Practical Theology, Week 19
Topic: Members of One Another — Week 1 of 12
Title: Start at the End: How "Members of One Another" Shapes Departure from a Local Church
Texts: Romans 12:3–8; Ephesians 4:1–16, 25
Confession: 2LBCF 26.5–7, 12–13
Big idea: Because believers belong to one another under Christ, an ordinary departure should be completed openly, truthfully, and through the church's recognition.

• When did their membership end? — a case of silent departure
• We belong to one another (Romans 12:3–8)
• Mutual identity requires truth (Ephesians 4:1–16, 25)
• What Scripture places in the congregation's hands (Matt. 18; 1 Cor. 5; 2 Cor. 2; Rom. 16:1–2)
• A faithful departure: speak, reconcile, transfer care, conclude truthfully
• For reflection: Have I treated membership as a service I consume or as people to whom I belong? If I were ever to leave, whom would I owe the truth?
• Take home: Read Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. Name three members whose spiritual good is your near responsibility.

Text: Habakkuk 1:12 – 2:5
Title: Write, Wait, Live
“If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. … but the righteous shall live by his faith.” — Habakkuk 2:3–4

I.  The Argument from God’s Own ____________   (Habakkuk 1:12 – 17)

• Habakkuk stacks covenant names: everlasting, my Holy One, O ____________.
• His problem with God is built out of his ____________ of God.
• Babylon “sacrifices to his ____________” (1:16) — he worships the tool that caught his prosperity. Name yours.

 
II.  The Tower and the ____________   (Habakkuk 2:1 – 3)

• He files the complaint expecting to be corrected.
• Write it — ink outlasts ____________. Make it plain — legible at a ____________.
• “It will surely come” is a doubled verb: “____________, it will come.”
• God writes the “if it seems ____________” into His own promise.

 
III.  Three Words to ____________ On   (Habakkuk 2:4)

• The ____________ — by his ____________ — shall live.
• Exodus 17:12 — Moses’ ____________ held steady until sundown, because someone was holding them.
• Genesis 15:6 — Abram ____________ the LORD, and it was counted to him as ____________.
• Quoted three times: Romans 1:17 (____________), Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38.

 
IV.  Arrogance & Acquisition   (Habakkuk 2:4a – 5)

• The ____________-up soul is a churchgoing possibility — you can recite a catechism about faith and still trust in yourself.
• The opposite of living by faith is living by ____________ — grasping because the soul cannot trust.
• Habakkuk never ____________ Babylon fall. The promise outlives the prophet — and he is content that it should.

V.  The Coming One ____________   (Hebrews 10:37 – 39)

• Hebrews reads Habakkuk 2:3: “the coming ____________ will come” — the vision that surely comes is a ____________.
• He came once at the appointed time; He will ____________ again at the appointed time. You live between the two — on the tower.

Big Idea:  The righteous live by ____________ while ____________ on God.

This week for Family Worship:
1.  God told Habakkuk to write His promise down and read it while he waited. Why does a written promise help on days when we can’t feel it? (Habakkuk 2:2)
2.  Is a promise true before you can see it come true? Who makes it true? (Habakkuk 2:3)
3.  What are the three words God gave Habakkuk on the tower? Can you say them together? (Habakkuk 2:4)
4.  When Moses’ arms got tired, who held his hands steady? When your faith gets tired, who holds you? (Exodus 17:12)

Memory verse for the series: “But the righteous shall live by his faith.” — Habakkuk 2:4.

Week 18
The Church's Role in God's Story: Ecclesiology Through the Lens of Biblical Theology
Theme: The church is not God's "Plan B." The church is the covenant people of God, anticipated throughout the Old Testament, established by Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and destined to display God's glory until the new creation.
Objective: Understand that the church occupies a central place in the unfolding story of redemption, serving as God's covenant community that displays His kingdom until Christ returns.

I. Introduction

• Where does the church fit within God's entire story from Genesis to Revelation?

II. God's Original Design: A People for His Presence
A. Creation. Genesis 1-2

• God did not merely create individuals. He created humanity to live together under His rule in His presence.
• Notice three themes: God's Presence, God's Rule, God's People
• Even before sin entered the world, redemption's goal was communal.
• God's purpose has always involved a people who reflect His glory.

B. The Fall. Genesis 3

• Sin shattered: fellowship with God, fellowship with one another, harmony with creation
• Humanity became divided: Cain murders Abel. Nations scatter at Babel. Idolatry replaces worship.
• The story of Scripture becomes God's work of restoring fellowship.

III. Israel: God's Covenant Assembly
A. Abraham. Genesis 12:1-3.

• God's promise includes: land, descendants, blessing to all nations
• God promises a people before He promises a nation.

B. Sinai. Exodus 19:4-6.

• Israel becomes: a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation
• Why priests? A: represent God to the world. Israel was intended to display God's character among the nations.

C. Israel's Failure

• Israel repeatedly failed because of: idolatry, covenant breaking, injustice, unbelief
• The prophets promised something greater. Jeremiah 31. Ezekiel 36. Isaiah 2
• God would create a renewed covenant people.

IV. Christ Establishes His Church
A. Jesus Announces the Kingdom

• Jesus does not merely gather followers. He forms a new covenant community.
• Matthew 16:18—Church (ekklesia): “assembly.” The language echoes Israel gathered before God.

B. Pentecost

• Acts 2: The Holy Spirit creates God's new covenant people.
• Notice four characteristics. They devoted themselves to: Apostles' teaching, Fellowship, Breaking bread, Prayer

C. Jew and Gentile Become One

• Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul uses several images: One new humanity, Household of God, Holy temple, Dwelling place of God
• The church fulfills what Israel anticipated.

V. The Church's Mission in God's Story

• 1 Peter 2:9-10. Notice Peter applies Israel's covenant language directly to the church. The church is: chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people for God's possession
• Why? "you may proclaim the excellencies of Him…" Mission always flows from identity.
• Three Primary Purposes

1. Worship: The church glorifies God. Romans 12. Hebrews 13.
2. Witness: The church demonstrates the gospel. John 13:35.
The church is God's visible apologetic. Our love authenticates our message.
3. Formation: God matures believers through life together. Ephesians 4.

VI. The Church in the New Creation

• Revelation 21:1-5. The Bible ends where it began. God dwells with His people. Notice the progression: Garden —> Tabernacle—> Temple—>Church—>New Jerusalem
• The church is preparing for the eternal dwelling of God with His redeemed people.

