How people respond to Jesus

At the time Jesus would have preached in Mark 1:14-15, the term “good news” could not have had the same meaning it assumed after His sacrificial death, burial, resurrection and ascension. If that’s so, what did Jesus mean by “the good news”? How would Jews, mindful of earthly kingdoms at that time, have understood what He meant given that early point in His ministry?

FBC, Chester, IL posted a series of questions to use as a lesson plan for teaching “How Can Jesus Help Me?” I’m still noodling about what to teach in Step 2.

How Can Jesus Help Me, Mark 1:1-45

The lesson “How Can Jesus Help Me?” is the first in a series of lessons based on the Gospel according to Mark. How to introduce the first lesson is typically not an issue since time is devoted to introducing the book (of Mark in this case).

The Lifeway material suggests an introduction which includes a question asking members to share qualities of “their favorite childhood superhero”. More important to me is the introduction in Jeff Meyer’s lesson plan. It focuses on the issue of the relevance of God’s Word, or Jesus in people’s lives today.

Dr. Meyer’s point can be followed with the idea that even believers overlook how Jesus can help them in today’s world. There lies the challenge of this lesson. How to motivate people in your class to seek Jesus Christ and His Word for help in their lives?

Perhaps introduce the lesson with the question “What are the most overlooked verses in the Bible?” You may not agree with that list (or this list), but the point is not the list as much as the fact that we overlook verses in the Bible that can be a help to us.

PPT slides for Obey God's Word, Psalm 119

Co-teacher Randy Stewart posted his slides for the lesson, "Obey God's Word."

I'd see that again!

Regarding teaching Step 4 of the lesson, “Obey God’s Word,” I had an experience this week with one of my son-n-laws. We saw a movie together, and as we left the theater, he said, “I’d see that again!

People often return to the theater to see a movie multiple times. For example, I’ve read that people, who saw the movie Titanic, saw it an average of 4 times.

Ask members to name movies they have enjoyed seeing. Follow that by asking what movies they have seen more than once. You can carry it one step further by asking who buys DVDs of favorite movies. I suppose we do that to view it again and again at our convenience.

The Psalmist writing Psalm 119:12-16 treated God’s Word as a positive experience that he repeatedly read. Studying it was a joy to him (14, 16). He did not forget it either. He meditated on it and memorized it. How can you help your class make a commitment to personally study God’s Word?

P.S. Growing up, one of my daughters read the Trixie Belden books. She’d often read the books multiple times. I think you can use books instead of movies in your discussion.

Own it and it owns you

Concerning teaching, someone once said to me that it was necessary to own a lesson before I could teach it. This person had in mind the idea that you can only teach what you know and what we know best comes from experience.

To effectively teach this week’s lesson, “Obey God’s Word,” you have to own it. The material must belong to you. Step 3 focuses on Psalm 119:11, or treasuring God’s Word in your heart (or the center of your will—Deut 8:2, 1Kings 8:17, Jer 23:20). Our will can only be properly directed by God’s Word.

Perhaps a way to approach Step 3 is to ask members about their belongings and how their belongings influence their actions. For example, using a swing set, James Dobson once spoke about how the things we own really own us. They demand our time and our attention, and in a sense they control what we do.

What do you own that demands your time and attention? Maintenance on your home, repairing your boat, configuring your computer?

My experience in teaching the Bible is that the more of God’s Word I know (by memory) the better I teach. Treasuring it (or owning it) demands my time and attention, but that’s the very thing that leads to owning and effectively teaching a Bible lesson. Own it and it will own you.

Passport Identification

Step 2 of the lesson “Obey God’s Word” uses the various terms for “Scripture” found in Psalm 119:1-8 to emphasize the importance of living the Word. One of the terms, “decrees,” has a root meaning “to bear witness.” We bear witness as we live out the Word daily.

This reminded me of how God created us in His image to be little image bearers. Ultimately, His plan is for us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

The past two months, I’ve travel abroad twice and relied on my US Passport as identification many times during these trips. This reliance was tested as each Passport Control Officer examined it for validity and compared the image it contained to me. There better be a match!

