Christian Education
This page contains the content of Christian Education post. It is one of the ways we use to extend the teaching ministry of the Church to our members, our friends and the world. It is a supplement to the teaching that goes on in classrooms, meetings, and other gatherings of the Church where Christian theology, doctrine, and instruction is taught. We are welcomed and encouraged to comment on any of the messages by clicking the “SS Preview” link you want to comment on, going to the bottom of the page and filling in and Submitting the Reply at the end of the message. Most of the post will have audio playback so you can listen to as well as read them. We hope you are blessed, enlighten and inspired through our Christian Education forums and invite you to join us at any of our meetings.
16
Jan '20
SS Preview January 19 2020
16
Jan '20
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Solomon’s Dedication Prayer” and is found in 1 Kings 8:22-30, 52-53.
Today’s lesson is a continuation of the account of what Solomon did and said at the dedication of the temple. While the previous two lessons focused on the moving and the placing of the Ark of the Covenant inside the temple and the other one on Solomon’s address to the congregation at the dedication, this lesson is the account of what Solomon prayed to the Lord at the dedication.
Solomon stretched forth his hands toward heaven so that everyone could see and called on the name of the Lord. He acknowledged the uniqueness of the Lord who is a covenant keeper with those who keep His covenant.
He affirmed that the Lord had kept His promise to his father and servant David in the building of this temple and allowing him to sit on his throne. He asked that God will continue to allow David’s descendants to sit upon this throne as He promised if they will walk in His ways.
As far as God inhabiting the temple, Solomon acknowledges that even the heavens heaven cannot contain Him much less this building. But he does ask that God takes notice of the temple and not only his prayer but also those who pray in it and towards it because His name is there and because Israel is His chosen. And He ask that when He hears that He will be merciful and forgiving.
These are some of the things we can take away from this lesson. Our God is uniquely God. There is none else like Him. Even the heavens heaven cannot contain Him. Yet, He is able to be attentive to our prayers and hear us when we pray.
Also God is a covenant keeping God. A covenant is a promise or agreement between two parties. Covenants depend upon both parties upholding what they promised to do be honored and fulfilled. Solomon reminds us the God is a God of “If” meaning if we do something, God will do something.
Too many times today, people seem to forget that the promises of God are depended upon them fulfilling their part of the covenant. Covenant fulfillment on our part is not just about what we say or what we think, but it’s more about what we do. The promise to have a man to sit on the throne was contingent on what they do and not just on who they were.
And lastly, we can take away from this lesson they we too are special and chosen. Solomon made mention of the fact that God chose Israel, they did not choose Him for an inheritance. Those who follow Jesus Christ are God’s inheritance and chosen by Him for that purpose.
We should never forget or lose sight of the special relationship we have with God no matter what we do or what may happen. He loves us and wants to give us the kingdom. Therefore, we must reject Him in order for Him to reject us.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
09
Jan '20
SS Preview January 12 2020
09
Jan '20
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Solomon’s Speech” and is found in 1 Kings 8:14-21.
Today’s lesson is an account of some of what Solomon said after the Ark was placed in the temple at its dedication. One of the main things Solomon did in his speeches to the congregation was to emphasize that the completion of the temple was a fulfillment of a Divine promise.
He reminded them of the circumstances of the promise and the contents of the promise. He said to them that the temple was not something God requested, but was the aspiration of his father David.
He said that it was well of David to have it in his heart to build a temple for God and that God had picked or chosen him to rule Israel. There were two things God promised that Solomon now mentions.
The first is that David’s son will build the temple David wanted to build and that his son would sit upon his throne. Both of which Solomon declares God has done at this temple dedication. He mentions how blessed Israel is when he recalls before them their ascent from bondage in Egypt by the hand of God.
Also, so there may not be any confusion, the mouth of God mentioned in verse 15 is the word of God spoken by Nathan the prophet which revealed the promise to David. The completion of the temple from the time David inquired about building it until it was complete and Solomon made this speech took many years. Solomon was not even born yet.
But the main thing we need to take away from this lesson today is the faithfulness of God’s promises. It has been said that “You can’t hurry God, but trust Him and give Him time no matter how long it takes”.
David was dead and did not live to see the completion of the temple he wanted to build. But God kept His promise. God has made certain promises to us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And though many have died without seeing His return and fulfillment of His promise, nevertheless we must have faith that God will fulfill the promises made through Christ.
