Sunday School Lessons Archives - Page 2 of 75

OCT. 31: THE GOSPEL’S FORGIVENESS

October 25, 2021

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Colossians 2:4-15

During my university years in Greenville, S.C., I went to the city jail almost every week to share Christ with the prisoners. I’ve also had many times of ministry in jails and prisons as a pastor.

The prisoners often talked with me personally about their main focus: “getting out.” Almost every one of them wanted to see if I could (or knew someone who could) write letters in their behalf to hopefully speed up their “getting out” process.

We are now studying letters written by a prisoner. Isn’t it interesting that the prisoner himself never wrote about getting out? He always focused on getting out the Gospel! Today’s letter shows the Apostle Paul writing from a prison in Rome to his friends in Colossae about getting out the Gospel … of forgiveness. [Read more…]

OCT. 31: CONFIDENCE IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT

October 25, 2021

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Cordova

Focal Passage: Genesis 13:5-11, 14-18

The herds and flocks of Abram and Lot had increased to the point that the land on which they were grazing could no longer support them. Quarreling began between their herdsmen.

I. RELIEVED BY GOD (Ch. 13:5-9) Abram, in the flesh, could have said, “Lot, this land belongs to me because God has promised it to me.” Instead, he obviously turned to God, heard His voice, and heeded His counsel. Abram told Lot in verse 8, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, … for we are brothers.” God had given Abram His plan to resolve the conflict. God did not want His chosen people arguing in the presence of ungodly Canaanites and Perizzites.

Nothing hinders our testimony more than to have a falling out with a brother in Christ over material things. Paul says in Phillippians. 2:14, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” Furthermore, Jesus prayed that Christians would be unified so the world would know that God sent Him (John 17:21). [Read more…]

OCT 24: THE GOSPEL’S GOAL

October 18, 2021

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Colossians 1:24-2:3

If I were choosing titles for these lessons from the book of Colossians, today’s lesson might be called “The Gospel’s Secret.” Our focal Scripture is about the Gospel’s GOAL, for sure; but it also reveals the SECRET to living the Christian life.

Growing up as a boy, I loved “secret” things. A secret pocket, a secret formula, a secret plan, a secret code, a secret club. But today’s lesson from Colossians 1:24-2:3 goes beyond those things to the greatest secret ever.

This secret is what the writer of Colossians calls “a mystery.” The Apostle Paul was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, and he wrote this letter to friends he had apparently never met — yet in a congregation he had launched in the bustling city of Colossae.

Paul knew these believers by reports only, but the reports gave him a very clear idea of what was happening in their church, including some cases of false teaching. So he wrote to inspire, inform and soundly instruct them. [Read more…]

OCT. 24: CONFIDENCE IN THE FACE OF FEAR

October 18, 2021

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis

Focal Passage: Genesis 12:10-13, 17-13:4

Abram is in the land of promise, following God, and there is a famine. Should he remain, or flee to Egypt where there is food?

I. FAITH TRIED (12:10-13) Abram was afraid that he would starve. He took his eyes off the promise that God would make him into a great nation and fixed them on his circumstances apart from God.

He should have stayed where he was and trusted God to provide instead of trusting in himself and going down to Egypt. He followed his fear when he told Sarai to tell the Egyptians that she was his sister, not his wife. He was afraid that they would kill him. He refused to trust God to protect him.

Have you ever experienced a famine where you did not see any way God could provide? Have you ever thought that because of all the trials that you were going through that you may not be in God’s will? Have you ever taken matters into your own hands because you were afraid? [Read more…]

OCT. 17: THE GOSPEL’S POWER

October 11, 2021

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Colossians 1: 9-23

We’ve recently been on “The Alps of the New Testament” as we studied Paul’s mountain-peak letter to the Philippians. From a Roman prison, Paul presented some of the most glorious word pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ ever written.

Now we take a step that sounds impossible: We ascend even higher; we open another prison letter from the Apostle Paul, the book of Colossians.

If Philippians could be called ‘the glories of Christ,’ Colossians might be entitled ‘the glories of Christ’s GOSPEL.’ The titles of every lesson in this six-part series begin with the words “The Gospel…” or “The Gospel’s…” [Read more…]

OCT. 17: THE BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE

October 11, 2021

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis

Focal Passage: Genesis 12:1-8

Confidence in God means that we focus on God’s plans and promises, not on our plans and circumstances. We see Abraham’s confidence in God expressed through faith and worship.

