I think that every person questions their purpose in life. Everyone seeks the meaning of life and what to know why he or she is here. Further, we try to do things in life that will give us fulfillment and satisfaction. Many times we think that we cannot find satisfaction because we do not have enough resources. For example, we may think that if we …

One of the teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples was that it was necessary and important for him to go to the Father. You may remember Jesus telling his disciples that he must go away and where he is going they cannot follow. Why was it so important for Jesus to leave and ascend to the Father? The ascension of Jesus is sometimes not considered…

We started our series on Discipleship a few weeks back and we are looking at what the apostle Paul says to the Galatians about what it looks like to follow Jesus. We began with Paul telling us that this is a winnable war against the sins of the flesh. Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). We talked a…

…The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. (Isaiah 61:1–2 ESV) Isaiah pro…

David’s desire was to assemble all Israel together in worship as God was coming to be with his people in Jerusalem. After a failed attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 13), David has inquired of the Lord and brought the ark successfully to Jerusalem because he followed the instructions given concerning the ark (1 Chronicles 15…

One of the key messages of the scriptures that the religious world seems to forget is that our first priority is worship. In 1 Chronicles, the first thing we see King David desiring to do after taking the throne and settling his kingdom is to worship the Lord. Our morning and evening lessons today are going to be about worship. David shows us that …

The title of our lesson is, “Why We Don’t Repent.” Why don’t we repent? Why don’t we have radical repentance? But this is not a question that merely I am asking each of us. It is a question that God is asking. Listen to how God presents his case to his people in Jeremiah 8. You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise …

I have an important question for you as we begin our lesson today. What gives you confidence that you are right with God? What would you point to so that you know that you are in right standing with God? As you think about this, I would like for you to open your copies of God’s word to the book of Jeremiah and we are going to look at Jeremiah 7. Je…

We noticed in the prior lesson that 1 Chronicles is quickly bringing us to the life of David. After moving through an important genealogy in which accounts of faithfulness and unfaithfulness are recorded to show the people how to move forward and remind them of their past. Moving forward with God means not breaking faith. King Saul’s kingship and d…

We have been looking at some common problems people experience in which they go through a deconstruction of their faith. This series is put forward as a way to help reconstruct the faith of those who are considering leaving God, leaving Jesus, leaving the faith, leaving the church, or leaving the scriptures. In our lesson we talked about the challe…

We are beginning a new series for these two months called Restoring The Fallen. One of the amazing pictures about God is that he did not send all of his prophets condemning his people for their wickedness, only to leave them forever. God sent his prophets and his people rejected God’s message. So the people were punished and taken into exile. Yet G…

We are in a series called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. My goal in this series to answer some of the questions that I have seen and heard people facing, which is moving people to consider leaving the Lord, leaving the faith, leaving the scriptures, or leaving the church. In this lesson I want to talk about the church. There are a number …

We have the tendency to drown out noise that becomes loud and repetitive. Car alarms fall into this category. We hear a car alarm and after a few seconds we can ignore its sounds. You might have seen parents do this with their screaming or nagging children. The child is just yelling but the parent does not even to seem to notice it anymore. But it …

We have been in a series called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. Our effort has been to consider some of the common reasons people question their faith and walk away from God, Jesus, the scriptures, or the faith. As I noted in the first lesson, there is not any way for me to address every concern that people have. But I wanted to talk about…

When we were children, it was fun to pretend. I used to watch cartoons and pretend to be the characters that I saw in those cartoons. Halloween is a time for children to pretend to be something that they cannot be in real life. It is fun to be able to pretend. But Jeremiah has a message for people who are pretending with God. Jeremiah is a prophet …

We have been spending time in this series working through deconstruction. What I mean by deconstruction is that something happens that causes us to reconsider our Christian beliefs. I would like to remind us from the first lesson that we should always be rechecking our beliefs in light of the scriptures to make sure that we are believing what God s…

How do you forgive a person who has ruined your life? How do you forgive people who have spent their lives working harm and evil against you? We have a saying, “Time heals all wounds.” I don’t know that “heal” is the right word. Maybe the word “forgets” may be more accurate because once the harm is brought back to mind, the hurt from the wound quic…

