What is the SOC?

By Brenda Turnage | June 2, 2019 |

School of Christ Curriculum

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Romans 11:33

The School of Christ is comprised of 156 lessons divided up into 19 series. These series cover many aspects that are not covered in a seminary. The School of Christ is not meant to replace long-term Bible schools or seminaries. The School of Christ is God’s answer to those men and women who are called of God, but who do not have the time or means to attend the seminary. It is designed to equip men and women to plant new churches, and to carry the Gospel intelligently to those regions beyond.

We believe that the church comes out of life, not doctrine or orthodoxy or by human effort and resource. If the student can become full of the life of God, then wherever he or she goes in the will of God, a church will be born.

The curriculum covers the following topics:

Syllabus: The Conflict

In the second and third chapters of the Revelation, we have the Lord’s survey of the seven churches. Those whose eyes that are as a flame of fire peer into the inner spiritual state and lay bare the condition.

When all has been surveyed and gathered together, it is to establish one fact, the presence or absence of that which from the Lord’s standpoint constitutes justification in the continuance of anything which claims to represent Him. It is a very thorough sifting of things. Take the candlestick all of gold, with its seven bowls and seven pipes, and the oil being emptied out of the living olive trees through the pipes into the bowls to provide fuel for the light. It is very complete, and a very comprehensive illustration of something that is living.

Jesus was identified with these lamps. They are called into being in order that they might be an abiding expression of the Lord as the faithful witness, the living one, the power of the Spirit. This applies to us all. We have been apprehended of Jesus, and there is one purpose behind that apprehension, to form us into a corporate vessel of divine purpose, and that we should remain the testimony of a life which has conquered death, and will conquer death to the end. The issue of our day is the issue of life and death, in a spiritual way.

The greatest crime a person can commit is to have the Life of Christ and not let it be revealed. In this series we will see how that all of God’s working with us is to reveal this life, and all of the devil’s working is to frustrate it.

Lessons 1-6

1. The Testimony of Life

2. The Controversy of Zion

3. The Cross and Life

4. The Continuation of the Conflict

5. The Nature of the Conflict

6. The Purpose of the Conflict

Syllabus: The School of Christ

Conformity to Christ is progressive, which is God’s way of bringing us to glory. The law of the harvest is,”…everything after its kind…” We are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God.” That seed is Christ. When Christ is planted within us, the conflict begins; flesh against Spirit. Conformity to Christ is accomplished by the displacement of the old life for the new. The Christian life must pass from the infant stage, if it is to be attractive and have power. The fruit of the new life is love.

Fruit is a natural process of life. The struggle is not for love or faith. The struggle is to get out of the flesh. The life of Christ must be seen. Sanctification and spiritual education are one. The advance of spiritual education is marked by spiritual growth, not rules. There are no shortcuts to Christ. Deliverance from the body of death is union with Christ in His death. The old man must die. New birth means a “spirit being” one who cannot sin. The new man must replace the old man who can only sin.

Lessons 1-8:

1. The Foundation of Spiritual Education

2. The Spirit of Truth

3. Learning by Revelation

4. The House of God

5. The Light of Life

6. The Open Heaven

7. Learning Under the Anointing

8. The Principle of the Seed

Syllabus: The Person of Jesus

Most of us are so superficial that we accept sin as inevitable and excusable. There is only one man who could claim to be sinless, the person of Jesus. He did not simply put on flesh, He became flesh. He became a real and proper man. Jesus never used difficult words, yet said more than any other could say. He spoke with an authority that no one before or since has possessed, yet without official status. Jesus never had to tell Himself it was important to believe. He had a relationship with the Father. He never began a work that then had to say He made a mistake. Yet, Jesus was fully and completely a human just as we are. He developed as an ordinary human being. We are to be conformed to His image.

Lessons 1-9:

1. The Person of Jesus

2. God’s Eternal Purpose in Jesus

3. Heavenly Man and Eternal Life

4. The Heavenly Man and the Word of God

5. The Greatness of Christ

6. Jesus and the Universe of Man

7. The Vessel of the Lord

8. The Name of Jesus

9. God’s Covenant is Christ

Syllabus: The Almighty Blood

The discovery of a blemish in a sacrifice meant its immediate rejection. We are not perfect, but the life of Jesus that is in us is perfect. The Holy Spirit only comes where the blood has been sprinkled. To be crucified with Christ is to have put away the flesh. The Holy Spirit will not come on the flesh. Blood, as the life is incorruptible and indestructible. What cannot be corrupted cannot be destroyed.

