Week 2: Bonus Devo 2 "The Failed Plan"

Genesis 11:4: "And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'"

There have been many occasions when I hear my kids screaming for me from the playroom downstairs. "Come look! Come look!" they say with such excitement that I can't help but think, This is going to be good! My expectations are usually met with a sloppy, crooked, Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa, Lego house. I can't say what I am really thinking, so with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, I exclaim, "Isn't that... something!"What did I expect? These are kids, not architects, engineers, or builders. 

In Genesis 11, we read about a time when God's creation tried something similar. Man decided to build a tower to try to get to heaven and to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately for man, there were a couple of problems with this plan.

First, God clearly let humanity know that their job was to make His name known. Here we see them trying to make a name for themselves. The problem with that endeavor is it goes completely against God's desire and intentions for man.

Second, it consisted of mere humans trying to do a divine work (build a tower to heaven). They were trying to be god of their own lives. Though we may try to make a name for ourselves or try to be god over own our lives, in the end we are unable to do anything great on our own. 

Pause and Reflect:

• Why did God disapprove of man building the tower?
• What does this teach us about God? 
• What does this teach us about man?

Week 2: Bonus Devo 1 "The Extreme Penalty"

Genesis 6:11-13: "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness. God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, 'I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.'"

One day I was eating breakfast with a couple interested in being on our core team of our church plant. I was excited to sit down with them because I thought they had a lot to offer the team. As we talked, I got to hear the husband's story. I knew he had a jail stint in his past, but I didn't know any of the details. I expected to hear about some petty crime, and in my head, I even thought about how cool it would be to have on our team someone who served time!

As he continued to talk, I learned that he had spent more than 25 years locked up in a high security facility. I was shocked. I began thinking about the various crimes one could commit to receive such a severe sentence. As it turned out, the crime itself was severe  But Godcompletelyredeemedthis manand uses him to this day as a solid leader on mission for Jesus!

I knew this man's crime had to be bad based on the extreme sentence he received. In Genesis 6, we read about God sentencing the people on earth for a crime. Judging from the sentence, which consisted of a worldwide flood, it is safe to assume that the offenses were severe.

What was the crime? The crime was filling the earth with wickedness and sin instead of filling it with the image of God. The flood story ought to heighten our understanding of how bad sin is and remind us of the extreme penalty that we deserve.

Pause and Reflect

• What happened to the earth as a result of the flood? - What does the flood teach us about sin?
• Why did God send the flood?

Gospel Project Vol. 2: Week 2

Here are the materials for the week of April 7 as we prepare for Sunday, April 13, "The Fall: Paradise Lost and the Aftermath."

Devotional Material

• Monday: p. 17 (Reflection on last week's lesson)

• Tuesday: p. 27 (Gen. 3)

• Wednesday: p. 28 (Gen. 4-5)

• Thursday: Bonus Devo 1* (Gen. 6-8)

• Friday: Bonus Devo 2* (Gen. 9-11)

• Key Passages: Genesis 3:1-7; 6:11-14,17-18; 11:1-7 

*Bonus devos will be posted on the blog on Wednesday and Thursday.

If you want to find out more about this week's topic, you can dig in deeper with these resources:

Study Material

• “The Goodness of Sin vs. the Goodness of God”—Session 3 from Creation Unraveled by Matt Carter and Halim Suh
• “The Fallout from the Fall”—Chapter 10 from Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Michael E. Wittmer 
• “Tempted and Tried” – Book excerpt by Russell D. Moore
• “How to Overcome Temptation” – Article by Adrian Rogers

Sermon Podcasts

• Jim Shaddix: “Sin and How It Started” (Part 1, Part 2) – Riverside Baptist Church
• Donald Whitney: “Are You in the Ark?”

Gospel Project Week 13: "Listening Together"

Here are the materials for the week of March 24 as we prepare for Sunday, March 30, "Listening Together to the Voice of God."

Devotional Material

• "Foxes and Hedgehogs" (p. 155) is a devotion that reflects on last week's lesson. 

• "No Man an Island" (p. 165) and "Accountability" (p. 166) are devotionals that prepare for March 30. (Check the blog later this week for 2 bonus devotionals...)

• Key Passages: Nehemiah 8 and Acts 2:42

If you want to find out more about this week's topic, you can dig in deeper with these resources:

Study Material

• “The Word Gathers”—Chapter 4 from Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People by Jonathan Leeman (Kindle)
• “Why Can’t People Agree on What the Bible Means?”—Chapter 20 from 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert L. Plummer (Kindle)

• “God Is Saying Something”—Chapter 3 from Radical Together by David Platt (Kindle)

• “1000 Sermons Will Change Your Life” — Blog post by Trevin Wax

Videos

• George Guthrie with Mark Strauss: “An interview about “How Do I Read Well in My Cultural Context?”
• Kimyal Tribe of West Papua, Indonesia: “Watch as they receive the Bible in their own language”

Sunday Evening Events Cancelled (March 2)

All events at First Irving are cancelled for the rest of today (March 2) including EquippingU. Enjoy your ice day and stay safe!

Pride (Week 6: Bonus Devo 2)

Isaiah 64:6: "All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind."