We are in a series in which we are looking at deconstructing and reconstructing faith. What I mean when I say “deconstruction” is that something happens in your life that causes you to reevaluate your faith and your understanding of Christianity. Then, sometimes that reevaluation leads to a complete abandonment of the faith. The reason for this ser…

Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt. The brothers have changed over the years and now are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their brother, Benjamin. Joseph has invited his family to move to Egypt where Joseph promises that he can care for them during the famine. Joseph told them that there were five more years of the …

We are starting a new series today called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. Right now there are many who have grown up in pews of various Christian denominations and churches who are going through a process that they call “deconstruction.” Brian Zahnd defines deconstruction as “a crisis of Christian faith that leads to either a reevaluation …

Joseph’s brothers are back in Egypt to buy grain for the family due to the severe famine occurring at that time. Joseph enacts his plan to keep Benjamin with him. He has his silver cup placed in his bag and sends the brothers away, fully expecting the brothers to abandon Benjamin like they did to him. Joseph likely sees himself as trying to rescue …

No text available. The post The Righteous Live By Faith appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.By Casey Gray

Preparing To Return (Genesis 43:1-14) The famine continues in its severity over the earth. Pharaoh’s dream revealed that it would be a seven year famine that would wipe any abundance accumulating during the seven years of prosperity. The grain that Jacob’s son purchased in Egypt has run out as we come to Genesis 43. Jacob instructs the sons to go b…

I would like to draw your attention to Matthew 27. As you are turning, I want to make an important point as we begin this morning. This lesson is not delivered because of the time found on our calendars. Every Sunday we come together to celebrate and remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are doing nothing different this Sun…

Joseph has experienced a major turn around in his life. What looked like a life ruined by his brothers hatred and jealousy has been dramatically reversed by God. Joseph went from prisoner to prime minister in a matter of moments in Genesis 41. At 30 years old, Joseph is running Egypt and only Pharaoh is greater than him. But there is a subtle remin…

As we return to Matthew 27 we are in the midst of a horrifying scene. Jesus has been crucified and now hangs from the cross, suspended in the air by nails in his hands and feet. He has been crucified between two other criminals. The scene before us is a scene of shame and mockery. People are passing by on their way in and out of the city of Jerusal…

We are looking at where God is in the midst of suffering. We are looking for these answers through lens of the life of Joseph. Joseph now finds himself in a prison but he is innocent. Joseph has done nothing worthy of being imprisoned. Nothing has gone right for Joseph in his life. Joseph did what his father told him to do, yet his brothers hated h…

Jesus has been condemned by the crowd. Barabbas has been released to the people and Jesus has been scourged in preparation for his crucifixion. But it will not be as simple as going out to the place of his execution. The Roman soldiers now will take a turn with Jesus. The Roman soldiers bring Jesus inside and gather a whole company of soldiers arou…

What an unexpected turn of events Joseph has just experienced! Joseph is 17 years old and his older brothers hate him. They hate him so much that they want to kill him. But rather than kill him, they sell him to some passing traders, figuring he will not survive what is in store for him. God had given Joseph dreams that showed that he would have au…

Condemned by the Sanhedrin council, Jesus is bound and led away to stand before Pilate, the governor of the region of Judea (Matthew 27:1-2). Now you have to appreciate what the Jewish leaders have to do to get Jesus before Pilate. Pilate is a Roman governor and would have no concern if Jesus called himself their Messiah or blasphemed their God or …

We are beginning a new series today called God In The Midst of Suffering. One of the hardest aspects of trials and suffering is wondering where God is in the moment. It does not look like God is with us. It does not feel like God is with us. So we are going to spend our time in this series looking for God in the midst of suffering. Our source text …

Jesus has been arrested and taken to the high priest where a trial has started. The trial is not a seeking of the truth. The trial is to find false witnesses that will give a false testimony about Jesus so that the ruling Jewish council can have him executed. All of the disciples abandoned Jesus at his arrest and ran away. However, we are told that…

In Jeremiah 3 God is explaining why the people’s lack of guilt and shame has been a problem to the relationship. We noticed in our last lesson that God expects us to experience guilt and shame so that we will have clarity about what we have done, be genuine about our sin which then will ultimately lead to a true repentance rather than stubbornness.…

