Discipleship: Empowering others for ministry

I am working on my Sunday School lesson this week and our passage is Exodus 18. Our previous lesson was on how our sin nature is contentious. God has promised victory to us, we simply have to walk in that victory daily.

Delivered from the bondage of FEAR

In our previous Connect Group lesson, we covered the Freedom that Christ offers to us as His followers. This freedom was foreshadowed in the Old Testament book of Exodus with the inauguration of the Passover feast. God frees us from the power of our sin nature so that we may worship and serve Him. We must be careful of idols and other sins creeping back into our daily lives. Sin is like leaven, just of little of it will leaven the entire lump of dough.

Rebellious against God

Our Sunday School classes at Southern Calvert Baptist Church are walking through the Old Testament book of Exodus, focusing on God’s Great Calling. He is El Roi which means that He sees all things and is not indifferent to what happens to us. God intervenes on mankind’s behalf by calling us to come out of our slavery to sin and learn to worship Him. Some respond to the calling in obedience (Moses) while others respond by hardening their hearts to the message (Pharaoh). Once we respond to this calling, God wants to work in our lives via a spiritual mentor. He also wants to take us and train us to share His message of Good News with anyone who will listen. As we learn to walk with God, our sin nature seeks to dominate us like it once did, before we answered God’s Great Calling. It tries to get us to give in to our fears and not walk by faith. It tries to get us to grumble against our spiritual leaders instead of walking in humble obedience to the Lord by submitting to the leadership whom He has put over us. In our last lesson, we learned the purpose of the 10 Commandments. We learned that the 10 Commandments show us just how sinful we are. Moses had a sin nature just like the people of Israel had a sin nature. Moses was tempted just as the people of Israel were tempted. They both respond very differently to temptation.

God’s Calling and Leadership

Over the past couple of weeks, at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we have been studying through the life of Moses, learning about the Calling that the Lord has for all people.

• Answering God’s Great Calling
• Pharaoh’s Response to God’s Great Calling
• God’s Calling and Impacting Relationships

This coming Sunday, our Sunday School classes are going to cover Exodus 16:1-20. This is a great chapter because it reveals the heart of sinful man and the need for strong Biblical leaders.

Pharaoh’s response to God’s Great Calling

In the last article, we looked at Moses’ response to God’s Great Calling. He heard the calling and entered into a personal relationship with God. Then, Moses was taught by God, what he should say, to whom, and why. Moses had the privilege of joining in on God’s plan for the ages; he called people who were enslaved and oppressed to enter into a personal relationship with God and begin to worship and serve Him. This Creator God will set them free from their slavery and oppression so that they can have a relationship with Him seen through their worship and service. Moses’ sin nature caused him to be afraid and make excuses but, God taught him how to overcome his fear. God also taught Moses the importance of being part of a team. In this lesson, we are going to focus on a different reaction to God’s Great Calling. This lesson’s subject is Pharaoh. He has an opportunity to interact with the God of the universe, just as Moses did, yet, his response is far different from the response that Moses manifested. Our text for this lesson is Exodus 7. Take a moment to read the passage in its entirety and then we can discuss.

Answering God’s Great Calling

In our Sunday School classes at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are beginning a new quarter this weekend. I am excited because we are diving into the book of Exodus, learning about the great calling that God has. I have heard some people teach that “God has a plan for your life“. That sounds good but I do not see it in the Bible. I see God having a plan and inviting us to be a part of His plan instead of having an individual plan for each life. Each person does have a role to play in God’s overall plan but, it’s all about Him and not about us. I know the difference sounds subtle but, when the implications are carried out, it is huge.

God first, family second, and then service in the ministry

Can we separate love for God from service to God? Many seem to think so but that is not what the Scriptures teach. Unfortunately, in the Evangelical world, the title of this article is a common mantra. I do not believe that it is correct, nor Biblical. According to the Scriptures, we cannot separate love for God from service to God.

I. Jesus’ understanding

Godly Leadership from Moses

Yesterday, during our staff meeting, we studied Exodus 17. I have written on this passage already and you can read it here. In this article, I want to focus on the leadership that Moses shows while dealing with God’s people.

I. Moses depends on God

True Worship: Entering the presence of God

As my staff and I study through the idea of worship, from a Biblical perspective, I am amazed to see (yet again) just how clear the Word of God is and just how far away we are from in many areas of our modern Christian life. This is our second lesson on the subject. You can find the first lesson here. This is lesson 2 of 6.

In the previous lesson, we learned that the first time worship and love are mentioned in the Bible are in Genesis 22. These two words both revolve around Abraham’s obedience. Worship is an act of obedience to God. Worship must be done God’s way, not just any way that we feel is correct. Worship is more of a lifestyle than an event. Worship involves having God be number 1 in your daily life, choosing not to have any idols.

Connect with God

Did you know that the God who created the universe wants to connect with YOU? To me, that is an amazing thought. Who am I in the grand scheme of things? Why would God want to connect with little ol’ me? Do you really believe this? Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth. The God who created all things wants to have a personal relationship with you!!! He says so in His Holy Word. Let’s examine two passages from the the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 5 and Deuteronomy 6.

I. God connects with Moses