It has been over 2000 years since Jesus gave us the promises of God. That may seem like a long time. But in relation to eternity the Psalmist describes 1000 years as just one day and 2000 years would be only 2 days. God’s time is not our time.
In fact, God is not bound by time in any way and it is meaningless to him as it will become to us. We must patiently wait on the promises of God realizing that His promises are sure and are independent of time.
I’m sure the magnificence of the completed temple and the glory thereof was something to behold to the people who were there to witness it. Many of them were not even alive when it was promised. The glory that shall be revealed in, seen by and experienced by those that believed and waited on the promise of God I believe shall be beyond the words we have to express.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
02
Jan '20
SS Preview January 5, 2020
02
Jan '20
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “A Place For the Ark” and is found in 1 Kings 8:1-13. Today’s lesson is an account of the Ark of the Covenant being move from its temporary tent to the temple Solomon built for the Lord.
The temple was first proposed by David, but he was not allowed to build it. Instead God built him a house that would serve His eternal purposes for mankind and David in the meantime began to collect and gather materials for the building and furnishing of the temple.
When the temple was finally complete, Solomon made a great deal of moving the Ark from the tabernacle to the completed temple. He assembled the elders, heads of families and priest and Levites and all Israel together to witness the move and to execute the move according to the Law of Moses.
The Ark was placed in the innermost sanctuary of the temple. A multitude of sacrifices and offerings were made in connection with placing the Ark in the temple. Along with the Ark was placed all the valuable holy and sacred furnishings for the temple.
The Ark was a symbolic presence of the Lord. But upon the placing of the Ark, a physical presence of the Lord took place when a cloud filled the temple. By this, God gave His approval and established His presence in the temple. After the Ark was put in its place and these things had taken place, Solomon proceeded with the dedication of the temple.
The importance of doing things deceit and in order should be something we take away from this lesson today. Moreover, we should not take shortcuts when it comes to sacrificing for the Lord. Often church members give God what they don’t want or have left over instead of giving Him their best and the first of what they have.
This is a big part of the reason many church members and churches go lacking because of how we give to God. We want God’s best, but don’t have faith to give Him our best. We don’t give our best in respect to how we live day in and day out, in respect to our giving by withholding the tithes, in respect to our attendance by coming late to church and dragging into service or not coming at all, in respect to our study by not attending Sunday School, bible study, BTU or any other training being offered by the church, in respect to our gifts and talents by not serving in areas we are capable of giving of ourselves to help others.
As a result it is as Jesus said, be it unto us according to our faith. Our lives suffer, children and family suffer, homes suffer, health suffer, finances suffer and our communities suffer because of our refusal to give God our best because of our lack of faith. This is not to criticize, but to challenge us to better and more godly living that will result in better outcomes for us all.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
26
Dec '19
SS Preview December 29 2019
26
Dec '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “David’s Prayer” and is found in 1 Chronicles 17:16-27. Today’ lesson is a continuation of the account of God’s interaction with David as King of Israel.
In this lesson, David reacts to God’s decision to establish his house and throne forever. One of the things we see in David’s reaction and prayer is humility. Humility is the ability to see oneself as one truly is instead of how others may view you or how you may want to be seen. Humility allows us to see just how frail and insignificant we are apart from the purposes of God.
Only God is able to give our lives meaning and significance. David recognized this in himself and acknowledged God as the one who elevated his life. He blesses God for not only what He has already done for nothing special about him or his house, but praises Him for what God says He is going to do in the future.
David seeks but doesn’t have the words to say concerning the magnitude of the blessing God and God alone has chosen to do for him. He only says let it be as you desire. David then goes on to praise God for being unique and for choosing Israel to be His people.
He recognizes also that God is not establishing his house for him or because of him, but for His name’s sake. He sees that by doing what God proposes, the whole earth will recognize Him as the God of Israel who is able to establish eternal things. David says he is accepting of what God has chosen to do and wishes it to be so.
Without God, David would have lived an insignificant life as a shepherd or something similar and died without anyone beyond some family or friends knowing him. And this is how most people live and die with only a few people knowing anything about us, weeping for us and remembering us much beyond our time on earth. Relatively few people are remembered for anything they did or accomplish in their lifetime.
There are a few names that have survived through the centuries, but not many. For everyone people still remember, there are 10’s of millions no one knows. This is why what God promised David was such a big deal to him because he was about to become one of those unique individuals whose name and family would survive long after he was gone.