Have you ever thought about what makes Christianity unique as a religion? You might think about stuff like the virgin birth, miracles, or the prophecies of the Old Testament, but think about this too: Christianity is the only religion that tells people how bad they are.

According to Emil Brunner, the Swiss theologian: "Other religions spare us the ultimate humiliation of being stripped naked and declared bankrupt before God." That's pretty strong language. And yet it points to the humiliating nature of Christianity. Other world religions don't treat humanity with such pessimism. In all other schools of thought, we have something to bring to the table. We can strive toward God and meet Him and in a sense be congratulated when we do. But not Christianity.

In Christianity, we bring nothing to the table. In fact, the only thing we bring to the table with God is the sin we need to be rescued from. Perhaps that's why, if we look back into history, Christianity has been called the religion of women and slaves. In cultures of the past, neither of those two groups had many rights, so it wasn't a far stretch for them to admit their abject need for God's complete and total intervention on their behalf.

The bottom line is this: The one character flaw that has and will continue to keep most people from Christ is not greed. It's not lust. It's not lying or stealing or killing. It's pride. That's the only thing there is no room for at the foot of the cross.

Pause and Reflect

• Why does pride, above all things, keep people from Jesus?
• Are you taking pride in your spiritual achievement today?

Death Sentence (Week 6: Bonus Devo 1)

Ephesians 2:1-2: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient."

Everyone likes flowers. They're great for impressing a date or for sitting on a bookshelf...at least for a while. But over the course of a few days, even the most beautiful flowers start to wither. The reason behind that withering is simple: Flowers in a vase are dead.

Sure, they look good for a while. They have the appearance of life. But in the end, they are cut off at the stem, and without that link to the root, they are dead. Sure, they might show signs of life for a while, but that beauty is a lie. A wonderful lie, but a lie all the same.

This is an important spiritual truth for us to recognize. Too many people are flowers not in a garden but sitting in a vase. They may look pretty, even enhancing the beauty of the room they're sitting in, but that beauty is a lie. Though they have signs of life, they're actually spiritually dead; apart from Christ, all of us are cut off from the source of life. And it's just a matter of time until we start to show the signs of that death rather than life.

Verses like Ephesians 2:1-2 might sound at best pessimistic and at worst mean, but these are words of love from the Lord. God loves us enough to tell us the truth about ourselves. He's not content to have us acting like we're alive; He wants us to be alive. The only way that life happens is through a living and vital connection to the vine of God in Christ.

Pause and Reflect

• Why is Ephesians 2:1-2 rooted in the love of God?
• What does it mean to be spiritually alive?
• Be honest with yourself: are you a flower in a garden or a flower in a vase?

Gospel Project Week 6: "Numb to the Word"

Here are the materials for the week of February 3 as we prepare for Sunday, February 9, "Numb to the Word: Disobedience Leads to Death."

Devotional Material

• "Get Horizontal" (p. 67) is a devotion that reflects on last week's lesson. 

• "Hypocrisy" (p. 77) and "Sin and Death" (p. 78) are devotionals that prepare for February 9. (Check the blog later this week for 2 bonus devotionals...)

• Key Passages: Eph. 2:1-2, Rom. 6:23, Isa. 64:6, Rom. 3:10-12

If you want to find out more about this week's topic, you can dig in deeper with these resources:

Study Material

• “The Malignancy of Sin”—Chapter 3 from Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

• “The Results of Sin”—Chapter 29 from Christian Theology by Millard J. Erickson 

• “Nightmares of Painlessness”—Chapter 1 from The Gift of Pain by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey

Sermon Podcasts

• David Platt: “The Urgency of Eternity” — The Church at Brook Hills

• Ted Traylor: “Dead or Alive?” — Olive Baptist Church

Article

• “Georgia girl who doesn’t feel pain helps researchers understand condition”

Gospel Project Week 5: "God's Law for Life"

Here are the materials for the week of January 27 as we prepare for Sunday, February 2, "God's Law for Life."


Devotional Material

• "Trust and Obey" (p. 55) is a devotion that reflects on last week's lesson. 

• "Law" (p. 65) and "Get Vertical" (p. 66)  are devotionals that prepare for February 2. (Check the blog later this week for 2 bonus devotionals...)

• Key Passage: Exodus 20:1-17

If you want to find out more about this week's topic, you can dig in deeper with these resources:

Study Material

• “Law and Grace” — (1855) Sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Sermon Podcasts

• J. D. Greear: “God’s Laws & Our Lives” — The Summit Church

• Paige Patterson: “The Ten Commandments” (Sermon Series) — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Don't Treat the Symptoms (Week 4: Bonus Devo 2)

Genesis 3:6: "Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

The core issue in Genesis 3 is the same core issue at stake in any temptation. It's not sex, food, anger, or greed. It's trust.

When you go to the doctor, there is always a moment when you list your symptoms. They are carefully recorded, and when taken together, they lead to a diagnosis. Often the symptoms aren't really the problem but the surface-level manifestations of something deeper. That's why the solution to a runny nose isn't a Kleenex, it's an antibiotic. A good doctor doesn't settle with treating the symptoms. He looks deeper.

