He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
— Micah 6:8
Bro. Luke Ribaudo
This class will take a historical look at the three dispersions of the Jewish people. By painting a broad brush through time, we will explore the lives and times of those men that were called to be the voice of God at times of great wickedness. The dispersion of the nation of Israel by the Assyrians, and the warning for Judah during this time was forecast by the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. The end of the nation of Judah was forewarned by Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah. This class will overview the prophecies, friends, foes, and lives of these men "of whom the world was not worthy." We will conclude the week with the greatest prophet of all Jesus Christ, his rebuke of the vineyard parable (Matt. 21; Luke 20), and his Olivet prophecy of the final dispersion of AD 70. Taking into consideration the wisdom of the apostle Paul that "all things were written for our learning"; this study will maintain an application to our time, as we also wait faithfully and patiently at the end of the commonwealth of mankind.
Bro. Gord Welshman
This class will attempt to show, in a number of ways, that the Book of Acts is reliable; that it can be trusted and believed. Its reliability is of huge importance to us as it contains many examples of what we would call "first principles of truth"; for example the author of Acts records Paul as saying that God has "appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead".
When you research what some, so called, modern bible scholars say; you read statements like the author of Acts "was not too truthful or too conscientious even to deny the truth of history when he found it in his interest to do so" or that the book is "no more than an ancient romance novel".
Lord willing we will attempt to show just how reliable The Acts of the Apostles is by examining things like: authorship, date of writing, historical and geographical accuracy, the speeches in Acts and some of the so called difficult passages. It is hoped that at the end of these sessions we will be refreshed in our belief that "all scripture (including Acts) is given by inspiration of God".
Bro. Richard Harrison
When the Apostle Peter stood up at Pentecost, he addressed a mixed group of people. Most were Jews and many of them were from other countries. Moreover, a few of them enumerated appear to be gentiles: (Acts 2: 11) " ... both Jews and proselytes (gentile converts)". To this group of mixed people, Peter quoted from the Prophet Joel saying, "... in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke ... before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day ". Now, this prophecy had a latter day application from the time of Joel's writing in the 9th Century BCE, and no doubt the receiving of the Holy Spirit was an incipient fulfilment of that famous prediction - but certainly not the final application. What I propose to do during the coming five days is to re-review some of the major prophecies our God has both prophesied and fulfilled-some from the first century and a number from the "End of Gentile Times". In a sense, it will be looking at the story behind the story, and it will include both Jew and Gentile. By the retelling of the individual tales, I hope to demonstrate the Eternal's ability to use events and people to fulfill his word sometimes in rather unusual ways-events often touching on the miraculous. My hope in returning to history is to both instill and engender a stronger sense of faith in our God by showing how the Almighty uses both people and events to fulfill His powerful predictions.
Bro. Gerald Sankey
We proposed to advance the prophecies of the end-times, that our early bre. expounded from their 19th century perspective - to a more present day point of view. Since we have advanced in time and history into the 21st century since these observations were made in the late 1800's, the historical narrative of the 20th century, and now into the 21st, has presented to us the need for a more current interpretation of certain of the end-time prophecies, leading up to and including the 2nd advent of our Lord.
I assure you there will not be any "pioneer bashing", as so many seem to be concerned about.
After all, Bro. Thomas stated that his ability to provide an exposition of the Apocalypse, in his days, was because of his knowledge of:
We will advance our views using these same principles, from a 21st century position.
Bro. Brad Ricks
When Israel returned from Babylon, their efforts to rebuild the Temple of God were unsuccessful until the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah caused the work of rebuilding to prosper to its completion! This interactive class will use these successful prophecies to likewise inspire us to find concrete ways to build up God's House within our local communities.
Bro. Jerry Markwith
This class will focus on the decision making process from a Biblical perspective. We will see how and why certain believers of old arrived at their decisions and what the effect was on their lives. We will explore cognitive bias such as group think, confirmation bias, and the power of habits. We will consider cognitive dissonance in which a person may hold two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. How do we adjust for new ideas presented by others? The class should be prepared for homework as well as a "case study" and reading list.