For teaching plans and full explanations of all the verses in today’s lessons,
consult the Explore the Bible leader guide or commentary.
Make sure each learner has his or her own Explore the Bible learner
guide.
Tackling Transitions (Gen. 28:1-2,10)
Enlist a volunteer to read
Genesis 28:1-2,10. Explain that Jacob entered into a major life
transition when he left home to find a wife among Laban's daughters. Briefly
remind readers that Rebekah manipulated Isaac to send Jacob to Laban to find a
wife. Her hidden agenda was to prevent Jacob’s becoming a victim of Esau’s
vengeance (Gen. 27:41-45; 35:1,7). Explain that Jacob later described this
period of transition as a time of distress for him (35:3). He left the security
of home and family, was alone and on his own for the first time, embarked on a
dangerous journey, and had no assurance he would ever be able to return home.
Read the following excerpt from
an article titled Relationships on the Run by Frances J. White:
Americans on the Move
While exciting in one sense, the increasing mobility of
North Americans has contributed to our feelings of loneliness and even
isolation. Change means separation from family and friends and the warm
feelings of acceptance, predictability, and protection they give us. The
losses we experience in times of separation produce anxiety, which in turn
evokes anger, guilt, and insecurity.
What more convenient way to protect ourselves from the
hurt than to avoid quite as deep and meaningful relationships in new
situations? However, the price we and others pay in forgoing intimacy is
enormous. Perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is, "Are we willing
to allow ourselves and others to grow through change, even if it means the
pain of another separation?"
Transitions, when we handle them in healthy ways,
actually maximize our potential for growth. We cannot escape the fact,
however, that growth does invoke the pain of loss. In order to gain new
understanding we must give up someone or something.
Yet when we say goodbye to someone, we never fully lose
them and all they represent. Rather, they become an integral part of who we
are.
What kind of feelings does times of transition create? How might such
feelings have affected Jacob in Genesis 28:1-2,10?
How does the failure to build deeper relationships
hinder the benefits of growth that result from transition?
What are other transitions that adults face in today’s
society?
How can we allow times of transition to help us be
open to hear what God is saying to us?
Taking in God's Message (Gen. 28:11-15)
In Charles Stanley’s book, How
to Listen to God, he lists four ways that people hear God today. These include:
The Word of God
The Holy Spirit
Other people
Circumstances
After posing the question, "Why would God still
want to talk to us today? Hasn’t He said enough from Genesis to Revelation?"he answers with four reasons:
He loves us just as much as He loved the people of Old
and New Testament days.
We need His definite and deliberate direction for our
lives, as did Joshua, Moses, Jacob, or Noah.
He knows we need the comfort and assurance just as
much as the believers of old.
He wants us to know Him.
Source: Stanley, Charles (1985). How to Listen to
God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, pp.13-18.
Enlist a volunteer to read Genesis 28:11-5, and
ask:
How did the Lord speak to Jacob, and what did He say?
What are ways that you have sensed God speaking in
your own life?
What kinds of things are you doing to put yourself in
a position to hear God’s voice more clearly?
Taking Steps of Faith (Gen. 28:16-22)
Read the following excerpt from Experiencing
God:
When Israel crossed the Jordan River into the promised
land, God gave Joshua the following instructions: “Choose twelve men
from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve
stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and
to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay
tonight" (Josh. 4:2-3).
These stones were to serve as a sign to the Israelites. Joshua explained:
“ In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'
tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the
covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel
forever” (Josh:4:6-7).
These stones were to remind the people of a mighty act
of God on their behalf. On many other occasions people built altars or set
up stones as a reminder of significant encounters with God.
Often people in the Old Testament set up stone markers
or altar as reminders of their encounters with God. Places like
Bethel (house of God) and Rehoboth (room) became
reminders of God’s great activity in the midst of His people. Moses named an
altar The Lord is my Banner, and Samuel called a stone Ebenezer
saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us” (1 Sam. 7:12). These altars and
stones became physical markers of great spiritual encounters with God. They
provided opportunities for people to teach their children about God's
activity on behalf of His people.
Source: Blackaby, Henry and Richard and King,
Claude (2007). Experiencing God. Nashville: LifeWay Press, pp.
123-124.
Ask:
How was Jacob’s spiritual marker different from Joshua's? How were they
similar?
Ask learners to share some of the most significant
spiritual markers in their own lives. What steps of faith were required to
reach that spiritual marker?
Encourage learners to go home and make a time line of their
own walk with the Lord, noting significant spiritual markers that helped direct
their lives to this point. Pray that class members would become more aware of
God’s speaking to them, and pray that they would identify steps they need to
take in response to God’s Word.
EXTRA! is a supplement designed
to enhance and expand the effectiveness of printed curriculum provided by
LifeWay Church Resources.
