The Vineyard- September 30, 2012

The Vineyard

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

Genesis 4:1-26:

-          What is it that first causes division between Cain and Abel? 

-          Cain’s problem was really between himself and whom?  Why do you think he takes it out of Abel?

-          Even though Cain is a murderer, God shows him mercy.  Why do you think that is?

-          What happens with Cain’s descendants?  Why do you think Lamech is so violent and quick to avenge himself?

-          When Seth is born, who does Eve attribute his birth to?  How is this different than when Cain was born?

Prayer Requests- September 30, 2012

Prayer Requests:

Recent Requests:  Daycee Johnson, Archie Poole, Ashley Parker, Susie Prather, Angie Hill, Margaret McDonald, Joyce Rox, Justin Fuller, Grayson Bieber, Darlene Holt, Claudette Ferrier, Cameron Sutton, Aunt Charlene Babb, Sally Crooks, Charles Fletcher, Kathy Hardy, Arvis Midkiff, Kayla Austin, Carl Holloway, Mike Melder, Sloan & Madeline McInnis, Don & Lynn King, Mamie Grantham, Bobby Joe Peterson, Ashleigh Parker, Stacey Reaves, Horace Doyle, Cindy Pace, Candy Gordy, Alton Johnson, Jolee Rayne Terrell, Deborah Fuller

The unrest in the Middle East, the upcoming elections, those affected by Hurricane Isaac, and the Torch Hill Road Church of Christ

Continuing Requests: Roanne Ballio, Conner Bouchie, Johnny DeFee, Bill Goree, Kathryn Hardy, George Johnson, Darwin Jones, Rita Lemley, Dot Melder, Billy Joe Monroe, Harvey Paul, Harvey Paul, Jr., Dewanna Polk, Thelma Polk, Benny Richard, Richard Simmons, Myrtle Strother, Martha Townsend

Deployed Military:  Horace Greene, Tyler Johnson, all those serving in the military

Cancer Patients:  Allan Babb, Sylvia Bollock, Larry Book, Bonnie Bradley, Leonard Butter, Shirley Cameron, Shirley Causey, Gleeta Chamberlain, William Chisholm, Jerry Cole, Sharon Cook, Rodney Cotton, Dorothy Crane, Ava Dore, Ruth Ann Fisher, Jared Gordon, Stacy Gough, Bob Granville, Gayle Gunter, Roger Johnson, Euna Jolibois, Johnny LaHay, Dot Langston, Mariliyn Lavisphere, Mattie McReynolds, Bob Morrow, Clark O’Banion, Jeanie O’Rorke, Doug Pinkston, Wes Roberts, Joan Schneider, Donny Shows, Elaine Simonson, Connor Smith, Wally Pullen Smith, Walter Stagg, Glennell Stanley, Jackie Teasely, Sam Tucker, Will Tulos, Dalton Welch, Pam Welch, Shane West, Charles Whitten, Britney Wilson, Geraldine Willis, Charles Young

Nursing Homes:  Mary Ann Fuller, Tom Fuller, Janie Jenkins, Helen Johnson, John Kenner, C.J. Meyers, Doris Polk

Travelling: Aaron Zee

Deaths: The Sharnoff, Dunnahew, Stockman, and Perkins families.  Also, the families of Allie Harvey, Mildred Futriel, Kathy Hutto, H. K. Stanley, Dexter Young, Joe Ford, Jordan Thornhill, John Slaughter, Trisha George, Virgil Chamberlain, Carlos Smith, Hugo Zee, Dollie Holland, Matt Troll

Unspoken Requests

Praise: Construction is progressing nicely, and the Torch Hill Road Church of Christ should be back in their building by the new year. 

II Thessalonians 1:1-12

II Thessalonians 1:1-12

I.                    II Thessalonians 1:1-2

a.       V. 1

                                                              i.      Paul, Silas (or Silvanus), and Timothy are still together

                                                            ii.      “Our” has been added to “Father”, emphasizing the church’s familial nature

b.      V. 2

                                                              i.      Paul explicitly identifies God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of grace

                                                            ii.      Paul is being counter-cultural here, writing to a church enjoying God’s “grace and peace”, rather than the “peace and security” of the emperor

II.                 II Thessalonians 1:3-4

a.       V. 3

                                                              i.      Paul is obligated to thank God when he thinks of them

                                                            ii.      Their faithfulness to God, and love for each other has not only survived, its increased

                                                          iii.      “growing abundantly” and “increasing” are in the present tense, implying continued growth, almost organic in nature

1.      He prayed for these in I Thessalonians 3:10, 12

b.      V. 4

                                                              i.      The result of this growth and abundance is Paul boasting about them, which clearly indicates that this is not as cold a letter as some suppose

                                                            ii.      The persecution they are enduring, in the present tense, shows that they are still in the midst of suffering

                                                          iii.      Paul boasted to other churches with which he had contact because of their endurance

1.      Cf. I Thessalonians 1:8; II Corinthians 8:1-5

2.      Could this indicate that the Thessalonian church was one of the first to encounter persecution, and thus offered an example for those churches which would undergo persecution in the future?

c.       Do we see church growth as an achievement or a gift from God?

