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Berean Adult Sunday School class. A deep dive into Obadiah.

This sermon examines the ordinance of baptism by analyzing its practice in the early church as recorded in Acts and its theological foundation in Romans 6. It argues that water baptism is a public testimony of a prior spiritual reality, where believers are united to Christ in His death and resurrection. The text distinguishes between the physical act of immersion and the spiritual work of justification, emphasizing that faith and repentance must precede the ordinance. By reviewing passages from Acts, the sermon refutes the notion that baptism itself saves, instead presenting it as a sign of the new covenant for those who have already received the Holy Spirit. The discussion concludes with a look at early church traditions from the Didache, highlighting the importance of catechism and the Trinitarian formula in baptismal practice.

This study finishes 2 Timothy chapter 1 with verses 15–18 and presses one question: when faithful ministry gets hard, will you stay or will you leave? It opens with the poem "The Fellowship of the Unashamed," attributed to a young pastor facing execution, and compares it to Paul's final letter. Both show courage, faithfulness and humility, with David and Goliath as an example. Paul writes from prison, aware that many in Asia have turned away from him, and the message explains what that turning away means, why it happened (including Nero's persecution), and why it hurts. Isaiah 53 shows that the deepest pain is God's, and the study lists reasons people leave faithful ministry: cost, doctrine, moral convictions and the approval of men (John 12 and Galatians 1:10). Paul then turns to the mercy of a faithful minister who refreshed him through goods, service and spiritual support, was unashamed of his chains, and eagerly searched for him in Rome. Paul prays mercy for that household and for that man "on that day." The message closes with the encouragement that the Lord provides faithful friends, a prayer to be kept faithful, and a time of discussion about faithful ministries.

"Survey of Genesis" Part 39 "Joseph, a Slave" Genesis 39:1-23

This message opens a study of Ecclesiastes, written near the end of Solomon's life, a book Kent calls most unusual and often misunderstood. Solomon wants us to understand the obvious: how fast life passes and how we should live in light of it. Kent explains that the Hebrew word hebel means vapor, not "meaningless," and walks through three pictures in Ecclesiastes 1:2–11: our life is like the steam off a cup of hot coffee (vv. 2–3), the world is like a treadmill that cycles but never arrives (vv. 4–8), and our life is written on a chalkboard, erased and eventually forgotten (vv. 9–11). Along the way he draws on his own childhood memories, C. S. Lewis, Augustine and H. B. Charles. The application is that meaning is found not under the sun but in looking above the sun to God's Son. We are urged to "live life backwards," keeping our certain death before us so that each day counts, as a reason to be wise and not to despair.