Sunday School Lesson

1. Psalm 146:1-10
His Faithfulness
July 30, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

2. http://berylloeb.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/one-finger.jpg
What’s the number one thing?

3. https://twcdaily.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/glory-of-god.jpg
The Glory of God!

4. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6tzRiT-BrDs/TIGM_Ih3dAI/AAAAAAAAAX0/0AJWPvlAfqw/s640/Gods+Glory.jpg
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.

5. July MemoryVerse:
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
8 For by grace you have been saved through
faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the
gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no
one may boast.

6. http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M824600c9534029193ceef79dc4fff8fcH0&pid=15.1
First Baptist Church Jackson Mission:
Multiply Disciples to Live Like Jesus.

7. First Groups
Bible Living

8. Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB
1 Thus says the Lord,
“Heaven is My throne and the Earth is My
footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?

9. 2 “For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares
the LORD.
“But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and
who trembles at
MyWord.
Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB

10. Micah 6:8 NASB
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness (mercy),
And to walk humbly with your God?

11. Colossians 1:9-12 NASB
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of
it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to
ask that you may be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all
respects, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God;

12. 11 strengthened with all power, according to His
glorious might, for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving
thanks to the Father,Who has qualified us to
share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Colossians 1:9-12 NASB

13. Ephesians 4:1-6 NASB
1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore
you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you have been called, 2 with all
humility and gentleness, with patience,
showing tolerance for one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.

14. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also
you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God
and Father of allWho is over all and through all
and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6 NASB

15. Psalm 146:1-10
His Faithfulness

16. Psalm 146:1-10
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2 I will praise the LORD while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my
being.
3 Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

17. 4 His spirit departs, he returns to the Earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
5 How blessed is he whose help is the God of
Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 Who made Heaven and Earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;

18. https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.iM_TaWR5JOpnCZNdB25o7wEsDT&pid=15.1
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.

19. https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/6/005/0a5/134/1eef834.jpg
8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;

20. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bb/78/fc/bb78fc5b24d5744d60f0cba6ff37ee15.jpg
9 The LORD protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

21. 10 The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 146:1-10 NASB

22. Psalm 146:3-4 MSG
3 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
4 Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.

23. http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4939299503409857&pid=1.7
Ray Stedman
1917-1992
http://dhp.org/media/catalog/product/cache/4/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/0/0/0004.jpg

24. Authority among Christians is not derived from
the same source as worldly authority, nor is it to
be exercised in the same manner.
Jesus carefully and clearly stated, “It shall not
be so among you.”

25. Matthew 20:24-28 NASB
24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant
with the two brothers (sons of Zebedee – James
and John). 25 But Jesus called them to Himself
and said, “You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men
exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this
way among you, but whoever wishes to
become great among you shall be your servant,

26. 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you
shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
His life a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:24-28 NASB
https://carolynpriesterjones.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/foot-wash.jpg

27. Christians are brothers and sisters, children of
one Father and members of one another in the
body of Christ.
Jesus put it clearly in Matthew 23:8, “You have
OneTeacher, and you are all brothers.”

28. Matthew 23:6-8 NASB
6They (The scribes and the Pharisees) love the
place of honor at banquets and the chief seats
in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in
the market places, and being called Rabbi by
men. 8 But do not be called Rabbi; for One is
yourTeacher, and you are all brothers.

29. The church has repeatedly borrowed the
authority structures of the world, changed the
names of executives from presidents to pastors
and from middle managers to deacons and
gone merrily on its way, lording it over the laity
and destroying the model of servanthood that
our Lord intended.

30. In most churches today, an unthinking
acceptance has been given to the idea that the
pastor is the final voice of authority in both
doctrine and practice, and that he is the
executive officer of the church with respect to
administration.

31. But surely, if a pope over the whole church is
bad, a pope in every church is no better!
If the church is not to imitate the world in this
matter, what is it to do?
Leadership must certainly be exercised within
the church, and there must be some form of
authority.

32. The question is answered in Jesus’ words, “You
have OneTeacher.”
For much too long churches have behaved as if
Jesus were far away in Heaven having left it up
to church leaders to make their own decisions.

33. But Jesus left the church with a far different
vision of church leadership when He assured
the disciples in the Great Commission, “Lo, I am
with you always, to the close of the age.”

34. https://commonmansbiblejourney.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/blogger-matt-18-20.jpg?w=400
And in Matthew 18:20, He reiterated, “Where
two or three are gathered in My name, there
am I in the midst of them.”

35. Clearly this indicates that He is present not only
in the church as a whole but in every local
church as well.
It is Jesus Himself, therefore, Who is the
ultimate authority within every body of
Christians.

36. https://puttingitblountly.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/biblical-eldership-church.jpg
He is quite prepared to exercise His authority
through the instrument He Himself has
ordained: the eldership.