God’s Word is like a passport for me as a child of God. It declares who I am as a believer and I must bear witness to the image it contains of a Christian. Consider taking your passport to class and using it as an object lesson, or use your driver’s license as an alternative.

Obey God's Word, Psalm 119

To start the lesson, “Obey God’s Word,” which is based on Psalm 119, consider asking class members to name things they take for granted. For example, they may call out such things as family, freedom, jobs, food, good health, time, electricity, etc., etc. The list is endless since we have a capacity to make assumptions without much effort.

What does it mean to take something for granted? I have in mind things we fail to appreciate, or fail to give attention to. Specific to our lesson, do you take the Bible for granted? Do you revere the Bible, but seldom read it?

The goal of this lesson is to help us treasure what God says so that we study and obey it.

When I Am Afflicted, Psalm 102

Co-teacher Randy Stewart posted his PowerPoint slides for the lesson, "When I Am Afflicted."

When I Have Sinned, Psalm 51

Lifeway Explore the Bible lessons last covered Psalms in 2004. The study focused on Psalm 51, which is the passage for this week's lesson, "When I Have Sinned." I posted my PowerPoint slides for that lesson in hopes they would help you prepare this week.

FYI: I have an excruciating travel schedule over the next five weeks and will not be able to post as I normally do. Please chime in however, and add your comments to help other teachers prepare.

When I Need Comfort, Psalm 23

Co-teacher Randy Stewart is on the ball this week and has already posted his PowerPoint slides for this week's lesson, "When I Need Comfort," based on Psalm 23. Thanks Randy!

God is the Greatest, Psalm 135:13-18

Step 4 of the lesson, “God is Great,” calls attention to the lifelessness of idols. Images made by man can’t speak, see, or hear because they are dead.

One of the great mysteries of science is the origin of life, but some scientists expect to create life within 10 ten years. Others think man has already created life. I suspect this frontier is a quest for greatness. Imagine how a secular world might glorify a scientist who is able to create life. His or her renown as the greatest would be sealed for generations to come.

His/Herwork would be quickly extended by others to create communicating life forms that could signal information and receive messages. Eventually engineers would be able scale up and animate these life forms in ways that would be visible to ordinary people. These creatures would be idolized for the functions they perform. Eventually they too would be idolized by humans because Romans 1:20-23 is true.

However, because these creations can be totally understood by the human mind they are not God. He is the greatness that no one can fathom (Psa 145:3).

God is Great, Psalm 135:5-12

Teaching step 3 of the lesson, “God is Great,” focuses on God’s greatness in creation and history. I think you can make this part of the lesson interesting by relating key facts about natural events (as suggested in the LifeWay Adult Commentary).

But keeping to the theme of also teaching correlating truths, relate Mark 9:33-34 with a focus on the argument about who is the greatest. Lead a discussion about greatness using this article and this article.

God is good, Psalm 135:1-4

In step 2 of the lesson, “God is Great,” verses 1-4 of Psalm 135 indicate we should praise God because He is good. Sometimes when you are teaching a passage like this, you can take the opportunity to teach a correlating truth found in another part of Scripture.

For example, Psalm 105 in last Sunday’s lesson mentioned Abraham’s descendants. I took the opportunity to teach the truth of Rom 4:16 to help listeners apply the verses personally.

This week, you could teach the correlating truth that Jesus is good, too. Relate Mark 10:18 and ask if Jesus was teaching that he is not good? Explain there is difference between man’s standard of goodness and God’s standard (see this link), and that Jesus as God is good.

As an alternative, perhaps you can take an opportunity to teach about how the temple was structured. Its courts and are mentioned in Psalm 135:2. How was the temple organized to bring praise to God? As God’s temple today, how should Christians praise God?

God is Great, Psalm 135

I’m enjoying teaching the Psalms. This week we teach Psalm 135 in a lesson titled “God is Great”. The link points to Mark Rathel’s commentary where we are reminded of what worship is. I liked his definition of Hallelujah since we often sing it without realizing what it means.

When I first started teaching adult Life Group classes (Sunday School), my department director, Jack Longgrear, would bring the class to attention by quoting Psalm 118:24, “This is a day that the Lord hath made, let’s rejoice and be glad in it.”

