Why be a Christian? Those who were members of the church at Colosse decided Christianity was worth it because of who Christ is. In this lesson we explore 10 powerful facts about the Christ of the church from Colossians 1:13-20.
At times in life we come to a crossroads and our decision shapes our life. But even after becoming a Christian, we still have these crossroads. Every day we are faced with the challenge to go back and follow the tide of culture or to stand up for Christ. This lesson explores those choices from Eph. 4:17-24.
In 2 Cor. 7:8-11, Paul shows us two kinds of sorrow. The sorrow of the world is one kind. This may be what one experiences when they get caught or exposed in wrongdoing. The other kind of sorrow is better: it's godly sorrow. This sorrow cares more about God than self and leads to the kind of change God requires men to make to please him: Repentance.
In this lesson, we discuss how our person (soul) and body are one. In understanding this, we allow Paul to show us how God sees our body in three important ways that will impact how we live from his famous words about our body from 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
Ever heard someone say "That's a Romans 14 issue?" What did they mean? Unfortunately, sometimes Romans 14 is misused to sweep doctrinal disagreements under the rug in order to promote unity in diversity. Is this how God wants us to use Romans 14? In this lesson we discuss what Romans 14 means and show some ways it's often misused.
Romans 12:1-2 is a message that is special to Christians. Understanding its placement in the book of Romans as Paul transitions from matters of doctrine to duty is why this passage has been compared to a halftime speech. The message is simple in these two verses. Paul tells us one thing to do and two ways to do it.
Some people think they are too bad for God. That's because man uses an insufficient scale of sin. Some are better and some are worse. We all see ourselves on the "better" side. But God sees it in black and white.
Some people have a view of God that believes he could never be mad. Yet, in both the Old Testament and the New there are many passages which detail the anger and wrath of God upon sinners. God never gets mad without a cause and he never is unjust in his anger. Romans 1:18-32 documents a number of things that reveal the wrath of God from heaven. We should carefully consider these things and if we are practicing them we should immediately repent.
After Paul was converted to Christ, he was really a changed man! In Acts 22, a few years later, Paul speaks to a group of angry Jews and what he said on that occasion might be called his sermon on change. He explains who he used to be, what happened when he came to Christ and what God wanted him to do afterward. In his message from so long ago, there are lessons for us to learn today.
Acts 17 is the well know discourse to the Athenians about "the Unknown God." The theological points in this sermon are so powerful, but this lesson's main emphasis is to see how Paul used cultural awareness to share Jesus on that occasion. Since our culture is very similar to the one in first century Athens, we should really pay attention and incorporate this knowledge into our outreach today.
