[I'm posting this, but Darion wrote it.]

For those of us that are non-prophetically inclined, what can the book of Daniel offer us besides, maybe, a source of interesting names for male children? Well as Christians with a desire to grow in serving and pleasing God we often encounter challenges that shape our Christian character. Our quick study through Daniel will focus on some principles that might be of assistance even in our times as we pursue God’s pleasure. Will you prayerfully read the following passages in preparation for next Sunday’s ABF?

Reading for Preparation

-       Daniel 1:3-16: see v8,

-       Daniel 3:8-30: see v17,18

-       Daniel 6:9-28: see v10

Passages to ponder

• Philippians 4:7 – peace available in all situations
• Isaiah 26:3,4 – call to complete trust in Jehovah
• Isaiah 43:1-3 – God’s promised presence
• Psalm 23:4 – fearless living
• John 16:33 – source of peace
• John 11:40 – the power of belief in God

Songs to ponder

• We are Listening
• ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
• Jesus I am Resting, Resting

As you read the passages and ponder the reference passages and songs consider the following:

• What was the source of the Hebrew men’s confidence, boldness and fearlessness?
• What areas in your life can you please God more by improving in confidence/boldness/fearlessness?

 

Most, if not all, of us have heard the term worldview.  But we may not know what a worldview really is, why it matters, or what a Christian worldview, in particular, looks like.  My aim this Sunday is to help us all answer these questions.  Our time together will be a working application of Colossians 2:8:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Preparing for this Sunday

Full Version

1. Write out a short definition of the term worldview.  Don’t consult any websites, references, etc.  Just jot down your own working idea, if you have one.  And especially don’t read further below before you do!
2. Take this Christian worldview quiz: http://www.christianet.com/bible/worldview.htm (Please forgive the visual “noisiness” of the site.)
3. A world view answers seven questions.  During our ABF time, we will only have time to look at the Christian worldview in brief and two alternative worldviews in super-brief!  So I encourage you to follow my notes here (Christian Worldview – Pre-Study Notes) and track down the appropriate references, in context, for a more detailed look at the Christian worldview.  Approach this like a Berean (Acts 17:11), asking, Is this complete?  Is this biblical? I especially encourage you to meditate on Col 2:8, and consider how your own thinking has been shaped, for good and for ill, by the thinking, teaching, etc. of others.
4. Come with questions to help focus our discussion and make it more practical/relevant to your life.

Short Version

1. Take this Christian worldview quiz: http://www.christianet.com/bible/worldview.htm (Please forgive the visual “noisiness” of the site.)
2. Meditate on Col 2:8, and consider how your own thinking has been shaped, for good and for ill, by the thinking, teaching, etc. of others.

I love Purdue in the summer time. There’s plenty of places to park, the sidewalks aren’t crowded, and there’s never a wait or a line at restaurants. Purdue is a great place when most of the students are gone!

Sometimes I have similar thoughts about church. Church would be awesome if there weren’t all us sinners around messing things up.

Of course both of these ideas are ridiculous because they go against the very reasons each of the institutes exist.

We will wrap up our study of Colossians by looking at what Paul has to say about living in community with each other. Read Colossians 3:18 – 4:6.

This Sunday is all about you. OK, not really. It’s all about Christ. But we will talk about how all of your life can and should be about Christ.

Sorry for not getting anything posted earlier. So I’ll just keep this brief for now and ask you to head on over and read Colossians 3:1-17.

This Sunday we’ll hit the midpoint of our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. I know what you’re thinking, we’re still in chapter 1! I promise we’re picking up the pace from here on out.

This week we’ll look at a verse, that at least upon my initial reading, was pretty confusing.  In Col 1:24,  Paul says he is “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”. What do you think this means? I think this is where Peter would chime in and say that some of Paul’s writings are hard to understand. I’m praying for the Lord to open our eyes to the true meaning behind Paul’s claim and that we won’t be ignorant and twist its meaning for our own gain.

This leads us to the bulk of chapter 2 where Paul gets to the reason he is writing the Colossians. There is a controversy in the church and their pastor, Epaphras, has gone to Paul because of his concern that his people are being deluded by false teachers. There are many theories as to what the false teachers were promoting. One thing is clear, they weren’t glorifying the Jesus that Paul described earlier in his letter.

