Lesson from Sunday, May 8th, 2010

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The set of passages this week made it very hard to choose which of the passages to focus on.  Nearly all five of the passages seemed to be ripe for discussion but of course we can’t do that.  As such, I whittled it down to two.

I Thessalonians focuses on the return of Christ and what is typically referred to as the rapture, though there is no single word for this event in scripture.  This passage is one of the most extensive treatments we have on the second coming of Christ.  There are differing views on when this event will take place.  Pre-millennialists believe Christ will return prior to the inauguration of the thousand year reign spoken of in Revelation 20.  They tend to see the world as growing more and more wicked, leading to the tribulation, and the return of Christ to establish his reign.  Post-millennialists believe Christ will not return until the end of the thousand year reign and so tend to see the world as becoming more and more Christian, with the tribulation at the end.  This leads to a more optimistic view of human society and, some would say, historically the push for the social gospel as the sooner Christ’s kingdom is ushered in here on this earth the sooner he will return. 

Lesson from Sunday, May 2nd , 2010

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In three of the passages this week we get descriptions of the significant role played by the Holy Spirit in the Christian life.  We also have Paul highlighting the spiritual realm and the influence of Satan.  This is the case in the Romans 8.  Different perspectives on these matters have given rise to a range of perspectives, and ultimately denominations, in the history of the church and they raise several questions for us to discuss this week.

As Dar mentioned in her Promiseland Chatter May newsletter article, there will be no Discovery Hour June 6th through August 29th.   Not only will the children not have Discovery Hour, but the adult and youth will be taking the summer off as well. 

This upcoming Sunday, May 2, the Adult Discovery Hour class will meet at 9am in the first floor living room of the white house at the corner of Salisbury and Lindberg.  You can enter the house through the porch entrance on the church-side of the house.   

Lesson from Sunday, April 25th, 2010

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The readings for this week all come from the book of Acts and focus most on Paul’s missionary journeys in the last two-thirds of the book.  These texts cover his first missionary journey from 46 – 48 A.D.  (Acts 13-14), second 49 – 52 A.D. (15-18), and third 53- 58 A.D. (18-21).  It begins with Saul/ Paul’s conversion.  Importantly, in Acts 9: 4 when Jesus appears to Paul on the road to Damascus he says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  This is interesting and important because Paul was actually persecuting Christians and the Church but in this statement Jesus makes the point that our identification with him is so close, that these are the same thing.  There is also a clear pattern in these chapters of the gospel being first offered to the Jews, but then also offered to the Gentiles.  By the end of the book, the church has spread well beyond Jerusalem and well beyond the first Christians who were Jewish.  In class we will focus on Paul’s engagement with those not yet of the faith, in particular in Acts 17:16 – 34, but also, if there is time, Acts 14.