Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

Our theme this year is Hope Starts Here as we go to the scriptures to find hope in hard times. All of us need some hope especially after a year like 2020 and this year seems to just be 2020 part 2. We have talked about how to have hope after failure, when tempted, when crushed by trials, when hopeless, and when feeling alone, and when anxious. In our lesson today are going to talk about how to have hope when life does not go according to plan. I think all of us when we are younger have a general vision of what we expect our future life to look like. We think we will do certain things, see certain things, go and certain places. We have an idea about our careers and our families. But it is not unusual for life to not go according to plan. So how we can have hope when life blows up? What does God want us to know when things do not match what we thought life would be? How can we push forward when life does not go according to plan?

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post REWIND: Hope When Life Does Not Go According To Plan appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

Our theme for 2021 is Hope Starts Here. After a year like 2020 we could use some hope as we go forward. Hopeless is a tough word and yet who has not felt some degree of hopelessness in their lives? Life can feel hopeless. We will speak about a hopeless situation. Without hope, life devolves into depression and despair. So God gives us pictures of hope so that we will never fall into despair. Lord willing, throughout the year we are going to cover a number of situations where God gives us hope to get through our hardship. For this month we are going to look at how to have hope after failure. There used to be a science television show called Mythbusters where they tried out all kinds of myths and stories to see if they were true. One of my favorite lines from the show that was marked all over the set was, “Failure is always an option.” This is certainly true when it comes to following Jesus. I want to turn our attention to someone who dramatically failed in following Jesus and his name is the apostle Peter. Open your copies of God’s word to John 21…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post REWIND: Hope After Failure appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

The scene at the burning bush ends. Moses has asked for the Lord to send someone else which kindled the anger of the Lord. It is time for Moses to go to Egypt and be the deliverer of God’s people by the power of God. But the narrative does not immediately bring us to Egypt. When we read Exodus 4:18-31 you are likely asking why this is recorded for us. We are going to see a further transformation of Moses so that he understands the character of God. God being the I AM means there are responsibilities on our part…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post REWIND: I Am Means Believe and Worship (Exodus 4:18-31) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

In Exodus 3 we have seen Moses express two concerns about his calling to go and deliver the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery. The first concern was a humble recognition that he is a nobody. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11). God’s response was very simple. “But I will be with you” (3:12). Moses’ second concern was that he does not know what name to tell the people of Israel when he comes to them (3:13). God’s answer was again very simple. “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14). The eternal nature of God means that he is always with us, always sees what is happening to us, and is always able to save his people. God is with you and no one can overthrow God’s plans. But Moses has a few more concerns that he desires to ask of God before he goes on this mission…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post REWIND: I Am Means You Can (Exodus 4:1-17) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

How do you convince people to put their trust in the Lord? How do you convince people that the idols they are holding on to are empty and worthless? Even more, how do you convince God’s people to fully put their trust in the Lord? There are many places in the scriptures where we are told to not act like the world but to put our trust in the Lord. The apostle Paul proclaimed that we are not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (cf. Romans 12:2). So how can we do this? God’s answer is that we would know that it is just a scarecrow. Open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 10 and we will see what this means and how this helps us fully put our trust in the Lord…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post It Is Just A Scarecrow (Jeremiah 10) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

God through the prophet Jeremiah has been proclaiming the abominable sins that Israel has been committing. The prophet is broken because of the judgment that is coming against his people because of their sinning against the Lord. Sometimes we think of sins that are worthy of God’s wrath and judgment as just the “big sins.” We usually have some kind of classification in our mind about the sins that are “really bad.” So we usually will list sins like murder, sexual immorality, and things like these that are sins worthy of judgment. But would you put in the list of sins that are abominable to God and worthy of judgment the sins of the tongue? Now to appreciate this problem I want you to think for a moment if anyone has ever hurt you deeply because of the words that they said to you or said about you? I think that we would agree upon reflection that some of the worst hurts that we experience in our lives come from the tongue. As kids we would say, “Sticks and stones might break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” We said that because the names did hurt us far more than the sticks and stones. We try to shrug off what people say. But it often can be rather difficult depending on who the person is and the kind of relationship that person has in our lives. I want to spend our time looking at the problem of the tongue from Jeremiah 9. Please open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 9…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post Tongue Trials (Jeremiah 9) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

We have seen the book of 1 Chronicles highlight David’s desire to build a temple for the Lord. But the temple was to be constructed during a time of peace, representing the establishment of God’s kingdom. David was a man of war with enemies that constantly surrounded him (1 Kings 5:3). So God prevented him from building this temple. But David’s son would be a man of peace and rest would be given to him on every side. As we noted in the last lesson, this was foreshadowing how the future of Son of David would be a man of peace. He would not only build God’s temple but would be the temple of the Lord himself. Jesus would be the temple and establish God’s kingdom, offering peace and rest to all who belong to him. So David has made great preparations for his son to build the temple to the Lord. But now we are coming to the end of David’s reign as king over Israel. It is time for his son to take the throne. David has some final words for the people as he assembles them this final time. What David is going to teach the assembly of Israel is that their lives have been tested by God. But you might be surprised to see the way God tested his people and how he tests us. Please open your copies of God’s word to 1 Chronicles 29…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post Tested (1 Chronicles 29) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 4:31-5:2 ESV)

Paul says something to these Christians that I want us to think about. We are to be forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave us. How did God forgive us in Christ? Since this is the parallel and example that we are given, it is important for us know what the forgiveness of God looks like so that we can properly appreciate it and be transformed by it. In fact, the very next thing Paul said to these Christians was to be imitators of God as his beloved children. If we have grown up in the pews, then it can be easy to take the forgiveness of God for granted. You have heard about it your whole life. Even if you did not grow up in the pews, God forgiving us can be a truth so assumed that we forget the power of it in our lives…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post Breakthrough: The Forgiveness of God appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

The book of Proverbs contains a significant section in which Solomon is giving instructions to his son for life. It is a natural desire for parents to want their children to succeed in life. Parents want their children to succeed where they failed and to have an even better life than they might have experienced. In 1 Chronicles we also read King David wants to give his son Solomon the directions he needs for success as he gives instructions regarding the construction of the temple. So we are going to look at David’s words of success for his son and then look at David’s words of success to the people of Israel…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post How To Succeed In Life (1 Chronicles 22-28) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.

We have been looking at the life of David through the lens of 1 Chronicles. Israel would have known David’s life story, including his spiritual successes and spiritual failures. Up to this point in the book, the only recorded failure has been in Israel’s attempt to worship God. David noted that they did not seek the Lord according to his commands (1 Chronicles 15:13). Now the Chronicler has another failure of David that needs to be looked at as he teaches the remnant how to return to God after their failures and sins. Open your copies of God’s word to 1 Chronicles 21…

To read more of this lesson click here.

The post Failures in the Hands of a Merciful God (1 Chronicles 21) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.