Junior High Quarterly

Transcription

1 Baptist Training Course Junior High Quarterly The Will of God Quarterly Aim: The student will conclude that God has a purpose or will for every person. Lesson 1, March 4, 2018 The Will of God in Salvation Lesson 2, March 11, 2018 The Will of God in Prayer... 7 Lesson 3, March 18, 2018 The Will of God in Obedience...11 Lesson 4, March 25, 2018 The Will of God in Worship...15 Lesson 5, April 1, 2018 The Will of God in Sacrifice...19 Lesson 6, April 8, 2018 The Will of God in Praise Lesson 7, April 15, 2018 The Will of God in Godliness Lesson 8, April 22, 2018 The Will of God in Knowledge Lesson 9, April 29, 2018 The Will of God in Thanksgiving...35 Lesson 10, May 6, 2018 The Will of God in Patience...39 Lesson 11, May 13, 2018 The Will of God in Suffering...43 Lesson 12, May 20, 2018 The Will of God in Security...47 Lesson 13, May 27, 2018 The Will of God in Relationships...51 Vol. 83, No. 2, Spring Quarter, Outlines by Don Price Editor in Chief: Kyle W. Elkins, kyle.elkins@bogardstore.org Business Manager: Wayne Sewell, wayne.sewell@bogardstore.org 2018, 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 December He also has served as a faculty member at Louisiana Mis sionary Baptist Institute and Seminary in Minden, LA, since He received his Doctor of Theology degree from LMBIS in the Spring of Dr. 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 2

3 LESSON 1, March 4, 2018 The Will of God in Salvation APPLICATION The student will discover it is God s will that all will be saved. SCRIPTURES TO READ Text: 1 Timothy 2:3-6. Related Scripture: Matthew 4:17; 11:28-30; 18:14; Mark 2:1, 2; Luke 19:10; John 3:1-10; 4:28-34; 5:24, 40; 6:26-29; 10:10. Devotional Reading: Sadly, Many Never See, Believe or Accept the Son of God, John 6: Getting Started Have you ever considered life after death? The whole idea of living after dying has been the one question with which all people throughout the centuries have grappled. Some, like the Egyptians, have had their own way of preparing their dead for eternal life. For the Egyptians, the pathway to eternal life was one filled with dangers, demons and false trails, so a person had to be well prepared. The Book of the Dead provided instructions, tips and incantations for the soul on their journey to the unknown. The book was often excerpted on coffins and tombs, or the complete scrolls might be placed in the tomb. The last ordeal on the path to eternity was the weighing of the deceased s heart. This would determine his fitness for joining the land of the gods. A heart that was too heavy was devoured by a monster and the spirit would be banished into the darkness. It all sounds strange. The Bible does not speak of any danger on the pathway to eternal life, but it says that every person can receive the eternal gift of the Savior, who personally took upon Himself the sin debt of the world so that we can have eternal life. The question isn t a matter of the amount of sin within us, but the faith in the Savior in us that counts. The gods aren t opposed to us. The one and only God desires that we live eternally with Him. Why do some people think that God hates them and only wants to punish them? Why do you think it is God s will that people be saved? Why do so many people choose not to believe Jesus is the only way to God? 3