37. The task of the elders is not to run the church
themselves but to determine how the Lord in
their midst wishes to run His church!

38. https://jamesmirror.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/qualifications-of-elders-and-deacons.jpg

39. Much of this He has already made known
through the Scriptures that describe the
impartation and exercise of spiritual gifts and
the availability of resurrection power to
exercise those gifts.

40. He has also made known through the Scriptures
the responsibility of believers to bear one
another’s burdens, to confess their sins to one
another, to teach, to admonish, and to
encourage one another, to hold one another
accountable, and to evangelize and serve the
needs of a hurting world.

41. https://stevejeantet.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/eldersanddeacons.jpg?w=468&h=263

42. The Mind ofThe Spirit:
In the day-to-day decisions that face every
church, elders are to seek and find the mind of
the Lord through an uncoerced unanimity,
reached after thorough and Biblically related
discussion.

43. https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.See0lY2YBMGdPxmZHBNidgEsDh&pid=15.1
Thus, ultimate authority – even in the practical,
day-to-day operation of the church – is vested
in the Lord and in no one else.

44. This is what the book of Acts reveals in its
description of the actions of the Holy Spirit Who
planned, initiated, and ordered the amazingly
effective evangelism strategy of the early
church (see Acts 8 and 13).

45. The elders of the early church sought the mind
of the Spirit and when the Spirit made His will
clear to them, they acted with unity of thought
and purpose, as we see in Acts 15:28 – “For it
has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to
lay upon you no greater burden.”

46. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1f/44/9a/1f449ac3b81052b3b374b3281606e10f.jpg

47. The authority, therefore, was not the authority
of men but of God, expressed not through men,
acting as individuals, but through the collective
agreement of men whom the Spirit had led to
eldership (see Acts 20:28).

48. Acts 20:28 NASB
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the
flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made
you overseers, to shepherd the church of God
which He purchased with His own blood.

49. The point is simply this:
No one person is the sole expression of the
mind of the Spirit; no individual has authority
form God to direct the affairs of the church.

50. https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.ohg3VwqFkATfD_WMqIS_OAEsDe&pid=15.1
Whenever a church gathers itself around the
unquestioned leadership of a single individual,
it ceases to be a church; it becomes a cult.

51. A plurality of elders is necessary as a safeguard
to the all-too-human tendency to play God and
lord one’s authority over other people.

52. Even when a plurality of elders is established,
care must be taken that the church’s leaders
(who, Biblically, are to be seen as servants, not
bosses) exercise their authority with humility,
not by dominating, controlling, and
intimidating others.

53. The influence of a servant-leader is not the
power to give orders but the ability to inspire
enthusiasm and voluntary cooperation.
This is the nature of all authority among
Christians – even the authority of the Lord
Himself!

54. He never forces our obedience, He attracts our
devotion and our love – and He does so by
awakening in us our gratitude and our
responsiveness to His love.
“We love, because He first loved us” (1 John
4:19).

55. The true authority of elders and other leaders in
the church is that of respect, aroused by their
own loving and godly example.
The measure of a church is not buildings,
budgets and baptisms but by the holiness of its
members.

56. This is the force of two verses often cited by
those who claim a unique authority of pastors
over church members.
The first is found in 1Thessalonians 5:12-13.

57. 1Thessalonians 5:12-13 NASB
12 But we request of you, brethren, that you
appreciate those who diligently labor among
you, and have charge over you in the Lord and
give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem
them very highly in love because of their work.
Live in peace with one another.

58. The key phrase is “and have charge over you in
the Lord,” and the Greek word in question is
prohistamenous.
Though this is translated “have charge over
you” in the NASB, the word itself contains no
implication of being over another.

59. The New English Bible more properly renders it,
“and in the Lord’s fellowship are your leaders
and counsellors.”
The thought in the word is that of “standing
before” others, not of “ruling over” them.

60. It is the common word for leadership.
In the body of Christ, leaders can lead only if
they are able to persuade some to follow.
The true mark of a leader is when he looks back
over his shoulder, there are followers back
there.

61. Another verse used to support command
authority is Hebrews 13:17, which the NASB
renders,“Obey your leaders and submit to
them, for they keep watch over your souls as
those who will give an account.”

62. The imperative translated “obey” is
from the word peitho, to persuade.
In the middle voice, as used here,
Thayer’s lexicon gives its meaning as
“to suffer one’s self to be persuaded.”

63. https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.X9TvARS8CtObA7IOt-M3HgDoEs&pid=15.1
Again, there is no thought of a right to
command someone against his will.

64. But the clear thrust is that leaders are
persuaders whose ability to persuade arises not
from a smooth tongue or a dominant
personality but from a personal walk with God
that evokes respect.