VII. Application

• Am I treating church as an event or as God's covenant family?
• How can our congregation better display God's kingdom together?
• Does our life together make the gospel believable?

Conclusion

• We gather each Lord's Day because we are participants in God's unfolding kingdom.

Text: Habakkuk 1:1-11
Title: A Work You Would Not Believe
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” — Habakkuk 1:5

I.  The ____________ the Prophet Carried,   Habakkuk 1:1

• “Oracle” is literally a ____________ — something lifted and carried. 
• The prophet ____________ what he was given to haul.

 
II.  How Long? The ____________ of the Righteous,   Habakkuk 1:2 – 4

• “Violence!” (chamas) — the word of Genesis ____________:11, the world before the flood.
• Faith complains ____________; unbelief complains sideways.  (See Psalm 13:1.)
• Watch the phrase “justice goes forth” — it will return in verse ____________.

 
III.  “I Am Doing a ____________ in Your Days,”   Habakkuk 1:5

• Every command in v. 5 is ____________ — God answers one prophet in front of the whole nation.
• “I am doing” — the work is already ____________. Unanswered is different from ____________.
• Baptist Catechism Q. 14: God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful ____________ and ____________ all His creatures, and all their actions.

 
IV.  The Bitter and ____________ Nation,   Habakkuk 1:6 – 11

• “Behold, ____________ am raising up the Chaldeans” — God claims the instrument.
• Judah’s justice went forth ____________ (v. 4)
• Babylon’s justice goes forth from ____________ (v. 7). Measure for measure.
• 1689 Confession 5.4 — God ordains the course; the ____________ belongs to the creature alone. God can wield what He will still ____________.

 
V.  The Work You Would Never ____________,   Acts 13:38 – 41

• Paul quotes Habakkuk 1:5 immediately after proclaiming ____________ by faith (Acts 13:38–39).
• In Habakkuk’s day, God used a pagan empire to ____________ His people
• At the cross, God used a Roman instrument to ____________ them.
• The danger in Antioch and now, is not that God’s work fails, but that we ____________ at it.

Big Idea:  God is always at ____________ but His work may be the last thing we would have ____________.

Family Worship questions for this week:
1.  Is it okay to ask God a question when something seems unfair to you? Whom did Habakkuk go talk to?
2.  Can God be busy working even when we cannot see anything happening at all? (Habakkuk 1:5)
3.  Can God use even bad people to carry out His good plan — without ever once doing anything bad Himself?
4.  What is the most surprising thing God has ever done to save people? (Acts 13:38–39)

Memory verse for the series: “But the righteous shall live by his faith.” — Habakkuk 2:4

Church History
LESSON: The Split Between East and West
Big Idea: The Great Schism was the eruption of a fracture line within political, cultural, and theological thought that had been forming for centuries.
Objectives:
1. Identify the long-developing political, cultural, and theological causes of the East-West split.
2. Explain the filioque controversy and the Photian Schism as the decisive flashpoints
before the formal break of 1054.
3. Evaluate both traditions' departures from apostolic simplicity, while clarifying where
Reformed theology actually lands on the filioque question.

I. Framing the Big Idea

• Can two churches share the same creed and still split apart?

II. Historical Context: Centuries of Divergence

• Political divergence. 
  • Charlemagne's coronation as "Roman Emperor" by Pope Leo III in 800 was, from Constantinople's vantage point, an act of usurpation — there was already a Roman emperor, and he sat in Constantinople. The West now had its own emperor and increasingly saw the papacy as standing above, not under, imperial authority.
• Cultural and linguistic divergence.
  • Latin in the West, Greek in the East. By the ninth century, few churchmen on either side were fluent in the other's language or theological vocabulary — councils and correspondence increasingly talked past each other rather than to each other.
• Ecclesiological divergence.
  • The West developed a doctrine of Roman primacy rooted in Petrine succession (Matt. 16:18). The East held to a conciliar model — the pentarchy of five patriarchates (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) governing jointly, with Rome holding honor but not unilateral authority.
• Theological friction points building toward the schism:
  • The filioque clause ("and the Son") added to the Latin Nicene Creed describing the Spirit's procession.
  • Disputes over leavened versus unleavened bread in the Eucharist.
  • Clerical celibacy required in the West, married clergy permitted in the East.
  • The Iconoclast controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries (covered further by John of Damascus's defense of icons next month) left lingering East-West tension over images and authority to settle doctrine.

III. Core Content: The Filioque Controversy and the Photian Schism

• The filioque clause. The original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) confessed the Spirit as proceeding "from the Father." Western churches, beginning in Spain in the sixth century and spreading north, began adding "and the Son" (filioque) to clarify the Spirit's relation to both Father and Son.
• The Eastern objection has two layers, and we should distinguish them carefully:

1. Procedural objection: no ecumenical council authorized the addition; the West altered a universally received creed unilaterally, which the East regarded as a breach of conciliar order regardless of the theological merit.
2. Theological objection: the East holds the Father as sole archē (source) within the Trinity; double procession, in Eastern eyes, risks compromising the Father's monarchy and conflating the Son's role in the Spirit's eternal origin with his role in the Spirit's temporal mission (cf. John 15:26).

• Reformed theology has historically affirmed the Western filioque on exegetical grounds (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7 — the Spirit is "sent" by both Father and Son), while still recognizing the East's procedural objection as a legitimate complaint about how doctrine should be settled.
• Photius and the schism that bears his name (867–886). Photius, a layman and senior imperial official, was elevated through the clerical ranks in a matter of days and installed as Patriarch of Constantinople in 858 amid a contested succession.
• Pope Nicholas I refused to recognize his elevation and backed the deposed patriarch Ignatius instead. The two sides excommunicated each other in 867 — a full breach, later patched over but never fully healed.
• Photius's enduring importance:
• He articulated, more systematically than anyone before him, the theological case against the filioque (in his treatise Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit), giving Eastern objections lasting intellectual form.
• His Bibliotheca, a vast compendium of summaries and reviews of ancient texts (many now lost except through his record), preserved an enormous amount of classical and patristic literature.
• He was deposed, restored to the patriarchate (877–886), and deposed again — his career illustrates how thoroughly church office had become entangled with imperial politics in Byzantium.
• From Photius to 1054. The formal break came when Cardinal Humbert of Rome excommunicated Patriarch Michael Cerularius, and Cerularius responded in kind — both acting somewhat impulsively, without full sanction from their own sides, in a dispute that nonetheless stuck and has never been formally reversed.

