Keep in Mind the Key Verses (In King James Version):

 

Keep in Mind the Key Verse (In New Living Translation):

What shall we learn from this lesson:
Mary Magdalene was the first to arrive at Jesus' tomb early Sunday morning (the first day of the week) after the crucifixion. She was the one out of which Jesus had cast seven demons. (Luke 8:2) When she got there, the great stone had been rolled away from blocking the entrance to the tomb.

She ran off and told Peter and John that someone has taken Jesus away. She did not immediately understand that Jesus had risen from the dead. So without any hesitation, these two disciples ran to the tomb to verify that Jesus was not there. (John 20:3)

John did see the grave wrappings but Jesus Himself was not there. But the interesting thing about the wrappings was that they were in an orderly fashion; not like they were left by a grave robber or someone like that. Then verse 9 says that John "understood". This means that he understood that Jesus had risen from the dead and the wrappings were simply left behind.

What does all of this mean to us. The resurrection means that what Jesus said is true. What He did means that we do not need to fear death because we are also assured that one day we will also rise from the dead to live a new life with Jesus.

The empty tomb means to us that the payment that Jesus made on the cross was accepted by God.

In the Scripture for today we find that Mary Magdalene was left there by herself after Peter and John had left. At this point, two angels appeared in white. They asked her why she was crying. She told them that someone had taken away he Lord and she didn't know where they had taken Him.

She still did not understand what was going on. Then someone else appeared and she did not recognize Him but it was the risen Jesus. She also asked Him if he knew where Jesus had been taken.

And when she turned around to leave she did not recognize Jesus was standing there with her but when he said "Mary" (John 20:16) she understood and believed. She said "Rabboni" (meaning Teacher or Master). She knew His voice. I have no doubt that when Jesus speaks to some of us, we know His voice and we will respond.

In verse 17 He said to her for her to go to His brethern and tell them He has risen. What does all this mean for us? It means that regardless of what kind of past we have had and what kind of ways we have disappointed Jesus, He still welcomes us to love Him as He loves us.

Mary found the disciples and told them she had seen Jesus (John 20:20-21). As the disciples met later in a locked room Jesus appeared to them and said, "Peace be with you." As He spoke He showed them His wounds in His hands and side and they were filled with Joy.

 

 

 

 

May 5, 2024 – Peter takes a Risk
Principle Topic – Acts
(Pop-up references come from courtesy of Faithlife Reftagger)

Lesson Focal Verses in King James Version:
Acts 10:24-38 KJV

Lesson Focal Verses in New Living Translation:
Acts 10:24-38 NLT

Keep in Mind the Key Verses (In King James Version):

Keep in Mind the Key Verses (In New Living Translation):

What shall we learn from this lesson:

There was a time when Christianity was new to everyone. It began after Jesus Christ came to Earth. Remember in the Bible when Jesus first came on the scene as an adult and He started calling upon his disciples to service? At that early time, Christianity did not have many followers and they were all Jews.

Being a Jew almost certainly meant that the person knew which foods were considered unclean or impure. At that time, Jewish people mainly avoided those foods.

We will find that Peter was a devout Jew but also a committed Christian. God gave him a vision that would change his life. A Jewish person would normally stay away from Gentiles because they were considered ritually impure.

The vision was shocking to Peter because it would convince him that he needed to change how he felt about Gentiles. He was in a city called Joppa when he had this vision. In fact, he had the same vision three times so there was no mistaking the vision content.

In this vision, a sheet came down from the sky and on it was all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds, some of which were not considered acceptable (clean) for Jewish people to eat; they were not kosher. The Torah states that kosher mammals are those that chew their cud (called ruminants) and are cloven-hoofed. The following animal species, to name a few, are among those considered to be kosher: cow, goat, and sheep. (Refer to Leviticus 11 for an explanation of what was considered clean or unclean to eat.)