4 We believe that the depraved sinner is saved wholly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3-5; John 3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8, 9), and that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, regenerates, seals, secures, and indwells every believer (John 3:6; John 16:8, 9; Rom. 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5). Article 14, ABA Doctrinal Statement We can always be assured that prayer not only changes our situations, but it changes us as well. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 The Bible and Salvation The Bible is a book of salvation. The word salvation appears one hundred sixty-four times in one hundred fifty-eight verses, not very often when you consider there are some twenty-three thousand verses in the Bible. But even if the word isn t used very often, the theme of the Bible is that we can have eternal life in Jesus. To have salvation means to be delivered. In the biblical sense, salvation is deliverance from death unto life. It explicitly means pulling them out of the fire (Jude 23), a reference to the lake of fire in which hell will eventually be cast (Revelation 20:14). The way of salvation from hell is found by faith in Jesus Christ (John 10:9; 11:25; 14:6). The Bible Lesson The apostle Paul may have been the greatest evangelist, outside of Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. He certainly was a great missionary, planting churches throughout the Roman empire. He was writing to a young preacher named Timothy to whom Paul was a mentor. Timothy was already saved when Paul arrived at Lystra. Timothy joined Paul on the second missionary journey. (See Acts 16:1, 2.) He later became the pastor of the church at Ephesus, where false teaching was a problem, and Paul was writing to help Timothy combat it. 1. God s Will for All To Be Saved (1 Timothy 2:3, 4) Paul began his first letter to Timothy by speaking to the young pastor about the task at hand in Ephesus and a charge that Timothy would be a soldier in the battle for Christ (1 Timothy 1:18-20). Then he begins the second chapter with an exhortation for Timothy to commit to praying for all men, especially those who are in authority (2 Timothy 2:1, 2). Paul knew the power of prayer and its ability to change circumstances. Though the average Christian did not like the way the Romans governed, they still needed to intercede on their behalf so that they could lead as quiet and peaceable lives as possible. We should make prayer for our leaders a priority as well today. That prayer, however, should not be a selfish prayer. While leading a quiet and peaceable life is important, it is of greater importance that those leaders come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That s the will of God (1 Timothy 2:4). Peter declared that the reason the Lord has not returned yet is because His will is that all men might be saved (2 Peter 3:9). We are not living on our timetable; we are living on the Lord s timetable. God knows who will be saved and who will not be. 4

5 Aren t you glad Jesus did not come back before you were saved? It is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior (1 Timothy 2:3) that we pray for our nation s leaders and all those in authority not only to govern well but to be saved. We should desire a full Heaven (including those we may disagree with politically or socially) and a small hell, populated by no one we know. God loves even that person who is your greatest enemy and does not desire them to be cast into hell. 2. God s Plan of True Salvation (1 Timothy 2:4) Paul s statement that God desires all people to come unto the knowledge of the truth (verse 4) is proof that Timothy would deal with false teachers in his time. Many people in our time believe in many ways to get to Heaven. One very popular and powerful television host a decade ago declared to her audience that there can t possibly be just one way (to God). Many in her audience agreed. Yet, that flies in the face of what Jesus declared in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. A false teacher doesn t have to be one who stands in a pulpit somewhere. Television is full of false teachers who never appear on any of the religious channels. The true plan of salvation goes through Jesus Christ alone. A person can only be genuinely saved when he accepts the truth as taught in the Word of God. Any other so-called truth is false. Paul told the Galatians, who were being subverted by false teaching leading them away from the gospel, that any other gospel (Galatians 1:6) is false and any who teaches or accepts it should be accursed (verses 6-9). No matter how intellectual any argument sounds, remember it is preaching of the gospel by which men, women, boys and girls are eternally saved. 3. God s Son Is the Savior (1 Timothy 2:5, 6) Anybody who says there is another way to God other than Jesus Christ is taking away from work that Jesus did at the cross (verse 6). If there is another way, then Jesus suffered agony and death for no real reason. He died in vain, just a misguided man on a misguided mission. But Jesus is the one and only Son of God who came into this world to be the ransom for all (verse 6). His payment on the cross for our sin, which had the penalty of death (Romans 6:23), forever settled the issue of how can humanity get to God the Creator. Jesus is the Savior of the world. That Savior is the only Mediator needed to bridge the gap between God and man. He sits today at the right hand of the Father ever ready to intercede on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25). You don t need a preacher, a priest or a pope to inter In spite of claims to the contrary, God does not have a predisposition to a particular group of people. No matter who they are, people in general have been provided the sacrifice of Christ. Behaving in the House of God: The Pastoral Epistles ABA Lesson Commentary, Spring 2008 The word accursed in Galatians 1 speaks of eternal damnation. God does not play when it comes to the truth. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). 5

6 cede for you. Unlike popular belief, none of them has lived a perfect life and is infallible in every area. Only Jesus has and is. Only He should be the One we seek and worship. The Lesson and You It is God s will for you to be saved. God is not a deity who wants to make your life especially hard or difficult. He doesn t want to punish you or send you to hell. That is not His desire for you. His desire for you is that you trust in Jesus Christ and be saved. After that, His desire for you is that you see that He loves everyone else and wants them to be saved. You can be that agent who shares the truth to the lost people you know and help them to be saved. How well are you doing God s will? 6