IV. Theological Evaluation

• Both traditions departed from New Testament simplicity in different directions: the West toward monarchical papal authority claiming universal jurisdiction; the East toward a church too tightly fused with imperial power to maintain independent doctrinal judgment.
• The filioque debate is a useful case study in careful theology — precise trinitarian language matters (cf. 1689 LBCF 2.3), and unilateral changes to shared confessional language, even when theologically defensible, carry real pastoral and ecumenical costs.
• Neither side's claim to final authority — papal infallibility in seed form, or imperial-patriarchal consensus — survives scrutiny against sola Scriptura. The schism is, in part, a story of two traditions each substituting institutional authority for the final authority of the Word.

V. Discussion Questions

• Rome changed a shared creed without an ecumenical council. Does the how of a doctrinal decision matter as much as the what? Why?
• The East and West each developed a different answer to "who has final authority to settle doctrine?" How does the 1689 LBCF answer (1.1, 1.10)?
• Photius rose from layman to patriarch in days, largely through imperial favor. What dangers does this illustrate about appointing church leaders for political rather than spiritual qualifications (cf. 1 Tim. 3:1–7)?

VI. Closing

• Ephesians 4:3–6

Text: Hebrews 8:11 7/12/26
A Covenant With the Elect

Hebrews 8:11
"And they shall in no way teach each one his fellow-citizen, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’; because all of them will comprehend Me, from their insignificant to their dignified.”

Outline:
I. The Nature of the Danger Paul Addresses in Hebrews
II. The Difference in the Law in the Old Covenant Vs. the New
III. The Basis of the New Covenant: Forgiveness
IV. Hebrews 8:11, The New Covenant is With the Elect
V. Church Children and the New Covenant
VI. “All” Means No Infant Baptism
VII. Making Fleshly Sense of the Bible

Our prayers are mixed by angels with incense in Heaven (Revelation 8:4), but we can’t see or smell it from here; please let us see and smell a little incense in our worship
proceedings too.
Kid-speak: In the Old Covenant, the priests made nice- smelling incense for God’s house. But in the New Covenant, we don’t do that, because the real incense is where?

Aaron and the Tabernacle service were perfectly aligned shadows (not the real thing) Christ. What Hebrews is for: to break us off from Aaron and wed us to Christ.
Kid-speak: If we built the Tabernacle again, like in the Old Testament, would that be an OK place to worship God?

Just the fact that God told of a coming New Covenant in the book of Jeremiah is enough to let us know that the days of the existing covenant, Moses’ covenant, were numbered (soon to end).
Kid-speak: In the Old Testament, God said He would be making a New Covenant with the Israelites. Did that mean their covenant through Moses would have to stop?

Last time, we skipped to Hebrews 8:12 to see the BASIS or REASON for the New Covenant, which is forgiveness.
Kid-speak: Out of Hebrews 8:10, 11, or 12, which verse tells us the whole REASON the New Covenant works?

Hebrew 8:12
For I will be merciful to their injustices, and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds."

Hebrews 8:11
"And they shall in no way teach each one his fellow-citizen, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’; because all of them will comprehend Me, from their insignificant to their dignified.”

In brief, the New Covenant is with the elect: those whom God chose, for whom Christ died, and whom the Spirit brings to Christ and keeps until the end.
Kid-speak: What does the Bible call the people whom God chose before the world started, then Jesus came to die for them, then the Holy Spirit brings them to Jesus?

John 6:45
It has been written in the Prophets, They "shall all be taught of” God. [Hebrew, “Your
sons shall all be students of Yahweh.” So then, everyone who hears and learns from the
Father comes to Me.

Concerning church children, we don’t know if children are chosen by God until we see His work in their hearts, evidenced in their recognition of their sinfulness and their need of
Christ.
Kid-speak: Kids, are your parents and Pastor Cain trying to teach you that you need Jesus to wash away the bad things you’ve done?

To allow infants to be baptized, supposedly allowing them into the New Covenant, Mickey saw “all” here as “most.”
Kid-speak: Kids, if we had baptized you when you were a baby, would that have put you in the New Covenant?

Jesus’ attitude had been mainly heavy, as the Man of Sorrows, Isaiah 53:3. Ours, despite great burdens, is mainly light! His preoccupied attitude paid for our carefree
one!
Kid-speak: Jesus thought a lot about what He had to do on the Cross. Because He thought alot about paying for our sins, do we have to worry about it now?

Children born to elect parents are benefited greatly from that. They are even “sanctified,” 1 Corinthians 7:14; but an elect parent does not make an elect child.
Kid-speak: Kids, is it better for you having parents who already know Jesus?

Some say, “The elect are chosen because they chose God,” even though the Bible says the reverse (God chose them).
Kid-speak: Are the elect who they are because they chose God or because God chose them?

Proverbs 26:4,“Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness, lest you, even you, become like him.
Proverbs 26:5,“Answer a fool according to his foolishness, that he not be wise in his own eyes.”
First, don’t enter a debate on a fool’s level. Second though, you can say, “Wanna know what you sound like/ are suggesting?”
First, the 3 friends had taken Job’s desperate despair as a reasoned argument. Second, Job had nailed the 3 friends’ cruelty, but he had “become like them” in making God’s
discipline tit-for-tat.

Proverbs 26:16,“The lazy one is wiser in his own eyes than seven that return a wise answer.” Man’s go-to is, “I don’t need to think. I already know I’m right.” Once Job took the 3 friends’ destructive detour, they needed the 7-fold wisdom of Elihu.

Proverbs 29:19,“A servant is not corrected by words; though he discerns, there is no answer.”
Our main answer in life must be in answering God, but our deaf ears give us a mute mouth: “What? No, He’s not talking to me.” AT this point, Job is so far off that his first answer to
God will be, “Ain’t sayin’ nuttin,” Job 40:4-5, when God had clearly demanded an answer!

Job 40:2.
Father, I will be the Answer to that, if You will answer the punishment for their sin in Me.”
Kid-speak: If we tell people that Jesus is the ANSWER, what is our PROBLEM that He had to answer? Three letters: S __ n.

1 John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Week 18 – Science and Faith: Does Science Disprove Christianity?
Theme: Science and Christianity are not enemies. Science studies God’s creation, while Scripture reveals the Creator. The real conflict is not science vs faith but naturalism vs the Christian worldview.

