True, Biblical Friendship

What comes to mind when you hear the word, “friendship“? We all have images that come to mind, based on our life experiences. What about Biblical friendship, what does that look like? I want to answer that in this article. I am teaching this lesson tonight at Southern Calvert Baptist Church during our AWANA program. I get to work with the high school students tonight. We are going to dig in to this subject and I wanted to think through it with you here before teaching tonight. According to the etymology of this word, “friendship” means the quality of being attached to another for the good of that person. We tend to think of friendship as being a relationship with another person who makes me happy. The original intent of the word is a relationship for the benefit of the other person. Isn’t it interesting how words and concept change over time? The original intent of friendship is closely related to the Biblical description of friendship. Let’s dive in and see what we can discover.

God is Always with us

I have the privilege of teaching this week during our AWANA program. I get to hang out with and invest in our T&T kids. We are going to discover, from the Scriptures, that God is Omnipresent. What in the world does “omnipresent” mean? Omnis, in the Latin language, means, “all” or “every“. The word present comes to the English language from Latin via French. It means, “to be within reach“. When we put all of this together, it means to be within reach at all times, everywhere. The Scriptures teach us that God is everywhere, at all times. This is what we are going to cover in this lesson.

The Dangers of a Critical Spirit

I have the privilege tonight to meet up with our young teens during our AWANA program. I love meeting up with these kids and studying the Scriptures. I am very proud of them for all of the hard work that they put in memorizing Scripture. I wish I would have begun memorizing Scripture at that age. I am grateful to be part of the team that ministers to these young men and women. They are going to do great things for the Lord! This week, we are going to study and interesting passage of Scripture to learn the difference between serving others and criticizing others. It is very easy to criticize others. Stepping up and serving those in need is much more difficult. Many more people will sit around and criticize rather than help. Few step up, roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and help others. This is true in daily life outside the church. Unfortunately, it’s also true within the organization of the church. We are always going to be faced with the choice of criticizing or helping. I heard an old adage years ago that has stuck with me ever since.

Naturalism is vanity

This coming Wednesday evening, I have the privilege of teaching our high school kids during AWANA at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I get to meet with the Journey kids about once a month and study the Bible. The last time that we met, we studied a lesson on Apologetics. The Apostle Peter encourages us in his first epistle to be ready at all times to make a defense of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I was greatly encouraged to see how sharp these teens are when it comes to understanding the Scriptures and applying what they learn.

Your Worldview Matters

Tonight, I have the privilege of meeting with the Journey kids during our AWANA program at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. The kids are learning about worldviews during this section of their book. This week, we are going to take a look at Isaiah 44. God teaches about worldviews all throughout the Bible. All of us have a worldview, even if we do not realize it. The idea of worldview is defined as a “particular philosophy of life” a “conception of the world lived out in daily life“. A worldview is often inherited from parents and shaped by society. Even politics is impacted by worldviews. Politics is the battle for worldview application in daily life. Every single political party has a worldview. The Bible teaches us to have a worldview. The Biblical worldview is best summed up in the 10 Commandments. God shapes our worldview in the first 4 Commandments.

Faith, Worship, Serving, and Spiritual Gifts

I had the privilege last night of teaching Romans 12:1-8 to our Journey kids at AWANA. These are high school students who are looking to the future. They are making decisions at this time in life that will impact the rest of their lives. Many are thinking about their future; what superior studies they would like to attain, what kind of job they would like to have, where they want to live in the future etc. These are tough decisions for teenagers to contemplate. The most important decision that anyone could ever make is dedicating his or her present and future to serving the Lord. What does that look like practically? The apostle Paul gives us the answer in Romans 12.

Forgiveness, Love, Service, and Salvation

I am getting ready to teach during our AWANA class tonight at church. The subject of our study is Luke 23. We are going to focus on the crucifixion of Christ and the fact that will suffering unjustly, Jesus was still ready to offer to His enemies:

1. Forgiveness
2. Love
3. Service
4. Salvation

A Picture of Faith

I am getting ready to teach at our AWANA group tomorrow evening. I am so excited to work with these kids. I have been teaching them since last Fall. It is so neat to see what happens when kids learn to study the Word of God for themselves. Last week, we learned about Running the race of faith. This week, we are going to see a picture of what faith is. Our text to consider this week is Luke 9. In this lesson, we are going to see an example of faith’s actions, a need for adjustment along the journey of faith, and finally, we are going to examine faith’s acknowledgment (confession).