And because of the fulfillment of that promise, no one has to live and die insignificantly. God has taken notice of those whose lives would have otherwise been unnoticeable and meaningless and made their and our lives count for something greater than what we or they can even think or imagine.
This is why all of us who believe in Jesus Christ should pray prayers similar to the one David prayer for taking someone like us and giving to us this great blessing of life and significance not because we deserved it or earned it or was worthy of it, but because He desired to do it for us.
We too don’t have the words to express the magnitude of this blessing either. Let us simply say Lord, let your will be done. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
19
Dec '19
SS Preview December 22 2019
19
Dec '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “The Lord Is With You” and is found in Luke 1:39-56.
Today’ lesson is the final one before Christmas. Christmas as we know is a holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ. The account of Christ’s birth is recorded in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. The birth of Christ is unique in several ways.
His birth is prophesied in scripture. His conception was outside of normal human channels. His mother was human but His fathers were human and divine. The father that was responsible for His conception is God. The father that raised him and that was married to his mother was a descendant of the house of David the king of Israel whose name was Joseph.
After Mary, Jesus’s mother, learned of God’s plan for her, she visited her relative or cousin named Elizabeth who at this time was 6 months with child of her own who had been barren and was considered beyond childbearing years. But God had a special plan for her son as well who would be John the Baptist.
The scripture says that the Holy Ghost moved upon both Elizabeth and Mary at their encounter. First, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the baby inside her moved. After that, the Holy Ghost came upon her and she began to tell Mary about her pregnancy and how honored and blessed she was to have her visit her.
Elizabeth describes the child’s movement as a “leap for joy”. This must not be taken literally but as a characterization of the simultaneous movement of the child with the vocal reception of the welcomed visit by Mary.
After Elizabeth’s greeting of Mary, the Holy Ghost came upon Mary and she began to praise God for what God was about to do through her for the sake of Israel and mankind as well. Here again we can see how God takes what is lowly and despised among men and exalts it and takes what men value and esteem and rejects it in some of what Mary said.
People have taken Christmas and made it more about receiving some material item or gift than about the birth of the Savior. Many are asked if they had a good Christmas in which the implied meaning of the question is did you received all or most of what you wanted.
Looking back at the first and earliest encounter between these blessed mothers to be, the entire conversation was about what God was doing for mankind. There were no gifts, no trees, no decorations, no Santa, no parties or anything else associated with Christmas today.
And it is sad that Christmas has come to mean all these things to so many people, when it is about what these two women shared whom God was about to use to bring salvation to the world and fulfill His promised to bless all mankind.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
12
Dec '19
SS Preview December 15 2019
12
Dec '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Building God’s House” and is found in 1 Chronicles 17 and 21. Today’ lesson is a continuation of the previous two Sunday’s lessons describing David’s placement of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem.
David wasn’t satisfied with the Ark being housed in a tent and wanted to place it in a structure or house that was worthy of God. Therefore, he inquired through the prophet Nathan what was God’s feeling toward building a house for the Ark.
God informed David that he would not build Him a house, but that God would build him a house from which an everlasting kingdom would be established. Jesus Christ is called the Son of David because He is a descendant of this house God promised to build for David. Additionally, God told David that his son would build the house he wanted to build.
The second part of this lesson concerns how the site for the house was decided. David foolishly commanded that a census be taken of Israel which was against the will of God. As a result of this sin, God brought a plague against Israel killing 70 thousand men and was poised to destroy more before He told His angel to pause.
David saw the angel who instructed him to place an altar where he was standing. The place belonged to another person who David paid for the site and there he presented a sacrifice unto God who accepted the offering and the plague was lifted.
David’s carelessness with his relationship with God costed him the lives of many people who had nothing to do with his sin. David was even warned against doing such a thing and that it would hurt not just him but the nation, but his heart was determined to count the people anyway.
This should be a warning to us today. No matter how good God has been to us or how faithful we have been in our service to and worship of Him, just one moment of careless or reckless behavior can have devastating consequences for ourselves and those we care about.
For a moment, David didn’t think about how his actions might affect those he loved or maybe he thought God loved him so much and since he was the king, he didn’t need God’s approval to do what he had in mind. Or maybe he thought he had earned the privilege to do something he wanted to do even if God didn’t approve of it.
No matter what our station in life becomes, we must never think or believe we don’t need God’s approval before taking a specific action or act impulsively before securing His approval. Rarely are we not warned in some matter that the action we are about to take is crossing God’s line.