1. Read Scripture: Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3; Psalm 111:2

2. The False Conflict Between Science and Faith

• Many people assume:
  • Science explains everything.
  • Religion belongs to the past.
  • Scientific progress eliminates the need for God.
• This idea is called scientism, the belief that science is the only reliable source of truth.
• Problem: Science itself cannot prove scientism. That claim is philosophical, not scientific.

3. What Science Actually Does

• Science studies:
  • Observable patterns in nature.
  • Cause-and-effect relationships.
  • Repeatable experiments.
• Science answers how questions, such as:
  • How do stars form?
  • How does DNA replicate?
• Science does not answer ultimate questions, such as:
  • Why does the universe exist?
  • Why do moral obligations exist?
  • What is the meaning of life?
  • Those questions belong to philosophy and theology.

4. Christianity Historically Encouraged Science

• Many pioneers of science were Christians because they believed the world was created by a rational God. Examples include: Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, & Robert Boyle
• They believed that studying nature meant studying God’s handiwork.
• Ps 111:2 — “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.”

5. Evolution and Worldview Assumptions

• In many conversations, science debates quickly turn to evolution.
• Important distinctions:
  • Scientific observations
  • Philosophical interpretations
• Naturalistic evolution assumes:
  • No divine purpose.
  • No supernatural design.
• Christian theology affirms:
  • God created and sustains the universe.
  • Creation displays His wisdom and power.

6. The Christian View of Creation

• God created all things (Genesis 1:1).
• Creation reflects His glory (Psalm 19:1).
• Human beings uniquely bear God’s image.
• Science explores the mechanisms of creation
• Scripture explains the meaning of creation & sometimes the mechanisms.

7. Discussion & Application

• Why do many people assume science and Christianity are enemies?
• What is the difference between science and scientism?
• How can Christians affirm scientific discoveries without adopting naturalism?
• What opportunities do conversations about science give us to talk about God?

8. Take-Home Assignment

• Observe one news article or social media post discussing science.
• Ask yourself three questions:
  • Is this reporting scientific observation or philosophical interpretation?
  • What worldview assumptions are present?
  • How would a Christian worldview respond?

Week 18: The Names and Natures of Christ
Key Truth: Jesus Christ is one Person with two distinct natures, fully God and fully man.

I. The Names of Christ
•Jesus = Yahweh Saves
•Christ = Messiah, the Anointed One
•Son of Man
•Son of God
•Lord

II. Christ's Divine Nature
•Divine names
•Divine attributes
•Divine works
•Divine worship

III. Christ's Human Nature
•True body
•Rational soul
•Human experiences
•Perfect obedience

IV. The Hypostatic Union
•One Person
•Two complete natures
•Without confusion
•Without change
•Without division
•Without separation

V. Why It Matters
•Only God can save.
•Only man can represent mankind.
•Jesus is the perfect Mediator.

Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

TEXT: Jonah 3:1–10; TITLE: “True Repentance is a Direction”
BIG IDEA: God gives new lives, not second chances.

I: God Is Not a God of Second Chances (v. 1)

II: A Five-Word Sermon and a City-Wide Revival (vv. 3–5)

III: Repentance vs. Remorse vs. Resolution (vv. 5–8)

IV: “Who Knows?” Has an Answer (vv. 9–10)

V: The Direction of Your Life Is a Theological Statement

Week 17: Biblical Theology and Missions
Theme: God's Global Plan of Redemption

Objective: Understand that missions is not merely a church program but the outworking of God's eternal redemptive purpose revealed throughout Scripture.
Key Idea:
The mission of the church exists because the mission of God precedes it. From Genesis to Revelation, God is gathering a people from every tribe, language, people, and nation for His glory.

I. The Missionary Thread Through Scripture
A. The Promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)

• Genesis 12:1-3.
• God chose Abraham for a purpose larger than Israel.
• The covenant contains:
• A people
• A land
• A blessing
• New Testament Confirmation (Galatians 3:8.)

B. Israel's Calling Among the Nations (Exodus-Isaiah)

• Exodus 19:5-6.
• What does a priest do?
  • Represents God to people.
  • Represents people before God.
• Israel was intended to display God's glory to the nations.
• Isaiah 49:6
  • Examples:
    • Rahab
    • Ruth
    • Naaman
    • The Queen of Sheba
    • These anticipate a larger gathering of the nations.

C. Christ and the Nations (Matthew 28:18-20)

• Jesus does not create a new mission.
• He advances the ancient mission.
• Because Christ possesses:
  • All authority
• The church must:
  • Go
  • Make disciples
  • Baptize
  • Teach

D. The Consummation (Revelation 5:9-10)

• Revelation 5:9-10. 
• Christ purchased people from:
  • Every tribe
  • Every language
  • Every people
  • Every nation
• The Lamb will receive the reward of His suffering.

II. God's Mission and the Church's Participation (20-30 Minutes)
A. Central Principle: The church does not possess a mission. God possesses a mission and graciously includes His church in it.

• John 20:21

B. God's mission originates in the Father's plan

• Accomplished by the Son
• Applied by the Spirit
• The church is the instrument.

C. God's sovereignty fuels missions. It does not diminish missions.

• Acts 18:9-10. 
• Election encouraged evangelism.
  • God ordains the ends.
  • God ordains the means.
  • Therefore: Pray. Send. Go. Preach.

Title: “God Will Make Room”
Text: Jonah 1:17–2:10
BIG IDEA: The fish is a provision instead of a punishment. Our rock bottom is actually God’s foundation to build upon, and the prayer that rises from the belly of the fish is the model of what genuine surrender actually sounds like.

Answer this honestly: is prayer for you a first response or a last resort?

I: We Think the Fish Is Punishment (1:17)

• The word appointed here is מָנָה — mānāh. The same word appears three more times in this book: God appointed a plant to shade Jonah, a worm to eat the plant, and an east wind to beat down on his head. God appointed all four.
• When we are in the belly of the fish, the last thing we want to hear is that it is a gift.
• Before God works on the message, he works on the messenger. The fish is the surgery, not the end of Jonah’s story.
• Paul asked three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. God left it there and told him instead that grace is sufficient, that weakness is where the strength shows up (2 Corinthians 12:7–9). Paul did not get the comfort he asked for, but the dependence God knew he needed, and called it a gift.
• The circumstance we are in right now might also be a provision. The confinement might be the point. The darkness might be where the conversion happens.

