Intersections

A refreshing blend of nerd and cool.

Category: Resources (Page 2 of 7)

Ten Commandments 6:
You Shall Not Commit Adultery

November 15, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God has reserved the gift of sex for the marriage relationship, but we break this commandment in more ways than just having sex outside of marriage.

Read Exodus 20:14

  • Underline: You shall not commit adultery.
  • Write: “6th Commandment” or “6C”

The Gift of Sex

Read Genesis 1:27-28, 31a

  • Underline: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
  • Write: Sex is a gift

Sex is a gift given by God to a married couple—husband and wife. God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, in order to fill the Earth. However, as with many of the gifts of God, there is a right way and a wrong way to use His gift.

What is forbidden in the 6th Commandment?

Read Genesis 39:6-10

  • Underline: nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
  • Write: 6C: Sex outside marriage is sin

Read Matthew 19:6-9

  • Underline: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
  • Write: 6C: Divorce is sin

Read Matthew 5:27-28

  • Underline: everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
  • Write: 6C: Think pure thoughts

Read Romans 1:24, 26-27

  • Underline: exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature
  • Write: 6C: Homosexuality is sin.

This Commandment deals with our sexual or intimate relationships with others. We see very clearly from Genesis 39 that sex is reserved for marriage alone. God never intended for man and woman to have sex outside of the marriage relationship because there are many negative consequences for doing so. This includes sexually transmitted diseases, but also emotional and psychological pain and hurt that comes from sex outside of marriage.

In addition to sex, however, this Commandment talks about other ways we break this Commandment. Divorce, all too common in our culture, is one of those ways. We also learn from Matthew 5 that the very thoughts we have about others can be impure and break this Commandment. This includes viewing pornography or imagining what it would be like to have sex with some guy or girl that you know. God also forbids the practice of homosexuality in this Commandment.

While sexual sins are prevalent in our society today, they are just as bad as any other sin in the eyes of God. Thankfully, there is forgiveness for each of these sins, just as there is forgiveness in Jesus for all sin.

What is commanded in the 6th Commandment?

Read 1 Corinthians 6:18

  • Underline: “Flee from sexual immorality.”
  • Margin: 6C: Avoid Temptation

Read 1 Corinthians 6:18

  • Circle: sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talk crude joking
  • Underline: thanksgiving.
  • Margin:   No!   Yes!

Instead of focusing on sinful desires of the flesh, we avoid situations that will sexually tempt us. Instead of focusing on the sings of the flesh, we focus on the things of God and ask Him to help us resist this temptation.

Class Documents

Ten Commandments 5: You Shall Not Murder

November 14, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God has forbidden murder, but also hate towards others, abortion, and more. He also commands us here to protect the life of others and care for their well-being.

Read Exodus 20:13

  • Underline: You shall not murder.
  • Write: “5th Commandment” or “5C”

What is forbidden in the 5th Commandment?

Read Numbers 35:16-21

  • Underline: “the murderer shall be put to death.” (in verses 16, 17, 18)
  • Write: 5C: Don’t Murder!

Read Jeremiah 1:5

  • Underline: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you
  • Write: 5C: Abortion = Murder

Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

  • Underline: You are not your own; for you were bought with a price
  • Write: 5C: Suicide = Murder

Read Matthew 5:21-22

  • Underline: But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment
  • Write: 5C: Hate = Murder

Read 1 John 3:15

  • Underline: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer
  • Write: 5C: Hate = Murder

In the Old Testament, it was clear that murder was wrong. While that is still true today, this Commandment deals with so much more than simply the physical act of murder. This Commandment is about the preservation of life both physically and emotionally. While murder and physical death are clearly understood to be forbidden here, God also commands that we protect the life of unborn children, as well as our own lives. Jesus expands our thinking on murder to include not only the physical act, but also hating someone and wishing harm on them.

What about war? Is that murder? Is it forbidden?

Read Romans 13:4

  • Underline: For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer
  • Write: War OK for Government

While individual killing is forbidden by this Commandment, war is not. The government is God’s instrument to bring judgment and punishment to those who are wicked. As a Christian, it is OK to participate in the military or even in active warfare on behalf of the military, provided the war is just and not contrary to God’s desires. After combat ends, however, it is the Christian’s obligation to provide medical care to those in need who were injured in the conflict. As always, we remember Acts 5:27-29, that “we must obey God rather than men” above all else!

