Salvation: Free, but Costly by: Francis Jackson

 I. How do you define free?
      A. Free- costing nothing; gratuitous (thefreedictionary.com)
          -gratuitous- given or granted without return or recompense; unearned
II. How do you define cost?
      A. Price, value, expense, charge (Webster Pocket Thesaurus)
      B. An amount paid or required in payment for a purchase; a price (freedictionary.com)

III. No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (an economics phrase)
      A. Due to our sinful condition, God demanded a price (Is. 53:10-12, Rom. 6:23, Col.2:13-14)
      B. Unless you put your faith in Christ who paid for our sins, that price will be demanded from you. (John 3:18, Rev. 20:12-15)
          *The price
                1) Judgment- John 3:18
                2) Hell/Lake of Fire- Matt.25:41, Luke 16:24)

IV. What is Meant About Salvation Being Free?
      A. No amount of service or works are sufficient enough to attain it. (Eph. 2:8-9, Matt. 7:21-23)
      B. It is not privledged based on any particular social group. (Matt. 5:20, Rom. 2:1-4)
      C. It is not conditioned upon lineage. (Col. 3:9-11)
      D. It is a gift (Eph. 2:8)

V. How Can Something Free Cost Me Anything?
      A. What is meant by cost is the sufferings involved with having this free gift.
      B. Examples of the cost involved with accepting Christ
                1) total self-denial- Matt.16:24, John 13:3-5, Phil. 2:5-8
                2) hated by the world- John 15:18-19
                3) persecuted by the world- John 15:20-21
                4) persecuted by people in the church- John 16:1-4
                5) possible financial instabilities- Matt. 8:19-22, 16:26
                6) hatred/division from family- Matt. 10:34-39, Luke 14:25-26

VI. Seeing the Cost Involved w/ This Free Gift, What is its Value?
      A. Freedom from eternal punishment- 1 Cor. 3:11-15, Rom. 20:12-15
      B. Privledge to be a child of God. -Matt. 7:9-11
      C. Privledge and joy of seeing God's glory revealed- Rom. 8:18
      D. Receiving an eternal inheritance- 1 Cor. 3:11-15
                                           

Reputation or Evangelism (Gal. 2:11-14) by: Francis Jackson

       Peter was an apostle of high reputation with the Jews who practiced Judaism instead of the true gospel of salvation by faith.  Paul, on the other hand, was called to take the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:8; Acts 9:15, 13:46-47) of whom these Jews were quite critical of with them not being circumcised amongst other things. These Jews viewed themselves of much higher significance  than the Gentiles. So while in Antioch ministering with Paul, Peter was eating with these Gentiles which was contray to their practice of tradition due to the previously stated general reasons.  However, the true gospel is not achieved through works or man-made traditions and, in fact, any other gospel besides faith-alone is not the gospel at all (Gal. 1:6-7). But when certain men from James came to Antioch, (notice Paul did not call them brethren) Peter started to withdraw, or in other words, break away without looking suspicious.  Barnabas and the Jews with them followed suit (2:12-13).  Paul confronted Peter publicly because the act was done publicly (1 Tim. 5:20) which was necessary in that case to confirm the genuineness of the gospel.  That hypocrisy, having not been confronted publicly, could have caused the gospel to appear blasphemous to the Gentiles (Rom. 2:21-24).
      Have you ever been in a situation where you were given the opportunity to share the gospel to someone in the streets cussing like a sailor, gang-banging,prostituting, smoking and/or selling weeds or other drugs? Being around this arena of people in the bible days, especially if you were talking about God, was detrimental to reputation in the eyes of people like the Pharisees and scribes (Matt. 9:10-11; Luke 7:37-39).  A lot of us when given that opportunity, develop Peter's withdrawing attitude when someone who recognizes you is approaching and we try to escape being seen with the sinner.  We come up with ways or excuses to get out of dodge or if you run into them on an ordinary day when there's no ministry event going on, we tend to act nonchalant.  Sometimes we would flat-out avoid engaging in any conversation at all.  We, as Christians, can not let prideful and arrogant reputations step in the place of evangelism.  If man, apart from God, is the final authority of your living, that is not Christianity, but secular humanism.  Once we come to grips that the salvation given to us has nothing to do with us (Eph. 2:8), we may be able to work more effectively towards the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).

