Conclusion to the Church as a Worshipping Community
/What have we learned through our study of looking at the Church as a worshipping community?
Pursuing Peace and Edification
/Romans 14:19 instructs us to "pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding". We will discuss what this means and how we go about putting it into practice.
Bearing One Another's Burdens
/Today we'll focus on specific ways to bear one another's burdens and how to encourage one another in the faith.
The Lord is My Refuge
/We will discuss what it means to see the Lord as our refuge and to seek safety in him.
The Use of the Psalms
/Today we will review the use of the psalms with a particular focus on the children.
Imprecatory Psalms
/A number of psalms and some sections in the psalms have been labeled as 'imprecatory', which means they call for judgment, calamity or curses on ones enemies. The New Testament instructs us to bless our enemies and not to curse. Are we then to ignore or set aside these psalms? If not, then what place do these passages have in our lives? We will wrestle with these questions in Sunday School.
Psalms of Praise
/We will begin our time with singing from the psalter and sharing some thoughts on the psalms as God inspired poetry. The rest of our time will be given to looking at psalms of praise which include what are known as royal and kingship psalms.
Psalms of Lament
/This week we will begin looking at the different types of psalms starting with the lament. The goal is that over the next several weeks we will become familiar enough with the different types of psalms that we can identify and use them according to our needs.
Introduction to the Psalms
/How do 21st century Americans use poetry written 2500 years ago for the Jewish community? What about songs written for kings or how do we sing psalms that were written about Jesus? What do we do with Psalms that ask God to do terrible things to people and their babies? If we are going to learn to sing and use the Psalms in worship we need to have a solid understanding of the different kinds of Psalms as well as an understanding of how to interpret and apply them to our lives.
What is Worship?
/Worship can be defined a couple of ways. It can be a church service. It can also be a showing of reverence and devotion for a deity. Paul says that whatever we do should be done to the glory of God. The 2nd commandment tells us that God will show steadfast love to those who love Him and keep His commandments. Our working definition of worship is that it is 'a lifestyle of loving God and keeping His commandments'. The rest of our classes will be given to exploring what this means for us as individuals and as a church.
Introduction to the Church as a Worshipping Community
/What does it mean for the church to be a worshipping community?
The Image of God (WCF 4.2)
/One of the qualifications of an elder is that he is able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9). Therefore part of the examination process for our elder candidates was to afford them an opportunity to teach. On this Sunday, Elder candidate Tim Draper taught the Sunday School class on the image of God.