Jesus has bound us to Himself by His endless life. We share His life by the new birth, and we shall never die. If a man’s work falls apart when he leaves, it simply means the work was of man and not of God. “Contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” is to recognize and earnestly seek that upon which God’s heart is set; namely, a people of the altar, the cross and the blood. Satan victimizes us when we fail to recognize the virtue of the precious blood, and the worth of Him who shed it.

Lessons 1-7:

1. Believers Position and Promises

2. The Almighty Blood

3. The Precious Blood

4. The Accomplishments of the Blood

5. Protected by the Blood

6. The Answer to Everything

7. What the Blood Means to God

Syllabus: Repentance

In this series, we discover what true repentance is. We are talking about two different types of sorrow. One is working repentance unto salvation, the other working death. Why are many people are deceived? Impenitent sinners think themselves to have repented. Why? Because of wrong instructions regarding true and false repentance. True repentance will bring a change of opinion, followed by a change of feelings toward sin. A true repented person is shocked that he could ever desire such a thing. He sees sin as God sees sin. But if something is still desired, and could end in happiness, many people wouldn’t think of not doing it. They have not repented.

A change in opinion toward sin as a condition of repentance must be preached. When repentance is true the desire to repeat sin is gone. That doesn’t mean you are perfect in your actions, but perfect in your desires. You don’t abstain from sinning because of fear, but because you hate it. If you still have the desire to sin, then you’re only convicted. Conception is not birth. Your opinion has changed but your love for sin continues. You are still a sinner. True thief who continues to keep the money he stole has not repented. We must be more than just sorry about sin.

Lessons 1-5:

1. True Repentance

2. The Naked Cross

3. I Am That I Am

4. Surrender to God’s Plan

5. Degeneration

Syllabus: The Cross

The Cross is the pathway of every true Christian’s life. We see that in the book of Romans, where two aspects of salvation are given: Justification by the blood, and deliverance through the Cross. God deals with the human race through two representative men, Adam and Christ. God sees two family trees: Adam’s family and Christ’s family. If our source of life is to change, we must change families.

As Christ, “the last Adam” died, He carried the whole family into the grave, and God provided the end. Through death, burial and resurrection, we pass from the old family into a new family. We can be liberated from death, sin, the law, and flesh by the Cross. God intends this new life to be more than an experience; it is to be a new way of living, a new purpose for existence.

The Cross is not to be a doorway to selfish attainment, but an end to selfishness. May God destroy every attempt of using the Cross, instead of dying on the Cross. When we become dead to self and alive to God, the door is open for God to give victory and deliverance. In God’s planning, the Cross and the crucified one become the gateway to life.

Lessons 1-5:

1. What the Cross Means to God

2. Living the Life of Another

3. The Way of the Cross

4. Living the Impossible

5. The Real Meaning of the Cross

Syllabus: Faith

Unlike most of what is being taught today, this series sets forth a Bible based definition and teaching on the subject. We will learn faith’s function. We learn that without faith it is impossible to please God. On no ground, other than faith, is it possible to please God.

On no ground, other than faith, will God work for you. Faith is not a mystical feeling. It is not something that you see. We have been led to believe that the men of God in the Bible were a different type of people than we are. Real faith demands that the believer “pray through” regularly.

Faith is in every heart of every believer, but many times we become so dominated by the old, faithless, dead nature that our faith becomes dormant. When that happens, fear overrides faith, and the only way to break out is to “pray through” to the knowledge that “God is, and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” His presence conquers fear. Once God has spoken, it is time to leave the prayer meeting and begin to do. To pray again is unbelief.

The difference between faith and unbelief is not a matter of coming to a place where you are not apprehensive. You will never get there. Faith goes on in spite of fear, doubts, etc. “God has not given us the spirit of fear…” but the devil’s fear will still come against your faith. The victory depends on which you follow. It takes not faith to baptize or give communion. It takes faith to change a man’s life. The most important action of a Christian is obedience.

