Junior High Quarterly. Words of Encouragement

Transcription

1 Baptist Training Course Junior High Quarterly Words of Encouragement Quarterly Aim: To show through these lessons that the Bible is filled with words of encouragement for the child of God and greater emphasis should be proclaimed of God s love, goodness and promises. Lesson 1, June 4, 2017 Encouraged by God s Promises... 3 Lesson 2, June 11, 2017 Encouraged by God s Omniscience... 7 Lesson 3, June 18, 2017 Encouraged by God s Word Lesson 4, June 25, 2017 Encouraged by God s Answers Lesson 5, July 2, 2017 Encouraged by God s Praise...19 Lesson 6, July 9, 2017 Encouraged by God s Power...23 Lesson 7, July 16, 2017 Encouraged by God s Purpose...27 Lesson 8, July 23, 2017 Encouraged by God s Security...31 Lesson 9, July 30, 2017 Encouraged by God s Salvation Lesson 10, August 6, 2017 Encouraged by Godly Living...39 Lesson 11, August 13, 2017 Encouraged by God s Forgiveness...43 Lesson 12, August 20, 2017 Encouraged by God s Love Lesson 13, August 27, 2017 Encouraged by God s Future Home...51 Vol. 82, No. 3, Summer Quarter, Outlines by Don Price Editor in Chief: Kyle W. Elkins, kyle.elkins@bogardstore.org Business Manager: Wayne Sewell, wayne.sewell@bogardstore.org 2017, Bogard Press, 4605 N. State Line Ave., Texarkana, TX

2 About the Writer Dr. John Cooper has been the pastor of Stamps Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Stamps, AR, since He also has served as a faculty member at Louisiana Mis sion ary Baptist Institute and Seminary in Minden, LA, since He received his Doctor of Theology degree from LMBIS in Brother Cooper was born and raised in Fort Smith, AR, where he was saved and baptized at Massard MBC. He surrendered to preach in 1997 at Liberty MBC in Shreveport, LA. He has been the pastor of Hope MBC in Heflin, LA, and Landmark MBC in West Monroe, LA, as well as associate pastor of Liberty MBC in Shreveport and missionary helper at Landmark MBC in Stonewall, LA. He is married to the former Cynthia Dart of Van Buren, AR. They have a daughter, Hilary. He enjoys sports and watching the Razorbacks in particular. jdcooper20@bellsouth.net

3 LESSON 1, June 4, 2017 Encouraged by God s Promises APPLICATION To show that God s promises encourage His servants to accom plish great things. SCRIPTURES TO READ Text: Genesis 12:1-5. Related Scripture: Genesis 26:1-5; Numbers 30:1, 2; 1 Kings 8:56; Psalms 89:3, 4; 105:42-45; Jeremiah 33:14-16; Romans 9:8; 2 Corinthians 6:15 7:1; Acts 5:25-32; 13:26-33; Hebrews 6: Devotional Reading: God s Promise to David, 2 Samuel 7: Introduction Promises, promises. Keeping promises is not always easy. Sometimes, people are providentially hindered from keeping a promise an emergency keeps them from being able to fulfill their word. Others never keep their promises. You may know people like this. They promise to go to the movies or spend a day playing video games with you but never show up, and fail to call or text a reason for not living up to their word. You can count on their promises like clockwork, not that they will keep them but they will break them. Promises that are kept are certainly encouraging to us. As discouraging as unkept promises are, those that we know are going to be kept will bring encouragement to us. God has made many promises in His Word, some that pertain to us today and some that don t. God keeps all of His promises. He is a God of His Word (Hebrews 6:18). The promise that is the focus of this lesson is not for us in that God was only going to make a great nation through Theologians believe the Bible contains more than five thousand promises, many of which remain good for the believer today. 3

