Confrontation and Repentance

In a couple of weeks, our children’s Sunday School classes are going to host a rally to celebrate the fifth Sunday of this month. On fifth Sundays at our church, our adult Sunday School classes all meet up in the sanctuary for a Fifth Sunday Rally. We encourage and challenge all of the classes to reach out to the community before the next fifth Sunday and do some kind of ministry that draws in new people. We discover some creative ideas as each class shares an experience. We are going to launch the same plan among our children. After our Bible lesson, the kids are going to break up into small groups and stuff Trunk or Treat bags with information about our church and Gospel tracts. These bags will be used during our major outreach on October 31. I am so excited to see the children serve in their own capacity. Before we do the service project, we are going to study II Corinthians 7:8-12. I want to share that message with you here in this article.

‘Tis the Season for hope and salvation

I am so excited to prepare for Christmas. What a tradition! We get to remember the promise of the First Advent of the Messiah and celebrate the fact that it happened in human history. All of human history was split in half by the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the most famous human being of all time. His book, the Bible, continues to be the best selling book of all time. The birth of Christ has set our Western calendar for the past 2,000 years. To me, Christmas is a magical season. Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season that we forget the reason WHY we do all of this every year. It is a time of remembrance. It is also a time to reflect on the fact that the First Advent implies that there will be a Second Advent. I have written several articles on the Sundays of Advent and you can read them by clicking on the following titles:

Preach the Jesus of the Bible

This Sunday at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to study passages from the book of Hebrews. I really enjoy studying and teaching the book of Hebrews. As a church, we have been studying through the entire Bible over a three year period. We are finishing up our third year of this project and we have been walking through the New Testament for almost a year now. It is beautiful to see how the meta narrative of the Bible weaves a story of the Savior of the world from Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation. Over the past twenty plus years of ministry, I have discovered that many, many good, church going Christians have never read the Bible from cover to cover. That is something that this Gospel Project seeks to end. I always encourage people to read the Bible from cover to cover. In fact, I am reading through the Bible with a group of friends right now. We read one chapter from Genesis, one chapter from Psalms, one chapter from Proverbs, and one chapter from the Gospel of Matthew every single day. We are now six days into the endeavor. The feedback has been great. If you would like to join in, I post what I am reading and my insights every day on Facebook.

Wisdom Books of the Bible

I am meeting with our AWANA kiddos tonight to study the Word of God. I love that I get a chance to impact our future leaders on a weekly basis. They have a hunger for the Word of God and because of that hunger, we meet and study the Bible. We do not study about the Bible. We actually open up the Word of God and dig in to the Biblical text.

Faith and Obedience go hand in hand

This coming Sunday, at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to study John chapter five. This is the story of the healing of the lame man. Last week, we learned about Jesus, the healer in the Gospel of Mark, chapter five. This week, we are also going to learn more about Jesus the healer. The healing that Jesus offers leads to eternal life. This healing changes us for all of eternity.

As a church, we are walking through the entire Bible, from cover to cover, over a three year period. We are now in year three. It took us three years to walk through the Old Testament. We have been studying the Gospels for about two months now. Each lesson just keeps getting better and better.

The Word, Confession, and Dedication

Nehemiah is a great book of the Bible that demonstrates the connection between the Word of God, confession of sin, and dedication to the Lord. This is a question that many are asking today, that is, “why are there so few dedicated people to the Lord in our society”? Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever heard someone else ask that question? Well, according to Nehemiah, dedication comes as the result of the Word and confession of sins. In this article, I would like to examine Nehemiah 8-10. This is the study for next week’s Connect Groups here at Southern Calvert Baptist Church.

Complicated King Ahab

I finished off the last article with a cliffhanger. Elijah confronted the sins of wicked King Ahab and there was a showdown between the false prophets and God’s prophet, Elijah. Elijah had the wicked, false prophets put to death for their actions. Then, he was sent to pursue King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. That is how the story ended. King Ahab and Jezebel must pay for their deeds. They rebelled against God and murdered the prophets of the Lord. They led the people in idolatry. The rest of this story unfolds in I Kings 20-22. These are some fascinating chapters in the Word of God.

David experiences mercy, grace, and forgiveness

As we continue looking at the life of David and his walk with the Lord, we are reminded of why he is called a man after God’s own heart. He has a teachable spirit, a servant’s heart, and he was quick to obey. David is a man who has experienced God’s mercy and grace and he has been quick to extend that mercy and grace to others, even his enemy, King Saul.

In this lesson, we are going to see how David experiences God’s forgiveness. David, although a man after God’s own heart, was not perfect. Like all of us, David was born with a sin nature. His heart was inclined to sin, just like my heart is and just like your heart is. As we study this, just remember, no matter what you have done, God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness is available.

Learn to Respect the Lord

Last week during our Connect Groups, we took a look at how Samuel was taught to hear and answer God’s high calling. The same is true for us today. God has the same high calling and we need to learn to hear it and respond. This week, we are going to continue to look at the ministry of Samuel. We discovered, last week, that Samuel spends the rest of his life taking the Word of the Lord to His people. That does not mean that the people always followed the advice that Samuel gave to them. Like all of us, the children of Israel battled with their sin nature on a daily basis. One of the biggest battles that the Lord warns us of is our battle with idolatry. Anything, even positive things, noble things can be turned into idols.

Peter’s Denial of Christ

I have been teaching through the Gospel of Mark in a weekly Bible study with a group of men. We are now in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14. Today’s lesson is on Peter’s denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the outlook is bleak for Christ and for Peter, there is a ray of hope in this section. The ray of hope is for Peter. As you read, remember, you are Peter and I am Peter. We all have the capability of acting like Peter. The good news is that there is still hope for you and for me. Our text is Mark 14:41-72.