Lessons 1-7:

1. Faith, the Gift of God

2. Function of Faith

3. The Obedience of Faith

4. What is Faith?

5. Mind of Christ and the Works of Faith

6. Adventure of Faith

7. Aggressive Faith

Syllabus: Prayer

Prayer is something that we not only teach but practice. When learning a foreign language it is always helpful to put into practice what you have learned or you will get nowhere. We talk about the lifting up of the hands, which means our attitude toward God is that of dependency. Jesus defeated Satan at Calvary and took the keys of death, hell, and the grave. God’s plan is to put Christ on display to an unbelieving world by the resurrection of Jesus and our crucifixion of the flesh. We can’t pray unless we know His will. If we pray according to His will, we know He hears us.

How do I know His will? I learn it in His word. God says, “I will,” and He says, “If I have spoken it, I will do it.” God’s will cannot be done without God, but His will, will not be done without me. My faith is never tested like it is when I kneel at the altar and every devil in hell invades that room to see what I am going to do. Prayerlessness shows a heart of unbelief toward God, and what He says He will do. God’s order is purity, prayer, power, and praise. No prayer, no power. Purity is not enough to have power; we cannot jump over prayer. The disciples did not ask the Lord to teach them to have power, or to heal the sick, but to pray. The flesh doesn’t want to pray. The Spirit in me must command the flesh to get down and pray.

Lessons 1-7:

1. Prayer and Our Attitude Toward God

2. Power of a New Consecration

3. Seeing God

4. Nothing Shall Be Impossible

5. Unwavering Spirit

6. The Intercessor

7. Attracting God’s Attention

Syllabus: Stewardship

This series covers many aspects of a steward. In these last days of the church on earth, it is estimated that only 25% of people who attend Pentecostal churches tithes. We will show that in the fall, man broke relationship with God and became a victim of his environment and circumstances. After Eden, God restructured His dealings with man and set down rules and laws. God gave us rules to help us, not deny us. God sends His rain on the just and the unjust. He uses the pressures and discipline of money, and of making a living to shape and mold our spirit. Violation of God’s word in financial matters brings chaos and heartache.

Money itself is not the root of evil… it is the lusting for money that is evil. You will be tested continually on bringing in the tithe, which God blesses. Money effects everyone. That is why God has recorded so much about money in the New Testament. If we are about to face Christ, then our lifestyle, schedules, plans, programs, and spending will prove it. Why are so many “Christians” getting more things? Are we storing up for the anti-christ? If we believe the Bible, we should be liquidating our assets. This would release enough finances to finish the work of taking the Gospel to every creature. Then shall the end come.

Lessons 1-3:

1. The Way of Peace and Prosperity

2. Tithes

3. Stewardship

Syllabus: Warfare

The mystery of iniquity is Satan’s counterfeit of the true Church. The mystery of Godliness is the true Body of Christ. These are called the Bride and the harlot. The harlot, made up of tares, is Satan’s imitation of the real, which will flourish in the end time. The phrase “falling away” comes from the Greek word apostasia, meaning apostasy. This implies a turn from truth to error. Any teaching that does not make me a holier person is a doctrine of the devil. Satan’s ambition is to sit on the throne of the Church. His strategy is to infiltrate and corrupt from within.

Lessons 1 & 2:

1. Warfare

2. Satan’s Attack on the Church

Syllabus: Discipleship

To be born again, is to be delivered from the powers of darkness. The Holy Spirit put us into Christ. We had nothing to do with that except to repent and believe. Yet, we have everything to do with staying in Christ. Every promise that follows depends totally upon your abiding in Christ. John 15:7 tells the wonderful reward of our abiding. All of our problems begin when we allow the carnal nature to be resurrected. We revert back to type.

If we teach the new creation to abide in Christ, and how to abide, we will not turn back to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Just as all is light in Christ, all is dark outside of Christ. Satan can only steal, kill and destroy that part of you that is outside of Christ. Satan cannot touch that which is Christ. So our worst enemy is not the devil, but the carnal nature which is an enemy of God. Satan must also have a body to express himself. Just as the true Church is the body of Christ, the carnal nature is the body of Satan.

