Class Lesson October 17th

Hey Gang,

Sunday the 10th we will be in the Life Center during Sunday school listening to our Church's Kingdom Cause II question and answer opportunity.  The mission continues...

Sunday the 17th we will resume our series on Apologetics and making our case for Jesus by discussing why "Good" isn't good enough. 

Do good people go to heaven? Well, a grandmother of 90 years of good living, standing by her dying husband till the end, serving her community, loving her grandchildren, paying her taxes, and driving the speed limit ... is asked by her granddaughter, "Grandma, we've never really talked about heaven before. Are you sure that when you die you will go to heaven?" The grandmother got big tears in her eyes and responded the way the average good person responds to this question. She said, "I hope so, honey."

Why is it, that really good people at best can only "hope so" when it comes to knowing whether or not they will go to heaven? 

Well, we're going to talk about that, but first we have a special guest coming to our class this week to answer an empty-nest parenting question that is relevant to each of us.

Ask Dr. Phil

How possible is it to have a helpful discussion with your young adult children when we see them making fuzzy moral choices and they don't want our input?

Both questions above frame our lesson this week on The Case for Jesus. In our lesson we will see Dr. Phil, I mean Isaiah tell Judah that they have learned to rationalize their evil ways. (Isaiah 5:20-23) Next we will watch and read how Isaiah is given a vision of the holiness of God and what this means to how we see "Good." (Isaiah 6:1-5) And finally Paul will tie everything together in Romans 3:21-26 where he explains the importance of "Righteousness" through Jesus.  Why isn't good, good enough? Hope you have an answer for that.

This lesson is the halfway point in our overall series on Apologetics. Not that there's going to be a final exam or anything, but hopefully you are drawing some conclusions and explanations for the hope you have in your heart, the faith you have in Jesus, and the reason you have chosen to follow the Christian life. I don't know about you, but a turning point for me was the experience and revelation that Isaiah had in the presence of God... wow.

I can't wait to go through this lesson...see you on Sunday!

A couple of updates:

1. Class Prayer Groups - If you are interested in a Saturday morning prayer and support group, please contact Brenda Stephens for the ladies and Clif Dunaway for the men. 
2. Trunk or Treat - Our class will be sponsoring two "Trunks" Saturday, October 30th and having a coffee and dessert social following the Trunk or Treat event. All you have to do is bring a bag of candy (one bag per family) to the event and help give the candy out to the kids. 
3. Class Project - We are going to prepare, as a class project, 30 care packages for a unit of military personnel in Afghanistan right now serving our country. The plan is to prepare these packages and mail them out in time for Thanksgiving - what an opportunity to give thanks! Monica and Larand Spencer are facilitating this project and will update us in class on the 17th.

Have a blessed week everyone.

In His Love,

David and Susan 

 

October 10, 2010 Kingdom Cause II

This Sunday, October 10, 2010 will be EPIC! 

10:00am Sunday School Class Hour 

Family Life Center

We will meet in the Family Life Center during the Connect4 hour. We will have a time of fellowship and encouragement. Personal stories will be shared and a brief devotional will be given. This will also be a time for any questions you may have about Kingdom Cause II.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

We need to decide if we want to do a Class Trunk for this event. We need some feedback and a volunteer trunk to decorate for the evening. We can decorate it anyway we want as long as it's not scary! Also those of you that have kids in high school that need to collect volunteer hours, this is a good opportunity to do this. We were thinking that if the class wants to do this then we could have a mini-social following the trunk or treat event somewhere with coffee and dessert! You can post a comment on the blog or send me an email, but let's decide if this is something the class would like to do.

Class Prayer Groups

Don't forget the prayer groups being organized for Saturday mornings. Contact Brenda Stephens for the ladies prayer group and Clif Dunaway for the men's prayer group. Both are being scheduled for around 8:30am on Saturdays. Locations are still being worked out, but let's commit to these opportunities to pray and support one another. Contacts are below:

Brenda Stephens
(864) 963-8441  Home
bdstephens@charter.net


Clif Dunaway
(864) 967-8015  Home
csdunaway@yahoo.com

Class Lesson October 10th will now be October 17th - Join a Class Prayer Group

 

Hey Gang,

We had a great start to our new series on The Case for Jesus last Sunday. Our discussion was on why Sin is such a big deal. It's easy to forget the importance and impact that Sin had when it entered the world, but we know and understand that all of the suffering, pain, disease, natural disasters and calamity that we see and face in the world today is because of the Original Sin in Genesis. Our case for Jesus is the understanding (apologetic) that God knew man would Sin if given the choice and that the world would have to face consequences to this choice. The woman decided God must be wrong and the man decided God didn't matter. Both were acts of unbelief which is the essence of all Sin. Adam and Eve chose the way of death and rejected the way of life, but God in His mercy and grace has provided a Savior and plan of salvation from Sin's choice...His name is Jesus! 

Our next lesson is on Why "Good" Isn't Good Enough. You know, it's the good people go to heaven question...right? The logic flows something like this: There is a good God who lives in a good place reserved for good people. This God goes by many names. He is behind all major world religions. Therefore, all major, and possibly minor, religions provide a legitimate path to God and, therefore, heaven. The criterion for making it to this good place is to be good. Each religion has its own definition for good. But what they all have in common is that men and women must do certain things, and not do certain things, in order to assure themselves a spot in this good place with a good God. Make sense?


Now let me ask you this: If God appeared to you and asked, "Why should I let you into heaven?" How would you answer? Probably like this: "Well, I've always tried to ... , Well, I never ... , Well, I've done my best ..." Whether you question Muslims, Hindus, or Christians, the majority of the answers received to this question go back to an individual's attempt to live a good life. Why? Because most people believe that good people go to heaven. Here's the moral: Behave yourself now and you don't really need to worry too much about what happens next. The end. Now let's get back to work, golf, Little League, PTA and the pressing issues of this life! Stay tuned...in two weeks we'll see what God has to say about this.

This week we will be meeting in the Life Center during the C4 10:00 hour for a time of fellowship, encouragement and discussion about Kingdom Cause II. We will resume our series study the following week with this week's lesson on why good isn't good enough. 

Please be sure to give some serious thought to the ladies and men's prayer groups shown above. (Click on the picture to enlarge) I want to thank Brenda Stephens and Clif Dunaway for initiating and facilitating these Saturday morning opportunities for each of us to support and pray for one another. Please contact Brenda or Clif if you can and will commit to be a part of a group.

Also, Susan contacted the Church and found out that if we are interested in participating in "Trunk or Treat" Saturday, October 30, 2010 we just need to let the Church know. We can decorate one trunk or more anyway we like as long as it's not scary! The Church asks that we bring some candy, but that they will be going around to each trunk and refilling the candy being given out. We were thinking if the class is interested in doing this we could go out for coffee and dessert after the event for a mini-social time! Please contact Susan or me if you would like to participate and if you would like to offer up your trunk!

Hey everybody, we had some new members join our class Sunday...Thom and Susan Freeland. We want to welcome them and thank them for choosing our class to be a part. I also want to take a moment to thank Thomas and Marie Samoros as they have really taken to heart the "Build and Bring" concept to our Sunday school class. God continues to bless this class and we cherish each one of you that have been a part. See you Sunday. 

Have a blessed week!

In His Love,

David and Susan