DEPARTMENT OF CHARACTER

CD-121  Character Development

Jesus Christ is the very center of Christianity. And the Bible says that God’s ultimate will is that each one of us become like His Son Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29). When Jesus was on earth He constantly preached righteous character, and He regularly condemned religious hypocrites whose character was not Christlike. Godly character is the most important quality of a Christian. This course is completely unlike secular courses that go by the same name, because Jesus teaches us the way.
Learning all about the Lord and the Bible is great. Learning to minister in power is exciting. But character is the foundation of it all (Matt. 7:21-27), and if we do not develop His character we will eventually get shot down by the world, the flesh, or the devil. God gives definite steps in the Bible to achieve victory in each area of our lives, and Character Development courses are the place where you’ll learn them. This is one of the most exciting series of courses in the entire university, a life-changer you will never forget! (24 units)


CD-122
  Motivational Gifts

When Christ ascended to the Father, He gave gifts to people by the Holy Spirit. These gifts are supernatural anointings that enable us to do things that would otherwise be either difficult or impossible, depending on the gift. In this course you will learn about different types of spiritual gifts, with a special emphasis on the ones in Romans 12, which are often called the Motivational Gifts. You will have the opportunity to learn your motivational and spiritual gifts, and how to experience great joy as you use them. This is an exceptionally enjoyable course, one you’ll remember all your life. (2 units)


CD-135
  Christians Living in Sexual Victory

God had a plan for mankind’s sexuality that included relational depth and procreation. When a man and a woman are married and consummate their marriage through sexual union, the two become one flesh (Matt. 19:5). God has ordained and blessed such intimacy (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:12). In this course we will present a godly perspective of sexuality and expose the counterfeit nature of sensuality. (2 units)


CD-161
  Vocation, God’s Call for You

This course will help you identify God’s call on your life. Purpose and fulfillment cannot be bought—they are a gift of revelation from the Holy Spirit. The road less traveled requires obedience and courage to traverse. For example, Solomon epitomized the emptiness of an unfulfilled life when he wrote “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). The call for significance is perhaps the single voice that eludes people the most. Answering the call of the Creator is what Os Guiness calls “the ultimate why.” In Guiness’s words, a calling is “the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to His summons and service.” (2 units)


CD-202
  How to Be Intimate with God

We will be looking at growing in intimacy with God through His Word, through worship, through spiritual disciplines such as solitude, fasting, serving and prayer. We will explore finding a balance in our walk and implementing a relational, rather than a religious, approach to drawing near to God. (2 units)


CD-280
  Biblical Decision-Making

This course will teach you how to make decisions based upon biblical principles rather than the relativistic “ethics” of the world. The calling upon us is to follow Christ and do the things He did. It is a calling to step above even the highest standards presented by and supported in the world.
This class will review what the Bible tells us about the relationship between man and God, as it was originally created to be, and how decision making was supposed to be accomplished jointly between man and God. It will also show how man’s sin, brought about by faulty decision-making on his part, has influenced the relationship between man and God, and how decisions are now made by man. The elements of decision making such as motives, feelings, thoughts and desires will be addressed and evaluated as to their impact upon our decisions. The overriding theme of this class will be to know what spirit we are of as we make the decisions affecting our daily lives. Character will be an important ingredient to our decision making training and we will rely heavily upon God’s characteristics to learn whether the decision making elements of our character are from God or our enemy. (2 units)


CD-343
  Christian Ethics

The need has never been greater for men and women of integrity, who live lives of love and truth. Ethical dilemmas loom on every side in today’s world. In the marketplace, at work, in the church, and at home; in relationships with people, the government, and the media; financially, spiritually, morally, politically, and in every other way, Christians are faced with ethical questions. This course looks in-depth at many of these issues and helps students develop a systematic, biblical way of determining what Christ would do in these situations, thus bringing a higher degree of integrity to their lives. (2 units)


CD-355
  Character of a Leader

There are greater demands on leaders today than ever. The resulting pressure causes many leaders to fail, often wreaking havoc with those they were leading and causing a blight on the name of Christ. A leader needs, above all, character—strong, godly character—if he or she is to finish well. This course will help leaders understand how to develop the strength of character needed to stand and prevail in today’s world. (2 units)


CD-360
  Spiritual Disciplines

Sin as a condition works its way out through the “bodily members,” that is, the ingrained habits of the body (Rom. 7:5). And there is no slavery that can compare to the slavery of ingrained habits of sin (John 8:34; 2 Pet. 2:19). Sin is part of the internal structure of our lives. No special effort is needed to produce it. No wonder we feel trapped.
Our ordinary method of dealing with ingrained sin is to launch a frontal attack. We rely on willpower and determination. Whatever the issue for us—anger, fear, bitterness, gluttony, pride, lust, substance abuse—we determine never to do it again; we pray against it, set our will against it. But the struggle is often in vain. What we must have is “an inside job,” an inner transformation. It is by God’s grace that we win our battle against evil.
God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of getting ourselves in position to receive His grace. The disciplines help us to place ourselves before God so He can transform us. In this course, we will learn about the spiritual disciplines from the Scriptures and practice them in the classroom. You will have an opportunity to both learn about and put into practice these treasures from God. Will you join us in this exciting quest and experience the freedom Christ promised? (2 units)


CD-445
  Change My Heart, Oh God

Eddie Espinosa is the one who wrote the famous song Change My Heart, Oh God. He wrote it years ago at a time when he was facing some difficult things in his life. In this powerful seminar he will share how he found freedom and how you can, too.
This seminar is both for those who would like help in being freed from things that hinder their walk with God, such as compulsions, and also for those who are ministering to others with such needs. Eddie is a deeply feeling person; he lives what he teaches; he is an outstanding teacher and a lot of fun to be with. He also has an exceptional prophetic gift and will probably have a life-giving prophetic word for several people during the day—perhaps you! This promises to be a wonderful day of freedom, new beginnings, and ideas on how to minister to others. Come prepared to be blessed. (2 units)