Sin is not a problem with sinners. They could stop sinning and still go to hell. Sin is a problem with the saints. To call the flesh the devil, is to give man an excuse to sin. To walk in the Spirit is to walk in obedience. Rebellion is the issue. If we do not obey, He is not our Lord. The power is in the choice. Christians alone have a free will. The cross deals with the flesh. God commands us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Lessons 1-5:

1. Born Delivered

2. A Courageous Disciple, Part 1

3. A Courageous Disciple, Part 2

4. A Disciple, Part 1

5. A Disciple, Part 2

Syllabus: The Church

You, the Church, must be the all-important representative of Christ, everywhere. Two fatal hindrances to God’s purpose are individualism and the present Church system. Every local body of believers is representative of the whole body. The temple, Jesus and us, are the meeting place between God and man. “Who do men say the Son of man is? Thou art the Christ.” God and man in one temple. God’s Church is Christ in us, and when you find the Church (us) you find the Lord.

When we build the Church, we are planting the vehicle of expression, Christ. This temple (our body with Christ in us) is the seat of authority and judgment. The Bible says that judgment must begin with the House of God. It must begin in us before it can flow through us.

In perhaps the most profound lesson in the School of Christ, we see that the Church is a prophet and all that entails. This series concludes with a lesson on the “Church-Home Relationship” which is a challenge to the student to be at home what he is behind the pulpit or in the altar. I may claim to be a Christian, but what does my family think about me?

Lessons 1-13:

1. God’s Plan for the Church

2. A Vessel for God

3. By My Spirit

4. A New Cruse

5. Instrument of the Eternal Purpose

6. Assurance to God’s Rest and Satisfaction

7. Ministering Life and Deliverance to the Elect

8. Tragedy of Departing from the Heavenly

9. The Church is a Prophet

10. Enforcing the Rule of God

11. World Domination or Dominion

12. The Light in the Church

13. Church Home Relationship

Syllabus: Rebuilding the Gate

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he found that the walls were torn down and that the gates were burned out. The walls represent the Kingdom and the gates represent ministry. Here the student will learn what is required to build a new church or to strengthen an existing one.

Oil (God’s life) comes down the head (Moses) onto the beard (mouthpiece, Aaron) and then onto the skirts (the body of believers). No oil got on the flesh. God never anoints the flesh. When we talk about the gate, we are talking about rebuilding the gate of ministry, and the walls refer to the Kingdom. We must first recognize the problem, and we repent over its cause, then we care resurrected to its cure. If we put the ministry in place, put the gates in place, then the wall will come up by itself by the power of God. Ministries cannot be torn down; they have to be burned out.

There are three essentials for rebuilding the gate and reclaiming the city; preparation, cooperation, and determination. God sees this world under the control of Satan and He is taking it back using a man of God. He, God, calls a man and plants him where He wants him. God does not want just another church; He wants us to become a gate to the presence of God.

Lessons 1-7:

1. The Gate of Heaven

2. Determination

3. Cooperation

4. Rebuilding the Gates of Ministry

5. Renewing the Vessel

6. Commitment

7. What the Church Must Know

Syllabus: Unity of the Church

When Jesus was going to give a Kingdom principle, He said, “Behold, how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…” When brethren dwell together in unity, it is good for the brethren, the Kingdom, and the world. Division, or lack of unity, breaks down the immune system of the Church. The Unity of the Church is psychologically healthy, and this unity makes the family legal in the Kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. This unity means affinity; unity of the Church is to believe that all Christians are equal. Unity is everyone finding his own place in the body.

Lessons 1-4:

1. Cure for Spiritual Aids

2. Tarry Until

3. Christian Unity

4. Unity is Identification

Syllabus: Sanctification

As sanctification is but the continuation of regeneration, it is to be seen in the same sphere as the new birth is not the soul, but the spirit that is born from above. The soul remains evil to the end. We, therefore, submit that the key to this dilemma is the difference between soul and spirit. The soul, which is the fountain of the natural life, is poisoned and impure, but the renewed spirit is prone to do good. So we see that sanctification and spiritual education are one. The advance of sanctification is marked by the growth of the spirit.

