Adult II Couples Class

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2013

What was the last thing you said to your spouse before

going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after

waking up this morning?

Question of the Day

Physical Spiritual Practical Church Praises

Prayer RequestsJohn Harris

Mike Dalton-Back

Heils in Brazil -Xukari tribe

Tim Dalton-Direction

Lauren and Matt Evans-pregnancy

Kevin Young & Paul Wilman

SS Classes

Morning Service

New Lay Servants

Crochet Classes (10am Saturdays)

Promotion Sunday (Today!!)• If you’re looking for a way to get out of this class

without attracting attention, now’s your chance!

Youth & Parent Mtg (7 Aug) Children’s Back to School Party

(10 Aug) Lord’s Supper Service (11 Aug-

AM) E-Sunday (11 Aug) Widow’s Breakfast/Car Wash

(17 Aug) Mexico Mission Trip (30 Aug-6

Sep)

Class Events Church Events REAP Visitation (R Team) Benevolence Fund Monthly Fellowships

24 August-Woffords September October

Dinner Out Friday (NA) 5th Sunday Breakfast (29

Sept) Quarterly Service Project

Methodist Hospital Ministry

Events Calendar

What was the last thing you said to your spouse before

going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after

waking up this morning?

Question of the Day

CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE DISCIPLESHIP

IVA MAY & DR. STAN MAY

Week No. 312 Chronicles

2 KingsJeremiahPsalms

HabakkukDaniel

CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE DISCIPLESHIP

IVA MAY & DR. STAN MAY

Creation

Patriarch

Exodus

Conquest

Judges

Kingdom

Div. Kingdom

Captivity

Return

Silent

Gospel

Missions

End Times

Church

You are

here

REVIEWCreation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin.

Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph).

Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Pro-mised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself.

Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land.

Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, oppres-sion and deliverance (the sin cycle).

REVIEWKingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succes-sion of kings (Saul, David and Solomon) who rule over a united Israel.

• God Speaks during this Era• Sends His prophets to warn Israel and Judah to repent• Promises Judah that He will bring them back after 70 years

of captivity• Describes the One who will come and establish God’s

kingdom forever

• God Acts during this Era• God raises up the Assyrians to take Israel into captivity• God raises up the Babylonians to take Judah into captivity

• God Reveals during this Era• His jealous for His people and forbids them to worship

idols• His desire to bless His people, but will judge their

continued disobedience

• King Solomon dies and due to the foolishness of his son Rehoboam, ten tribes rebel and form the Northern Kingdom of Israel which is lost in captivity 209 years later

• Two tribes (Benjamin and Judah) form the Southern Kingdom nation of Judah, which lasts for 345 years before Babylon conquers and carries them away to captivity

DIVIDED KINGDOM

OVERVIEW

• Two lessons ring clear in our study of the Bible so far• Laws alone cannot change the rebellious unbelieving heart of

humanity• Humanity needs something else that changes the heart-a

“new birth”

• Moses spoke of a day when “the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live”

• Hundreds of year later, Jeremiah and Ezekiel give seven details that describe the external benefits and internal changes affect-ed by the new covenant

God’s New Covenant

promises to ad-dress the

sinful heart in those who

come to Him in faith by af-

fecting internal

changes that impact

behavior.

THE DIVIDED KINGDOM

ERA

A Kingdom of New PeopleThe Internal Work of the New CovenantThe External Work of the New Covenant

Jeremiah 31Ezekiel 16 & 36

CONTEXT• The prophet Jeremiah

promises a new covenant to Israel in the midst of their growing distress• They have completely failed

to keep the first covenant (the Law)

• They are headed toward the judgment of captivity in Babylon

• Jeremiah announces that God will create a new covenant with His people

• The prophet describes the first three components of this New Covenant and the internal changes it will cause in the hearts of the people

THE INTERNAL WORK OF THE NEW COVENANT

Jeremiah 31:31-34Jeremiah 17 & 24

Romans 1

Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Affects Man’s Thinking

Adam and Eve’s sin changed the way all men think Paul describes the state of Adam’s descendants (Rom 1:21)

Romans 1:21 – “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Man, lost in the emptiness of his own wisdom, pursues a life alienated from God

The LORD Promises through Jeremiah to Correct the way people view their relationship with God “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it” This New Covenant internally changes the way people think

About God About themselves About the world around them About the life they live

This altered thinking leads to lasting behavior changes

Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Changes Hearts

Adam and Eve’s sin altered the heart (mind and will) of every man Paul describes Adam’s descendants as “darkened” in their foolish hearts

Romans 1:21 ~ “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Jeremiah previously identifies this problem The heart is ruined before God (Jer 17:9-10)

Jeremiah 17:9 ~ “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it?”