III.               II Thessalonians 1:5-10

a.       V. 5

                                                              i.      The Thessalonians might feel as if they are being punished for doing what is right

                                                            ii.      “’The very existence of such enormities’ as persecution is then ‘a manifest proof,’ or demonstration that there will be ‘a righteous judgment of God.” – Charles Simeon

b.      V. 6

                                                              i.      God’s justice=trouble for the trouble-makers, rest for the troubled

                                                            ii.      Cf. Isaiah 66:6

1.      “Recompense”, can have either a positive or negative connotation

                                                          iii.      Cf. Deuteronomy 32:35, Luke 6:20-26, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30

                                                          iv.      “The God whom Paul is describing is a God who does offer love and reconciliation to his enemies, but if they refuse this offer and continue in opposition to his goodness and love, then it would seem inevitable that, having refused mercy, they must face justice.  Nothing in the NT suggests that God’s love is indifferent to justice, and that he bestows a free pardon on his enemies at the cost of failing to defend the persecuted against the persecutors.” – I. Howard Marshall

c.       V. 7

                                                              i.      Christ will be revealed “from heaven”, showing his current location

1.      He will come with angels of his power

a.       Cf. I Thessalonians 3:13

                                                            ii.      His final coming is not just parousia, it is apokalypsis, an uncovering or revealing of Jesus Christ.

1.      Retribution is part of that revealing

d.      V. 8

                                                              i.      Jesus will come with fire

1.      Cf. Isaiah 66:15-16

                                                            ii.      Jesus is being equated with God through the title “Lord”, the gospel with God’s word

1.      Punishment belongs to God alone, so that in attributing it to Jesus Christ, Paul is making a statement about Jesus divinity

e.       V. 9

                                                              i.      They pay the penalty, or get what they deserve

                                                            ii.      To be shut out from God’s presence is the worst punishment of all

1.      Cf. Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21; Philippians 1:23

2.      The opposite of I Thessalonians 4:17

                                                          iii.       “If there is any truth in Scripture at all, this is true- that those who stubbornly refuse to submit to the gospel, and to love and obey Jesus Christ, incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss.  They pass into a night on which no morning dawns.” - James Denney

f.       V. 10

                                                              i.      Christ “in” his Holy Ones is part of the reward of the faithful

1.      Cf. I John 3:2

                                                            ii.      “to be glorified in his saints”- cf. Psalm 88:6

                                                          iii.      “to be marveled at among all who have believed”- cf. Psalm 67:36

                                                          iv.      Could this be an indirect reference to Philippians 2:10?

IV.              II Thessalonians 1:11-12

a.       V. 11

                                                              i.      Cf. I Thessalonians 1:2; I Thessalonians 2:12

                                                            ii.      There is a healthy tension between divine activity and human work

                                                          iii.      “Power” is almost always linked with the working of the Holy Spirit

                                                          iv.      It is God’s power which brings about the goodness which is a fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:22)

b.      V. 12

                                                              i.      Reciprocal glorification

                                                            ii.      Our ability to do these things is because of God’s grace, or unmerited favor

c.       Only grace allows us to give glory to God, and only grace allows us to imagine the possibility of human glory

II Thessalonians- Introduction

II Thessalonians

Who:  The Thessalonians, Christian residents of the city of Thessalonica (also spelled Thessalonike).  The reference in the letter to having given up idols suggests that the church in Thessalonica was probably made up predominantly (though not exclusively) of Gentiles.  Paul probably founded the church there sometime in 49-50 AD, his stay there being recounted in Acts 17.  

What: A letter written from Paul, Silvanus (also known as Silas), and Timothy, though it is acknowledged that Paul’s is the dominant voice in the letter.  Paul and Silvanus were probably co-workers, with Timothy being a junior partner at this time. 