In this vision, God told Peter to kill and eat the animals but he resisted because some of the animals were not kosher (not acceptable for Jews to eat). Ultimately, Peter understood this message to have a much higher meaning than the obvious of what foods to avoid. In fact, Peter understood this message to concern his relationship to the Gentile people and not merely what food types to eat.

Peter objected to eating the non-kosher food. But the voice in the vision told him, "Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean (Acts 10:15). As if to emphasize this vision, the same vision was repeated three times to Peter. (Acts 10:16). Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

Beforehand, an Angel had appeared to a Gentile soldier named Cornelius in a vision and told him to send for Peter who was in Joppa at that time. When the angel was gone, Cornelius sent two of his servants and a devout soldier to Joppa to ask Peter to come.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision that had the many types of animals, the men sent by Cornelius arrived at the house where Peter was. The Holy Spirit told Peter that some men had arrived and he was to go with them without hesitation (Acts 10:20). Since the trip would not be short (about 30 miles), Peter asked if the men would like to spend the night. The next day, Peter went with them.

There was no hesitation when the Gentiles came inside the house where Peter was even though he was a Jew and they were Gentiles. The Holy Spirit had told Peter that He was the one who had sent for them (Acts 10:20).

The next day when Peter and the Gentile men reached the city, Caesarea, where Cornelius was, he was waiting for them and had invited some of his relatives and close friends to also be in the house.

The message Peter had for the gathering had three parts. First, he explained, that the Jewish law prohibited a Jewish man from entering the house of a Gentile (Acts 10:28). Secondly, God has revealed to Peter that he should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. Thirdly, the Good News is that God shows no favoritism and he accepts those who fear Him and do what is right (Acts 10:26).

Cornelius was filled with the Holy Spirit. This helped Peter convince the Jews who were with him that the Gentiles also can be saved and that they can have fellowship with one another. He then baptized Cornelius and his whole household, and they were the first Gentiles to become Christians – Jesus' followers.

We have learned through this lesson that salvation is available to all people who believe in Jesus as their savior. This basic message was repeatedly preached to many people, both Jews and Gentiles.

In other words, the Christian church ultimately included all who were justified by their faith in Jesus. This included both the Gentiles and Jews who wanted to be saved.

Cornelius is considered to be one of the first Gentile converts to Christianity. The baptism of Cornelius is an important event in the history of the early Christian church. This is evident by Paul, the Apostle, who worked at saving Gentile converts.

Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity to the gentile areas of Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica.

 

May 12, 2024 – Salvation For All Who Believe
Principle Topic – Romans
(Pop-up references come from courtesy of Faithlife Reftagger)

Lesson Focal Verses in King James Version:
Romans 10:5-17 KJV

Lesson Focal Verses in New Living Translation:
Romans 10:5-17 NLT

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Keep in Mind the Key Verse (In King James Version):

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Keep in Mind the Key Verse (In New Living Translation):

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What shall we learn from this lesson:

The beauty of this lesson is its acceptance of the Mosaic Law as God's standard of our behavior while, at the same time, recognizing that faith in Jesus is the only direct path to being made right with God.

To have this faith is not a fantasy or an impossible mission ... it is freely available to those who want it. So now we have the rules of how to act as God commanded and also how to use faith in Jesus to attain righteousness in a direct way.

We don't have to travel to heaven to bring Christ down to earth or travel down to the place of the dead to bring Christ back to life. No, this is not an impossible mission. He is already here for those who have faith in Him and faith in who He is (Romans 10:8 KJV).

All believers have Christ in their heart for His representative, the Holy Spirit, indwells all believers and is with us all the time (1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV). It is our faith in Him that gives us salvation (Romans 10:9 KJV).

The last few verses of our reference Scripture allude to our responsibility as Christians to spread the Good News about Christ to others. We find the following in Romans 10:14 NASB:

"How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"

In the quote above, it appears that the process of salvation starts with "the preacher," and guess who the preacher is in the context of this Scripture. Each of us believers is "the preacher" in that we spread the Good News about Christ. We spread it not only with words but also with our living example.