Is John the Baptist Really Elijah?

We will be studying John 1:19-51 this week. If you have been in a class of mine for long you have probably participated in the debate of whether John the Baptist was Elijah as foretold in Malachi. The debate arises from some interesting passages that appear to contradict one another. Here are some passages to review in your quest for understanding.

2 Kings 2:11 - Elijah does not die.

Malachi 3:1 - A witness will precede Christ.

Malachi 4:5-6 - Elijah will come before.

Matthew 11:7-15 - Jesus says John was Elijah.

John 1:19-28 - John says he is not.

Verses 19-34

Here are some other thoughts/questions to consider in your preparation for this weeks lesson:

• What two names does John the Baptist give Jesus?
• What is the meaning and significance of each name?
• What aspects of the Trinity are identified in the passage?
• How does Jesus baptism differ from Johns?

Verses 35-51

• The first two disciples called by Jesus were actually John's disciples? One was named. Who do we think the other disciple was?
• Who are the first four disciples called by Jesus?
• What names did Nathanael call Jesus? What was Nathanael's initial response to Jesus as the Messiah?
• What supernatural scene is described in verse 51? What other story in scripture gives a similar description?

Enjoy the study.

In the Beginning...

We have officially kicked off our study of the Gospel of John with our overview of the book this week. We are now going to jump into our chapter by chapter study. This week we will be looking at John 1:1-18 which is a powerful part of Scripture.

John's gospel starts out much like Genesis with the words "In the beginning..." As we discussed this week, John was writing this at the end of the first century in Ephesus, which at the time was the center of Christianity. The church was a generation removed from Jesus' presence on earth and the ministry of the disciples (save John) and was experiencing attacks on the faith.

John wrote his gospel and 1 John for the purpose of defending the truth. In John 1, the author is very clearly communicating two fundamental truths regarding the nature of Christ's existance. What are those two truths?

Here are some other questions to consider as you read the first 18 verses of the first chapter:

1. What are the three characteristics of the Word addressed in verse 1?
2. Who does the term Word refer to in this case?
3. What does it say about his role in creation?
4. What was John the Baptist's role?
5. Why is it surprising that he was not recognized?
6. Who has the right to become children of God?
7. What does verse 14 tell us about the nature of Christ? How does that compare to the nature described in verse 1?
8. There are a two words that John uses several times in verses 14-17. What are they and what is John trying to communicate using those words?
9. Who has seen God? If Christ is God (verse 1) then we have seen him haven't we? How do you reconcile verse 1, 14 and 18?

Enjoy the study. See you Wednesday or Sunday.

Study of John

We will begin our study of the book of John this week. I will be doing an overview of John this Wednesday and Sunday. If you would like to get started, I am asking everyone to read the entire book over the next week. We will begin with Chapter 1 next Wednesday and Sunday.

I hope you have a great week.

Overcoming Fear

In both the Wednesday night BFG and the Sunday morning BFG, we will be covering the fourth and last session of the Act111 evangelism training. Take the time to go online at www.act111.org and do the 20 minute session on overcoming fear in evangelism before class.

I look forward to seeing you with tomorrow night or Sunday.

Curtis

Obama, School Children & Christians

Over the last couple of days, I have become increasingly concerned over the impact of President Obama speaking to the students in our public school system, perhaps for a different reason than you might think. While I am certainly far from being a fan of President Obama's ideologies or of his public policies, I am concerned over the response by those of us on the other side of the political isle, so to speak, especially those of us who are Christians (not at all to suggest that all Christians are Republicans or even conservative).

My point is less about whether or not a sitting President should make such a speech to our students and more about the response to the speech of those who, like me, do not agree with President Obama's policies. I cannot help but wonder what our response would be if this were two years ago and President George W Bush had suggested he give a similar talk. Would you be ok with it then? If you are being intellectually honest, you would more than likely say yes. And yes, the response from those on the other end of the political spectrum would have been similar to ours. Quite frankly, that type of response has frustrated me over the last 8 years. Is that what we have come to in America? If I agree with you I will listen and everyone else should listen too, but if I don't agree with you, I am just not going to listen. I am going to take my toys and go home. What does that tell our children about engaging a culture?

Which brings me to our roles as Christians in this matter. What is our role and what should we do? Should we always take our kids out of school so they don't have to listen to something we don't agree with? If so, you may have to take them out everyday because I promise you there are things taught daily that you may not agree with. I can name several.

How then do we reconcile Romans 13 in which Paul addresses how we as Christians should interact with our government? What does "opting out" tell our children about the respect we should have for the Office of the President or any other authority figure? When you don't like what someone in authority says, just "opt out". "We are only going to listen to the President if he is a Republican Christian who goes to a Baptist church and he believes that the country was founded by Christians and based on Christian principles." I am being facetious but you get my point.

Our government is full of people in positions of authority who do not agree with us and most of them were elected by we the people.

I realize that I am stepping out here a taking a risk but I am convinced that we have missed the boat here. As parents, we have the obligation to teach our children to engage the culture and respect authority while at the same time not compromising our faith and convictions. It is a tough job but it is what we are called to do. If our kids are old enough to go to school then they are old enough to begin discussions on how to respect authority, in this case the Office of the President, but realize that we may not agree with everything that he says. We have had multiple discussions with our girls over the past several years concerning things they are learning at school that we don't agree with and they completely understand.

Personally, I do not like the message that we are sending as Christians when we say to all of those around us that we are not going to let our kids listen to our President when we don't agree. If the shoe were on the other foot, we would certainly not want them to do the same. Think about taking that philosophy to its logical conclusion. We would never accomplish anything and the possibility of intellectual argument or persuasion to change the mind of someone else is lost. We certainly would not want those who have not heard or do not believe the gospel to take that approach.

So as you consider your choice to "opt out" or not, I challenge you to consider the following passages in Scripture (hold your cursor over the reference to see the passage):

• Romans 13:1-7
• 1 Timothy 6:1
• 1 Peter 2:18
• Colossians 3:22
• Ephesians 6:5
• Titus 2:9

What should we take from these passages and how do they impact how we should handle this situation?

In closing, I want to leave you with this. Personally, I do not like President Obama's ideology or policies and quite frankly find them scary. And I completely support challenging any policies we feel are not in the best interest of our country. However those challenges need to be done through the right channels and by the right means. Matthew 10:16 tells us to be "wise as serpents but innocent as doves." That being said, that is my personal view and there are plenty of Christians who feel otherwise, some of which are in our church, class and who are reading this blog.

Nevertheless, I challenge you to read, think, and engage our culture for the purpose of showing Christ's truth to others.

Have You Told Someone?

One of the keys to spiritual growth is applying what the Scriptures teach us. We have been studying how to share the message of Christ with others. So we must ask ourselves the question, are we applying what we have learned?

• Have we prayed for the opportunity to share the gospel with someone?
• Has that opportunity presented itself?
• Were you obedient to the call to share your faith?
• How did you feel afterward?

I pray that you are studying the www.act111.org material and taking it to heart. I don't know about you, but I want to lead a life of significance. Obediently participating in the salvation experience of someone is definitely significant.

I look forward to hearing the stories.

The Wednesday class will be covering Lesson 3 this week in class.

The Sunday class will cover Lesson 4 a week from this Sunday as this Sunday is Labor Day weekend and some folks (including me) will be out of town. I want to make sure everyone is able to participate in the final lesson because I think it very important.

I look forward to seeing everyone.