EXTRA! is produced by Publishing
Services and Multimedia, LifeWay Church Resources, Copyright 2007, LifeWay
Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
SPECIAL NOTE: Some Internet
addresses given in EXTRA! are outside the LifeWay Internet domain. Because of
the changing nature of the Web, EXTRA! editors cannot be held responsible for
content on pages outside their control. At the time of this posting, the
specific pages mentioned have been viewed and approved by the EXTRA! editorial
staff. However, at the time of your viewing, the information on these pages may
have changed. Links from the specific page addresses referenced in this material
possibly could link to inappropriate material.
EXTRA! Weekly Supplemental Teaching Plans
Adult
Bible Studies for Life
Bible Studies for Life EXTRA
March 2, 2008
Living 3:16--By the Book
Dana Armstrong
2 Timothy 1:8-12; 3:14-4:4
Before the Session
For teaching plans and full explanations of all the verses in today’s lesson,
consult any of the Bible Studies for Life leader guides or
commentaries.
Make sure each learner has his or her own learner guide.
2 Timothy 1:8-12
Enlist a volunteer to read 2 Timothy 1:8-12.
Say: Paul and Timothy were not only brothers in the
ministry of sharing Christ, but they were friends. Second Timothy was written
while Paul was imprisoned, and it was the last letter he would write before he
was put to death. We can sense Paul’s urgency in his request for Timothy to come
and in his words of exhortation to be steadfast as a Christian and a minister.
Paul knew young Timothy would face trials, alienation, and possibly death, so
he reminded Timothy of the calling God placed on his life and then challenged
him to be unashamed of the gospel, encouraging him to rely on God's power to
face suffering that might come because of the gospel.
Read the following excerpt from a study done in
2002 done by The Barna Research Group:
Half of All Adults Say Their Faith Helped Them
Personally Handle the 9-11 Aftermath
Faith Made a Difference
Tens of millions of Americans
turned to their faith to help process the tragedies. When asked if their
religious faith made any difference in how they handled the attacks,
one-fourth of all adults (25%) said their faith has been "the single most
important resource" they have relied on and an additional one-quarter (23%)
said their faith has been "one of several important resources" that has
enabled them to deal with the attacks. These figures represent about 100
million adults who credit their faith with helping them to address the
attacks.
Say: It has been more than six years since the
September 11th tragedy, yet most of us can remember where we were and what we
were doing when our attention became saturated with the scenes of devastation on
that day.
Ask:
Thinking back to that day, what thoughts went through your mind?
What did you think of the packed churches the Sunday following the
attack?
Where did you go for comfort and security?
Say: As believers, we can be confident
that the good news about Jesus, the gospel Paul exhorted Timothy to continue
preach without fear. Remaining confident in the Bible's good news trumps
today’s worst news about terrorism, religious persecution, and so forth.
2 Timothy 3:14-17
Enlist a volunteer to read 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
Read the following article excerpt, which
emphasizes the importance of having a passion for God and a passion for His
Word.
A Passion for God (Acts 4:13)
In recent years tragedies such as
that at Columbine High School and Wedgwood Baptist Church have stunned and
saddened our nation. I remember when drive-by shootings shocked the nation,
making the headlines. Over time they became so common, no one seemed to
notice anymore. What could be worse than such senseless acts of violence?
Then, young people began killing their classmates in school. Remember your
amazement when you heard of the shootings in Jonesboro, Paducah, and other
places ? We are no longer surprised when they occur. What could be
worse?
In April of 1999 we discovered
something worse. Not only did students kill other students on that tragic
day in Littleton, Colorado, but Christian students were singled out
for their faith. For the first time in American history, young people died
as Christian martyrs. Surely nothing worse could happen, could it?
My family was watching Hurricane
Floyd’s path across our state of North Carolina on Wednesday night,
September 15, 1999. Suddenly, a news flash announced the shooting in a
church in Fort Worth. Then we saw which church: Wedgwood Baptist, where my
wife and I had been members for a time while in seminary. That fateful night
a gunman entered a youth service and killed seven people before taking his
own life. That very morning I had asked my evangelism class,
rhetorically I thought, what it would take to awaken the church
in America.
Would it take armed gunmen entering
our churches while we worshiped? That day has arrived. What will it take to
awaken God’s people? The early church was propelled by persecution to spread
the gospel across the Roman Empire (Acts 8:1-4). Before that broad
persecution, we see in these verses the kind of passion for God
required to make an impact in a hostile culture. Will we face our culture
with a passionate proclamation of our faith?
In our postmodern culture, the question most unchurched
people ask about Christianity is not, “Can you prove it?” It is, “Can you
live it?” The most significant way to affect a lost culture comes through
boldly sharing Christ out of a life exhibiting a passion for God. This
passage shows how believers, in the midst of persecution, changed their
culture through passionately sharing Christ. The verse
offers the evaluation of Peter and John by the religious officials who had
rejected Christ. Peter and John had been called before the Jewish officials
because of their bold preaching about Jesus. What was the impact of their
lives on these unbelievers? We see their influence in Acts 4:13 (NKJV
): “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that
they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized
that they had been with Jesus.”