II: What Prayer From the Deep Actually Sounds Like (2:1–6)

• Jonah’s prayer is almost entirely composed of quotations from the Psalms.
  • You do not need to have a clean theological record to pray the Psalms.
• Jonah makes no excuses & offers no justifications.
  • Jonah’s prayer is not contingent on his circumstances improving.
  • Jonah’s prayer in the fish doesn't get him vomited out immediately. It changes him, and that is the point.
• Luke records Jesus teaching the disciples to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

III: The Belly of the Fish Is Not Too Far (2:2, 7)

• The belly of the fish is described as Sheol — the place of the dead. 
• Jonah is at the bottom of the theological and physical world, surrounded by chaos and death, with no human means of escape. And God heard him from there.
  • Isaiah 59:1 says: The LORD’s arm is not too short to save. 
• Functionally, we trust our circumstances more than we trust the Lord who controls them.

IV: Vain Idols and the Grace They Cost You (2:8)

• Jonah fled to Tarshish because he valued something above God's call. His pride, comfort,  and desire to see Nineveh judged rather than saved were his vain idols.
• He is saying, from inside the fish, what those idols cost him.
• The NIV renders this verse: those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
  • God's grace is there, but the idol in your hand is keeping you from it.

V: Salvation Belongs to the LORD

• God sets him down on the beach rather than spitting him into open water to fight the current, the surf, and the reef on his own.
• Matthew 12:39–40 is where Jesus himself reads this chapter. He calls this the sign of Jonah — three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus is pointing to himself. The belly of the fish points to the tomb. The three days in darkness point to the three days of death. The vomiting onto dry land points to the resurrection morning.
• The Son of God was thrown into the deepest deep — the wrath of God poured out for sin that was not his own — so that he could carry the people with him.
• Every line of chapter 2 (I called from Sheol, you brought up my life from the pit, salvation belongs to the LORD) is Jonah’s version of what Christ would say from the cross and from the tomb and from the garden.
• It is the grammar of resurrection: death entered, God heard, life given back.

Title: The Church in the Early Middle Ages
Big Idea When Rome's political structures collapsed, the church inherited functions no one had designed it to carry — and Gregory the Great shows both the pastoral fruit and the
institutional cost of that inheritance.

I. What happens to a society's institutions when its government collapses?
In 476, the last Western Roman emperor was deposed. No empire-wide replacement emerged in the West for centuries. Into that vacuum stepped the only institution with continuity, literacy, and organizational reach across the old empire — the church.

II. The Church Fills a Vacuum
Political collapse, ecclesial continuity.
Monasteries became the de facto preservers of literacy, agricultural technique, and the manuscript tradition through the centuries.
East versus West divergence begins here.

III. Gregory the Great
Served as Prefect of Rome before renouncing it to become a monk. Elected pope in 590 against his own wishes — he wrote that he accepted the office "with grief."
Missionary initiative. In 597, Gregory sent Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons in England — the single most consequential missionary decision of the early medieval church, planting the seed for English (and later much of Northern
European) Christianity.
Writings and lasting influence:
Pastoral Rule (Regula Pastoralis) — a manual for bishops on the cure of souls.
Moralia in Job — extended allegorical commentary; shaped medieval exegetical
method.
Dialogues — popularized the doctrine of purgatory in the West through stories
of souls purified after death by suffering and the prayers of the living.
"Gregorian" chant tradition bears his name, reflecting his role in liturgical
standardization (though the precise musical attribution is debated by scholars).

IV. Discussion Question
Purgatory grew out of a pastor's attempt to comfort the grieving with stories about
the afterlife. What does this teach us about the danger of doctrine built on sentiment
rather than text (cf. Acts 17:11)?

VI. Closing
Read 1 Peter 5:2–3.

“The Prophet Who Ran”
Jonah 1:1-17
God's sovereign purposes cannot be thwarted by the rebellion of His servants.

Historical Background

I. God’s Call (1:1-3)

II. God's Pursuit (1:4-10)

III. God's Providence (1:11-16)

IV. God's Rescue (1:17)

Week 17: Man in the Covenant of Grace
Key Truth: God saves sinners through Jesus Christ and brings them into covenant fellowship with Himself as His people.
Key Verse: I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 32:38)
I. The Need for the Covenant of Grace
A. Man's Original Condition
Created righteous
Covenant of Works
Fellowship with God
B. The Fall
Sin entered the world
Death and condemnation followed
Man became unable to save himself
C. God's Initiative
Genesis 3:15
The first promise of redemption

II. What Is the Covenant of Grace?
A. Definition
God's gracious provision of salvation through Christ
B. Progressive Revelation
Promised in the Old Testament
Fulfilled in the New Covenant
C. Christ the Mediator
The center of God's redemptive plan
The source of every covenant blessing

III. The Covenant of Grace in the 1689 Baptist Confession
A. Revealed Progressively
Adam
Abraham
Moses
David
Christ
B. Fulfilled in the New Covenant
The full revelation of God's saving purpose
Established through Christ's blood
C. New Covenant Membership
A redeemed people
United to Christ by faith

IV. Members of the Covenant
A. Christ the Covenant Head
B. Believers United to Christ
C. The Church as a Covenant Community

V. Covenant Blessings
A. Justification
B. Adoption
C. Sanctification
D. Eternal Life

VI. Covenant Responsibilities
A. Faith
B. Repentance
C. Obedience
D. Perseverance

Discussion Questions
Why was the Covenant of Grace necessary?
How does Christ fulfill God's covenant promises?
What makes the New Covenant unique?
How does union with Christ shape our relationship with other believers?
What covenant blessing most encourages you today?

Key Takeaways
✓ God initiated salvation by grace.
✓ Christ is the Mediator and fulfillment of the Covenant of Grace.
✓ The New Covenant is the full realization of God's redemptive promise.
✓ Believers are united to Christ and to one another as God's covenant people.
✓ God's covenant guarantees both present blessings and future glory.

Practical Theology – Week 9 – The Problem of Evil
Theme: The existence of evil and suffering is one of the most common objections to Christianity. Scripture teaches that evil is real, that God is sovereign, and that the cross of Christ offers the deepest answer to suffering.

1. Opening
Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1–4; Romans 8:18–28

2. The Objection

• A common argument against Christianity:
  • If God is all-powerful, He could stop evil.
  • If God is all-good, He would want to stop evil.
• Evil exists.
  • Therefore, God does not exist.

