Sunday School Lessons Archives - Baptist & Reflector

APR. 5: FREE

March 31, 2020

By Travis Biller
Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Elizabethton

Focal Passage: Romans 6:1-14

“So, I’m saved. Now what? I was told that if I confess my sin and call on Jesus I am saved by faith. Further, I was told that because of what Jesus did on the cross I am justified before God, have peace with God, and am declared righteous. But I don’t feel righteous. I still struggle with sinful thoughts and impulses. I feel old urges coming to the surface. Preacher, was I really even saved?” [Read more…]

APR. 5: ETERNAL LIFE

March 31, 2020

By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage

Focal Passage: Revelation 21:1-8; 22:1-5

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that whosoever believes in Jesus has everlasting, eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus said at the tomb of Lazarus, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Paul states that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

The Apostle John was given a wonderful view into the everlasting life all believers will experience one day in Jesus. While he was exiled on the island of Patmos, he saw visions of the final days and the coming of Jesus Christ to rule and reign.

As part of those visions, he saw the eternal, re-created heavens and earth descending from God. We often refer to this eternal home of the redeemed as Heaven. This passage fills Christians with hope and great anticipation of a wonderful existence in that eternal home.

Eternal life will be in a place that is real, wonderful, and beautiful. John saw this new creation descending from God. He notes that there were no seas in this new creation to cause separation from family and friends. For John, being exiled on an island, the sea was not his friend. The sea was also a representation for sin and evil in the New Testament times. John also notes the beauty of the New Jerusalem, the holy city. He describes the city as a beautiful bride who is perfectly prepared for her groom on their wedding day.

Eternal life is centered in the presence of God. God will literally dwell with His people and they with Him. The One who is inapproachable for sinners will live in daily contact with His children. The gospel song will be fulfilled, “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.”

Eternal life will also be free from the pains and sorrows of this present world. The passage states there will be no more tears, no grief, no crying and no pain. The previous world under the curse of sin will be no more. All things will be made new: day with no night, light with no sun, fellowship with no shame and eternal life with no death.

Eternal life will be for those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:14 that He would give living water to those who ask, a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Here in Revelation 21:6, the spring of the water of life is offered freely to the thirsty. Those who have Jesus have life; however, those who reject Jesus have their eternity in the lake of fire (v. 8).

Eternal life is pictured in Revelation 22:1-5 as a river of life that flows from the throne of God. It is also pictured as the tree of life lining the shores of that river. This is the tree that God removed from the Garden of Eden after the Fall in Genesis 3.

Here, the tree is available for all to come and eat of its life-giving fruit and be renewed through its healing leaves. The presence of God and of Jesus on their thrones is a part of that city. We will worship Him, be His people, and behold His face. Jesus will be the everlasting light of the everlasting life in that everlasting city.

Do you have the assurance of eternal life in your soul? It would be the greatest tragedy to know about eternal life but never to receive eternal life. You can know that you know that you know that you have eternal life. John writes in 1 John 5:13 that he has written these things (the Gospel of John, I, II and III John, and Revelation) that you may know that you have eternal life. Be sure today. Eternal life is too important to miss.

MAR. 29: AT PEACE

March 23, 2020

By Travis Biller
Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Elizabethton

Focal Passage: Romans 5:1-11

There are many religions in the world. As a result, people speak about different “faiths.” Used this way, the word faith refers to a set of beliefs that people share. For example, people will say, “I am of the Hindu faith,” or “I am of the Buddhist faith.” Christians will even say, “I am of the Christian faith.”

However, according to Scripture, faith is not a set of shared beliefs. In the biblical economy of language, faith is (and always has been) trust in God’s provision for sin. Specifically, true saving faith trusts that Jesus paid the penalty for sin on the cross at Calvary. It’s for that reason the Bible says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Faith always and only looks to Jesus for salvation. [Read more…]

MAR. 29: SANCTIFIED

March 23, 2020

By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage

Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

Several lessons ago, we focused on the word “holy.” It is one of the chief descriptors of God. It is also an adjective of everything associated with God, such as the holy temple, the priest’s holy garments, and the Holy Bible. The word “holy” simply means to be set apart. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are to be holy people. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and made just as if we had never sinned, justified.

