Hi friend!
This past Wednesday was our first week into the 1 John Bible Study and it was such a special time. If you would like to join in, you can. Simply email Brian Rhodus and he will provide you with some information to get you plugged in. brhodus@fbcmadison.org Once you join, the video driven lesson, the listening guide and other handouts will all be sent to your inbox and you can do as little or as much as you want. Here are all the PDFs that have been provided so far:
1 John Week 1 Class Notes and Home Assignment
When the course ends in November, everyone will receive a certificate of completion of an in-depth expositional study of 1, 2, 3 John. The reason we are providing a certificate is because this is written as a course, using a similar course outline as they use in seminaries. We all love communal bible study groups that gather with bibles to discuss either scripture or to discuss issues and see what the Bible says (topical discussions), but this lecture style course asks the participant to set aside 10 weeks of intentional study of Scripture for one purpose – for a deeper closer walk with God. For spiritual maturing and growth as the term ‘sanctification’ instructs us…to be sanctified literally means to become more and more like Christ in thought and in behavior because besides the Lord, we desire nothing on earth.
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” Psalm 73:25
CLICK HERE to sign up for the group. In this blog post, are Week 1 handouts, a listening guide with a home assignment, and a sample of the certificate. We also share 7 videos that take you on location to the 7 churches that John wrote his epistles to and that he ended up writing to one year later when he was exiled to the island of Patmos – when he wrote Christ’s 7 letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor. We watched in class the video on Ephesus because Ephesus is where John lived when he wrote the Epistles. During this weekend, until next Wednesday, the home assignment was to watch the remaining 6 videos. They are only 23-25 min each but the man speaking in each one, Dr. Joseph Stowell, really helps us to understand what life was like then for John and the early church Christians, which is much like our world now.
Only because of the grace of God has His living Word changed my life so profoundly while thousands of early morning hours have gone into studying God’s Word and writing this study with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, these past couple of years. The Lord God is deeply compassionate and He delights in being found by those who seek Him with all their heart.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
Have a blessed day,
Lisa