1) Does your reputation supercede your responsibility to the gospel?

2) In what ways are you responding to the Great Commission at work, school, or in your community?

3) What kinds of people do you target when sharing the gospel? Who do you avoid?

Dear Lord, forgive me for any hypocrisy I have shown in my faith. Help me to shape my lifestyle to match my evangelism to confirm to sinners the genuineness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Amen

Satan's Purpose (Isa. 14:14) by: Francis Jackson

       Generally across the board, Satan's works are misunderstood as to what his overall goal is in relation to his prideful ambition.  Many people surround his purpose around being some out-of-control wrecking ball without a plan. That he is simply here to knock-off mankind one by one as an angry response for being evicted from heaven.  However, Satan's purpose is not so much centered on destroying the world  as it is getting the world to worship and follow him (v.14).  Remember that he is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). God has allowed Satan to reign on earth, that is until His second coming where He will bound Satan for 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-3), in which during that time God will reign in His Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 20:4-6), release Satan for a little while to deceive the nations some more  (Rev. 20:3,7-9a) before destroying him once and for all (vv. 9b-10).  Satan and all the fallen angels with him are aware of this destiny (Matt. 8:29).  So until that time, Satan is going around promoting himself to be worshipped as God, developing as many followers as possible.  His strategy is cleverly parallel to many of God's methods in accomplishing his purpose.  For instance, just as God has ministers ordained to preach the Word (Rom. 10:14-15; 2 Tim. 4:1-2), Satan also has ministers to distort the Word (2 Cor. 11:14-15; 1 Tim. 4:1) which indicate that demons have doctrine as well.  It's not sound doctrine of course, but nonetheless, it is doctrine.  God teaches believers not to conform to the world (Rom. 12:2; 1 John 2:15), Satan has teaching for man to conform through indulging in the  flesh, USING THE BIBLE to prey on the weak and naive (Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Tim. 3:5-7). God demands that He be the only God worshipped because He is the only God (Ex. 20:3-5; Isa. 44:7-8) and during the Tribulation Satan will require that same level of worship, killing those who refuse to do so (Rev. 13:11-18). Satan's campaign banner does not say "I'M THE DEVIL, FOLLOW ME TO HELL"- maybe to those who blatantly are "devil worshippers" that don't need any cunning methods to be deceived. But Satan's banner says "I'M GOD, FOLLOW ME TO HEAVEN," and he is unfortunately leading the strong majority of mankind down the wide road to Hell (Matt. 7:13-14).  Examine yourself as to the doctrine you receive and your lifestyle which is a by product of what you truly believe. This will determine if you are following the true God of the Scriptures, Jesus Christ, or Satan whose desire is to make himself LIKE the Most High God.   

Journey Through Genesis- Isaac (Gen.24-27:1) by: Francis Jackson

      Once Abraham became old, he started to seek a wife for Isaac from his own kindred to avoid Isaac potentially intermarrying with the Canaanites. This job was put under the responibility of Eliezer, the oldest servant in his household whom would have received Abraham's inheritance had he not had a son (Gen. 15:1-2). In carrying out this duty, an oath was made between Abraham and his servant which was by Eliezer placing his hand under Abraham's thigh (ch. 24:2-4). In the Ancient Near East, this custom of an intimate touch affirmed an oath (ch. 47:29). However, if the woman from Abraham's kindred refused to return with Eliezer to be presented to Isaac, he would be freed from his oath under Abraham (ch. 24:8). So Eliezer went to Mesopotamia, in the city of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and was able to successfully bring back Rebekah who was willing to return with him. Isaac prayed for Rebekah because she was barren and God granted his prayer resulting in Rebekah becoming pregnant. Isaac impregnated her with twins who struggled within her so hard that she inquired to the Lord about the matter. The Lord informed her that "two nations are within her whom will be divided, the one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger" (ch. 25:23). Understanding this verse helps the reader understand how Jacob tricking Esau out of his birthright in the future is no surprise to God because of it being foretold right here. So God reassures the Abrahamic covenant with Isaac (ch. 26:3) and sends him to settle in Gerar in Philistia. Following his father's footsteps, he also called his wife his sister out of fear of being killed and was later sent away by the king. God reassures His covenant with Abraham again to Isaac after arriving in Beersheba (ch.26:24). The king of Philistia visited Isaac and asked for an oath that they not be harmed since they realized God was with Isaac. Isaac gets old and his vision gets blurry (ch.27:1) which brings us to Jacob whom we'll learn of in the next lesson.