In the postmodern world, people are impressed less by
technique or charisma, and more by honesty and candor. The greatest
apologetic today is a changed life. The key to sharing Christ in our day is
to be real. Peter and John simply demonstrated a real, vital, passionate
commitment to Christ. This may be the one element most lacking in
Christianity today. In fact, the reason many don’t come to our churches is
that they fear they will become like us! But let a believer demonstrate a
consistent, sincere devotion to Jesus, and people will often listen to what
he has to say.
Source: Reid, Alvin L. A Passion
for God(Acts 4:13). Full article available
at www.lifeway.com .
Say: In today's verses,
Paul urged Timothy to keep doing the things he had learned
from the Scriptures. People can learn in the Scriptures everything they need for
understanding salvation in Christ and for living God’s way. No matter how
ungodly or fearful conditions may become, believers are to hold firmly to the
Bible as their moral and spiritual compass, learning of and living by its
instruction.
Askthese self-evaluation
questions:
Are you passionate about God?
Can people see that your life has been changed?
What is required for you to be a more real Christian?
2 Timothy 4:1-4
Read2 Timothy 4:1-4.Paraphrase the following article:
To Tell the Truth
Sharing your faith in a postmodern world doesn’t mean
changing or watering down the gospel; it means communicating the gospel in
new ways. Here are some ideas on how to handle the truth.
While so me Christians are totally fueled by the idea
of evangelism, others break into hives at the mere mention of it. Most of us
fall in between somewhere. We want to see the people around us – our
friends, family members, co-workers – experience a relationship with Jesus,
and we hope we can influence them in a way that sheds some light on the path
that leads toward Him. Certainly, the kind of lives we lead speak volumes
about what we believe, but when it comes to sharing the gospel, the biblical
model is to show and tell, not one or the other.
And as if talking about Jesus with nonbelievers isn’t
challenging enough, now we’re sharing with them from a platform called
postmodernism. How should living in a postmodern world affect the ways we
communicate our faith to those around us?
The Postmodern Platform
None of the answers to this question come in neatly
wrapped packages, but that’s okay – that’s just the way postmodern thinkers
would have it. Postmodernists tend to be suspicious of anything that seems
too perfect or formulated. They’re much less interested in hearing what you
know than they are in what you’ve experienced. They love stories, and many
would be open to hearing the story of your spirituality – they just don’t
want you to tell them it should be their story too.
“A postmodern mindset says all stories have the
potential of giving meaning to life, but no one story is ultimately truth,”
says Penny Cruse, collegiate evangelism strategist for the North American
Mission Board and Kentucky Baptist Convention. Because of this, she says,
Christians might have many opportunities to share about Christ, but their
listeners “might simply walk away thinking sincerely, ‘Good for you. I’m
glad you’ve found a story that gives meaning to your life. I choose not to
find meaning in my life the way you’ve chosen to find it.’”
Placing such high value on open-mindedness and
tolerance has some repercussions for postmodernists. One is that many are
left with spiritual “fuzziness” in the midst of so many stories, so many
religions, so many options. In general, people today know much less about
Christianity and the Bible than they did 20 or 30 years ago, according to
Mark Mittelberg, co-author of Becoming a Contagious Christian.
Though spiritual interest is “sky high,” he said in an
interview with Leadership Journal, “people don’t know who (God) is. If they
were to believe in the possibility of a revelation from God, they wouldn’t
know whether it’s the Book of Mormon, the Koran, some new-age writing or the
Bible. A generation ago, seekers knew what they could cling to if they were
willing; now, even if they’re willing, they don’t know which way to turn.”
In the face of the spiritual confusion that relativism
creates, postmodernists appreciate straightforwardness and sincerity. They
might believe that truth is relative, but they at least want you to be
truthful with them.
How, then, should we communicate our faith to this
postmodern audience? Some Christians fear that in an attempt to be
culturally relevant and attractive to outsiders we will water down the
gospel. But it’s not about changing the message, it’s about changing the way
we communicate the message, because we truly care about connecting with our
listeners. In fact, it means caring enough to become listeners. The
catchphrase among postmodern church leaders when it comes to evangelism is,
“Don’t count conversions; count conversations.”
Share With Care
As you begin or continue conversations about Jesus in a
postmodern world, these thoughts might help:
Be a friend. Evangelism isn’t
“believer against unbeliever.” We aren’t called to be the conquering force
that changes everyone’s minds. Rather we can join our friends on their
journeys – we can come alongside them and investigate truth with them.
