Faith and Obedience go hand in hand

This coming Sunday, at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are going to study John chapter five. This is the story of the healing of the lame man. Last week, we learned about Jesus, the healer in the Gospel of Mark, chapter five. This week, we are also going to learn more about Jesus the healer. The healing that Jesus offers leads to eternal life. This healing changes us for all of eternity.

As a church, we are walking through the entire Bible, from cover to cover, over a three year period. We are now in year three. It took us three years to walk through the Old Testament. We have been studying the Gospels for about two months now. Each lesson just keeps getting better and better.

We have THE WORD of God

I am preparing to teach during our AWANA program this evening and the theme for the night is the Word of God. The Bible is a unique book in human history. It is the very hear of God, communicated to us in a language that we can understand so that we can discover what God wants from us. Many people have asked throughout the ages, “what does God want from me”? Many others have tried to answer that question. The definitive answer is found in the pages of the Holy Bible. Parts of the Bible were written by different men over a 1,600 year period time. These people lived on different continents and came from vastly different cultures. Yet, the central message of the Bible is the same. Other parts of the Bible were written by God, Himself.

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.

Agape Love in Action

I spent most of yesterday and part of today preparing this lesson for Sunday School at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. Over the past couple of months, we have been learning spiritual truths from the New Testament Epistles. Here are some of those lessons:

• Our enduring identity in Christ (I Peter 2)
• Grow to maturity in your faith (I Corinthians)
• Justified by faith to be Sanctified by faith (Galatians 1)
• The daily impact of the resurrection (video: Romans 6)

Honesty and Integrity: Signs of Genuine Faith

I am preparing to teach the Word of God to my Sunday School class this coming Sunday. Over the past 2 weeks, we have looked at the humble shepherd boy David and then the mighty King David. It was neat to see how God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud. David received God’s grace. Along the way, David got proud. God had to humble him. We saw King David humble himself and repent before God and before all of humanity. God forgave David and restored him, but, the consequences remained with David for the rest of his life.

Will eternal punishment be the same for all lost people?

Yesterday, I tried to answer the question of whether heaven would be the same for all believers or will there be different rewards. With this article, I would like to address the question of eternal punishment, will it be the same for all lost sinners or are there different levels of punishment.

First of all, we have to establish that the punishment for all who do not confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is that they will be punished by God with what the Bible describes as the second death. It is in the lake of fire that will last for eternity. All of it is torture yet, for some, the torture will be worse than for others.

Resolving Conflicts God’s way

I am preparing to teach lesson two tonight at our Romanian Bible study near St. Louis, MO. The lesson comes from “Lord, give me a heart for You“. It is an important lesson because it teaches us how to resolve conflicts among friends. As we live life with the people around us, conflicts will inevitably arise because we are all flawed people living in a fallen world. The question is not whether or not you have conflicts, the question is how do you react in the midst of one? Do you blow up in anger and give the guilty party what he or she deserves? Or, do you seek to resolve the conflict while maintaining the relationship? This lesson will teach us how to value the relationship enough to resolve the conflict.

Is it true that homosexuals are born that way?

I will (along with the medical and psychological field) say that homosexuals are not born homosexual, instead the homosexual lifestyle that they live is a choice that they made/make. Of course, many (if not most) homosexuals will not agree with the previous statement (even if the evidence medically and psychologically, is against them). Some even go so far as to try to manipulate organizations such as The American Psychological Association, claiming that the APA states that homosexuals are born that way. It is a form of deception because they (homosexuals) know that everything points to the fact that their lifestyle is a choice.