1 Samuel

Two weeks ago, Wade started a series on David. David's story picks up a third of the way through 1 Samuel, so, naturally, Wade started there. However, I want to walk through the first several chapters of 1 Samuel and provide more historical background to help bring more depth to Wade's sermons.

Additionally, 1 Samuel picks up nicely where we left off studying the book of Judges.

The plan for this Sunday is to:

• play a cool "game"
• say a few quick words on Ruth--which is slipped between Judges and 1 Sam.
• look over chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 of 1 Sam.

Be ready...

Resurrection accounts

All,
The Bible has 6 accounts of the resurrection and on Sunday we will begin looking at two of these.

Read Mark and Matthew--specifically from Christ's death until the end of the book.

I apologize for missing last week. Helping lead this group is very important to me, and I hate missing the 45 minutes we spend together on Sunday.

See you then.

Luke and John

On Sunday, we begin talking about the crucifixion of Jesus; however, we did so in a slightly different light. I am no expert at theology--actually, a little weak in this area--but I feel comfortable looking hard at a text, analyzing it, and thinking about the specific context which gave birth to the text.

In our case, this "text" is the Bible, and we are approaching the 4 accounts of Christ's crucifixion from a historical standpoint.

On Sunday, we saw that Mark and Matthew--the two earliest gospels--place equal blame on the shoulders of the Jews and the Romans regarding Christ's death.

This Sunday I want to focus on the accounts that the writer of Luke and the writers of John provide. To this end, we will first provide some quick context for these two gospels. Who are the author(s), when were they written, with what purpose, amongst other important tidbits of info.

Next we will look at:
Luke 22:47-23:26
&
John 18-19:17

One last point: Again and again, the Temple, the two times it was destroyed, the subsequent Babylonian Exile, pop up either in our discussion or in the verses we are looking at. For the writers of this period, these events were monumental, like 9/11 for us. Paradoxically, since these events were so monumental, they were not directly discussed or explained--once again, it would be like me explaining what happened on 9/11 to my wife or a peer.

For us as readers and with over 2000 years separation, we are often lost when talk of the Temple, the sacking of it, the Babylonian exile, enters into our conversation.

Thus on Sunday, I will have a handout that lays out what you need to know. Important dates, events, and names. It isn't much but it will be quite helpful.

Mark and Matthew

All,
We have five Sundays until Easter. During this time I would like to focus on Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. While we are all very familiar with these two critical events, I want to approach them slightly differently.

To this end, first we will be looking at the 4 Gospel accounts of the crucifxion (in chronological order starting with Mark and ending with John). During this examination, I want to keep the following question at the forefront of our discussion: who historically (I stress "historically" for reasons that will soon be clear)killed Jesus? The Romans or the Jews? And why does this question even matter.

Secondly, we will look at the 6 (yes, 6!) accounts of the ressurrection.

All this should take us up to Easter.

For this Sunday:

Read Mark 14:53-15:42
&
Matthew 26:47-27:56

Wrapping up Judges

All,
Thanks for an entertaining walk through Judges. I believe the book, while challenging at times, greatly increases our historical knowledge of the early Israelites and their attempt(s) to form a cohesive group.

In a strange way, I see Judges pointing the way for Christ. Throughout the book, the author(s) write how there was no king and the people did right in their own eyes. Isn't this idea of doing right in one's own eyes exactly what modern society, writ large, is still guilty of? We, in a general sense, are still to this day lost without a king. Except now the king is with a capital "K" = King. And that King is Jesus.

Final word on Judges for those that missed Sunday: Looking at the New Testament book of Hebrews, we read through how the great (in the sense of well-known) figures of the Old Testament were remembered and should be remembered. While Samson, like Gideon, does some shameful things, the writer of Hebrews highlights his faith. Look at the rest of Hebrews 11 for more examples of OT faith and figures.

Finally, in two weeks, I hope to begin a brief study of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Faciliated by the Easter holiday, I want to look at the 6 (!) accounts of the resurrection in the NT (yes, there is more beyond the 4 gospels) as well as explore the question: Who killed Jesus?

While the question isn't that pressing for Christians (regardless who killed him, he died for us and rose again), there is some interesting material to work through. And I have toyed with the idea of writing a Lifeway type book on the topic (I am only half-kidding).

Til next time...

Feb. 13

This Sunday we will be working through Judges 3:17-13. Get ready to read and talk about some bizarre behavior.

I especially want to focus on Deborah, Gideon and Abimelech.

Rock on.

On Sunday, we will working our way through Judges. If you have a chance, read through Judges 1-3:7. This is introductory material that is critical to understand before the first Judge (Othniel) comes into the picture.

See you then.