Journey Through Genesis- Abraham (Gen. 12-22) by: Francis Jackson

Abraham begins our first major person in the breaking down of the Genesis storyline. This does not imply a lesser significance of all the others mentioned prior to Abraham, but those prior to this point all were within the scope of the 4 events. After the tower of Babel, with everyone being scattered, God selects Abraham as being the one who would be the start, or the father rather, of God's chosen people (Gen. 12:1-3). So God makes a covenant with Abraham in reference to his biological descendants (Isaac, Jacob, tribes of Israel-Heb. 11:8-10) which was irrevocable (Gen. 15:7-21). We are children of Abraham spiritually by faith, not biologically (Gal.3:7). During this time, an unconditional covenant was confirmed by the splitting of these animals and the person(s) under obligation of the covenant was to walk between the split parts. This confirms the agreement that if the person(s) who walks through them does not fulfill their end of the covenant, they too would be split in two like the animal parts (Jer. 34:18-19). We know that God doesn't have a body (Jn 4:24), but that's not the point. The point is that He used a common tradition of the time to communicate the guaranteed fulfillment of His end of the bargain. Prior to this, after God's calling of Abraham in Gen. 12, he and his wife were approaching Egypt. Fearing the mighty Egyptians more than the Lord at that moment, he asked if his wife Sarai pose as his sister since she was beautiful so that the Egyptians wouldn't kill Abraham and take his wife to the pharaoh (Gen. 12:11-13). God causes issues with the pharoah because of Sarai being in his possession and he along with all the company withhim were sent out of Egypt (vv. 17-20). Impatient with God's promise, Sarai gives Abraham Hagar, her servant. Abraham goes into her and she conceives Ishmael which means "God hears"(16:11). God then reassured Abraham that his seed would come from Sarah (17:19) not Hagar and she was sent away (21:10-14). After Abraham had given birth to Isaac, the heir in which God's covenant was made, He then tested Abraham's faithfulness using the life of his only son (22:1-19). In this passage, Abraham's faith was not in the act of him killing his son, or believing that God would stop him since He did say His covenant would be through Isaac specificly (17:19). The faith accounted to him was that God would bring him back to life after being killed (Heb. 11:17-19). The Chaldeans have a tradition of child sacrificing in their culture. God used a tradition of Abraham's native culture as a test. The only difference is unlike those whom the Chaldeans were sacrificing to, God was actually able to bring him back. Abraham trusted God which is why he told his men with him to wait and watch his donkey, and he and the boy would return (Gen. 22:5). So Isaac was spared and it was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. We as Christians, prove to be children of Abraham when we also act in his faith (Gal. 3:7).

Sin: The Fight Inside- by: Francis Jackson

What does sin mean?

1. Missing the mark of God's will by choice and because of human weakness (Jas. 1:14-15,Rom. 7:24-25)
2. Action or attitude that disobeys God, betrays Him, or fails to do good. (Rom. 3:23, Jas. 4:17)

I. What parts of our human nature does sin have opportunity? (1 Jn. 2:15-16)
   A. Lust of the flesh (Gen. 3:6, Lk, 4:3-4)
   B. Lust of the eyes (Gen. 3:6, Lk. 4:5-8)
   C. Pride of life (Gen. 3:6, Lk. 4:9-12)
*Note - Those are the only areas where sin can have opportunity (Lk. 4:13)

II. For believers, our sinful nature wars against the Holy Spirit that's within us. (Gal. 5:17-23)
   A. The deeds of the flesh are evident(vv. 19-21)
   B. The fruits of the Spirit work in a completely opposite direction (vv22-23, Matt.12: 33-37)

III. For non-Christians, sin is the dominant force in their lives (Rom. 5-20a)
   A. Without God's grace, unbelievers are liable to the standard of God's perfect law (Rom. 7:13-14, Rev 20:11-15, Rom. 6:23)
   B. Until a person dies and is made alive in Christ, sin will continue to have dominion in their life (Rom. 6:9-12)

Knowing now where sin has opportunities and the power that it has, make every effort in being proactive in cutting off any avenues that allow sin to reign in your life. When we fail to do that, we need to confess it as sin so that we can be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

God Bless