When: II Thessalonians was probably written around 51 AD, just a few months after the writing of I Thessalonians.  We know that Timothy had returned to Thessalonica with I Thessalonians, and the news he brings back probably prompts the writing of the letter.  This means it was probably written, as with I Thessalonians, during Paul’s stay in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:1-18) 

Where: Thessalonica has a continuous history from its founding in the Greco-Roman period, till the present, because of its strategic location on at the northernmost point of the Thermaic Gulf (Gulf of Salonica), while also sitting along the Egnatian Way, the main road from Byzantium to the Adriatic ports of the west.  It was founded in 315 BC by Cassander, the king of Macedon.  Thessalonica had been under Roman rule for over two centuries, but it remained a Greek city culturally, and was religiously diverse, participating in a number of pagan religions as well as the cult of the emperor.  It also, enjoyed status as a “free city” thanks to its siding with the Second Triumvirate and then Octavian (eventually known as Augustus),  which granted it certain privileges including tax breaks.  It was the capital of the province of Macedonia. Around 65,000 to 80,000 lived inside the walls, with the population outside bringing the total number up to around 100,000.

Why: While I Thessalonians is not a problem-addressing letter, II Thessalonians in some senses is.  It is possible that Timothy reports back after carrying I Thessalonians, that the problem of the idle/disruptive is worse than originally thought, thus Paul addresses the issue more forcefully in this letter.  Also, his teaching on the parousia, the “day of the Lord”, seems to have been either misunderstood, or distorted.  While at first glance Paul’s teaching concerning “the day of the Lord”, his apocalyptic theology, may be different in II Thessalonians than it is in I Thessalonians, in reality what we see is a corrective to the misunderstanding of his teaching received in his first letter to the church in Thessalonica. 

I Thessalonians 5:23-28

I Thessalonians 5:23-28

I.        I Thessalonians 5: 23-24

a.      V. 23

§  Paul often speaks of God as the “god of peace” towards the end of his letters       

·         Cf. Romans 15:33; 16:20; II Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; II Thessalonians 3:16

§  Reference to God as the “god of peace” go back to the Old Testament concept of shalom, or holistic well-being

§  The first wish is their complete sanctification, echoing Paul’s prayer in 3:13, and showing sanctification to be a process, rather than a one-time event

§  There is a connection between the God of peace and sanctification.  Our sanctification is not divisive

§  The phrase “blameless” has been found on some tombstones in Thessalonica

b.      V. 24

§  They receive the needed reminder that their sanctification, and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, is in the hands of God, and not solely dependent on their own efforts

§  The use of calling implies that God’s call is continual, and ends not only in salvation, but in sanctification.  Indeed, we cannot have one without the other

§  “This happens not from my prayers, he says, but from the purpose with which he called you.” – John Chrysostom

§  “Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do as you will.” – Augustine, Confessions

II.      I Thessalonians 5: 25-28

a.      V. 25

§  Paul requests prayer, and in fact is in need of prayer, which makes the relationship between Paul and the Thessalonians one of mutual intercession before the Father on each other’s behalf

§  Paul, and Timothy and Silas as well, are humanized in his request for prayer

b.      V. 26

§  In the ancient world one kissed the hand, knee, foot, or breast of a superior, but the cheek of a friend.

§  Only other time the greeting with a “holy kiss” is mentioned is in II Corinthians 13:12

§  In Roman culture, this was a mark of friendship, and in the church would have shown the radical nature of their fellowship, crossing cultural, social, and economic boundaries

c.       V. 27

§  Paul instructs the letter to be read, possibly so that the “unruly/idle” mentioned previously will receive their warning

§  Paul’s insistence on the letter being read aloud is probably because of their separation, and his desire for all the Thessalonians to know of his attempts to return, and for them to hear his words of comfort and instruction

§  The public reading of the letter kept it from being used piecemeal by only a few

·         Reflects the idea that the Word of God is for all

§  Does the injunction to have the letter read to all mean that Jews and Gentiles met separately? 

·         More than likely, it simply means that there were multiple house-churches at this time

d.      V. 28

§  Paul substitutes “grace” for the common secular ending of “farewell”

§  Reflects the idea that Jesus Christ is the source of grace

§  The letter begins and ends with grace.

The Vineyard- September 23, 2012

The Vineyard

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

Genesis 3:1-24:

-          How does the serpent tempt Eve, and by extension Adam?  What are some of the tactics that he uses? 

-          What is the result of Adam and Eve’s eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  Why do you think God wanted to prevent this?

-          How does God know that they have done the very thing that he told them not to do?

-          How does the transgression do to the relationship between Adam and Eve?

-          How are the serpent, Eve, and Adam cursed because of their transgressions?

-          Even in the midst of judging and punishing them, God is gracious towards Adam and Eve.  How do you see God being gracious, even while judging them?

Psalm 65:

-          According to this psalm, what is God due? 