3. The Biblical Perspective on Evil

• Scripture does not deny suffering. It speaks honestly about it.
• Key truths:

1. Evil entered through human sin

• Genesis 3 records the fall of humanity.
• The brokenness of the world flows from rebellion against God.

2. God remains sovereign

• God rules even over suffering (Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6).
• Nothing happens outside His providence.

3. Evil never has the final word

• God works all things for good for those who love Him (Rom 8:28).
• The story of Scripture moves toward restoration.

4. The Cross as the Center of the Answer

• The greatest evil in history was the crucifixion of Christ.
• Yet through that evil God accomplished good in salvation (Acts 2:23).
• This shows:
  • God can bring good out of the worst suffering.
  • God Himself entered into human suffering.
  • The resurrection promises that suffering will not last forever.

5. Pastoral Wisdom in Apologetics

• When people raise the problem of evil:
  • Do not begin with philosophical arguments.
• Instead:
  • Listen carefully.
  • Acknowledge the pain involved.
  • Affirm that Christianity takes suffering seriously.
  • Show how the cross reveals God’s justice and mercy.

6. Real-Life Case Study
Scenario
A friend says: “If God were loving, my mother wouldn’t have died from cancer. I can’t believe in a God who allows that.”

• Suggested Response Process

1. Listen and empathize
: Express genuine sorrow for the loss.
2. Avoid quick answers
: Suffering requires compassion before explanation.
3. Affirm biblical truth": 
The world is broken because of sin. Death was never part of God’s original design.
4. Point to Christ
: Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35).
He also suffered and died to defeat death.
5. Offer hope: The resurrection promises a future where death will be destroyed (Rev 21:4).

TEXT: Ruth 4:1–22  “The Redeemer Has Come”
BIG IDEA: Ruth begins in a graveyard and ends in a nursery, and the closing genealogy is the point: God was using every broken thing in this story to get to Jesus.

I: The Right of Redemption Has a Price (vv. 1–8)

II: Boaz Redeems What He Was Not Required to Redeem (vv. 9–12)

III: From Bitter to Full (vv. 13–16)

IV: Why the Genealogy Is the Point (vv. 17–22)

V: The Greater Boaz Has Already Come to the Gate

Text: Ruth 3:1–18
Title: Rest: The Consolation of the Bridegroom"
Big Idea: The redemptive rest you're searching for is finally found only under the wing of the one Bridegroom.

I. Rest Pursued (vv. 1–5)
Naomi seeks manoach — matrimonial rest and covering — for Ruth through the kinsman-redeemer.

II. Rest Offered (vv. 6–15)
Ruth lays her go'el claim at the threshing floor: "Spread your wings over me, for you are a redeemer."

III. Rest Received (vv. 16–18)
Boaz has sworn an oath. Naomi's word to Ruth is the posture of every soul under Christ's kanaph: "Sit still, my daughter."

The Gospel Connection:
Boaz's wing reaches far — but not far enough. The Bridegroom of Revelation 19 is the one every go'el was pointing toward. His wing covers what no husband can.

Spiritual Disciplines Week 6
Title: Serving as a Means of Grace
To show that Christian service is a Spirit-enabled response to union with Christ, functioning as an ordinary means through which God sanctifies both the one serving and the one served.

Christological Foundation

• Text: Mark 10:45
• Christ’s service is substitutionary and exemplary
• We do not replicate His atonement, yet we participate in His pattern
• Service flows from redemption, not toward it.
• Service is the fruit, never the ground, of acceptance with God.

Union with Christ and Service

• Text: Galatians 5:13
• Freedom is not autonomy; it is reorientation toward others
• Union with Christ → New Identity → Spirit-enabled Love → Service
• Participatory ethics grounded in being “in Christ.”

Service in the Body

• Text: 1 Peter 4:10–11

1. What is the source of gifts?
2. What is the purpose of gifts?
3. What is the goal of service?

Diagnosing Distortions

• Performance-Driven Service: “I serve so God will be pleased with me.”
• Consumer Christianity: “I attend but do not engage.”
• Burnout without Theology: “I serve constantly but feel empty.”
• What is the theological error in each?
• Corrective Framework:
  • Justification corrects performance
  • Ecclesiology corrects consumerism
  • Means of grace corrects burnout

Practical Pathways

• One current area of service
• One potential area of neglected gifting
• Categories:
  • Formal (teaching, music, leadership)
  • Informal (hospitality, encouragement, mercy)
• The body metaphor (1 Cor. 12) implies the necessity of every part.

Summary

• Grounded in Christ
• Empowered by the Spirit
• Directed toward the church
• Aimed at the glory of God

Week 16: Biblical Theology and Discipleship
Shaping Christian Growth | May 24, 2026
Objective: Students will see how biblical theology forms mature, resilient Christians.

I. Why Bible Knowledge Isn't Enough

• The problem isn't lack of content — it's a failure of story formation.

II. Discipleship as Story Formation

• Identity precedes behavior
• Everyone lives inside some story
• Scripture's storyline — Creation → Fall → Redemption → New Creation — displaces competing narratives

III. Biblical Theology vs. Moralism
MoralismCovenantal Identity
Obey to belongYou belong; therefore obey
Identity = performanceIdentity = union with Christ
Suffering = punishmentSuffering = participation in Christ's pattern
Hope = earnedHope = promised and secured
Key texts: Romans 6:1–4 · Galatians 4:4–7

IV. Group Discussion

• How does seeing suffering as participation in Christ's pattern change what it means?
• What is the difference between obeying from fear and obeying from belonging?
• If the story ends in new creation and Christ's total victory, how does that shape your hope?

V. Synthesis

• Discipleship grounded in union with Christ — not in willpower, but in God's immutable purpose, Christ's intercession, and the Spirit's indwelling.
• 1689 LBCF Ch. 17

VI. Closing

• Because I am in Christ's story, when _______ happens, I can _______.

When the Wheels Come Off
Ruth 1
Big Idea: When God is sovereign over our suffering, the only sane response is to turn toward him and his people, even when everything else is gone.

