Grow to maturity in your FAITH

Yesterday, I had a great opportunity to meet with our Sunday School teachers of Southern Calvert Baptist Church and study our up coming lesson on the importance of growing to maturity in our faith. This week, we are going to study the Apostle Paul’s first epistle to the church in Corinth. This church was very near and dear to Paul’s heart, even though this church gave Paul many headaches and sleepless nights. All of the epistles that we have in the New Testament come as a result of conflict(s) among the new believers. I love to study and teach the epistles because they give us a great opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. I smart man learns from his mistakes and I wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I want us all to be wise people because God wants us all to be wise people. In the last lesson, we learned about the problems in the churches in the region of Galatia. God exposes the problems and then offers the solution. Pointing out problems without offering solutions is just complaining. People who do this are a dime a dozen. There are very few who have the desire to point out problems and then offer wise solutions. The Apostle Paul was one of those rare people who pointed out problems and then offered wise solutions.

Justified by FAITH to be sanctified by FAITH

I am sitting here reading over my notes for the Sunday School lesson at Southern Calvert this Sunday. We just spent the last quarter walking through part of the book of Acts. It was amazing to learn about life on a mission to be a witness, in the context of making disciples. God really motivated our church to be more intentional about being witnesses with the goal of making disciples. Now, we are moving into the Epistles in the New Testament. This week, we are looking at Paul’s epistle to the churches in the region of Galatia. A great need arose in the church causing Paul to take parchment and ink and write out his letter to them in order to give important Christian doctrine to these young, growing churches. Paul was a man who had been discipled by one of the greatest Jewish teachers of his day. After that, Paul was directly discipled by the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he has been on a mission to be a witness for Christ everywhere among the Gentiles. While on mission, he is constantly looking for people to disciple. The Galatians had been discipled by Paul and they still needed to be discipled. They needed someone to confront them, in the love of Christ, and help them get back on the right path. We all need this in our daily walk with the Lord. We have a tendency to get sidetracked by false teachings and the desires of our sin nature. We all need a Paul in our lives who will love us enough to tell us the truth, even if we do not want to hear it at the time.

Remember Christ’s Sacrifice (Exodus 12)

Once again, I am preparing to teach our Sunday School lesson at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I am excited to begin teacher training soon because I love studying the Scriptures with others. There is great fellowship that comes with sitting around the Word of God and discovering Truth directly from the mind of God. Our church has some great Sunday School teachers and I am excited to be part of such an amazing team. As a church, we are walking through the book of Exodus. So far, we have covered the following topics:

• Moses answers God’s Great Calling
• Pharaoh’s Response to God’s Great Calling

James 4; Worldliness, Enmity, and Judging

It is Wednesday once again. I am excited to get ready to teach during our staff meeting. I love studying God’s Word, even though, many times, it is a time of discipline for me, feeling the loving hand of God touch the sore spots in my life. He does it because He loves me and wants to work in me before He uses me to teach His message. Sometimes, it is painful, yet it is always rejuvenating for me, especially for my relationship with God. I am excited to teach on James 4 today.

If you have been following along with us in this study of the book of James, then this next part will be a good review. If you are new to the study, these articles will help you “catch up” and see the context of what we are about to study.

1. Living faith vs. Dead faith
2. Living faith vs. Dead faith part II
3. Trials and Temptations; what’s the difference?
4. Genuine faith in action
5. Two spiritual births; death and life
6. Living faith in action
7. Living faith revealed
8. Living faith produces good works
9. Living faith tames the tongue with wisdom from above
10. Teach heavenly wisdom
11. Living faith resolves conflict