Sin is hardly ever confined to the person initiating the sin. It almost always involves and affects others. If we ignore the warnings and place our desires before the welfare of others, our actions could lead to unintended and unwanted consequences that could involve both ourselves and many others just as it did with David, a man after God’s own heart.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
05
Dec '19
SS Preview December 8 2019
05
Dec '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. I hope you experienced a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends on last Thursday. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “A Heart Filled With Gratitude” and is found in 1 Chronicles 16.
Today’s lesson picks up with the next chapter from last Sunday’s lesson where David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, David has the Ark placed in the text that he had set up for it. He then had burnt sacrifices and peace offerings made before God.
After the sacrifices and offerings, He blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Then he gave a gift of bread, meat and wine to every man and women in Israel. He gave charge to the Levites to maintain the worship and upkeep of the Ark. Then David began to compose and have composed Psalms praising and thanking the Lord.
These acts of David were acts of gratitude that spring forth from a heart of thanksgiving. David was so thankful for what God had done for him and Israel, that he began to do things that expressed his appreciation for what God had done. This is what distinguishes thankfulness from gratitude.
While both are feelings that express an appreciation for something that is positive, gratitude goes beyond the feeling and takes the form of actions that reflect what has happened to be so thankful about. We see this in the actions of David in all he did to honor God, to bless the people, to encourage the people to worship and praise God and to write and inspire psalms about the goodness, glory and power of God.
It’s not enough for us today to be thankful because thankfulness ends with a feeling. Gratitude turns thankfulness into actions that reflect back on why we are thankful. We all should be thankful that we have escaped death and condemnation and thankful that we live in the day and time we live. Thankful for the comforts of life we enjoy every day that are too numerous to mention.
We all should be thankful for the portion of health and strength we have knowing that whatever our condition is it could be much worst. Thankful that we have the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ and the freedom to express our faith and worship God without the threat of imprisonment or death.
The question becomes how to we express our thankfulness or gratitude for all we have to be thankful for? The answer lies in who or what we believe is responsible for what we have to be thankful about and just how thankful and appreciative we are.
Like David, Christians believe God and Christ are responsible for everything that is good in their lives. And like David, when we think about all that God and Christ has done for us, it’s not enough to be thankful. But we must express our thankfulness or gratitude by living a life that reflects all we have to be appreciative for in the way we relate to and help others for all God has done, is doing and shall do for us.
This is gratitude that comes from being thankful. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
28
Nov '19
SS Preview December 1 2019
28
Nov '19
Greetings everyone and Happy Thanksgiving on this edition of our Sunday School preview. I hope you are experiencing the goodness of God with your family and friends on this special day. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “David Worships God In Jerusalem” and is found in 1 Chronicles 15.
David was God’s choice to be king of Israel and was anointed by Samuel at the direction of God after God rejected Saul, Israel’s first king, from being king of Israel for his disobedience and failure to recognize and honor God for the God He is.
David’s ascension to the throne was ordained but not easy. Multiple attempts were made on his life and the nation was not initially united under him. But he was able to bring the nation together and conquer the city known as Zion and Jerusalem which became the capital of Israel.
Today’s lesson focuses of the celebration of bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the capital city and the ceremony associated with its entry into the city. David recognized the importance of God to the welfare of the nation, the significance of the ark and the importance of doing things the way God wanted things done.
He commanded the Levites carry the ark according to how it was written in the Law. He ordered all Israel to come witness and take part of this triumphant and meaningful return of the Ark to its rightful place and center of national worship. The Ark contained among other sacred artifacts, the two tablets of the Law (the Ten Commandments) received by Moses and represented the presence of God.
The ceremony was accompanied by singing and dancing and music and praises to God with David himself leading by example. David had prepared a place and erected a tent for the Ark to reside. But that was only a temporary solution. His desire was to construct a magnificent temple to house the Ark which God allowed his son, King Solomon, to build.
The main takeaway for us from this lesson is the importance of genuine praise and worship where God is at the center of and reason for the praise. Genuine praise and worship is not just something we do on Sunday during a song or testimony or sermon or activity at a church service.
But genuine praise and worship is something we live where God is at the center of our life at all times. It’s not something we practice on Sundays when and where the church is gathered, but something we live by each day of the week.