65. Why change now?
At this point many may be tempted to say,
“What difference does it make? After all, the
pattern of command authority is too widely
established in our world to alter now.”
“Besides, many churches seem to be doing all
right as it is. Why try to change now?”

66. In response, consider the following:
The Bible indicates that any deviation from the
divine plan inevitably produces weakness,
division, strife, increasing fruitlessness, and,
ultimately, death.
The present low state of many churches is
testimony to the effects of ignoring, over a long
period of time, God’s pattern for the church.

67. A command structure of authority in the church
deprives the world of any model or
demonstration of a different way of life than
the one it already lives by.
The church is not meant to be a country club
run under a corporate business structure.

68. https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.vmTAcu2WPhXLcNYj1x-WCAEsCo&pid=15.1
If unbelievers see no difference between the
church and the world, why should they change
and believe in Jesus Christ?

69. A command authority inevitably produces
resentment, repression, exploitation and,
finally, rebellion.
Command authority is an expression of law, not
grace.

70. http://knowing-jesus-pullzone.knowingjesus.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Galatians-3-10-Redeemed-From-The-Curse-of-the-Law-gold-copy.jpg
The Scriptures assure us that law can never
redeem or restore us; by its very nature, the law
can only condemn and repress us.

71. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yN-gUQSUBPk/hqdefault.jpg
The Lord Jesus desires to use the church to
show the world a wholly new form of authority
that is consistent with grace, not law.

72. But this new form of authority is nullified by the
top-down, command-style structure that
prevails in today’s church.
Our dying-to-live gospel is pronounced D.O.A. –
dead on arrival – even before it is proclaimed,
because we deny its power with the way we
conduct our lives and our church business.

73. As a result, we attempt to rob God of His glory
and His image is distorted before the watching
world.
Nothing could be more serious than this!

74. http://www.focuschurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/GodsWord.jpg
Note that each of the four support ministries
(apostles, prophets, evangelists and
pastor/teachers) have to do with theWord of
God.

75. The first two - apostles and prophets – are
concerned with originating and expounding
theWord, while the last two – evangelists and
pastor/teachers – are concerned with applying
theWord to individual lives.

76. The evangelist deals with the beginning of
Christian life while the teaching pastor is
involved with the development and growth of
that life.
Evangelists are much like obstetricians, helping
to bring new Christians into the world.

77. Teaching pastors are like pediatricians, seeing
that these Christians have a healthy spiritual
“diet”, that their “diseased states” receive
proper attention, and that they get plenty of
spiritual “fresh air” and “exercise”.

78. If you look at the church as a construction
project, the evangelist is the quarryman who
digs out the rock, cuts it loose from quarry
stone, and hews it to a rough approximation of
a final size.

79. https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.cZqltC2nEcyD0vLwjz4DcAEgDY&pid=15.1
The pastor/teacher is the stone mason who
shapes the rock, fitting it into the building in its
proper place according to the blueprint of the
Great Architect.

80. https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.OQ9F0kAGIEuwViwy3I3chgDhEs&pid=15.1
When we compare present-day churches to the
original blueprint, it is strikingly apparent that
many deviations have been permitted that have
been detrimental to the life of the church.

81. Through the centuries, the church gradually
turned from the simple provisions that made it
such a powerful and compelling force in its early
years then and terrible distortions entered into
the church that continue to weaken the church.

82. The early church met in member’s homes until
popular thinking fastened onto the church
building – the physical stone-and-glass edifice –
as the identifying symbol of the church.

83. https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.BvRDGAVozkaHA1R85QSpUgDhEs&pid=15.1
Emphasis was placed upon great imposing
structures, massive ornate cathedrals with
stained glass windows and flying buttresses.

84. In the beginning, “working in the church”
meant to exercise a gift or perform a ministry
anywhere within the far-flung body of Christ –
even in a home, out on a mission field, or in a
hospital.
Gradually however, “working in the church”
came to mean performing some religious act
within a specific building called “the church”.

85. At the same time, there was a gradual transfer
of ministry responsibility from the people
(whom we now call the laity) to the few
pastor/teachers (whom we now call the clergy,
a term derived from Latin “clericus”, meaning
“priest”).

86. The Scriptural concept that every believer is a
priest before God was gradually lost, and a
special class of super-Christians emerged who
were looked to for practically everything, and
who came to be called the “ministry”.

87. https://jarrettbanks.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/priesthood-of-all-believers.jpg
Somehow, the church lost sight of the concept,
so clearly stated in Ephesians 4, that all
Christians are “in the ministry”.

88. The proper task of the four support ministries
we have examined is to train, motivate, and
strengthen the people – so called “ordinary
laypeople” – to do the work of the ministry.

