What Did You Learn In Church Today?

The sermon was on God's covenant w/ Noah & humanity after the Flood.

The rainbow reminds us all life is precious to God. God commands all life be precious to us.
We are responsible to produce & multiply human life thru God's original design, to have a purposeful value for plant & animal life, & to establish a society capable of protecting human life.

Isilwen said:

Nothing. I haven't been to church in a few years due to my divorce and the fact that I get my kids on the weekends and she doesn't want them going to my church. Since she has the final say on religious upbringing, it leaves me out of going to church.

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That's horrible

Sermon was on II Corinthians. Corinth was a prominent & affluent city in the first century. The apostle Paul was deeply vested in the life of its church.

Paul wrote to express joy in the response of the believers there, to encourage a generous collection for the church in Jerusalem, & to warn them regarding the presence of false teachers.

A key theme is faith, not sight. Suffering produces compassion & allows us to enter into the suffering of others. Our weakness highlights God's power. Trials provide opportunity to validate our commitment to others. Brokenness brings us to repent. Suffering keeps us humble & centered.

In Sunday School we reviewed the sermon.

I felt really bad this morning but better as the day went on. Now I don't feel as well b/c it never changes so I decided to type up sermon notes:

Colossians was written by Paul from prison, most likely in Rome. The city of Collase had declined in significance by Paul's time. The church there was founded by Epaphras. Paul seemed encouraged w/ how the church was doing.
A threatening philosophy had the potential to deceive because it was presented as a fine sounding argument. It was attractive & had the ability to take believers captive. It was hollow because it depended on human tradition & the elemental & spiritual forces of the world. It venerated angels & gave much attention to the spirit realm. It stressed visions & experiences.
It depended on & elevated human wisdom & experiences as the means to spiritual & fulness in life. It diminished Christ & minimized his significance & work b/c it led people away from depending on him.
The solution is to understand the supremacy of Christ. The supremacy of the kingdom. We have already been delievered into another, better kingdom that is superior to the one that has produced the hollow philosophy.
What transfers to today: anything that minimizes Christ & elevates self is false & dangerous & from hell. It separates us from the head who is Christ.
Know that we are not above being decieved. Do not doubt God's grace or fear that we haven't done enough. Beware of making religous practicies & rules the essence of the faith. Seek fulfillment in him & him alone. Put hostile powers in their place. Do not move. Continue established & firm & do not move from the hope. Find your security & peace in Christ. Your life is now hid with him.
Right philosphy motivates right living. Obedience & holiness is response to God's love. Put off & put on. Do all to God's glory.

Sunday School was about identity. Who am I? The teachers taught about Carl Truman's book. They compared identity to a circus. A circus has a bunch of parts: acts, management, set-up, marketing, etc. But what happens if a circus loses one of those? What if one act starts taking over? They compared identity to a fish bowl. The fish can see everything but not the water in the bowl. They talked about 5 thinkers who have changed society's perception on identity. One who says babies start as blank slates so basically if a baby's born to a Christian they're gonna be Christian, Neitzche who I think said people need to form their own identity & not God, Darwin who says we're all animals, Marx who says everything needs to be torn down to make room for different identities. I don't remember the 5th one.
It was really interesting.

Sermon was on 1 Thessolonians.
Thessolonians is like a basic training manual.
Thessaloncia was the largest city in Macedonia (modern-day Greece).
The church there was established on Paul's 2nd missionary journey. Paul's teaching time was cut short as he was driven out of the city by the Jewish contingent. Out of concern for the new believers who were experiencing intense pressure & militiant opposition, Paul sent Timothy to check on them. Timothy brought back a good report regarding their persistent faith in God & love for one another. Paul wrote 1 Thessolonians to commend them but also to fully establish them in the faith & continue the teaching he had started. He would visit twice again on his 3rd missionary journey.
In the letter he gives thanks for their genuine conversion, reflects on his own ministry there, affirms his love & concern for them, & prays for their continued progress in the gospel.
He exhorts them to live a sexually holy life, a life of mutual love, a respectable life, a life of hope, a vigilant life, a life of mutual submission in the church, & a joyful life.
The letter brings us back to basics.