David was special to God because he was a man who understood the importance of God in his own life and the life of others. And though he failed him, his sorrow and regret for his failure and subsequent plead for forgiveness endeared him to God who forgave him, restored him and used him to execute His plan of salvation for the whole world through Jesus Christ, the root and offspring of David.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
21
Nov '19
SS Preview November 24, 2019
21
Nov '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this week’s Sunday School preview. This week’s lesson entitled “Stick To Your Faith” is taken from 2 Peter 1:1-15. In this letter Peter continues to encourage Christians to keep the faith and to remind them that they are not alone.
He begins by greeting them in both the name of the Father and the Son and emphasizing that they all share a common faith. Peter tells his readers that by this faith God has given them all things that pertain to life and godliness and has call us to glory and virtue by the knowledge we have received through Jesus Christ.
Along with this knowledge we have received precious and great promises. Taken together these give us the incentive to take on the divine nature in order to escape the corruption in the world through lust. In order to actualize the divine nature and receive these promises, he tells us to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity to our faith.
These are the attributes of the divine nature or holiness of God. Peter repeats this important message of being made over and becoming a new creation by shedding the former things that dictated and guided and informed our behavior and embracing all the attributes and characteristics of God we have received through our knowledge of Him.
These holy features when applied to our lives will cause us to be fruitful and ready for the kingdom. But if they are not applied, we may have the knowledge, but without application we are like barren or fruitless trees full of leaves neither do we understand what God has done for us.
Furthermore, he says if we apply these things, we can be assured of our ability to withstand any trial or temptation that may come our way. He says to make our salvation assured by doing or applying these things.
Finally, in these opening verses of this first chapter, he shares with us that it is his duty and responsibility to remind us of these things seeing how much he cares about us and that he will not always be around to tell us. It is like a farewell letter in which he is saying don’t be careless with the knowledge and faith you have received but add these things to it, apply them and constantly keep them stirred up inside you.
As long as I am with you he said, I will endeavor the keep these things before you and hopefully this letter will be a reminder to you of what I said and your need to persevere. This is part of our mission and calling today – to leave a legacy that others can follow and remember.
Our calling as mature Christians is to help those coming after us and those we will be leaving behind to have access to all they need to make a successful journey in the kingdom of God. While we are here, like Peter, we must make every effort to remind them of who they are, what they are called to and why it is so important.
For we like Peter will have to leave them one day and we will no longer be able to assist them in our present bodies. That’s why it is important to put in place everything we can into their mind and heart and everywhere possible all things to assist them after our departure.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
14
Nov '19
SS Preview November 17 2019
14
Nov '19
Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this week’s Sunday School preview. This week’s lesson entitled “Live Holy Lives” is taken from 1 Peter 1:13-25. This letter is written to encourage suffering Christians scattered because of persecution near the end of Peter’s life.
Essentially, Peter knows the pressure Christians are under to renounce and give up their hope and faith. He writes to them to strengthen them and instruct them in what they must do to weather the storm and emerge victorious over the enemies of God and Christ.
He begins in this text by urging them to prepare their minds for a protracted struggle by utilizing hope for the salvation that will be revealed upon the return of Jesus himself. To do this he emphasized the need for them to abandon their former way of living and in childlike obedience become holy as God is holy.
He attempts to get them to not focus on their circumstances but rather on the new life God has made possible for them and the means by which that life has been made possible. He reminds them of their value by what it took for them to be redeemed.
This realization should bring about a love for God and each other resulting in a purity of heart and soul. He tells of the enduring power and reliability of the word of God in comparison to the temporary length of human life to not only transform their lives but also to prevail even when everything else fails.
The holiness which Peter speaks of is the subject of our current BTU study and passage. It is not something Peter suggests his fellow believer do, but something they are commanded to do by God Himself. Holiness is something God is that He is requiring believers to be.
Holiness is something not found in the world and not consciously pursued by the majority of churchgoers mainly because we don’t understand what it is and have downplayed the importance of it. Instead of being essential to salvation, the church today increasingly looks at holiness as a nice option to have, but not required.
As this sentiment continues to spread and prevail in church after church, the distinction between those in the church and those outside the church becomes less and less until now many churches are no more than social clubs singing and talking about God, Jesus and the bible. No one in these churches talks about holiness, much less is living holy lives.
But lessons like this give the few true believers remaining in the world the opportunity to refocus on what we are doing with our lives and measure them in the light of what God has called us to be – holy like Himself. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
