Upcoming Lessons

Fall Quarter

About These Lessons

God’s plan to bring the church into existence took centuries to implement. Growing the church has been His main project for centuries since. He will not allow His church to be defeated by challenges along the way! This quarter’s lessons will show us the heart of God in all these areas.

Unit 1: September
Birth of a New Community

Lesson 1: (September 7 Repentance Leads to Community Mark 1:1–8; Matthew 3:1–3) begins this series by looking at the work of the forerunner of Jesus, namely John the Baptist. John preached a message of repentance. He understood his task to be to prepare Israel for the Messiah by turning the people’s hearts back to God. We do not look to John to provide answers for the general functioning of the modern church, but his bottom-line call for repentance will never be outdated.

The birth of Jesus as portrayed in Matthew is the focus of Lesson 2: (September 14 Community of A Humble Beginning Matthew 1:18–25; 2:13–15). We are used to seeing such a lesson at Christmastime, so its presence here may surprise us. Yet this lesson is important at this point because it reminds us that the mighty church of today had the humblest of beginnings. The key figures, namely Joseph and Mary, were not famous, well educated, or wealthy. They were simple people of faith whom God used for His glorious purposes.

The most comprehensive summary of Jesus’ teachings is found in Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” Lesson 3: (September 21 Finding True Happiness Matthew 5:1–16) will examine the core message of this sermon, including the famous Beatitudes.

In this lesson, we begin to understand Jesus’ introduction of the kingdom of Heaven into the human realm. Jesus intends that believers live by a set of values different from that of the world. When we live out those heavenly values, we will be blessed in our relationship to God and in the service we offer to Him.

Lesson 4: (September 28 Serving Others Matthew 20:17–28) is the final lesson taken from Matthew. It deals with a seeming paradox in the teachings of Jesus: great leaders must be great servants. This principle of servant-leadership is often forgotten in the modern, hard-driving church. The concept is almost absent from modern culture. But it certainly deserves our renewed attention.

Unit 2: October
Growth of the New Community

Next, we will examine how the community grew and developed as we look at passages from the book of Acts. Acts is unique in the New Testament in tracing the historical development of the new community after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Some have proposed that “Acts of the Apostles,” which traditionally has been the longer designation of this book, be changed to “Acts of the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit is indeed the key figure in this book.

Lesson 5: (October 5 United by the Spirit Acts 2:1–17a) introduces us to the Holy Spirit’s work in bringing the new community (the church) into existence. The book of Acts depicts this as an empowerment and a unifying factor at this crucial point in time. As we will see, the power of the Holy Spirit is still available (and necessary) to the church today.

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Some organizational growing pains of the new community are sketched in Lesson 6: (October 12 Discerning Gifts Acts 6:1–15). The apostles found themselves confronted with the need to do a certain important ministry that nonetheless was a distraction from their main task. Even Jesus’ handpicked associates, the apostles, couldn’t do everything!

Delegation was the key. Here we will learn principles of delegation, shared responsibility, and selection of leaders. These principles still apply to the church today.

Lesson 7: (October 19 A New Beginning for Saul Acts 9:1–11, 16–19a) does not focus on the community itself, but on an individual named Saul. Saul started out as a murderous enemy of the church. Under authority of the Jewish leaders, Saul persecuted Christians.

However, Saul (renamed Paul) eventually became a towering figure of influence for the church of then and now. How he got to that position provides insight into God’s role in providing key leaders for the first-century church.

Our unit of lessons from the book of Acts concludes with an investigation of how the new community began to fulfill its mandate to evangelize all peoples. Lesson 8: (October 26 Set Apart to Work Acts 13:1–12) looks at the first strategic missionary activity in the history of the church. That effort involved a team sponsored by the church of Antioch.

Unit 3: November
Challenges in the New Community

Our third unit focuses on understanding how the early community dealt with the conflicts and struggles that were part of its growing pains. These final lessons come from Paul’s epistles.

Diversity is a familiar topic in today’s world. Much of the modern discussion centers on how to achieve greater diversity. But certain congregations of the first century already were diverse. What they needed was unity in their diversity.

Lesson 9: (November 2 Using Your Gifts Ephesians 4:1–16) finds a church that was called to come to terms with a variety of spiritual gifts present within its community. That was the church in Corinth. Understanding diversity of gifts from God’s perspective is a key requirement for a church to function according to God’s plan, both then and now.

From a historical perspective, Lesson 10: (November 9 Confronting Opposition Galatians 2:9–21) deals with a fascinating incident: Paul confronting Peter over an issue of hypocrisy. Our imperfect churches will always have varying levels of hypocrisy and attempts at self-righteousness. In this lesson, we will learn why a certain hypocrisy was so damaging that Paul, the relative newcomer, was willing to risk everything to correct it.

Lesson 11: (November 16 Mutual Support Philippians 3:17–4:9) studies the benefits of a strife-free community. The primary blessing is the great joy that comes from having mutual support and a common purpose. Paul’s letter to the Philippian church gives a taste of this joy yet today.

As the apostles of Christ aged and began to die, the need for a new generation of leaders became apparent. People should not be thrust into leadership roles without preparation.

Lesson 12: (November 23 A Good Example 2 Timothy 2:1–3; 3:14–4:5) looks at some of the principles used by the apostle Paul for selecting and training church leaders.

Service for the church is not all fun and games. Sometimes it exacts a heavy emotional toll as we suffer hardships and share in the sufferings of others.

The final lesson of this quarter, Lesson 13:(November 30 Grace in the Community 2 Corinthians 11:17, 21b–30; 12:9, 10) reminds us that we are all weak without the grace of God and the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.