I.  The Wheels Came Off  (vv. 1-5)
•  Famine in Bethlehem — the house of bread — at the worst moment in Israel's history
•  Elimelech moves the family to Moab seeking survival; he manages the immediate and ignores the eternal
•  Within a decade: Elimelech dead, both sons dead, Naomi alone in a foreign land with no path forward

II.  God Is Sovereign Over the Wreck  (vv. 6-13)
•  "The LORD had visited his people" — a covenant word; God was not absent, not surprised, not scrambling
•  Naomi releases her daughters-in-law and prays ḥesed over them — covenant loyalty that does not leave
•  Even stripped of everything, Naomi blesses others with what she knows is real

III.  Ḥesed = Gospel  (vv. 14-18)
•  Ruth's pledge is not primarily a wedding vow — it is a Moabite woman choosing the covenant community at personal cost
•  God's covenant loyalty arrives through the most unexpected people in the most unlikely circumstances
•  Ruth commits to a person and a people before she fully understands the covenant God — and God writes her into the Messiah's genealogy

IV.  From Sweetness to Bitterness  (vv. 19-22)
•  "Call me Mara" — Naomi is honest, not faithless; she is still talking to the God she has not abandoned
•  The text assigns no cause, no sin, no explanation — God's sovereignty does not always come with one
•  The chapter's quiet closing note: they arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest — God is already three chapters ahead

V.  The Greatest Ḥesed
•  Horatio Spafford, above the Atlantic grave of his daughters: "It is well with my soul" — the Savior defines us, not our circumstances
•  Jesus Christ is the true and better Boaz — the kinsman-redeemer who left heaven to enter our death and destitution
•  He bore the wrath our rebellion deserves, rose from the dead, so that empty becomes full and Mara becomes Naomi again

May 17, 2026
Missions to the Barbarians

Focus Biography: Patrick of Ireland

To a Roman, a barbarian was anyone outside the empire's borders, anyone who did not speak Latin or Greek fluently, anyone whose customs seemed strange. The Greeks coined it first: barbaros — the ones whose speech sounded like nonsense, like "bar-bar-bar."

THE POST-ROMAN MISSION FIELD

• By 476, when the last Western emperor was deposed, large portions of what had been Roman territory were already governed by Germanic kings — many of whom were, at least nominally, Christian.
• Three features of the post-Roman landscape:
  • Political fragmentation. No single political authority controls the West. Christianity can no longer assume a friendly emperor will handle logistics, fund councils, or enforce orthodoxy. The church is on its own in ways it has never been before.
  • Demographic shift. The people pouring into former Roman territory — Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Saxons, Irish — are the mission field. 
  • The gospel has always moved on the margins of power. Empire gave Christianity certain advantages — and certain liabilities. When those liabilities are stripped away, mission becomes possible in new forms. The gospel travels light.

MISSIONARY STRATEGY

• Four missionary strategies:
  • Relational evangelism. Missionaries traveled as guests, servants, and strangers — not as agents of a conquering civilization. They ate the food, learned the language, and earned a hearing. Patrick is the paradigm case.
  • Cultural translation. The gospel had to be spoken in the idiom of the receiving culture. This is not a doctrinal compromise — it is linguistic faithfulness. The great question these missionaries asked was: what in this culture is already oriented toward the true God, even if unnamed?
  • Monastic centers as mission hubs. The monastery became the primary institutional form of post-Roman Christianity in the West. It was simultaneously a school, a scriptorium, a hospital, a farm, and a center of worship. Irish monasticism in particular was aggressively missionary. Monks did not retreat from culture — they became the most educated, most productive, and most missionally active people in their region.
  • Evangelism without coercion. Imperial Christianity had used pressure, social incentive, and occasionally force. Post-Roman missionaries had none of those tools. The result was, in many ways, a purer expression of what Christian witness is supposed to be.
• "Which of these four strategies is easiest to use when the church has cultural power? Which ones only work when they do not?"

PATRICK OF IRELAND

• Patrick was born in the late fourth century.
• His grandfather is a priest; his father is a deacon; He does not take it seriously.
• At sixteen, Irish raiders cross the sea and take him captive. He is carried to Ireland and put to work as a shepherd. He tends flocks alone on cold hillsides for six years.
• Patrick becomes a Christian. He writes in his Confession that during those years he prayed a hundred times a day and nearly as many times at night. Captivity became the school of his faith. He had brought nothing to Ireland; God gave him everything there.
• After six years, he hears a voice in a dream: "Your ship is ready." He escapes, travels two hundred miles to the coast, persuades a pagan crew to take him aboard, and eventually reaches home. His family receives him as one returned from the dead.
• Then the call comes. He dreams of a man from Ireland, Victoricus, who carries a letter. The letter is headed "The Voice of the Irish." He reads it and hears the voices of the Irish people calling him back: "We beg you, holy boy, come and walk once more among us.”
• Patrick spends years in Gaul, prepares for ministry, is ordained, and returns to the island where he had been enslaved — this time as a bishop, a missionary, and a free man.
• Three emphases worth underlining:
  • Prayer. Patrick's missionary method was saturated in prayer before it was shaped by strategy. The Confession and Breastplate show a man who moved through dangerous territory by faith.
  • Humility. He consistently describes himself as unworthy, uneducated, and rough in Latin compared to the Roman clergy who looked down on him. His power came from the Spirit and from proximity to the people — not from ecclesiastical credentials.
  • Perseverance under opposition. He faced resistance from British bishops who questioned his qualifications, from druids who opposed his preaching, and from chieftains who saw him as a political threat. He kept going.

CHRISTIANITY IN NEW CULTURES

• Patrick learned Irish, engaged with Irish customs, and drew on Irish relational patterns. Does that make him a relativist? What does it actually make him?
• Was post-Roman Christianity in some ways more faithful precisely because it lacked political power? What do we risk when the church and state become too comfortable with each other?
• Where do you see the church today, tempted to depend on cultural power rather than the gospel itself?

MISSIONAL TAKEAWAY

• The gospel travels light.
• The question for us is whether we are willing to do the same.
• Where has God placed you that requires you to carry the gospel without cultural advantage, and are you doing it?