Such is the case with us. We must look deeper, past the surface-level temptations and into the area of trust. When we are tempted toward materialism, the real issue is whether we trust that God has and will provide enough. Are we content with what He provides? When tempted regarding sex, the real issue is whether we trust God when He gives us the prescribed means of sex in marriage. When tempted to overeat, the deeper issue is whether we trust God when He says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

And fighting these temptations? Well, that's an issue of trust too. Do we really trust that God will give us the grace to stand firm, or are we relying on our own strength? It all comes down to trust. So who are you trusting today? Take a look at your actions. They're the symptoms, and they will lead you to the truth. 


Pause and Reflect

• When it comes to resisting Sin, who are you trusting?

• Think about the nagging sin present in your life right now. What is the real issue behind that sin? What are you trading or looking for when you give in to that sin?

• How can Christ better satisfy that need?

Almost Isn't Enough (Week 4: Bonus Devo 1)

Genesis 3:2-3: "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, "You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die."'"

What is the one movie you have seen more than any other? Are you thinking of it? Right now, you could probably pick up the dialogue from any point in that movie. You may even have incorporated phrases from the film into your regular conversation. That's your movie; you know it backward and forward. In fact, you have such a personal attachment to it that you get offended when people try to quote it only to butcher the words.

As you read the encounter between the serpent and Eve in Genesis 3, notice that the serpent questioned the word of God. And Eve seemed at first to defend those words. But if you read carefully, you'll see that when Eve quoted God back to the serpent, she "almost" got it right. Almost, but not quite. And in this case, almost isn't good enough. The troubling thing for most of us is that Satan might actually have a better grasp on the Word of God than we do. He knows who God is, and He knows what God said. If we want to be serious about defending attacks from the Devil, we had better know what God said too-not almost know, not sort of know, but know...exactly.

And why shouldn't we? We memorize everything else: song lyrics, movie lines, favorite quotes-why not the Bible? Could it be that we simply don't have the same personal attachment to Scripture that we do to so many other things? 

Pause and Reflect

• How well do you know God's Word?
• What keeps you from enjoying time with God and His Word?
• Could it be that Satan knows the Word of God better than you do? What changes do you need to make to reverse that?

Gospel Project Week 4: "In God We Trust?"

Here are the materials for the week of January 20 as we prepare for Sunday, January 26, "In God We Trust? God's Perfect Word and His Imperfect People" as we study the Fall in Genesis 3 in light of God's Word to us.


Devotional Material

• "Being Before Doing" (p. 41) is a devotion that reflects on last week's lesson. 

• "Approaching God's Word" (p. 53) and "Promises, Promises" (p. 54)  are devotionals that prepare for January 26th. (Check the blog later this week for 2 bonus devotionals...)

• Key Passage: Genesis 3:1-6

If you want to find out more about this week's topic (God's Word), you can dig in deeper with these resources: 

Study Material

• “The Fall”—Chapter 10 from According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy (available here on Google Books)
• “The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels”—Chapter 2 from The God Who Is There by D. A. Carson (preview available here on Google Books, ebook available on Amazon Kindle for 3.99 here)
• “The Promise of a King and a Kingdom”—Chapter 4 from From Creation to New Creation: Making Sense of the Whole Bible Story by Tim Chester

Sermon Podcasts

• David Landrith: “The Gospel According to Genesis” — Long Hollow Baptist Church
• Ben Mandrell: “The Story: The God Who Does Not Give Up on Us” — Englewood Baptist Church

Gospel Project Week 3: "God is Not Mute"

As we prepare for this Sunday's lesson "God is Not Mute", I hope that you will take the time to think and respond to the devotionals for this week out of The Gospel Project book The God Who Speaks. 

Devotional Material

"God's Goodness" (p. 29) is a devotion that reflects on last week's lesson. "Complete" (p. 39) and "Glorious Love" (p. 40)  prepare our minds and hearts for the lesson this Sunday on the way God speaks to us through his Word. I hope you will take the time to read these this week.

If you want to be even more prepared to discuss and share, I would love to encourage you to look ahead to the lesson for this week (p. 32-38) and spend time meditating on the following primary passages:

2 Timothy 2:16-17
Psalm 19:11-17
Luke 24:25-27

Also, there are discussion questions on p. 42 that we will discuss on Sunday if you like to think on your own before you share with the class.


If you want to find out more about this week's topic (God's Word), you can dig in deeper with these resources: 

Study Material

• “Special Revelation”—Chapter 3 by David S. Dockery and David P. Nelson from A Theology for the Church, edited by Daniel L. Akin (free sample here on Google Books including the entire chapter and available for purchase on Amazon Kindle)
  
  “Introduction”—From God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts (free sample here on Google Books including the entire Introduction and available for purchase on Amazon Kindle)

“Billy Graham and the Rest of the Los Angeles Story” — Blog post by Collin Hansen

Sermon Podcasts

Mark Dever: “Understanding the Story Line of the Bible” — Capitol Hill Baptist Church

W. A. Criswell: “The Witness of the Word to Itself” — First Baptist Church, Dallas