Zephaniah: A Truth Teller

I have heard many people say that the Old, dusty Bible is not relevant to modern mankind. When I hear something like that, I immediately realize that the person saying this statement is not a diligent student of the Bible. When a person digs down into the Bible, he will quickly see just how practical the Word of God is. That is what I want us to discover in this lesson. When is the last time that you studied the book of Zephaniah? Have you EVER read the Old Testament book of Zephaniah? Many good, church going people have not read a lot in the Old Testament, unfortunately.

In Whom do you trust?

This week, in our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist church, we are continuing to study the Old Testament. We will be in the book of Isaiah. The children of Israel, like all people, struggled with their sin nature. That struggle manifested in the form of idolatry. God, because of His great love, was and is patient with His people, even when we disobey Him. It is His nature. He interacts with humanity based on love. Even when He disciplines people, it is done out of love, seeking to produce repentance. God has to humble His people, and even that is done out of love.

Who is influencing YOU?

At Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are continuing our journey through the entire Bible over a 3 year period. We are currently in the Old Testament book of II Chronicles. Many times, when people seek to read through the entire Bible, they tend to lose steam somewhere in the historical books of First and Second Kings or First and Second Chronicles. Has that ever happened to you before? I have mentored many people in Bible study who have shared that testimony.

Joshua finishes his ministry strong

I am so excited for the next couple of weeks. We are entering Holy Week this coming Sunday as we celebrate Palm Sunday. Our Connect Group lesson is on Joshua, how he finishes his ministry strong. Our previous lesson was on sin and consequences in the life of Achan and the people of Israel.

Idolatry: Are you not entertained?

If you saw Russel Crowe in Gladiator back in the year 2000, you remember that line that the title of this article is from. The Romans loved to be entertained. That is our human nature. That is our sin nature. The children of Israel were no different. We are also no different today. We have a way of justifying our idols today, similarly to the way that the children of Israel justified their idols.

Biblical Faith

If you have ever visited a church or, if you have ever hung around church people, then I know that you have had or heard a discussion on the subject of FAITH. If you were to ask ten different people what “faith” means, you are likely to get fifteen different answers. The best thing to do in order to discover what God has in mind when He uses the idea of “faith” is to go to the Scriptures. I want to examine a passage of Scripture that reveals what “faith” looks like in every day life and how the lack of faith in God is manifested. Would you like to discover what faith really is and how it is manifested practically? The passage that we are going to examine is Luke 18:9-23. This passage is broken up into three separate teachings linked together by the manifestation of faith.

Genuine Faith removes Idols

As I have been spending time in the Word of God today, studying to learn more of who God is and what I am really like, I discovered an important Truth that I would like to share with you here in this article. I am preparing to teach this message on Wednesday to my staff. This school year, we are learning about Abraham as we teach these truths to the children at Treasure Trust Club. It is so neat to see the children begin to understand how to begin a real relationship with God, the way that Abraham did. It is also neat to see how we learn to walk with God the exact same way that Abraham did. This lesson covers the topic of faith and idols. I recently taught a lesson on faith and fear, about how they cannot coexist in the same place. One will drive out the other. The same is true with faith and idols. When they clash, one will drive out the other. In this article, we are going to examine Abraham’s faith and his battle with his sin nature. If we are ever going to have success in our battle with our sin nature, we must learn how to spot the idols in our lives because, these idols give power to our sin nature. Faith in Christ removes our sin nature’s power. Idols cause us to empower our sin nature that continues to dwell in us. Let’s take a look at Abraham’s example and see what we can learn about faith, idols, and the work of God in our lives. 

Choose Christ above all else

I am preparing to teach this evening from Paul’s epistle to the Philippian church. We are covering the first 11 verses of chapter 3. The previous lesson was from chapter 2 about working out your salvation with fear and trembling. Paul teaches us how to do this in our daily lives.

In chapter 3, Paul’s desire is that we know Christ specifically, above all else. The reason that he motivates us to focus on Christ is because of our sin nature, we have a tendency to turn to idols. Idols are anything that take the #1 place of Christ in your life. Even noble things can become idols and when they do, they become negative. Idolatry is a sin that enslaves us before we come to Christ and a sin that tries to take our focus off of Christ once we have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. That is why 1 John ends the way that it does. The entire epistle is about the love of God, how it is manifested to us, in us, and through us.