Sunday school was on creation from Genesis & all the identities given in it. Man, woman, animals, tree of good & evil shows truths, for example. Identities come from God.

Sermon was on 2 Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians was meant to commend the believers & provide additional instruction. 2 Thessalonians was intended to correct a wrong understanding of future events. The letter teaches our great hope. It gives us an eternal perspective. We need to long w/ confidence.
The first section is comfort. Our willingness to suffer for our faith inspires other believers to live by faith. Those who suffer for God's kingdom will be vindicated when the King returns. God continues to carry out his work for his glory & our good.
The 2nd section is correction. Don't be anxious, trust in God's sovereignty, & stand firm knowing the future is secure. God is the one who will establish us & cause us to stand firm.
The 3rd section is conduct. Pray, persevere, work hard, & separate from believers who refuse to obey God's word. God is a God of peace who is able to grant peace even in the midst of suffering.

Sunday school was on the fall of man. We learned the differences between moral evil & natural evil. They are the results of sin. Natural evil is things like cancer. Moral evil is our inability to be like God. Some things not touched on due to time last week: the command to subdue the Earth means to create culture. Also the word when God creates woman helper means rescuer, pillar, or salvation.

1 Timothy helps straighten things out.

Most of Paul’s letters were written to churches, but 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus were written to young pastors. Titus was a Greek, & most likely a believer in the Antioch church. He was a key case study for the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. Paul refers to him as his true son, & also a partner, fellow worker, & trusted representative. Like Timothy, Titus was often left to establish churches Paul had planted. Titus spent time in Corinth & Crete & later Dalmatia.



A healthy church identifies godly & discerning leaders who are able to guard the purity of doctrine. 1 Timothy lists the qualifications & reasons for elders.



A healthy church reflects the gospel in its relationships w/in the congregation. 1 Timothy includes exortation to right behavior for older men & women, younger men & women, & slaves. It gives the basis for right behavior.



A healthy church reflects the gospel in its relationships w/ those outside the congregation. 1 Timothy lists the nature of our conduct to the world, the reason for our conduct to the world, & the importance of our conduct to the world.



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Sunday School we discussed why people feel inadequate about their identity. If they don’t have Christ, what is the best they can hope for? 1 John 3: 2-3 promises a different consummation (endgame).

The sermon was on Philemon. Philemon was a prominent member of the Colossae church. He had a slave named Onesimus who ran away to Rome. While in Rome, he encountered Paul & the Gospel. Since Tychicus was returning to Asia w/ the letters of Ephesians & Collosians, Paul took the opportunity to send Onesimus back to his master with this letter.

Is Paul soft on slavery? Why didn’t he take time to change the culture? Back then when one had debt he owed, he sold himself into slavery to pay back the debt.

The letter shows us shows real-life reconciliation. Onesimus shows us the need for forgiveness. Philemon shows us the need to forgive. & Paul shows us the need to facilitate forgiveness.

The sermon was on Hebrews. Understanding Christ’s superiority will help prevent drift.

You must believe Jesus & the New Covenant are superior. Jesus is the superior revelation of God. He is superior to angels & Moses. He is the superior High Priest. He mediates a superior covenant thru a superior ministry, & his blood & sacrifice are superior to the blood of animal sacrifice.

You must heed the warnings of falling away. The warnings about neglecting the Superior, against unbelief & rebellion, the lack of growth & falling away, & continued & deliberate sin.

You must respond by persevering. Hold fast by faith to what is better.

You must cultiatve attitudes & behaviors that are in line with one who lives under the blessings of the new & superior covenant.

At whatever cost, even to the shedding of their own blood, Hebrews urges to hold on to the uniqueness & finality of Christ, who has gone thru shame & death to the right hand of God.



