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Adult II Couples Class
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discoverjoy.com
2013
What was the last thing you said to your spouse before
going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after
waking up this morning?
Question of the Day
Physical Spiritual Practical Church Praises
Prayer RequestsJohn Harris
Mike Dalton-Back
Heils in Brazil -Xukari tribe
Tim Dalton-Direction
Lauren and Matt Evans-pregnancy
Kevin Young & Paul Wilman
SS Classes
Morning Service
New Lay Servants
Crochet Classes (10am Saturdays)
Promotion Sunday (Today!!)• If you’re looking for a way to get out of this class
without attracting attention, now’s your chance!
Youth & Parent Mtg (7 Aug) Children’s Back to School Party
(10 Aug) Lord’s Supper Service (11 Aug-
AM) E-Sunday (11 Aug) Widow’s Breakfast/Car Wash
(17 Aug) Mexico Mission Trip (30 Aug-6
Sep)
Class Events Church Events REAP Visitation (R Team) Benevolence Fund Monthly Fellowships
24 August-Woffords September October
Dinner Out Friday (NA) 5th Sunday Breakfast (29
Sept) Quarterly Service Project
Methodist Hospital Ministry
Events Calendar
What was the last thing you said to your spouse before
going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after
waking up this morning?
Question of the Day
CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE DISCIPLESHIP
IVA MAY & DR. STAN MAY
Week No. 312 Chronicles
2 KingsJeremiahPsalms
HabakkukDaniel
CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE DISCIPLESHIP
IVA MAY & DR. STAN MAY
Creation
Patriarch
Exodus
Conquest
Judges
Kingdom
Div. Kingdom
Captivity
Return
Silent
Gospel
Missions
End Times
Church
You are
here
REVIEWCreation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin.
Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph).
Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Pro-mised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself.
Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land.
Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, oppres-sion and deliverance (the sin cycle).
REVIEWKingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succes-sion of kings (Saul, David and Solomon) who rule over a united Israel.
• God Speaks during this Era• Sends His prophets to warn Israel and Judah to repent• Promises Judah that He will bring them back after 70 years
of captivity• Describes the One who will come and establish God’s
kingdom forever
• God Acts during this Era• God raises up the Assyrians to take Israel into captivity• God raises up the Babylonians to take Judah into captivity
• God Reveals during this Era• His jealous for His people and forbids them to worship
idols• His desire to bless His people, but will judge their
continued disobedience
• King Solomon dies and due to the foolishness of his son Rehoboam, ten tribes rebel and form the Northern Kingdom of Israel which is lost in captivity 209 years later
• Two tribes (Benjamin and Judah) form the Southern Kingdom nation of Judah, which lasts for 345 years before Babylon conquers and carries them away to captivity
DIVIDED KINGDOM
OVERVIEW
• Two lessons ring clear in our study of the Bible so far• Laws alone cannot change the rebellious unbelieving heart of
humanity• Humanity needs something else that changes the heart-a
“new birth”
• Moses spoke of a day when “the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live”
• Hundreds of year later, Jeremiah and Ezekiel give seven details that describe the external benefits and internal changes affect-ed by the new covenant
God’s New Covenant
promises to ad-dress the
sinful heart in those who
come to Him in faith by af-
fecting internal
changes that impact
behavior.
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
ERA
A Kingdom of New PeopleThe Internal Work of the New CovenantThe External Work of the New Covenant
Jeremiah 31Ezekiel 16 & 36
CONTEXT• The prophet Jeremiah
promises a new covenant to Israel in the midst of their growing distress• They have completely failed
to keep the first covenant (the Law)
• They are headed toward the judgment of captivity in Babylon
• Jeremiah announces that God will create a new covenant with His people
• The prophet describes the first three components of this New Covenant and the internal changes it will cause in the hearts of the people
THE INTERNAL WORK OF THE NEW COVENANT
Jeremiah 31:31-34Jeremiah 17 & 24
Romans 1
Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Affects Man’s Thinking
Adam and Eve’s sin changed the way all men think Paul describes the state of Adam’s descendants (Rom 1:21)
Romans 1:21 – “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Man, lost in the emptiness of his own wisdom, pursues a life alienated from God
The LORD Promises through Jeremiah to Correct the way people view their relationship with God “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it” This New Covenant internally changes the way people think
About God About themselves About the world around them About the life they live
This altered thinking leads to lasting behavior changes
Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Changes Hearts
Adam and Eve’s sin altered the heart (mind and will) of every man Paul describes Adam’s descendants as “darkened” in their foolish hearts
Romans 1:21 ~ “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Jeremiah previously identifies this problem The heart is ruined before God (Jer 17:9-10)
Jeremiah 17:9 ~ “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it?”