Say What You Mean, Pray Like You Mean It, Go Get Your Brother
Text: James 5:12–20
Big Idea: The community of Christ survives by telling the truth, praying without ceasing, and persevering in truth.
I. We Have a Truth Problem (v. 12)

• James goes to the root of five chapters of diagnosis: the gap between what we confess and what we are
• Swearing an oath is an admission that your word needs help
• Be the same person in every room
• Let your yes be yes and your no be no — or you will fall under condemnation

II. Prayer Is the Church's Oxygen (vv. 13–18)

• Three conditions, three responses — all the same: bring it to God
• Suffering → pray
• Cheerful → sing
• Sick → call the elders
• The prayer of faith, anointing with oil, and the forgiveness of sins — the Lord heals the whole person
• Elijah was ordinary; God is extraordinary — the prayer of a righteous person has great power
• The righteousness that gets to pray is the imputed righteousness of Christ, credited by grace through faith

III. Confession Is How the Church Stays Clean (v. 16)

• Confess your sins to one another — say it out loud to someone who can pray over you
• Your confession does not earn what Christ's blood already purchased
• Sin grows in the dark; confession drags it into the light
• The community that confesses to one another is the community that can hold together under pressure

IV. Wandering Is Fatal, and the Church Is Responsible (vv. 19–20)

• James is talking about someone among us — not a stranger
• The passive option is off the table: wait and see, give them space, mind your own business
• Whoever turns a wanderer back covers a multitude of sins
• The one who pursues a wandering brother discovers in the going that their own faith is alive
• This is the gospel in miniature: someone wanders, someone pursues at cost, the wanderer is restored to life

Conclusion

• Job's friends had the right posture and the wrong response — the church that stands at a distance is Job's friends with better manners
• Dead faith produces dead churches, and dead churches let people wander
• Say what you mean. Pray like you mean it. Go get your brother — the Lord who is coming is the same Lord who came for you.

Systematic Theology, Week 16: Man in the State of Sin

QUESTION: How would you explain the problem of sin in a way that captures both its depth and its consequences?
Definition (Berkhof): "Sin is lack of conformity to or transgression of God’s law. Original sin includes guilt and corruption derived from Adam."
Key Text: Romans 5:12.
Why This Matters: A shallow view of sin produces a shallow view of grace.

1. Origin of Sin
A. Fall of Adam

• Genesis 3.

• Federal headship and imputed guilt.

• Why is Adam’s representation essential to the gospel?

B. Nature of Original Sin

• 
Ephesians 2:1–3.
• Humans are spiritually dead in sin.

• Corruption of will, mind, and affections.

C. Transmission of Sin

• Romans 5:18–19.

• Corruption passes to all humanity.

• How does this explain universal human brokenness?

2. Actual Sin and Human Inability
A. Actual Transgressions

• Romans 3:23.

• Sin permeates conduct and desires.

B. Total Inability

• John 6:44.

• Humans cannot seek God apart from grace.

C. Consequences of Sin

• Separation from God, corruption of relationships, death.

• Romans 6:23.
• How does understanding inability deepen our reliance on divine grace?

3. Conclusion & Reflection

• Summary:
 Sin includes guilt, corruption, inability, and judgment.
• Why does total depravity highlight the glory of Christ?

• Where do you see the effects of sin most clearly in modern culture?

Biblical Theology, Week 15: Teaching & Preaching Faithfully
Goal: To understand how biblical theology shapes faithful exposition in order to be a better "hearer of the Word."
Opening Question: What makes a sermon Christian rather than merely moral?

Preaching Within a "Biblical" Framework

• Start with the text’s original meaning. (READ)
  • Translation
  • Context (within the book/letter)
  • Historical/Theological Setting
• Locate the text in redemptive history. (TEACH/EXPLAIN)
• Move toward Christ appropriately. (APPLY/EXHORT)

Common Preaching Errors

• Name that nonsense:
  • Moralism
  • Random Christ references
  • Ignoring covenantal context

Hands-on Sermon Mapping Exercise

• A sermon outline moves from: Text → Theme → Fulfillment → Application (maybe)

Discussion & Summary

• How does biblical theology guard against shallow application?
• Biblical theology disciplines preaching so Christ is proclaimed without distortion.

Title: Who Do You Think You Are? Text: James 4:11-17

I. REVIEW

• Earthly wisdom is marked by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition; it is demonic at its root (3:14-16).
• Heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy (3:17). 
• 4:1-10 is a devastating diagnosis: your quarrels and fights come from cravings at war inside you.
  • You ask and receive nothing because you ask in order to spend it on your own pleasures (4:3).
  • You are adulterers — spiritual adulterers — who have made friendship with the world your primary loyalty (4:4).
• James closes chapter 4 with mercy: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God.... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (4:6, 10).
• The way up is down. Humility is the cure.

II. INTRODUCTION
James turns to three specific sins, each a variation on the same disease: forgetting who you are and forgetting who God is.

III. THE SIN OF THE CRITICAL TONGUE: Judging as Usurpation (4:11-12)

• The person I feel most qualified to correct is: _____. 
• The fact that a name came to mind immediately tells you something.
• Two forms of evil speech: 
• gossip, true stories taken where they should not go
• slander, false stories constructed and circulated.
• James seems to have slander primarily in view here, since he pairs it with judgment.
• When you speak against your brother, you have placed yourself above the law rather than under it. The law says, Love your neighbor as yourself (2:8).
• When you judge your brother, you are declaring by your action that you are exempt from the law’s claim over you.
• But there is only one Lawgiver and Judge. He is the one who can save and destroy.

IV. THE SIN OF THE ARROGANT PLANNER: Presuming on Tomorrow (4:13-16)

• Four certainties stacked in one sentence: the departure, the destination, the duration, the outcome & identifies our presumptions and outcomes:

A. It forgets our ignorance. (v.14a.)

B. It forgets our frailty. (v.14b.)

C. It forgets our dependence. (v.15)

D. It brags without basis (v.16)

V. THE SIN OF INACTION: Knowing and Not Doing (4:17)

• What is sin? Sin is any transgression of or want of conformity to the Law of God.
• This verse is about the want of conformity, the sin of omission.
• For the Christian, knowing what is right creates an obligation. To know the good & leave it undone is to sin as surely as if you had done the evil.

VI. THE DIAGNOSIS BEHIND ALL THREE SINS

• Each sin forgets something essential:
  • The slanderer forgets that God alone holds the judicial seat. He inflates himself.
  • The arrogant planner forgets that God holds tomorrow. He presumes.
  • The inactive professor forgets that knowledge creates responsibility. He exempts himself.

VII. THE GOSPEL ANSWER

• Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:10).
• The cure for the slanderer? We have received God's mercy, so we have no standing to withhold mercy from our brother.
• The cure for the arrogant planner? Jesus, facing the cross in Gethsemane, said Not my will, but yours be done.
• The cure for the inactive professor? Jesus, who did what we leave undone. His entire life was the active righteousness we owe and can’t produce. 

VIII. CLOSING
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:6-7