A new heart must be given for a person to know God (Jer 24:7) Jeremiah 24:7 ~ “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and

they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”

The New Covenant promises such a heart change The LORD says that He will “write it on their hearts” (33) It is God’s direct work in the heart that converts it from willful pride to humble submissiveness

Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Restores Relationship

Adam and Eve’s sin resulted in their eviction from the place of fellowship with God (Garden of Eden) All their descendants experience this same separation

Adam was created in the sinless image of God Adam’s descendants would bear the image of his sin-caused scars

Their only hope of restoration of relationship was found in the promise of a coming Redeemer “I will be their God and they shall be My

people” (33) This is not a proclamation of religion It is the restoration of relationship through the New Covenant

DISCUSSION What was Judah’s problem in reestablishing their

relationship with God? Was it solely a lack of knowledge of God and His Law?

Are their people today who are in active rebellion against God who know all about God and His Word? What’s the difference between that person on one who is

in a right relationship with God?

How important is God’s work in the heart to having a relationship with Him?

CONTEXT• A few years later the prophet

Ezekiel speaks of the New Covenant• Jeremiah is prophesying in

Jerusalem• Ezekiel has been taken captive

to Babylon and prophesies there

• He also speaks of God’s judgment on Israel due to their harlotry• Concludes the condemnation of

Israel with a promise of a new covenant in Ezekiel 16

• Reveals the final four aspects of the New Covenant

THE EXTERNAL WORK OF THE NEW COVENANT

Ezekiel 16:60 & 36:25-27

The External Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant is Everlasting (Ezekiel 16:60)

Ezekiel finishes a scathing chapter with a promise of hope Ezekiel 16:60 ~ “Nevertheless, I will remember My

covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

This hope would come from an everlasting covenant, not based on what men could do, but what God would do “…when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” the

Lord God declares. Only God could provide a permanent atonement for sin

The offering on the Day of Atonement only removed the sin of the previous year It could not deal with sin in any permanent way God’s provided Atonement would be complete and everlasting in its

scope

The External Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Cleanses the Past (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Adam and Eve experienced fear, shame, and guilt

Fig leaves provided temporary covering The sacrifice of animals offered temporary payment for sin Neither were effective in removing the recurring stain of

sin from their attitude or actions

The New Covenant from the LORD promises com-plete cleansing from all sin Ezekiel 36:25 ~ “Then I will sprinkle clean

water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthi-ness and from all your idols.”

The External Work of the New Covenant

There is only one cure for the depraved heart of man Remove the offending heart (mind or will) The LORD promises to make this change in

the lives of His people Ezekiel 36:26 ~ Moreover, I will give

you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

God promises to replace the old heart with a new heart A heart that is responsive to Him

The New Covenant Transforms People from the Inside Out

The External Work of the New Covenant

The New Covenant Empowers People to Live Differently

The power behind these outward results of inner change Ezekiel 36:27 ~ “I will put My Spirit within

you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.”

God’s direct intervention in the human heart is necessary to affect an external change God must work directly in the human heart Only God’s work can produce godliness in the walk of life

Who was the One who made it possible for God to establish the New Covenant by permanently dealing with sin?• What was special about Jesus’ sacrifice that enabled Him

to enact a permanent fix for sin?

Has God fulfilled His promise to remove the heart of stone from sinful man and replace it with a heart of flesh that is responsive to God?• How so?• Do we enjoy a complete fulfillment of this prophecy today

as believer?• What aspect is yet to be fulfilled?

DISCUSSION

God performs what the New Covenant promises by chang-ing our minds and hearts of when we come to Him in faith.

It is impossible to belong to the New Covenant order with-out having experienced genu-ine internal changes that affect our behavior.

Only God’s work in the heart can bring about a permanent lasting change in the way man views his relationship to God.

CONCLUSIONS

Bible Trivia TestJeremiah, 2 Kings(1pt) What Babylonian God did Jeremiah condemn that shares a name with

a mountain in Arkansas?• “Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed…” (Jeremiah 48:1)

What was the name of the Egyptian king that Josiah confronted in battle during which Josiah would be killed?• “In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up…to the river Euphrates. And

King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo.(2 Kings 23:29)

• What were the Recabites commanded not to do by their ancestor, Jonadab?• “But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our

father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.” (Jeremiah 35:6)

Bible Trivia TestBonus Questions (4pts)

How long was the short reign of Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and where did he die?• “Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he

reigned three months in Jerusalem…Neco imprisoned him at Riblah…he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. (2 Kings 23:31-34)

What was the name of the goddess for whom the women of Judah baked cakes of bread?• “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women

knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven…” (Jeremiah 2:18)

Adult II Couples Class

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Daniel 1A Captive Kingdom