So if I were your enemy, I would make you numb and distract you from God’s story.

Technology, social media, Netflix, travel, food, comfort. I would not tempt you with notably bad things, or you would get suspicious. I would distract you with everyday comforts that slowly feed you a different story and make you forget God.

Then you would dismiss the Spirit leading you, loving you, and comforting you. Then you would start to love comfort more than surrender and obedience and souls.

If that didn’t work, I would attack your identity. I would make you believe you had to prove yourself.

Then you would focus on yourself instead of God.

Friends would become enemies.

Teammates would become competition.

You would isolate yourself and think you are not enough.

You would get depressed and be ungrateful for your story.

Or,

You would compare and believe you are better than others.

You would judge people who need God.

Y...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Streaming Video Access
• Ebook Instructions
• Contents
• Instructions and Expectations
• Session 1: Introduction: Are You Tired?
• Session 2: Fulfilled: The End of Thirst
• Session 3: Connected: The End of Loneliness
• Session 4: Rest: The End of Striving
• Session 5: Risk: The End of Passivity
• Session 6: Hope: The End of Fear
• Session 7: Grace: The End of Shame
• Session 8: Called: The End of Emptiness
• Commissioning
• Leader’s Guide
• Endnotes
• About the Author