God Promises to Restore His People

It’s already 2023! Can you believe it? It is hard for me to believe. I am excited about our Connect Group lesson this coming Sunday at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. This past Sunday, we looked at the book of Ezra and discovered how one person can change an entire society of a generation. Daniel was that one person. The pagan King Cyrus was another person who caused an entire society to be transformed. Daniel brought the scroll of Jeremiah to Babylon and he shared that book of the Bible with King Cyrus. That pagan king was moved by the Word of God. He surrendered to God and used his position in society to serve the Lord. King Cyrus set two major things in motion that changed an entire generation of Jews. He set an example of obedience to the Lord that the Jews followed. Cyrus read the Word and decided to submit to the Lord in obedience. The Jews also began to read the Word of God again and obey. They traveled back to Israel, a trip funded by King Cyrus, and rebuilt the Temple, also funded by King Cyrus.

Jesus the King, Savior, and Servant

This week in our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to study about the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We are studying the Gospel of Luke. Last week, we covered the birth of John the Baptist. The lesson was about overcoming doubt and fear by choosing to praise and serve the Lord. This week’s lesson will focus on the birth of the Messiah. This event has been 4,000 years in the making. I love the fact that Jesus is the King of the universe yet, when He comes to His creation, He comes as a humble servant. All throughout human history, we have records of kings and rulers who are served by the people. Jesus sets a different example as He has the right to be served by the people whom He created yet, He chooses to be a humble servant. How is this going to impact humanity? Let’s take a look and see.

When will this happen?

I have been teaching through the Gospel of Mark with a group of guys. We meet up on the internet and do a live, video Bible study. I love how modern technology gives us such an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and to disciple others. It does not replace face to face interaction. It is just another tool in our belts to be fruitful for the Kingdom of heaven. Are you using modern technology for the furtherance of the Gospel? I know that the Apostle Paul would be using it. He used the modern technology of his day to take the Gospel to the “ends of the earth”.  Precept Ministries International has a great 3 part study on the Gospel of Mark. Each lesson is designed to take about 40 minutes to complete and it is a perfect tool for a small group Bible study setting. The following article were written based on some of the lessons from the studies.

The Prince of Peace reigns

This week during our Connect Groups, we are going to take a look at the first advent of the Messiah. This is our Christmas lesson since Christmas is just around the corner. Christmas is an annual holiday, a tradition that has been passed down from one generation to the next. The tradition is the celebration of the birth of the Promised Messiah. Celebrating the birth of the Messiah has its roots in Genesis chapters 3 and 4. God promised that a male child would be born and He would crush sin and rescue people from their sins. The first celebration of the birth of the Messiah took place in Genesis 4. Eve believed that her firstborn son, Cain, was the promised male child. She was correct in expecting his birth but she was wrong in the timing. This is the first time we see people seeking to celebrate the birth of the Promised Messiah. That happened roughly 4,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. For us today, it was about 6,000 years ago. During a 4,000 year period, people placed their faith in the Promised Messiah. The people were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, the birth of the Messiah. Now, we look back on the fact that the Messiah has come. It has been about 2,000 years since this event. Christians have been celebrating the birth of Christ for almost 2,000 years. The idea of celebrating the birth of the Promised Messiah has been around, as I mentioned earlier, for almost 6,000 years in human history.

Paradise Restored

This coming Sunday at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to finish up our study of the book of Revelation. The Bible opens up in Genesis with the story of a perfect creation. In chapter 3, Paradise is lost because of sin (disobedience to God’s Word) and as a result, every generation of people has lived under the curse of sin, in a fallen world. God had a plan of redemption and restoration, even before the foundation of the world was lain. Human history has been a progressive revelation of God’s redemption and restoration. The end of the book of Revelation completes God’s redemption and restoration of all things. Paradise is restored. I want to take a look at how this plan will unfold. Here is a quick outline of God’s redemption and restoration plan.

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.

Concerning the Day of the Lord

I am preparing to teach the next lesson in our study of II Thessalonians. Previously, we have looked at the importance of communication from the Apostle Paul’s example in his second letter to the Thessalonian church. After that, we looked at how genuine faith endures persecution because of preaching the Gospel. This lesson deals with the coming of the Day of the Lord. This was part of the reason Paul had to write to the Thessalonians. Paul planted the church in Thessalonica when he was there with Timothy and Silas. He spent time teaching the new believers the Scriptures so that they could know God’s plan for the ages. Part of that teaching dealt with the coming of the Day of the Lord. After Paul left, he wrote his first letter to them to teach more concerning God’s plan for the ages. You can read about that in I Thessalonians. In between the first letter and the second one that he wrote to them, false teachers began to mislead people concerning God’s plan for the ages. There was a series of teachings and letters that taught that the Day of the Lord had already come and the Thessalonians had missed it. It shook the faith of some and they lost hope. They did not see a point in continuing to live out and spread the Gospel. Before Paul’s first letter, the Thessalonians were great about proclaiming the Gospel. They had filled Asia Minor with the Gospel and Paul praises them for it in his first letter. That had stopped because of the false teaching and shaken faith caused by the false teachings. This is where we pick up chapter 2 of II Thessalonians. Paul gives evidence that the Day of the Lord has not taken place yet because of some events that MUST take place first.