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I am preparing a lesson plan for our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church for this coming Sunday. We are going to focus in on Nehemiah 9. This chapter really highlights the contrast between the nature of God and the nature of mankind. God is so different from His creation. The difference was not as vast until sin entered the world and mankind began to suffer from the reality of having a sin nature. This passage shares good news, bad news, and a practical solution for every single human being on the planet. Let’s dive in to this passage and discover what the Lord has to teach us about our need to be involved in a local church on a regular basis!

New Year, New Me

As I write this, the year 2022 is quickly approaching. When this lesson is actually taught, it will already be the year 2022. All of us get excited about New Year’s Eve. Many of us make resolutions claiming slogans like, “new year, new me”. Usually we have health goals in mind when we make resolutions. Sometimes we have habits in mind, creating new ones and quitting old ones. What about our spiritual resolutions, have you considered making a spiritual resolution this New Year? I hope that you will consider one. I want to take a look at a group of people who needed a spiritual resolution and by examining their situation and response, hopefully, learn some applicable truths for my own spiritual life.

Rescued to Worship

At Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are on our second round of walking through the entire Bible, cover to cover, over the next three years. During our last meeting, we took a look at the calling that God placed on Moses’ life. Moses answered God’s great calling. God was in the process of preparing a spiritual leader to guide the children of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land. God has heard the cries of the children of Israel over the years. He has not forgotten them. He is about to move in a way that would change the course of human history. That is what we are going to take a look at this week.

Created to serve a Sovereign God

This week in our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are finishing up our study of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The name Genesis means beginnings. We have learned a lot about God over this past 3 month period. We have also learned a lot about ourselves. God has revealed parts of His character to us through the different Names that He uses to describe Himself in the book of Genesis. We have discovered that He is:

Mary’s Song of Praise

This week, I was preparing for our Connect Group lesson at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. We are walking through the Bible over a three year period and, after two years, we have finished the Old Testament and now we are going to begin the New Testament. Our study of the New Testament begins with the Gospels. We are going to focus on the Gospel of Luke. The lesson for this week does not focus on Mary’s song of praise, but, I want to write about it because it really moved me. Depending on the denomination, Christians generally have two views of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

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.

David takes a stand for the Lord

We live in a world where people are afraid to take a stand for the Lord because of political correctness. People have been trained to keep their heads down when it comes to social issues, like gay marriage, because if you take a stand and speak out, you get noticed and being noticed causes problems to your daily life. This is not something new. The Bible teaches us that there is nothing new under the sun. Almost 2,000 years ago, during the lifetime of Jesus, the dilemma of taking a stand for the Lord was just as complex as today.

Rahab experiences salvation

As we have been walking through the Old Testament, focusing on the fact that God has promised to send a Savior to rescue mankind from his greatest enemy, himself, we have seen many different people trust in God’s plan of salvation. Adam and Eve trusted in God’s salvation. Able trusted in God’s salvation. Noah trusted in God’s salvation and he shared the message of salvation with everyone who would listen. Only his family chose to believe him. Abraham trusted in God’s salvation. Isaac trusted in God’s salvation. Jacob trusted in God’s salvation. Joseph trusted in God’s salvation. Moses trusted in God’s salvation. Joshua trusted in God’s salvation. We saw that both Jews and Gentiles experienced God’s salvation.  In this lesson, we are going to see how a lying prostitute named Rahab comes to trust in God’s salvation. This story reveals that God’s salvation is not based on merit. God’s salvation is based on His character, the revelation of His mercy and grace to a world that is far from His presence. Rahab was far from the presence of God yet, in His mercy and grace, He sent out His message to her.

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.

The Gospel Restores Ruined Relationships

Relationships are hard. Everyone can agree on that. They are hard because relationships involve being selfless. That does not come naturally to us as humans because of our sin nature. By nature, we are selfish. I do not like it but, it is the truth. All of us have suffered at some point or another from ruined relationships. It does not really matter if we are the victim or the aggressor. In either case, God wants to restore relationships. In fact, He is in the business of restoring relationships. God has always been in a perfect relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When God created mankind, He created us to be in a right relationship with Him and to manifest that right relationship with Him in our relationships with one another. We see this theme run all throughout the Bible.