89. http://ht.salemweb.net/zcast/joel-osteen-ministries/2017/03-12/585928/892_2017313101544004.jpg
When the ministry was left to the
“professionals”, there was nothing left for the
people to do but come to Church, sit and listen.

90. They were told that it was their responsibility to
bring the world into the church building to hear
the pastor preach the Gospel and soon
Christianity became little more than a Sunday
morning spectator sport, much like the
definition of football: twenty-two men down on
the field, desperately in need of rest, and one
hundred and two thousand in the grandstands,
desperately in need of exercise.

91. The unbiblical distortion has placed pastors under
an unbearable burden.
They have proved completely unequal to the task of
evangelizing the world, counseling the wounded
and brokenhearted, ministering to the poor and
needy, relieving the oppressed and afflicted,
expounding the Scriptures, and challenging the
entrenched forces of evil in an increasingly
darkened world.

92. Pastors were never, ever meant to do it all!
To even attempt it is to end up frustrated,
exhausted, overwhelmed and emotionally
drained – which, of course, is exactly the state
in which you find many pastors today!

94. Further, this distortion has resulted in a sadly
impoverished church that has made little
impact on the world and increasingly withdraws
into weakness, irrelevance, and isolation.
We desperately need to return to the dynamic
of the early church.

95. http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7f/a8/66/7fa866caf8ca8ea782ede5a14d788e88.jpg
We can no longer defend our ivy-clad traditions
which leave no room for the power- packed NT
strategy.

96. https://stjoesweeklyword.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/5b8b4-godrestoresthebroken.jpg
Church leadership must allow God to restore to
the people the ministry that was taken from
them with the best of intentions.

97. The work of the ministry belongs to the entire
body of believers, who should be equipped,
guided, and encouraged by those who are
gifted by God to expound (evangelist) and apply
(pastors/teachers) HisWord with wisdom and
power.

98. The entire body has received gifts from the
Spirit, and it is the task of those in the pastoral
ministry to encourage the entire body to
discover and exercise those gifts.

99. When we rediscover the pattern and strategy of
Ephesians 4, when we have given all Christians
in the body their God-given role as ministers of
God’s eternal plan, then the entire body comes
alive with the resurrection power.

100. Ephesians 4:11-16 NASB
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as
prophets, and some as evangelists, and some
as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of
the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ;

101. 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a
result, we are no longer to be children, tossed
here and there by waves and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men,
by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

102. 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow
up in all aspects into HimWho is the head, even
Christ, 16 fromWhom the whole body, being
fitted and held together by what every joint
supplies, according to the proper working of
each individual part, causes the growth of the
body for the building up of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16 NASB

103. http://bluestoblessings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/image-40-1024x683.jpg

104. Lives are changed!
Ministries explode!
Communities are touched and healed!
The church becomes healthy and vital and
exciting again!

105. http://theblueridgechurch.com/heretheyare/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ActsFlameSMallerCompact.jpg
If we can recapture God’s original strategy for
the church, then we will again see churches that
are modern extensions of the church of Acts.

106. http://sermons.gracecity.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Sermon-Series-Grace-City-Church-PowerLove.jpg
The trademarks of the true, living church of
Jesus Christ are boldness, power,
transformation, and love, lived out in act after
act of Christian service.

107. https://pastorchrisjordan.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/revival-fire.jpg
There is no place in this world more exciting to
be than a church that operates as God designed
it to!

108. 1 Peter 5:1-11 NASB
Serve GodWillingly
1Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as
your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is
to be revealed,

109. 2 shepherd the flock of God among you,
exercising oversight not under compulsion, but
voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not
for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as
lording it over those allotted to your charge,
but proving to be examples to the flock.

110. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you
will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5You
younger men, likewise, be subject to your
elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with
humility toward one another, for GOD IS
OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE
HUMBLE.

111. 6Therefore humble yourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at
the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on
Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be of sober
spirit, be on the alert.Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour.

112. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that
the same experiences of suffering are being
accomplished by your brethren who are in the
world. 10 After you have suffered for a little
while, the God of all grace,Who called you to
His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect,
confirm, strengthen and establish you. 11To Him
be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:1-11 NASB

113. http://thecompass.church/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GreatCommissionWeb_Thumb-400x400.jpg

114. http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
Sunday

115. Psalm 51:1-17
The Confession
August 6, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

116. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NASB
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 NASB
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”

117. Romans 3:23 NASB
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NASB
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death,
died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second
death explained in Revelation 21:8.

118. Revelation 21:8 NASB
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable
and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and
idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death.”
Romans 6:23b NASB
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.

119. Romans 5:8 NASB
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Revelation 21:7 NASB
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will
be his God and he will be My son.”
Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.

120. Romans 10:9-10 NASB
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:13 NASB
13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE
SAVED.”

121. If you have questions or would like to know more, Please,
contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/