The Only Revelation of Jesus Christ

I am preparing a lesson for our Connect Groups this Sunday at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. Our lesson this week is based on the book of Revelation, chapter 1. This is not a complicated book if you pay attention to the extremely important details. Understanding the layout of the entire book helps clarify the message. The layout of the book of Revelation is found in chapter 1 and verse 19.

Are you building your life on a crooked foundation?

The title of this article is the theme that we want to explore this week at Southern Calvert Baptist Church in our Connect Groups. We are walking through the Bible in three years and right now, we have arrived at Genesis 11. Almost 2,000 years of human history passes between Genesis 1 and Genesis 11. So far, we have explored God’s perfect creation and the fact that mankind (human beings) was created to be the reflection of our Creator. That reflection is seen, not in our appearance, but, in our attitude, words, and actions. Mankind is a relational being just as our Creator is relational. Our relationship with the Creator impacts the way that we relate to others. All of that changed in Genesis 3 when our original ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God and brought sin into the world. This action marred their ability to reflect God correctly. They developed a sinful nature and passed that nature on to every human ever born, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Relationships are now hard because our relationship with our Creator is marred. God promised to send a Savior to reconcile mankind to Himself and resolve mankind’s slavery to his own sin nature. Adam and Eve believed God’s promise.

The Church and the End Times

This week during our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to study two chapters of the Apostle Paul’s first epistle to the church in Thessalonica. Of the subjects covered in this letter, the Apostle Paul attributes much ink to the subject of the end times. The reason that he does so is because false doctrine had wormed its way into the church and had begun to upset the faith of the believers. In Acts 17, we read the story of how the Gospel comes to Thessalonica. The Apostle Paul was on a missionary journey. He visited Philippi and as a result, a church plant was formed from him making disciples. After leaving Philippi, Paul and the team traveled to Thessalonica. While there, Paul and the team began to visit the synagogue and teach the Word of God. Some of the Jews accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. Also, many Greeks accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. The team had a total of three weeks to train these new believers. Paul wanted to stay longer but was forced to flee the city because of persecution. According to II Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul taught much about the end times during his three week stay.

The Church and the Day of the Lord

I am preparing to teach the next lesson in the study of II Thessalonians and we are going to examine the relationship of the church to the Day of the Lord. This is teaching number 4 in the series.

• The importance of communication
• Genuine faith endures persecution
• Concerning the Day of the Lord

We have seen that it is very important for the followers of Jesus Christ to remain excellent students of the Scriptures so that we will not have our faith shaken by false teachings or by false teachers. Paul is writing to the Thessalonians to encourage them and to get them back on track so that they can remain faithful to the Lord, serving Him by preaching the Gospel in the midst of persecution and suffering. One of the areas in which the Thessalonians had been led astray was in the area of the Day of the Lord. There are many people today who are confused when it comes to the rapture, the Day of the Lord, and the Coming of the Lord. These are three distinct events yet often lead to great confusion for people who attend church or read the Bible. We fully covered the idea of the rapture in the last lesson so I will not get into explaining it in this lesson.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

This coming Sunday, we are going to finish our walk through the entire Bible in 2016. It has been an amazing year. All of us, kids, teachers, and leaders learned so much about the Word of God. The Bible really is all about Jesus. Here are some of the previous lessons that we have learned:

• The treasure of the kingdom of God
• Jesus feeds the 5,000
• Fear vs. Faith
• Lord, Teach us to pray
• The Sermon on the Mount
• Jairus learns to have faith
• Great in the kingdom of heaven
• Jesus saves Zaccheus
• Christ’s Crucifixion
• The Ascension of Jesus Christ
• Jesus sends the Promised Helper
• Paul’s Mission to the Gentiles

So, the trick in covering Revelation in 45 minutes is deciding what to focus on from the book. There is so much here. Praise the Lord for this amazing book. I decided to break the book up in three parts, focusing on chapter 1, 7, and 19.