Text: 1 Peter 1:1-9 Peter began his first epistle focusing on the hope of salvation. This hope that we have is a “living hope.” God’s Work to Save Us (v. 1-2) Peter mentioned all three members of the Godhead being involved in our salvation – God the Father, by His foreknowledge, crafted a plan to […]
March 26, 2018
Justified by Works
Text: James 2:21-24 James wrote about the connection between FAITH and WORKS. Many have difficulty understanding this – not that it’s difficult, but because they have been taught differently. James used the example of Abraham to show how we can be justified by works. Alleged Contradiction Paul – “man is justified by faith apart from works of […]
March 21, 2018
“Make Every Effort to Come Before Winter”
Text: 2 Timothy 4:21 Paul’s standard practice was to close his letters with some personal greetings/instructions. Some may seem relatively unimportant today, yet even in these there are some lessons for us. We are going to look at one of these statements, which would be one of the last things that Paul wrote. Helping Others […]
March 19, 2018
“Baptism Now Saves You”
Text: 1 Peter 3:21 Some passages in the Bible are controversial and people have intense disagreements as to their meaning. This passage is not so much controversial as it is ignored. The meaning is straightforward, but people simply don’t want to accept it. What Is Baptism? Different definitions of the English word baptize – immerse, pour, sprinkle Greek word […]
March 14, 2018
Why Would Christians Follow Diotrephes?
In John’s third letter, he warned about a man named Diotrephes. We often talk about his desire for preeminence, his rule over the church, and the trouble he caused; but we don’t usually talk about his followers. In this lesson, we are going to consider the followers of Diotrephes and why they would follow him. How […]
March 12, 2018
From Saul to Paul
Text: Acts 13:8-12 On his first preaching tour, Saul became known as Paul. Though this did not happen at his conversion, we generally think of Saul as the persecutor and Paul as the Christian. In this lesson, we will be using the names to symbolize the difference between this man as a non-Christian and a Christian. As we […]
March 5, 2018
Love Perfected
Text: 1 John 4:12 In his first epistle, John wrote a lot about love. One thing he talked about was love being perfected. To be perfected means to be completed, accomplished, and fulfilled. In these passages, there is also a connection between love being perfected and God abiding in us (and us in Him). We recognize […]