4 the lineage of Abraham. How this does affect us is that nation of Israel is still intact today and is the intense target of many nations in the Middle East. That hatred for Israel will one day lead to the anti- Christ making a seven year peace covenant with it that he will break halfway through, leading to many Jews losing their lives and eventually to the Battle of Armageddon. All of this should encourage us because the predictions of the end times are being fulfilled in our time. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. Luke 19:17 What should we learn? God has to get us out of our comfort zones to be used of Him. Terah was the name of Abram s father. That name means delay. We have to get past those obstacles that would delay God s blessings in our lives, even our families. 1. The Command (Genesis 12:1) Often God gives people directives to follow before He allows them to enjoy the fruitfulness of their obedience. In the Parable of the Ten Pounds, Jesus declared to the faithful servant, And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17). God requires our unquestioning obedience to His commands. We have, as members of local, New Testament churches, the command to be faithful witnesses for the Lord (Matthew 28:18-20). Until we are faithful in telling others about Jesus, we truly cannot be used of God in a greater way. That premise was true with Abram as well. The Lord spoke with Abram and told him to leave his family s home in Ur and go to a destination unknown to him. Ur, located on the southern end of Mesopotamia, was not a godly place. It was a metropolitan city where idol worship was the norm (Joshua 24:2). Terah, Abram s father, did, however, leave Ur to go to Haran taking his family with him (Genesis 11:31). God saw the potential in Abram and chose him to follow this command to leave the comfort of his father s house and the idolatry of his father s gods. Truly, we can know from this command that God does not call the qualified but qualifies the called. 2. The Promise (Genesis 12:2) God made Abram an offer too good for him to refuse. If God had stopped after the first verse, that should have been enough for Abram to have followed, but by continuing with the promise of verse 2, it definitely was too great an offer for Abram not to accept. Consider the fourfold promise: I will make of thee a great nation. Though Abram had to leave his country, God had 4

5 something better for him. Abram would become the father of a great nation. This had to be music to the ears of Abram because his wife, Sarai, to that point had not been able to have children (Genesis 11:30). For this to be true, Abram had to have faith that Sarai would bear children. I will bless thee. For leaving his home, his family and his friends, God promised Abram that he would be blessed. The word bless means to enrich in some manner. This is the first time the word bless is used in Scripture. And make thy name great. The name Abraham is one of the most reverential names in Jewish history. He is considered their father. The ultimate fulfilling of this promise will come through Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:9-11). And thou shalt be a blessing. Not only would Abram be blessed, but those who came into contact with him would also be blessed. The Gentiles, in particular, would be blessed through Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:14). 3. The Assurance (Genesis 12:3) Many times deals are made with businesses that contain incentives. For instance, a salesman often is given a salary with a commission for his sales. That commission is incentive for the salesman to do his very best. The fourfold promise to Abram came with an incentive that God would always be on the side of His nation. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee (Genesis 12:3). We can look throughout history and see this assurance by God to Abram in effect. Nations rise and fall because of their treatment of Israel. The United States has been a very blessed nation because of its treatment of the people of Israel. To this point in history, the U.S. has remained an ally of Israel since the Jewish nation s revival in In recent years, the U.S. has begun to let its morality slip and has become disobedient to God. If this country turns its back on Israel, it will lose the privilege of God s blessing. This promise to Abram is often called the Abrahamic Covenant. A covenant is more than a promise. A covenant with God has the pledge of God with it. This covenant of God had the pledge of God to take care of Abram s people forever. The word curse is used often in a formula with bless, it seems to be the opposite of bless.when used in these formulas, it reveals how one violates the commands of God and a person s relationship with God. ABA Commentary, Spring, The Obedience (Genesis 12:4, 5) Abram didn t waste time in obeying God. Delayed obedience would have been disobedience. That is true in our relationship with God, but it is also true in our earthly relationships. Not to obey your parents in a timely fashion is to be in complete 5

6 The departure from Haran marked the second stage in Abram s response to God s call. That occurred when he was seventy-five years old and was probably after the death of his father. God told Abram to leave his country and kindred. While his response might not have been immediate, he was moving in the right direction. ABA Commentary, Spring, 2001 disobedience. A command to clean your room does not mean next week unless your parent(s) specifies that. Even with Abram, though, we only see partial obedience. He may have walked by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) to a degree, but he was told to leave his family. Instead, he allowed his nephew Lot to come with him. He was not completely ready to sever those ties. At this point, he pictures children of God who are not ready to leave the pleasures of the world completely in order to follow God. Abram will eventually pay for his failure to completely obey and so will the child of God to obey. Application Think about someone famous whom you think has accomplished great things. Maybe that person is an actor or actress, a singer or a politician. None of his earthly accomplishments is truly lasting. When God calls a man, woman, boy or girl, He empowers him to do things that are truly lasting. What can you do that will have a lasting effect? Lead somebody into a personal relationship with Christ, and he will have eternal life. That s greater than any song ever written, any movie ever made or any law ever enacted. Eternal life is permanent. 6