Monthly Archives: May 2022

God Foretells Destruction

International Sunday School June 5 2022 Summer QTR #1

Isaiah 47:10-15 NIV  You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’  (11)  Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.  (12)  “Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.  (13)  All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.  (14)  Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.  (15)  That is all they are to you— these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.

Isaiah 47:10-15 NIV

The Fruit of Freedom

International Sunday School Lesson May 29 2022 Spring #13

Galatians 5:16-26 NIV  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  (17)  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  (18)  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  (19)  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  (20)  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  (21)  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  (22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23)  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  (24)  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  (25)  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  (26)  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 5:16-26 NIV

Freedom, Love, and Faith

International Sunday School Lesson May 22 2022

Galatians 5:1-15 NIV  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (2)  Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.  (3)  Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.  (4)  You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.  (5)  For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.  (6)  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  (7)  You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?  (8)  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.  (9)  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”  (10)  I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.  (11)  Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.  (12)  As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!  (13)  You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  (14)  For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (15)  If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Galatians 5:1-15 NIV

Freedom and the Law

International Sunday School May 15 2022 Spring #11

Galatians 3:18-29 NIV  For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.  (19)  Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.  (20)  A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.  (21)  Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  (22)  But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.  (23)  Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.  (24)  So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.  (25)  Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  (26)  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  (27)  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  (28)  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29)  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:18-29 NIV