See you Sunday at 9:30 am!

Last week we started our series in Colossians by looking at the individuals mentioned in the book. We talked about major players like Paul and Ephahras and also those that played smaller roles, like Ty the Mailman.

I left out the real main character in the story (and every story really), Jesus Christ. This week we’ll look at Paul’s amazing description of Jesus and compare that with some other people’s views of him.

We’re on this journey through Colossians to become more complete christians (i.e little Christs). From last week I hope we have a better understanding that we’re much like the individuals mentioned in Paul’s letter. After this week, Lord willing, I pray we’ll more fully understand Christ so that we can become better imitators of him.

Welcome back! After taking the summer months off for the KSBC institute classes, the Builders are back together. I was excited to see many new and old faces in class last week.

To kick off the Bible teaching portion of our class we’re going to be studying the book of Colossians for four weeks.

Side note: If you think our class is only Bible teaching on Sunday morning, you’re missing out on about 95% and you need to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

This week we’ll do an overview of the book and try to put it into some historical and biblical context. Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae really has a lot to tell us about who Jesus is and what false teachers are not. Once we understand that, then Paul provides some real practical advice to the Colossians on how to live their daily lives and ours too. If we increase our understanding of Jesus and then learn to live rightly we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will be well on our way to becoming more complete Christians.

To steal a quote I once heard from a very smart man “Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy”. Or in my language, right knowledge about God leads to right living. It is my prayer over the next four weeks we’ll come to see the book of Colossians as a prime example of this quote.

Sorry for the delay in getting a post up for those of you who wanted to study ahead.

This week we wrap up our study of the doctrines of Christianity. Each week we have just touched on a few things of what could be said about each doctrine. We also have not been able to cover all the doctrines that we might want to. But hopefully this study has been helpful. I encourage you to use the posts as a resource and a reference for further study as issues and questions arise in the future.

Our final doctrine in the series is about spiritual gifts. This is probably the doctrine where there is the most disagreement by good Christians on each of the many sides of the issues. We’ll spend the first part of the class just laying our what the spiritual gifts are and what they are for. We’ll spend the last part of the class discussing some of the more debated miraculous gifts.

The bulk of our time will be in 1 Corinthians 12 – 14. My notes have other Scripture references and links to some books, sermons, and articles that you may find helpful for further study.

Although it’s known as the Lord’s supper, the Eucharist, or communion, no matter what you like to call it, there’s some very serious theology behind this Christian practice.  Just as baptism was a sign of a much deeper reality, so also is communion.  Jesus’ words in Luke 22:19-20 point to and reveal the meaning:  “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me…This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Jesus said a number of things with these words.  He referenced the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34.  The first communion, the Last Supper, also coincided with the celebration of the Passover.  This feast celebrated the Lord’s passing over of His people in the land of Egypt by virtue of the blood of the sacrificial lamb covering their doorposts.  It was not mere happenstance that this event so closely paralleled Jesus’ own sacrifice for His people (I Cor. 5:7).  Finally, we see in I Cor. 11 that partaking of the Lord’s supper is a declaration that Jesus did in fact die for sinners and that He is coming back.  What a glorious message to declare!

In order to prepare for Sunday, it would be a great idea to read the account of the institution of the Lord’s supper (Luke 22:14-23) and Paul’s main writing concerning it (I Cor. 11:17-34).  Extra credit for looking at some of the old testament passages behind the supper (Ex. 12:1-32, Jer. 31:31-34).

My notes can be seen here.

As we jump back into our doctrine series, this week we’ll be discussing the doctrine of baptism.  This post is going to be rather short since typing one-handed gets pretty time-intensive.

When you think about baptism, does it ever seem strange?  Why do Christians insist on this practice?  The Bible gives some very clear answers to this question.  In preparation for our time together, I encourage you to do a word search for “baptize” and “baptism” and read the passages that deal with this practice.  The meaning behind baptism is amazing and points us always to the Cross and the empty tomb of our Savior.  Click here to see the verses pertaining to baptism.

My notes are available here.