The Work Of Christ Foreshadowed In Gideon

Bro. David Barnes

Proverbs 25:2 states, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." Gideon's life is more than just an interesting story. Gideon (Hewer down, Warrior) stands as one of the most remarkable types of Christ in all of Scripture. As we examine the life of Gideon, we see the work of Christ foreshadowed in both his First and Second Advents. Yahweh willing, we will take a look at Judges 6, 7 & 8 and see the following events: Christ's sacrifice; the resurrection and judgment; the battle of Armageddon; the subjugation of the nations; the work of the Second Exodus; and the establishment of the Kingdom. Hopefully this study will strengthen our faith and belief in the inspired Word of Yahweh and give us a better appreciation of the faithful man Gideon - and the one he represents - the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption and the present work of Jesus Christ

Bro. Daniel Arabia

The redemptive process is a critical consideration for all God-focused individuals. Understanding, in this pivotal doctrine, grows and matures over the course of a lifetime. Seeking deeper appreciation of the gravity of sin and its relationship to the freedom of God's redemption can be difficult to internalize. Often it feels that each layer of comprehension adds an intertwining complexity of caveats that can easily become too unruly to navigate. Consistent effort must be applied to ordering and harmonizing our internal 'view', our external 'voice' becomes complicated and contradictory.

This, in turn, leads to an over intellectualization of God's doctrine which affects our lives with a number of tremendously negative consequences. Specifically, it robs us of the ability to express our faith in clear and simple terms. Additionally, no longer able to use our own words, we lose the ability to relate that doctrine to the practical reality of our day-to-day walk; in effect nullifying its value. Together, we would seek to identify and expose our own internal contradiction while exploring the estate of man, the plan of God, the present work of Jesus, to gain deeper appreciation of the work of God's grace and the necessity to be born a new creation.

Models, Jesus taught us to live by!

Bro. Dan Ribaudo

Theme verse for this class is: John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Exo 33:18 And Moses said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

We understand what Moses saw when the Glory of Yahweh passed by him in the cleft of the rock. What he saw was a description of the character of God. Those characteristics are expressed in the Memorial Name. The Lord showed himself through a variety of manifestations, the greatest of course is the Lord Jesus Christ. At the birth of Jesus we have this proclamation. Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. The writer to the Hebrews proclaims the Glory of God as being manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person The character of Yahweh is the character of The Lord Jesus Christ, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth Jesus wants to share that glory with His brethren. (John 17:22) So in a brief moment we understand that God left us a model of Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. What we hope to accomplish in a few sessions is to examine a few of the models Jesus left us to live by with the intent of not just doing the readings but to live the readings. We will discuss a different model each day, with the use of class participation to collectively share experiences that can be useful to us as we seek to edify one another unto love and good works. The individual topics we are planning to discuss are:

1. The Model Prayer
2. The Model Servant
3. The Model for dealing with Temptation
4. The Model concerning interaction among believers
5. The Master Builder
6. The Biblical Supermodel

The object is to take these models that Jesus taught and lived by, and discuss some practical applications for use in the work of building our part of the body of Christ for the edification of the ecclesia and for the Glory of Yahweh.

The Book of Esther

Bro. Ralph Diliberto

The book of Esther is pretty straight forward, there seems to be no mystery, no hidden meaning behind this book. There are five main characters; Ahasuerus, Vasthi, Mordecai, Haman and Esther. Vasthi defies the orders of Ahasuerus and she is replace by Esther. She is then made queen in Vasthi's stead. Haman the Agagite is promoted to prime minister and seeks to exterminate the Jews because of Mordecai's refusal to bow down to him. Haman is exposed by Queen Esther of his treachery and he is executed. Mordecai is promoted to the second highest in the land and the Jews dwell peacefully in the Persian Empire.

As we peel away the layers of this book, read between the lines and in some instances make suppositions based upon the rest of the book and being consistent with the rest of scripture we find a very fascinating study that was purposely put into scripture by the Almighty God for as specific reason that we will come to understand at the end of the week.

We are told by the apostle in Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patients and comfort of scripture might have hope." When we do a study such as this it should be our goal to reflect on the verse we just quoted so we might become better servants in our Fathers sight and in turn fulfill verse 1 of this same chapter. "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. As we unravel this book we will find the type of character we just described in Romans 15:1 being manifest in the lives of both Esther and Mordecai. Hopefully this study it will help us to remember what type of people we ought to be as Gods stewards.

The New Atheism

Bro. William Farrar

The Bible is under all-out assault from many directions under the general heading, "The New Atheism." While the material contained in these recent books and videos is in itself not new, the widespread public attention it is attracting through the media is new. The idea that the Bible might actually be history is treated as a laughing-stock by these present-day critics. It is our intent to review selections from the Acts and Epistles with the view to examining whether or not they have the 'hallmark' ("any mark or special indication of genuineness") of reality, or whether they appear to be simply unverifiable 'Bible stories'.

The Bear is in the Details

Bro. Brian Forbes

Why does a famous Venezuelan terrorist shoot a Jewish banker in the name of his Palestinian "brethren"? Which Eurasian nation rewrote the Palestinian National Charter after the Six-Day War? Why do left-wing groups from Japan and the Philippines to Germany and the U.S. preach the same dogma about Israeli "aggression"? What nation is connected to "all the bloodiest terrorists of the world"? Which nation's intelligence agency held Ayman al-Zawahiri for 30 days before releasing him to Afghanistan shortly before Al Qaeda's fatwa against the U.S. and its allies (Israel)? This current events and prophecy class will shed light on these details and reveal the culpability of the Great Bear.