Sunday School (10:00-11:00am)
In this study, we have been taking a fresh look at the concept known to us as "The Gospel" and reconsidering whether our ideas match those of Scripture. Surprisingly, we've discovered that New Testament authors do not always mean the same thing when they use the word, and that we may have been missing the richness of the "good news." Over the past few months, we have been focusing specifically on the Kingdom of God as it is explained in Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" found in Matthew 5-7. Though we rarely link the two concepts, the Gospel has quite a bit to do with the Kingdom, which formed the core of Jesus' message while on Earth. Along the way, we have unraveled a few of the paradoxes, metaphors and difficult sayings of our Lord Jesus.
Wednesday Night Bible Basics Class (7:00-8:00pm)
This winter, we have returned to our study of the land of Israel, and the way that this land shaped the faith of God's people. We began in the summer with the observation that God chose the land itself as carefully as he chose the people, in order to provide them with a testing ground for their faith. In addition to the difficulties presented by a diverse and convoluted terrain, the perilous location of the Promised Land- situated between budding empires in both Egypt and Mesopotamia- also challenged the Israelites to trust God rather than their own strength. Currently, we are finishing up a review of the reign of King Ahaz and his son Hezekiah, comparing and contrasting their responses to threats from the Assyrian King Sennacherib and to messages of deliverance from the Prophet Isaiah. How do their actions reflect our own ways of dealing with difficult circumstances? What can we learn from their faith or lack of it?