Text: Luke 2:9-11 What is Christmas? Celebration / commemoration of the birth of Jesus (also called the nativity) Origins (brief history) — all dates you will find are after the first century (this is significant) Earliest evidence of a celebration for Jesus’ birth on December 25th is in the middle of the 4th century Current [...]

Text: Genesis 8-9 Noah Went Out of the Ark (Genesis 8:18-19) What happened before he went out? (Genesis 8:1-13) — rain stopped (8:2), water receded (8:3), ark came to rest (8:4), sent out raven (8:7), sent out dove three times (8:8-12), saw dry ground (8:13) Notice the timeline — entered ark (7:1-4), rains came (7:11), [...]

Text: Luke 7:2-10 What prompted Jesus to say, “Not even in Israel have I found such great faith” (Luke 7:9)? Let us consider what Jesus describes as “great faith.” Great Faith Recognizes One’s Own Unworthiness (v. 6-7) We must understand our insignificance in Creation (Psalm 8:3-4) We must understand our state as sinners (Romans 3:23) [...]

Text: Leviticus 19 Chapter begins with a call for holiness (v. 2; cf. 1 Peter 1:15-16) — What will holiness look like? Honor God Keep My sabbaths (v. 3,30) — consistent, ongoing action; reminded them of God’s work in creation (Exodus 20:8-11) Revere My sanctuary (v. 30) — respect the place of worship; specifically for [...]

Text: Leviticus 10:1-3 God Must Be Treated As Holy He is worthy of such treatment (Revelation 4:11; Jeremiah 10:10; Exodus 20:2) We honor God through careful obedience (John 17:4; 14:15) What Did Nadab & Abihu Get Wrong? Strange fire “which He had not commanded them” (v. 1) — important principle of authority & silence (Hebrews [...]

Four Questions for Our Assemblies: Why do we do what we do in the assembly? … Commands — NT pattern, what has been revealed How do we do it? … Traditions — custom Is there a way we can do it better? … Expedients — improve what we do to be more effective Are there [...]

Text: Matthew 16:18 I Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16) He is our Savior (2 Timothy 1:10), King (John 18:36-37), and is Deity (John 1:1) This is important because Jesus’ identity would be the foundation of His church (Matthew 16:18) Will Indicates a future time when His plan would [...]

Text: Romans 16:16 Note: This is not intended to endorse every congregation that wears the name “church of Christ.” For the purpose of this outline, the “churches of Christ” are those who are faithfully following the New Testament pattern. Not Based on Our Name Many churches of Christ do not follow the NT pattern (Revelation [...]

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:16-34 Churches of God (v. 16) Similar to Paul’s mention of the “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16) Can we do anything we want as long as the congregation agrees to it? … No — we’re still accountable to God/Christ Required to act by His authority (Colossians 3:17) This is why sound churches [...]

Text: Isaiah 33:22 Judicial Branch — “The Lord is our judge” Christ will judge each of us (2 Corinthians 5:10) He is fit to be our judge — unbiased (Acts 10:34-35), knows & understands the law (John 1:14) He has the exclusive right to judge us (Colossians 2:16-17,20-22) Legislative Branch — “The Lord is our [...]