I. GOD CALLS US TO FOLLOW HIM (Ch. 12:1-3) God invited Abraham to join Him in a journey to a land God would show Him. Abraham did not seek God; God sought him. He initiated the encounter with Moses at the burning bush and with Paul on the road to Damascus. Likewise, God calls us to assignments that we cannot accomplish apart from Him. God speaks to us primarily through His Word.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” In the movie Show Me the Father, Stephen Kendrick was on an airplane reading his Bible when God revealed to him through John 10:16 that he should adopt a child. He and his wife adopted a girl from China who was born on February 14, 2011, the very day Stephen read that passage. God initiated the call and Stephen responded. [Read more…]

OCT. 10: JOY AND CONTENTMENT

October 4, 2021

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 4:10-20

A pastor friend told me he had preached a very long series of sermons from the book of Hebrews. One Sunday he announced “the final message” in that series, and the congregation stood and applauded! But he told them he was now beginning a new series called “Things I Missed the First Time through Hebrews.” We might chuckle over that, yet as we come to the final lesson in a six-part series in the book of Philippians, I’d gladly do another six weeks, calling them things I missed the first time through Philippians. However, next week we start diving into Colossians, so today is our last look at Philippians.

And oh, what ‘a look’ it is! Our study text, Philippians 4:10-20 could be divided into two parts, each part containing one of the highest and happiest verses ever written — Philippians 4:13 and 4:19.

Part 1, verses 10-18, gives us a unique portrait of Paul as the man who has everything. This letter to the Philippian church originated from Paul’s heart as a “thank you note.” He wanted to express gratitude to the congregation for sending Epaphroditus, a very committed believer, with a special gift. We’re not told what it was, but we know it brought encouragement to Paul in an hour of discouragement. [Read more…]

OCT. 10: SURE OF SALVATION

October 4, 2021

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis

Focal Passage: I John 5:1-5, 11-13, 18-21

I John was written to provide believers an assurance of their salvation. That is why the word “know” is used over 35 times in this letter. Believers have a “know-so,” not a “hope-so” salvation.

I. WE ARE CONQUERORS (I John 5:1-5) Because Jesus overcame the world (John 16:33), we have overcome the world (I John 5:4-5). The world is the invisible system of evil we live in that is controlled by Satan. We may succumb to worldly enticements, but we ask forgiveness, then live in victory because the victory was won at the cross and resurrection.

We habitually overcome with our faith (v. 4). Our faith leads us to love God and others (vv. 1-2), and to obey His commandments willfully. We obey them, not out of duty, but out of love because of our desire to please God. Our faith in Jesus overcomes sin, death, Satan and “the world” (v. 4). Our battles are not with flesh and blood, but with the powers of the darkness. We win with the word of our testimony, with the redeeming blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11), with the power of the Spirit resisting Satan (James 4:7), or by fleeing to the door of escape God opens (1 Corinthians 10:13). [Read more…]

OCT. 3: JOY THROUGH PEACE

September 27, 2021

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 4:1-9

Joy in prayer. Joy of adversity. Joy through humility. Joy in knowing Jesus. Those are our first four lessons from the Bible’s “Joy Book,” Philippians. When the Apostle Paul wrote this joy-filled letter to his friends in Philippi, he was imprisoned in Rome for preaching the Gospel.

Even though he was under house-arrest, he saw himself a free man in Christ, and he wrote out of a free and joyful mind and spirit. An evidence of God working in that Roman jail: any letter showing such a positive outlook, being sent from a government-run place of confinement — in that day or this — would probably have been censored or heavily redacted! Yet this letter was apparently sent out just as Paul dictated it.

So now we come to the fifth lesson: Joy through PEACE, from Philippians 4:1-9.

Frankly, trying to shed light on such glorious verses is like trying to make some of God’s most colorful flowers more beautiful by spray-painting them; we really just need to step aside and point out their beauty! [Read more…]

OCT. 3: SURE OF GOD’S LOVE

September 27, 2021

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis

Focal Passage: I John 4:7-13, 19-21

God’s love is without limits. Not only should His love be shown to fellow Christians, but it should extend to all people around the world.

I. THE PRIORITY OF GOD’S LOVE (vv. 7-10) God is love (v. 8). He loves the world so much that He sent His beloved Son to die for every person. The root of all God does is love. His love is unconditional and impartial. He loves every person regardless of what that person does or doesn’t do, how he dresses, how he looks, or how he believes.

God’s love for us was settled at the cross where He became the atoning sacrifice for our sins (v. 10). Since His love is the most costly of all loves, we should never question His love for us. God makes His love our priority by instructing us to obey the Great Commandment and, above all else, to put on love daily (Matthew 22:37, Colossians 3:14). In comparing faith, hope and love in I Corinthians 13, Paul says the greatest is love. [Read more…]

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