Because the spirituality of a postmodern world tends to be vague and
confusing, it’s important to give people time to sort spiritual matters
through in their hearts and minds. We can be there to talk things out with
them and to listen, rather than put pressure on ourselves to “save” them.
Be yourself. Don’t think that right
before you have a conversation about Jesus you need to duck into a phone
booth and emerge sporting an Evangelism Man costume. Rebecca Manley Pippert,
in her book Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World, says one of
our biggest hang-ups in regards to evangelism is “our great difficulty in
believing that God is glorified in our utter humanity rather than in our
spiritually programmed responses. Most of us fear who we are inside just
isn’t enough. So we cover up our honest questions and doubts, thinking we
won’t sound spiritual. But in doing this we forfeit our most important asset
in evangelism: our real person.”
“(God) sends men and women – before He sends tracts and
techniques – to change the world,” Manley Pippert asserts. “You may think
His strategy is risky, but that’s God’s problem, not yours.”
Be personal. Rather than getting
tangled in theological, scientific, or historical debates with someone,
simply share your story with her. Describe the context in which you became a
Christian. Talk about what following Jesus looks like in your life, even
what it feels like. What does it mean to you? What does He mean to you? No
one can argue against your experience – it’s your experience, plain and
simple.
Manley Pippert says, “We proclaim the good news of what
God has done primarily through the telling of the gospel. But the gospel is
also proclaimed when we tell our story of salvation, for our conversion
story illustrates the power of the gospel. Therefore, our task is to tell
His story and our story in the hope that it may one day be their story.”
Be prepared. Know what you believe and
why – again, not so you can win a debate, but because any worldview,
Christian or not, should be constantly examined by the one who holds it.
Wrestle with your questions and your doubts.
Search for solid answers for yourself and for your
seeking friends. Your faith is valid and logical – know why. Your faith is
different from every other form of religion – know how.
Obviously, you won’t always know the answers or even be
able to find them Being prepared includes being prepared to often say, “I
don’t know.” We must leave room for and respect the mystery and vastness of
God.
Be quiet! Listen, listen, listen. Just
as your faith is valid, your friend’s concerns about it are valid. No one
likes feeling as though the person he’s talking to is simply waiting for his
turn to speak. To really listen, we have to let go of our evangelistic
agenda.
Penny, a student at Reed College and
now a part of OFCS, enjoyed numerous conversations with Nadine, a Christian
friend, before she became a Christian herself. “The thing I loved about
Nadine is I never felt like she was selling anything. She would talk
about God as if she knew Him, as if she’d talked to Him on the phone that
day. She was never ashamed, which is the thing with so many Christians; they
feel like they have to sell God, as if He is soap or a vacuum cleaner. (I
always felt) like they really weren’t listening to me, they didn’t care.
They just wanted me to buy their product.”
Sharing your faith with others might not be the easiest
thing in the (postmodern) world, but all it really boils down to is one,
basic requirement: Be real.
Bad Case of Insider Language?
An important aspect of communicating with a postmodern audience is
learning to avoid “insider” language or Christian lingo. Here are some
examples of words and phrases that might baffle your listeners and
alternative suggestions:
Saved or born again (reconnected with God, have a good relationship
with God)
Testimony (story)
Sermon (message)
Grace (God’s willingness to forgive me, His undeserved goodwill
toward me)
Sin (act/go against God’s ways)
Gospel (the message of Jesus, the story of Jesus, the way to God)
Scripture, Word of God (the Bible)
Redeemed (at peace with God through/because of Jesus)
Repent (stop acting however I want to and line up my actions with
God’s desires)
What are concerns or fears you have about sharing the
gospel with others?
What steps can believers take to enable us to share
our faith easily with those around us?
What are important attributes to have when sharing
what God has done in your life?
Say: The bottom line is that we have a
calling on our lives to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world searching
for truth. It’s not about being gifted in evangelism. It’s about sharing
simplistically what God has done in your life, what God’s Word says about
salvation and eternal life. In order to do that, we have to study the Bible,
be sure of what we believe, and spend time praying for those around us who need
Jesus. Knowing we will give an account of our service to
Christ, believers can be motivated to help those who are searching for answers,
patiently encouraging them and teaching them scriptural truths.
EXTRA! is a supplement designed
to enhance and expand the effectiveness of printed curriculum provided by
LifeWay Church Resources.
EXTRA! is produced by Publishing
Services and Multimedia, LifeWay Church Resources, Copyright 2007, LifeWay
Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
SPECIAL NOTE: Some Internet
addresses given in EXTRA! are outside the LifeWay Internet domain. Because of
the changing nature of the Web, EXTRA! editors cannot be held responsible for
content on pages outside their control. At the time of this posting, the
specific pages mentioned have been viewed and approved by the EXTRA! editorial
staff. However, at the time of your viewing, the information on these pages may
have changed. Links from the specific page addresses referenced in this material
possibly could link to inappropriate material.