A new heart must be given for a person to know God (Jer 24:7) Jeremiah 24:7 ~ “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and
they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”
The New Covenant promises such a heart change The LORD says that He will “write it on their hearts” (33) It is God’s direct work in the heart that converts it from willful pride to humble submissiveness
Internal Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Restores Relationship
Adam and Eve’s sin resulted in their eviction from the place of fellowship with God (Garden of Eden) All their descendants experience this same separation
Adam was created in the sinless image of God Adam’s descendants would bear the image of his sin-caused scars
Their only hope of restoration of relationship was found in the promise of a coming Redeemer “I will be their God and they shall be My
people” (33) This is not a proclamation of religion It is the restoration of relationship through the New Covenant
DISCUSSION What was Judah’s problem in reestablishing their
relationship with God? Was it solely a lack of knowledge of God and His Law?
Are their people today who are in active rebellion against God who know all about God and His Word? What’s the difference between that person on one who is
in a right relationship with God?
How important is God’s work in the heart to having a relationship with Him?
CONTEXT• A few years later the prophet
Ezekiel speaks of the New Covenant• Jeremiah is prophesying in
Jerusalem• Ezekiel has been taken captive
to Babylon and prophesies there
• He also speaks of God’s judgment on Israel due to their harlotry• Concludes the condemnation of
Israel with a promise of a new covenant in Ezekiel 16
• Reveals the final four aspects of the New Covenant
THE EXTERNAL WORK OF THE NEW COVENANT
Ezekiel 16:60 & 36:25-27
The External Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant is Everlasting (Ezekiel 16:60)
Ezekiel finishes a scathing chapter with a promise of hope Ezekiel 16:60 ~ “Nevertheless, I will remember My
covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
This hope would come from an everlasting covenant, not based on what men could do, but what God would do “…when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” the
Lord God declares. Only God could provide a permanent atonement for sin
The offering on the Day of Atonement only removed the sin of the previous year It could not deal with sin in any permanent way God’s provided Atonement would be complete and everlasting in its
scope
The External Work of the New CovenantThe New Covenant Cleanses the Past (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Adam and Eve experienced fear, shame, and guilt
Fig leaves provided temporary covering The sacrifice of animals offered temporary payment for sin Neither were effective in removing the recurring stain of
sin from their attitude or actions
The New Covenant from the LORD promises com-plete cleansing from all sin Ezekiel 36:25 ~ “Then I will sprinkle clean
water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthi-ness and from all your idols.”
The External Work of the New Covenant
There is only one cure for the depraved heart of man Remove the offending heart (mind or will) The LORD promises to make this change in
the lives of His people Ezekiel 36:26 ~ Moreover, I will give
you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God promises to replace the old heart with a new heart A heart that is responsive to Him
The New Covenant Transforms People from the Inside Out
The External Work of the New Covenant
The New Covenant Empowers People to Live Differently
The power behind these outward results of inner change Ezekiel 36:27 ~ “I will put My Spirit within
you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.”
God’s direct intervention in the human heart is necessary to affect an external change God must work directly in the human heart Only God’s work can produce godliness in the walk of life
Who was the One who made it possible for God to establish the New Covenant by permanently dealing with sin?• What was special about Jesus’ sacrifice that enabled Him
to enact a permanent fix for sin?
Has God fulfilled His promise to remove the heart of stone from sinful man and replace it with a heart of flesh that is responsive to God?• How so?• Do we enjoy a complete fulfillment of this prophecy today
as believer?• What aspect is yet to be fulfilled?
DISCUSSION
God performs what the New Covenant promises by chang-ing our minds and hearts of when we come to Him in faith.
It is impossible to belong to the New Covenant order with-out having experienced genu-ine internal changes that affect our behavior.
Only God’s work in the heart can bring about a permanent lasting change in the way man views his relationship to God.
CONCLUSIONS
Bible Trivia TestJeremiah, 2 Kings(1pt) What Babylonian God did Jeremiah condemn that shares a name with
a mountain in Arkansas?• “Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed…” (Jeremiah 48:1)
What was the name of the Egyptian king that Josiah confronted in battle during which Josiah would be killed?• “In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up…to the river Euphrates. And
King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo.(2 Kings 23:29)
• What were the Recabites commanded not to do by their ancestor, Jonadab?• “But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our
father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.” (Jeremiah 35:6)
Bible Trivia TestBonus Questions (4pts)
How long was the short reign of Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and where did he die?• “Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem…Neco imprisoned him at Riblah…he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. (2 Kings 23:31-34)
What was the name of the goddess for whom the women of Judah baked cakes of bread?• “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven…” (Jeremiah 2:18)
Adult II Couples Class
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discoverjoy.com
Daniel 1A Captive Kingdom