Do you have a signature verse that you quote to start your lesson? If not, may I suggest Proverbs 22:17-19? Consider calling your class to attention by quoting v19, “So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you.” If you are consistent, your class will learn the verse, too.

Quoting v19 fits with the lesson since we want to place our trust in our Great God, the LORD.

PPT Slides for "God is Faithful," Psalms 105 & 106

I posted my PowerPoint slides for Sunday’s lesson, “God is Faithful,” based on Psalm 105-106.

Please let me know if you have some ideas for how to improve the presentation. May God bless you!

Memory or Judgment?

To teach Step 3 of the lesson, “God is Faithful,” consider explaining the origin of the term, “rack your brain.”

To the point of our unfaithfulness to remember God’s wonderful works, you might be tempted to use the phrase, “out of sight, out of mind.” Ask members what the phrase means, and then ask if it is true in their case (many will say yes). However, a loved one may not be in your sight, but still occupy your thoughts. In fact, members may be thinking about others during your lesson!

What “memory proverb” relates best to the point of Psalm 106:7? No. 16? (Unrelated, but No. 34 made me laugh!)

God's decisions govern faithfully

To start Step 2 of the lesson, “God is Faithful,” consider how fast the earth spins on its axis. If it rotated too fast, we’d all fly off into space. Too slow and we’d die.

A governor was invented to control the speed of a spinning motor. A governor’s decisions control a machine and therefore all it does. In this way we can visualize how God’s decisions govern the whole earth (Psa 105:7).

Don’t worry about being thrown out into space; the Lord holds us together with the earth (Col 1:17b).

God is Faithful, Psalm 105 and Psalm 106

The lesson this week is “God is Faithful,” based on Psalm 105:1-Psalm 106:48. To prepare to teach this week, I want to review a previous lesson where God’s faithfulness was the central message. I might be able to reuse some old ideas!

On March 9, 2008, I used PPT to teach a lesson “Learning About God’s Faithfulness,” which was the subject of a series of blog posts beginning March 3, 2008 (follow the newer posts link to see all the entries). I may use the “I forgot to pray” post again.

Second Baptist, Houston, teacher Tom Ramsey’s lesson plan begins with an example of faithfulness using the sun, the earth and light and darkness. I like it much better than the logger’s dog story, for sure.

PPT slides for "God is Just," Psalm 9

Co-teacher Dave Richards has made available his PowerPoint slides for the lesson, "God is Just," based on Psalm 9. This comes at a good time for me since I am swamped this week on another writing task.

Let me also call your attention to the question-based lesson plan from First Baptist, Chester, IL.

In addition, Jon Klubnik of Second Baptist, Houston also posted his lesson plan, "Give me Justice!".

I'll post links to other lesson plans I find later in the week. In the meantime, if you run across other lesson plans, let me know so we can make sure everyone can benefit from them.

PPT slides for teaching “God is Revealed”, Psalm 19

For the lesson, “God is Revealed,” Lifeway posted its Explore the Bible Discovery Guide. However, as a teacher, you may want to look at their teaching plan for teaching God is Revealed if you don’t already have it.

I’ve also posted a copy of my PPT slides for teaching “God is Revealed”, based on Psalm 19.

Walking Encyclopedia

In teaching step 3 of the lesson, “God is Revealed”, which is based on Psalm 19:7-11, think about situations in life where you need instructions in order to be successful. For example, when I need to do something around the house for which I am inexperienced, I will Google “How to …” and read about doing the task.

To be successful in life’s situations I need to read God’s Word and know it. I have a friend who says, “If you know anything better than you know the Bible, then you don’t know the Bible well enough!” Consider asking your class that question, but start the discussion first by asking, Do you know someone who is a walking encyclopedia?

See His Glory

LifeWay offers a pretty good lesson plan for step 2 “God is Revealed”, based on Psalm 19:1-6. To add to it, I’ll probably insert a Hubble image to help communicate the unimaginable scale and beauty of the universe.

Ehow offers an article on how to find God in the universe.