Lessons 1-4:

1. The Nature of Sanctification

2. Where Christendom is Deceived

3. Putting on the New Manliness

4. Taking the Ground of the New Man

Syllabus: The Holy Spirit

The Spirit takes up “Holy” as His proper name. it is to teach us that the holiness of God has come near to you. It is the Spirit’s work in us to make us holy with God’s holiness. You can only have as much of the Spirit as you are willing to have of holiness. We can only have as much holiness as we have the Holy Spirit. We cannot have holiness by our own strength. The Spirit makes us holy by revealing and imparting Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life. He is God’s Life in the believer and as such is the answer to everything. When we have His Life we have all we need to do and be in God’s will.

Lessons 1-20:

1. The Holy Spirit, Part 1

2. The Holy Spirit, Part 2

3. The First Church and the Holy Spirit

4. The Function and Desire of the Holy Spirit

5. Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

6. The Mind of God

7. The Gospel, a Ministration of the Spirit

8. The Laws of Power

9. Spirit of Promise

10. Spirit of Power

11. Inheritance of the Spirit Filled

12. Pentecostal Life

13. When the Wind Blows, Part 1

14. When the Wind Blows, Part 2

15. Rivers of Living Water

16. River and the Throne

17. River and the Altar

18. The Spirit is Mandatory

19. Led by the Spirit

20. Other Half of Pentecost

Syllabus: Revival

The Word of God reveals that the last days will witness both revival and apostasy. It is imperative that the true believer knows the difference. For this cause in these lessons, we examine the phenomenon of Revival. What is it? Who is it for? When can we expect it? Are there conditions that indicate that it is time for God to work? What is man’s role in bringing about revival? When revival comes what will be the signs that tell us it is a true revival?

Lessons 1-18:

1. What is Revival?

2. Laws of Revival

3. Sound of Marching

4. Lifting Up Holy Hands, Part 1

5. Lifting Up Holy Hands, Part 2

6. Lifting Up Holy Hands, Part 3

7. Dynamics of Prayer

8. Cost of Revival

9. Tragic Mixture

10. Few Chosen

11. Power of the Cross — Appeal of God

12. Show Us the Way to Zion

13. Trojan Horse

14. Temptation Analyzed

15. Right Priority

16. Touchstone of Reality

17. Mark of the Beast

18. Holiness and Faith and Meditation

Syllabus: Paths to Power

There must be, in you, a growing concern about the growing apathy and indifference among those who profess the same of Jesus. If there is no fire in your church, in your life, then you are worshipping the wrong God. The Baptism of the Spirit is a baptism of fire. There must be men ablaze with the power of the Holy Ghost. Such men are invincible. Always in times of spiritual decline, God has raised up men, filled them with His Spirit, and sent them out to challenge the darkness. The actions of such men were the result of a Heaven-sent revelation of a doomed world lying in the clutches of Satan. These lessons demonstrate how such men are produced. The path to such power is clearly revealed.

Lessons 1-17:

1. Invincible Men

2. Believers are for Signs and Wonders

3. Disciple Not Above His Master

4. Everyone That is Perfect Shall be as His Master

5. Be Ye Perfect

6. Christ is Our Example

7. Self Denial

8. Idle Words and Foolish Talking

9. Is Not This the Fast?

10. Strongholds

11. What Manner of Persons?

12. Soldiers

13. Samson, a Type of the Church

14. Our Greatest Need

15. Present Your Body

16. Holding the Truth in Unrighteousness

17. Heat of the Desert, or Safety of the Slave Camp

Syllabus: Pneumatology

This series is a more in-depth study of the Holy Spirit. The idea of filling implies completeness. We are not filled unless we are filled in every part. That is what Christ proposes to do in our full salvation. The Holy Spirit has been given to make good in us all that Christ has purchased for us. We must realize that this work is complete. As we learn to walk in the Spirit it is no longer we, but Christ who lives. Would you desire to have continual purity of thought and feeling? Would you be entirely conformed to the will of God? Then be filled with the Spirit.

Lessons 1-8:

1. Historic Movement Towards the Spirit

2. Filled With the Spirit

3. Practical Manifestation of the Power of the Holy Ghost

4. Baptism of Fire

5. Filled With the Holy Ghost

6. He Shall Baptize You With the Holy Ghost

7. Baptism of the Holy Ghost

8. The Convictive Work of the Holy Ghost

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