In Sunday school we discussed sexuality. The focus was on homosexuality, but some applications for me:
The Christian speaker Christopher Yuan says singleness is a gift. He says heterosexuality isn't a Biblical term. Heterosexuality can refer to someone who cheats or someone who sleeps around. The Bible talks about what he calls holy sexuality. There are 2 options: Sexuality is to between a husband & wife, or you have to abstain in singleness. He says it's the church's job to help singles.

The sermon was on 1 Peter. It’s about living as exiles. The letter was written by the apostle Peter. It appears he was writing from Rome. The letter was written to exiles – believers living as a mistreated minority in an antagonistic culture. While estranged from the culture, they were welcomed by God.

The purpose of the letter is when faced w/ antagonism & hostility, believers must look to Christ & conduct themselves w/ courage & grace.

The letter teaches a minority mindset & the believers identity: there’s a new birth, a new inheritance, new security, new perspective, & new privlage.

The letter teaches the believer’s responsibility. General expectations are to live in hope, live to please your heavenly Father, love each other deeply, & embrace your calling. Situational expectations are proper conduct in society, the workplace, & in the family.

The letter teaches the believer’s suffering: the response to it, the confidence in it, the model for it, the expectation of it, & the encouragement of it.



Sunday School was an introduction to Islam by a missionary who works in north Africa. Their holy book is the Quran & they believe God (Allah) dictated it to Muhammad. They believe that it is your responsibility to get right w/ God (saved by works). The teacher says because they don’t believe in the Trinity, God’s love is incomplete because he’s dependent on human beings for love. The teacher says a common argument by Muslims is they say the Bible’s been corrupted, but the teacher says there are thousands of original copies of it.

Psalm 107: 23-32

It is about a merchant ship that is caught in a storm & the sailors pray to God & he calms the storm. In this we can learn God's love moves us from turmoil to peace. Storms have a devastating effect but God uses them to work in us & thru us.

Jude teaches liberty & license.

Jude was written by the half-brother of Jesus. He addresses his readers in terms of their theological identity rather than their geographical location. He writes to address false teachings that threatened to distort the gospel. Some have suggested Jude is the most neglected book in the New Testament

Jude’s call is the drive to safeguard the gospel.

Jude uses examples of consequences, including the wilderness generation in Numbers, the unruly angels in Genesis, & the wicked people of Sodom & Gomorrah.

Their characteristics include being superstitious, sexually deviant, rebellious, & arrogant.

Jude’s comparisons include Cain, Balaam in Numbers, & Korah in Numbers.

Caveats include hidden reefs that represent an unseen danger to passing ships, shepherds who only feed themselves, clouds that do not give rain, trees that do not produce fruit, wild waves that leave behind a mess, & wandering stars that cannot be relied upon for navigation.

Jude has a challenge. Build yourselves up in the faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, wait for Christ’s coming, & help one another.


There was no Sunday School. They are taking a 3 week break.

The sermon was on Revelation. It is the final chapter.

Revelation comes from the word ‘apocalyptic’ which means to uncover or reveal. It was written by the apostle John & was the last book in the Bible to be written. It was a circular letter to be distributed among the 7 struggling churches in Aisa Minor. There is a blessing pronounced on those who read & respond to it.

Its purpose is to encourage a bleagured church to live courageously in light of Jesus’s ultimate victory.

The first section is ‘write what you have seen’, with 7 lampstands, 7 stars, & the Son of Man

The second section is ‘what is now’, letters to the churches. Each letter is given identification of the author, a commendation, a confrontation, & a call to overcome.

The third section is ‘what will take place later’. It starts with the throne room, & moves on to the opening of the seals, the blowing of the trumpets, & the pouring of the bowls. The last things are the return of the king, a thousand year reign, Satan’s doom, the great white throne judgement, & the new earth.

Revelation is a concluding invitation to come & a warning.