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| I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe in him. Ephesians 1:19 |
| Adult Median Class.... |
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Welcome to the Median Adult Class webpage, but don’t let the name fool you, we welcome adults of all ages. If you desire to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ, please join us Sunday mornings from 9:30 – 10:40 a.m. in the fellowship hall. ~ Dean CURRENT STUDY: |
If you know of anyone in need of ministry, (physical, spiritual, or other) please contact the church office at: 877-6813, blakeoadbaptistchurch@msn.com or you can click here. |
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| Prior Studies: (Click on the title to go there) + Lessons from Downpour by James McDonald |
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(February 7) After a quick review of where we left off last week (loyalty), we talked about ways Satan could take advantage of believers who have not resolved the issue of loyalty to God. Ways included that he could tempt you for things you really like, seduce you away, ‘Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ’ Colossians 2:8, confuse them through so called “experts”, authors, etc. and lead them astray, and if you don’t determine loyalty beforehand you are wishy washy. We then identified fires we might face that force us to make a split-second decision to remain loyal to Christ. The conversation revolved around work situations and persecutions we face every day. This lead into a discussion on why a “not an option” mind-set could save us a lot of stress. Responses included that you wouldn’t have to think about it, you wouldn’t end up looking like a hypocrite, and if you predetermined you will not be weighing the costs. After a volunteer read Daniel 3:24-30, participants shared what they found most amazing about this event. A couple of observations included the 4th person – that the king recognized Him as Jesus, and that the king still believed in other gods. We then discussed the three scenarios from day 5 and examples of each (page 129): 1. We can be delivered from the fire and our faith is built. • Getting cancer, being healed, seeing the resultant increased faith. 2. We can be delivered through the fire and our faith is refined. • The persecuted church. • Fires burn all the time. • Discussed how many church members are going through fires right now. 3. We can be delivered by the fire into His arms and our faith is perfected. • Discussed the recent losses in our congregation and how they have gone home to be with the Lord. We also talked about how Jesus is with us in each of these scenarios. We looked at the last activity of day 5 (page 130) to learn how Romans 8:38-39 describe the predetermined loyalty of God. God will not be separated from us; nothing has the power to separate us from Him. In relation to the three scenarios we looked at what God’s role is and what our role is. God’s role – building, refining and perfecting our faith. Our role – set an example, walk the path, trust Him and not consider other options, and remain faithful. To begin the next lesson (beginning on page 133) we discussed what the point of giving your testimony is. Responses included: ? Encourage and build up. ? Glorify God. ? Let them know you are not perfect. ? Show what Christ has done for you. ? Strengthen your faith and others’ faith. We also discussed the most moving testimony they’ve ever heard and how a testimony doesn’t have to be dramatic to be effective. We then learned that we were going to look at an effective testimony from an unlikely source. We began by looking at the 1st activity of day one (page 133). Here we learned, from Daniel 4:1-3, that Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony was addressed to ‘all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on earth’. We ended this week by looking at how he felt about sharing his testimony and why. Responses included that he wanted everyone to hear, he was pleased to tell them, and his focus changed. It was also discussed that in these passages it seems like he is still focused on himself. However, verse 34 reveals that Nebuchadnezzar ‘lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever’. The verses prior to this (4-33) are his testimony of how God’s word was revealed to him and how His word was fulfilled. |
| February 14 – Picking up from last week’s lesson on testimonies, we discussed how some testimonies focus on the testifiers’ fame rather than God’s. Ways included that the focus is on what they did, not what God did through them, and that they don’t always give all the credit to God. An example was that more emphasis is put on the prayer rather than on God’s answering the prayer. We then came up with some basic principles about effective testimonies from Daniel 4:1-3. • Proclaim to all who will listen. • Have a thankful and grateful heart. • Focus on what God has done. • Focus on who God is. We then learned that testimonies begin with stating where we were. From Daniel 4:4 we learned that king Nebuchadnezzar was “fat and happy at home”. We completed the 1st activity of day 2 (pg 136), which looked at how our culture defines: Contented: happy with what you have, having all we want, and lacking ambition, a loser. Prosperous: lots of money, having more than we want. This led into a discussion on why being contented and prosperous can be just as devastating a situation as being addicted or depressed. Responses included that it can create arrogance, pride, a focus on self, selfish ambition, and that your security is not in God but rather material things, position, etc. we then discussed what real living is. Answers for this included being content and secure with where you are at, Paul’s statement in Philippians 4:11 (not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content) and 4:13 (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me), and using time wisely according to God’s will. To look into this further, we discussed the activities involving Hebrews 12:26-29 (pg 136) and Psalm 62:1-2 (pg 137). The Hebrews activity