God is sovereign over persecution

What do you think of when you hear the word “persecution“? If you are like I am, you probably have a negative feeling when you read the word persecution. I know that I do. I do not want to face persecution and I am sure that you do not either. As we examine Acts 12, I want us to view persecution from God’s perspective. Once we do this, I think we will have a different opinion of the idea of persecution. I know that sounds strange. I feel strange just writing it.

As a church, we have been walking through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation over a 3 year period. It has been quite a journey! We have traced God’s perfect plan of salvation for all mankind all the way through the Scriptures. We are currently in the book of Acts. We have seen the birth of the church and we have walked with the members of the early church as the ministry has grown. Persecution was a way of life for the early church. They did not seek out persecution, they simply lived out their faith, proclaimed the Gospel, and made disciples.

The Transfiguration

This coming Sunday at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to cover the subject of the transfiguration of Christ during our Connect Groups. This is an important event for Jesus’ disciples as well as an important event for us today. Our passage is the Gospel of Matthew, chapter seventeen. In our last lesson, we took a look at the faith needed to walk on water. It was an important lesson for us because of the times in which we live. Peter and the other disciples had to make a choice; to surrender to faith in the midst of life’s storms or, to surrender to fear. They immediately chose fear yet, Jesus reminded them of faith and it made all of the difference.

Faith to walk on water

I am so excited to prepare this lesson for our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church because, we are officially meeting in person again on site at the church!!! Last week was our first official, in person meeting of our Connect Groups since March. For the past five and a half months, we have been meeting via video chat. Praise God for technology and the ability to continue to study the Word together but, there is nothing like an in person, face to face Bible study.

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.

Powerful Prayers

Powerful prayers pray powerful prayers. Read that again! Last night, I had the privilege of leading a Bible study with a group of high school kids at our church. The topic was prayer. We studied Colossians 1, focusing on the powerful prayer of the Apostle Paul. I would like to share that with you via this article.

Prayer is something that can be taught and caught. Jesus’ disciples caught prayer from hearing Jesus pray. They were then taught how to pray when they came to Him and asked Him to teach them how to pray. Jesus was a powerful prayer. The disciples became powerful prayers. The Apostle Paul was taught directly by the resurrected Jesus so his prayers were powerful. Paul gives us some insight into his prayer life via the letters that he wrote during his time in ministry. Letter writing was the modern technology of Paul’s day. He used the Roman road system to send out those letters, written in the common language of the day, Koine Greek, so that many people could hear the Gospel and respond to the Gospel. Because the Apostle Paul used the modern technology of his day, we get a glimpse into his prayer life. I have to admit, I do not pray as much as I would like so this lesson was very challenging to me. I was also encouraged and motivated by it. I hope that it will do the same for you. On a side note, the last article that I wrote was also on the subject of prayer. Maybe the Lord is trying to tell me something vital.

Nehemiah’s Prayer

I have been studying Nehemiah chapter one today as I prepare a lesson for our Connect Groups this coming Sunday morning. We are continuing to walk through the entire Bible over a three year period and we have arrived at the end of the Babylonian captivity. God is stirring among His people because, just like He had promised, they were going to return to Israel after seventy years of captivity. We know that God always does His part because He has bound His existence to His Holy Word. He must keep His Word or He would cease to exist. That does not negate our part in the process. God is seeking to use a leader to motivate the people back to a right relationship with Him. Nehemiah is the man. He has a heart for God and because of his heart for God, he has a heart for the people of God. Chapter one opens with Nehemiah living a very comfortable life. He lives in a very metropolitan area. In fact, the book opens with him living in the capitol of the world empire. He is in Susa, the capitol of Persia. Not only that but, he has a nice job, serving the king of the world’s most dominate empire at the time. But, Nehemiah is not satisfied with his comfy, cushy life.

The Enemy’s Tactics Revealed

I am getting ready to teach a lesson from the Bible study, “Lord, teach me to pray, for kids” produced by Precept Ministries International. I highly recommend this study for all ages, especially for kids. It is based on the Lord’s Model Prayer found in the Sermon on the Mount. This particular lesson is about trusting in the character of God. Jeremiah tells us that a man who trusts in himself (or others) is like a bush, planted in the desert, on top of a rock, covered in salt. What a great picture of doom. A man who trusts in himself has no hope. In contrast, a man who trusts in the character of God is like a tree planted next to a river. He will prosper. This is a situation that King Hezekiah faces in Isaiah 36. The Assyrians have attacked and defeated the Northern Kingdom in Israel. Now, they have their eyes set on the Southern Kingdom where Hezekiah reigns as king. The Assyrians send out leaders to persuade the people of the Southern Kingdom not to resist. King Hezekiah has to make a choice. Is he going to trust in himself, in others kingdoms as allies, or, is he going to trust in the Lord. His life is on the line. The lives of his people are on the line. What is he going to do? Let’s find out.

Jesus’ Prayer for His disciples

I spent a good portion of the day today preparing to teach tonight at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I am teaching the Journey kids during our AWANA program. I am excited about teaching John 17:1-21. This is the Lord’s prayer. No, not the Lord’s model prayer, you know, “our Father”. This is Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, the prayer that He prayed for His disciples (all of them throughout the ages).

This is a powerful prayer and we have much to learn from it about ministry, especially in the form of making disciples. I want to divide this lesson into two parts; what we learn about Jesus and what we learn about His disciples. As we look at these two characters, we will also discover truths about ministry that are vital for all followers of Christ, especially since we are all called to make disciples.

Tangible Teachings for Terrible Times

I am getting prepared to teach my Sunday School class this week. For a little over a month now, we have been walking through the book of Exodus. Some of the previous lessons are:

Praying for your Disciples

Over the past month, I have been teaching through II Thessalonians with one of my many Bible study groups. It is so neat to study the Scriptures with others and discover the Truth of the Word of God for ourselves. II Thessalonians teaches us how to plan our time knowing the the Lord will one day return. Here are a few of the things that we have been learning as we have walked through II Thessalonians together.