It is a secluded place in the darkness of the middle of the night. Jesus and his disciples are on the Mount of Olives. They have been told that they were all going to fall away tonight. Jesus has spent this time preparing with prayer. The disciples have spent this time sleeping. But now the moment has arrived. As Jesus tells his disciples that his …

Open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 3. As you are turning to this place in the scriptures, I want to remind you about what the prophet Jeremiah is doing. God has called Jeremiah to preach to the nation of Judah, the southern nation that remained after Assyria destroyed the northern nation, Israel. Jeremiah has been telling the people about h…

Jesus has designated that Judas will be his betrayer. After sending him away, Jesus has taken the Passover and reconstituted it into a new memorial in which the disciples will remember his body and his blood of the covenant. The disciples are instructed to remember his sacrifice and remember the effect of his sacrifice. It is now late at night and …

We have been looking at the meaning of the blood of the covenant. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, called his disciples together and instituted the Lord’s Supper as a permanent memorial. As we have been studying the scriptures we have been seeing that the blood of the covenant has a rich meaning for God’s people. This will be our final lesson i…

In our last lesson we carefully considered the purpose and meaning of the memorial Jesus gave to us. In Matthew 26 we saw that Jesus is living during his final hours. During the Passover time Jesus gave a memorial so that we would remember him and what he accomplished for us. But before we move forward in the account, I think it is important to spe…

We have been spending our time looking at the meaning of the blood of the covenant. The reason this is an important study is because Jesus proclaimed that when we take the cup in the Lord’s Supper, that cup is representing his blood of the covenant. We looked at the use of this term in Exodus 24 and Zechariah 9. But today we are going to look at ho…

We are reading the last days of Jesus’ life on earth. The chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people have been plotting to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. However, they do not want to do this during the Passover to prevent an uproar from happening. But an opportunity has presented itself to them. One of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot, …

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night when he was betrayed, he called for his disciples to remember him and proclaim his death until he returned. When Jesus took the unleavened bread, he said to his disciples to eat the bread, remembering that this was his body given for them. But then he took the cup after eating the bread. In every…

Matthew 26 begins the final act of this gospel’s recording of Jesus’ life. You see this in the first verse of Matthew 26 with the words, “When Jesus had finished all these sayings.” This is the fifth and final time that Matthew marks off his gospel in this way. Our setting is the final week of Jesus’ life. Up to this point Jesus has been telling hi…

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night when he was betrayed, he called for his disciples to remember him and proclaim his death until he returned. When Jesus took the unleavened bread, he said to his disciples to eat the bread, remembering that this was his body given for them. But then he took the cup after eating the bread. In every…

This is our final lesson on how to have a fresh, renewed faith for the new year. The Lord has been announcing important truths to the people about their spiritual condition. However, the people have questioned those declarations, not seeing their own sinful condition. The Lord has then given remedies for the people so that they can return to the Lo…

We have been looking at how to have a renewed, fresh faith for the new year. Our text that we have been considering is from the prophecy of Malachi. God has making statements about the faith problems of the people. But the people are questioning everything God says because they do not believe they have a spiritual problem. So God continues to work …

We have been looking at what a life of sin does to us from Jeremiah 2. The people had expressed the feeling that they were captured by their sins and it was hopeless to return to the Lord. In Jeremiah 2 God is describing to the people what their sins have done to them. We are using these descriptions to help us be strong in the Lord and combat sin.…

We have been spending this month talking about how to have a fresh, renewed faith for the new year. Everyone likes the opportunity to restart. It is one reason we look forward to a new year. It is the chance to have a better year than the prior year. This is a time of year when people talk more about Jesus’ coming. However, there is not much talk a…

We are looking at how to overcome sin addiction from the second chapter of Jeremiah. We are seeing this problem expressed in Jeremiah 2:25. Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, “It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!” (Jeremiah …

We have been looking at how to renew our faith for the new year. We look forward to a new year in hope of having a better year. As we think about the upcoming year, we are looking at how we can have an improved, deeper faith for 2024 and we are looking at this through the lens of Malachi. Malachi records that the people are questioning God. They do…

We are going to have a short series called Overcoming Sin Addiction and we are going to look at how to do this from the second chapter of Jeremiah. I would like you to take your copies of God’s word and turn to Jeremiah 2. The series theme comes from what God says through Jeremiah in verses 23-25. “You are a swift she-camel running here and there, …