looked at why God allows things in our world to “shake” at times. Responses included to show what is unshakable, so we don’t become content, and to show He’s the only unshakable thing. The activity regarding Psalm 62 asked how the psalm conveyed the concept of authentic seleh (a life that has finally discovered a means of security in which it can contentedly rest – Beth Moore, pg 136). Answers included rest in the Lord when everything else is moving, at ease. We then learned that testimonies continue with this is what I was like. After reading Daniel 4:5-9 we looked at how Nebuchadnezzar was the same and yet different from his dream episode we studied in chapter 2. Some ways that he was still the same were that his dream troubled him and he still called all the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers to try and interpret the dream instead of going straight to Daniel. He is different in that he doesn’t want to kill all the wise men, and that he is recognizing Daniel’s God as real and is with him and is able to interpret the dream. We then looked at the activity on page 138 exploring how we can tell that King Nebuchadnezzar still didn’t get the picture (he was still worshipping other gods). This, of course, led to a discussion on why we don’t learn the 1st time. Responses included that we don’t want to, we need a bigger knock upside the head, and that God uses a process to achieve a complete and sincere turnaround of our heart. We also discussed how Daniel might have felt when after 30 years Nebuchadnezzar still didn’t grasp that there is only one Most High God. Participants shared that he probably wasn’t surprised, frustrated, it was dependent on his relationship with God, probably prayed for him (the king) a lot. After discussing the 2nd activity of day 3 (pg 139), we looked at what we can learn from Daniel about how to deal with stubborn people who just keep missing spiritual truths. Responses included that we are powerless to force people to accept the one true God but we need to keep telling the truth, and that we need to pray. We ended this week by discussing what warnings from Nebuchadnezzar’s life we can apply to ourselves. Warnings included: • If we don’t get what God is warning, He will increase the intensity. • He will get your attention one way or another. |
We started this week (February 28) by using the material in day 1 to explore how scripture is without error in identifying Belshazzar as the king at that time. We learned from the material that there is evidence that demonstrates that Belshazzar was both son of and co-regent with Nabonidus, who was absent from Babylon for 10 of his 17 years. This co-regency explains why Belshazzar could offer third highest ruler in the kingdom. (pg 145) Then, after reading Daniel 5:1-4, we looked at how Belshazzar’s actions demonstrated his belief in the Babylon motto (I am, and there is none besides me). Responses were that he was arrogant and that he used holy vessels in an unholy way. We also shared present day examples of treating the holy as unholy. These included: • Abortion • People worshipping actors, actresses, and athletes’ • How we treat things in the church – hymnals, chairs, etc. • Defile our hearts and treat them as unholy • Defile our bodies through what we eat, music we listen to, movies we watch, etc. We then read 2 Tim. 2:20-21 and identified the holy vessels in God’s church as us, the believers. We then learned that just as Belshazzar used God’s holy vessels to toast their unholy gods, so Satan attempts to use God’s holy children to toast unholy causes. Next we read through and discussed the following questions from day 2 (pg 147). • Have we, the people of God who are called to be builders of home and church, ever been used by the enemy to tear them down? • Have we been used by the Enemy to cause others either to stumble or to have less faith? • Were we once cynics and scoffers in regard to spiritual things that are now dear to us? • Do we fear we may have influenced others adversely before we changed and don’t know how to make up for it? • Have we treated someone dishonorably even though we were Christians, and now it’s too late to fix it? This led into the question of why it would be to Satan’s advantage to make us think we’re common rather than consecrated. Responses included that a common vessel is not consecrated and that we will feel that God cannot use us even though we are set apart for a special purpose. We then looked at the statement that we must remember that God will not overlook the mistreatment of His holy vessels – either by Belshazzar, Satan, or us. From Daniel 5:5-9 we learned of Belshazzar’s response to God’s message – he was scared, his hip joints shook, knees knocked together, and according to one participant probably lost control of his bowels. We also identified the 1st inappropriate response Christians have to allowing themselves to be used for unholy purposes (according to Beth Moore), that is a lack of repentance. We looked at reasons Christians may not repent, which included they don’t want to, not ready, cherish the sin, it felt good, and it is unrecognized sin. We also considered some damages unrepentant sin can cause. Responses included a hardened heart, become just like the world, and the Lord won’t listen. Next we looked at the fact that the Israelites caused the unholy use of God’s vessels in the first place because the temple articles would not have been in Babylon if the Israelites had not disobeyed God and embraced their pagan culture. We shared examples of how a high regard for worldly things causes a lowering regard for God. These included that they become idols, priorities change, cannot serve 2 masters, and you have to let go of Godly things to pursue worldly things. We also looked at the kind of sorrow that is essential for people to get out of captivity and again become useful as God’s holy vessels. It is a Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. We ended this week by reading Daniel 5:10-17, and identifying the queen as either Nebuchadnezzar’s wife or daughter, someone who would have had a personal knowledge of Daniel. |