-          In v. 3, how does the psalm specifically say that God hears our prayers? 

-          How does God establish the mountains?  How else does he interact with creation?

-          The last third of the psalm describes God doing what?  What characteristic does this attribute to God?  At the end of the psalm, what is the result of God’s care and provision?

Prayer Requests- September 23, 2012

Prayer Requests:

Recent Requests:  Justin Fuller, Grayson Bieber, Darlene Holt, Claudette Ferrier, Cameron Sutton, Aunt Charlene Babb, Sally Crooks, Charles Fletcher, Kathy Hardy, Arvis Midkiff, Kayla Austin, Carl Holloway, Mike Melder, Sloan & Madeline McInnis, Don & Lynn King, Mamie Grantham, Bobby Joe Peterson, Ashleigh Parker, Stacey Reaves, Horace Doyle, Cindy Pace, Candy Gordy, Alton Johnson, Jolee Rayne Terrell, Deborah Fuller

The unrest in the Middle East, the upcoming elections, those affected by Hurricane Isaac, and the Torch Hill Road Church of Christ

Continuing Requests: Roanne Ballio, Conner Bouchie, Johnny DeFee, Bill Goree, Kathryn Hardy, George Johnson, Darwin Jones, Rita Lemley, Dot Melder, Billy Joe Monroe, Harvey Paul, Harvey Paul, Jr., Dewanna Polk, Thelma Polk, Benny Richard, Richard Simmons, Myrtle Strother, Martha Townsend

Deployed Military:  Horace Greene, Tyler Johnson, all those serving in the military

Cancer Patients:  Allan Babb, Sylvia Bollock, Larry Book, Bonnie Bradley, Leonard Butter, Shirley Cameron, Shirley Causey, Gleeta Chamberlain, William Chisholm, Jerry Cole, Sharon Cook, Rodney Cotton, Dorothy Crane, Ava Dore, Ruth Ann Fisher, Jared Gordon, Stacy Gough, Bob Granville, Gayle Gunter, Allie Harvey, Roger Johnson, Euna Jolibois, Johnny LaHay, Dot Langston, Mariliyn Lavisphere, Mattie McReynolds, Bob Morrow, Clark O’Banion, Jeanie O’Rorke, Doug Pinkston, Wes Roberts, Joan Schneider, Donny Shows, Elaine Simonson, Connor Smith, Wally Pullen Smith, Walter Stagg, Glennell Stanley, Jackie Teasely, Sam Tucker, Will Tulos, Dalton Welch, Pam Welch, Shane West, Charles Whitten, Britney Wilson, Geraldine Willis, Charles Young

Nursing Homes:  Mary Ann Fuller, Tom Fuller, Janie Jenkins, Helen Johnson, John Kenner, C.J. Meyers, Doris Polk

Travelling: Aaron Zee

Deaths: The Sharnoff, Dunnahew, Stockman, and Perkins families.  Also, the families of Kathy Hutto, H. K. Stanley, Dexter Young, Joe Ford, Jordan Thornhill, John Slaughter, Trisha George, Virgil Chamberlain, Carlos Smith, Hugo Zee, Dollie Holland, Matt Troll

Unspoken Requests

Praise: Shane Ober is doing better.  Also, Linda Sipco asks that we join her in praising God for the good report she got from the doctor.  As of now, she is cancer-free!

Boy Scout Meeting

There will be a meeting for any elementary school aged boys interested in joining Boy Scouts this Thursday @ 7P.M. in the F.A.C. (Family Activity Center).  This meeting is for anyone in the community interested in joining, so invite your friends and plan to be there to get all the information you need on joining scouts!

http://www.scouting.org/

The Vineyard- September 16, 2012

The Vineyard

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

Genesis2:4-25:

- Genesis speaks not of God, but of the Lord God in this chapter.  What does the addition of “Lord” to God’s name tell us about who he is?  What does it tell us about the relationship between God and his creation?

- The creation account speaks of the Lord God “forming” mankind, as opposed to “creating” him.  What do you think is significant about the change of terminology?  Which one signifies more care and concern, and a greater level of craftsmanship?

- The Lord God simply gives life to all creatures, except man, whom he breathes the breath of life into.  What is significant about this?  Because of this, what does man have that other creatures don’t have?

- Why do you think God waits to give Eve to Adam?  Why does he go through all the other animals before creating woman for man?

Psalm 104:

- To whom does this psalm attribute creation? 

- Who is responsible for providing for creation so that they have food? 

- What are some ways that God is described in this psalm?  What is he described doing?

- Why is it helpful to have poetry like the psalms in the Bible?  Does reading the story of creation in poetic form help you think of it in different ways?