Robert Smelser
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Fitting In
Over the last couple of morning lessons, we’ve been considering our way as a congregation. We’ve looked at the Jerusalem church, the obstacles they faced, and the unity of spirit that existed there despite these challenges and differences. Acts 4 says they were of one mind and soul. Also, we looked at our purpose of… Continue reading
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Working Good Works
Tying to our last lesson about the Jerusalem church and the basis it provides for us in terms of conduct and unity, we’re going to give consideration to our being New Testament Christians that God would have us to be. Titus 2:7 tells us to be an example of good works in all things, and… Continue reading
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Daniel’s Seventy Weeks
Daniel 9 has been called the “dismal swamp of Old Testament criticism.” There are numerous takes and explanations to the vision of Daniel 9, including a church-age approach, among these being various Messianic approaches, millennial and pre-millennial interpretations, and various church-age interpretations. In this lesson, we’re going to look at this prophecy in context of… Continue reading
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Unity & Jerusalem
In a recent lesson, we looked at how we deal with a lack of satisfaction in our spiritual lives and how we can break that pattern and set a new direction. Another way of putting this is, “How do I start again?” We’re going to look at this as a congregation in this lesson. In… Continue reading
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Ezekiel & the Messiah
As we’ve been studying books like Ezekiel and Daniel in our Bible classes, and it can be easy to lose sight of the real driving message of these books behind the various visions in their vividness and imagery. That message is this: the Messiah is coming. In this lesson, we are going to look at… Continue reading
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Changing Old Patterns
Sometimes we are the cause of our own unhappiness. We might blame exterior reasons like our job or our family, but it often comes down to ourselves, the approach we take to our lives, and the attitudes we carry. Einstein once said that doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is… Continue reading
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Keeping Resolutions
On New Year’s Eve, we can be pretty enthusiastic about the topic of resolutions, but, two weeks later most have fallen by the wayside. In fact, we sometimes jokingly talk about the resolutions that we know we haven’t kept. We tend to either make very general resolutions, or we are resolute about generalizations. “Someday, I’m… Continue reading
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Words to Live By
In this lesson, we’re going to look at four “lines to live by” that are trusted by the world but will not produce eternal life. (This, of course, is inspired by Reader’s Digest old Lines to Live By feature.) We are bombarded with messages, ideas, and values that are not consistent with God’s words, but… Continue reading
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Esau’s Error
In Jeremiah 49:7-8, while the prophet is speaking against the nations, some interesting words are brought up about Edom – that the “calamity of Esau” would befall them. This is likely a reference back to Genesis and the choices made by the father of their nations. In Genesis 25:23, God tells Rachel that two nations… Continue reading
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Waiting on the Lord
We don’t like waiting around – in traffic, in a doctor’s office, at restaurants, in grocery lines, at the license branch, etc. Things are never fast enough for us, and we make ourselves miserable with impatience when we are forced to wait, effecting our health and our attitudes. However, the Bible tells us to “wait… Continue reading
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