Paul says in I Corinthians 6:11 that through Christ believers are washed, sanctified and justified. A person is washed clean through the blood of Jesus. A person is justified by grace through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26; 5:1). These are completed at salvation. [Read more…]

MAR. 22: JUSTIFIED

March 16, 2020

By Travis Biller
Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Elizabethton

Focal Passage: Romans 3:21-4:3

As our team crossed the finish line, we were all covered from head to foot in thick mud. There stood a preacher, a lawyer, a housewife, and a construction worker — all looking grimy and tired. The Marine Corps mud run taxed our strength and made us all look like we walked out of a pig pen. The only way to get clean was to allow someone to spray us down with a hose. In Romans 3:19-20, Paul observed that the law has only one real function, to expose our sin. As we stand before a holy God our sin is like that mud. It indiscriminately covers all people and makes them grimy and tired – and worthy of wrath. [Read more…]

MAR. 22: FAITH

March 16, 2020

By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage

Focal Passage: Hebrews 11:1-6

One of the most important words in our holy vocabulary is the word “faith.” A simple definition of faith is to trust and have confidence in something or someone. For example, I have faith that the chair I am sitting in will hold me. I have confidence that the air I breathe will contain the right mixture of oxygen. There are many things in life that we rely on through faith every day.

In our relationship to God, faith is central. In Hebrews 11, the writer devotes an extended passage on the importance of faith and begins with a description of faith. He says faith “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is more than wishful thinking or hoping that things work out. It is the firm assurance of the trustworthiness of God, based on His actions in the past and rooted in His promises for the future. [Read more…]

MAR. 15: INSUFFICIENT

March 9, 2020

By Travis Biller
Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Elizabethton

Focal Passage: Romans 2:17-29

There is an old saying, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” If something is good for one person, then it should apply equally to another as well. Today we talk about equality. The word implies impartiality and fairness. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world where things like pride create a false sense of superiority. One of the worst forms of superiority can come when someone thinks they are better than another because of their religious practices. Paul was addressing this very problem in the Roman Church.

Our text this week is Romans 2:17-29. The Roman church was composed of both Jewish believers in Christ as well as gentile believers. It appears that there was division in the church along those lines.

Those from the Jewish background were experiencing pride. While it was easy to charge the gentiles with sin, they were having a harder time applying that label to themselves. They had mistakenly come to believe they were righteous by virtue of their religious tradition and participation in religious ritual. In these verses Paul takes a veritable sledgehammer against that position. [Read more…]

MAR. 15: SALVATION

March 9, 2020

By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage

Focal Passage: Romans 3:20-28

When I was 10 years old, my family went to Panama City for a week at the beach. On one particular day, I was playing in the surf and got caught in a riptide. Very quickly I was being pulled out to sea and began to panic. I remember a man rushing into the water and bringing me back to safety. I have always looked upon that event as a time I was physically rescued from harm, saved from drowning.

The Bible lesson for today explores the need in every person’s life to be spiritually rescued, to be saved. The reason for salvation: Salvation is needed in every person’s life because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This sin separates each person from God and brings condemnation, death, and judgment.

Romans 6:23 says the “wages of sin is death.” Something must be done, but the Scriptures are clear; the person cannot save himself. It is not a matter of starting good things or stopping bad things. God’s Word gives the knowledge of our sin, but our goodness cannot save us (Romans 3:20). We are drowning, and there’s nothing we can do about it. [Read more…]

MAR. 8: GUILTY

March 2, 2020

By Travis Biller
Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Elizabethton

Focal Passage: Romans 1:18-28, 32

As I drove down the highway, I noticed a red light appeared on my dashboard warning me that my engine was overheating. I only had a short way to go. I thought I could make it to my destination. I ignored the warning sign and within a minute steam was pouring out from under the hood. I soon found myself on the side of the road with a seized engine. The damage was complete. The engine was beyond repair.

As we travel the road of life, God has given us some large warning signs that we ignore at our own peril. Our text is Romans 1:18-28, 32. In these somber verses, God is seeking to get our attention, letting us know that something is desperately wrong. All people are sinners. The problem is far worse than we can imagine. Sinning against God is not a matter of making a simple mistake. Sinning against a holy God makes us worthy of God’s wrath (v. 18). [Read more…]

MAR. 8: LOST

March 2, 2020

By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage

Focal Passage: Luke 15:11-14, 17-24

Have you ever been lost in the woods or perhaps on a trip? Have you ever lost something, and, no matter how hard you looked, you could not find it again? Just the word “lost” gives a sense of uneasiness and foreboding.

The biblical use of the word lost is much deeper than a misplaced item or a momentary confusion in location. Being spiritually lost is a condition of every human being as he chooses his own way instead of God’s way. [Read more…]

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