What is commanded in the 5th Commandment?

Romans 12:20

  • Underline: if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink
  • Margin: 5C: Care for others

Ephesians 4:32

  • Underline: forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
  • Margin: 5C: Forgive Others

2 Corinthians 7:1

  • Underline: let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit
  • Margin: 5C: Healthy Living

Rather, in this commandment, we are called to protect life and speak out for those who are not able to protect their own lives. This means taking care of our own bodies and needs, but also providing for the needs and care of those around us, just as the Good Samaritan did in Luke 10.

Class Documents

Ten Commandments 4: Honor Your Father and Mother

November 14, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God has put parents in authority over us for our good. We should honor them as such.

Read Exodus 20:12

  • Underline: Honor your father and your mother.
  • Write: “4th Commandment” or “4C”

Honor Your Parents

Read Proverbs 23:22

  • Underline: the Listen to your father, … do not despise your mother
  • Write: 4C: Listen to Parents

Read Colossians 3:20

  • Underline: Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
  • Write: 4C: Obey parents.

Read Ephesians 6:2-3

  • Underline: Honor your father and mother … that it may go well with you
  • Write: 4C: Honoring brings blessing

Read 1 Timothy 5:4

  • Underline: let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents
  • Write: Keep honoring parents

Honoring our parents is commanded by God, but it is also the first commandment that carries a promise along with it: When we honor our parents, good comes from it. God created the family and placed parents in positions of authority above children. This authority, however, is always intended to be used for the good of the children. We listen and obey our parents because they are God’s agents to shape and mold us into the men and women He wants us to be. Even after our parents have died, we continue to honor them by remembering what they taught us and putting it into practice. We celebrate their life and continue to thank God for the gift of parents.

Honor Authority

Read Romans 13:1-2

  • Underline: whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed
  • Write: 4C: God gives us government

Read Titus 3:1

  • Underline: Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient
  • Write: 4C: God uses government

Read Romans 13:7

  • Underline: Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed
  • Write: 4C: Obey the government

Read Acts 5:27-29

  • Underline: We must obey God rather than men!
  • Write: Obey God first.

In addition to parents, God has placed others in authority over us. This includes the government, teachers, pastors, other adults, coaches and more. God uses these other entities and people to provide for us and we are to honor and respect them just as we would our parents. However, we remember this caution: when those in authority command us to do something contrary to what God teaches, we must follow Him first and foremost.

Class Documents

Ten Commandments 3: Remember the Sabbath Day

October 18, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God is our source of rest. He calls us to a Sabbath day of rest once/week.

Read Exodus 20:8

  • Underline: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  • Write: “3rd Commandment” or “3C”

Sabbath in the Old Testament

Leviticus 23:3

  • Underline: the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.
  • Write: OT: Sabbath = Saturday

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was only on Saturday and could not be observed on any other day. No work was to be done on this day of any kind. Anything you needed for the day should be prepared the day before so that you do not have to work.

Sabbath in the New Testament

Read Mark 2:27–28

  • Underline: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
  • Write: Sabbath is FOR us!

Over time, people came to understand that man was made for the Sabbath. In other words, they thought God valued the Sabbath more than them. But Jesus turns this teaching upside down. In fact, the very opposite was true. God knew that we needed a day of rest and so He commanded a Sabbath day specifically because He loved us and knew we needed it.

Sabbath Today

Read Matthew 11:28-30

  • Underline: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  • Write: Jesus brings rest.

Hebrews 10:25

  • Underline: not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
  • Write: Worship together!

Luke 24:1-2

  • Underline: But on the first day of the week, … they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
  • Write: Easter Sunday

Today, most Christians celebrate the Sabbath on a Sunday. This is because we understand that Jesus is the true source of rest for His people. As the early church formed and grew, they chose the first day of the week (Sunday) as their Sabbath day of rest and worship because that was the day that Jesus had risen from the dead. There is no other special significance to this day over any other. The critical point is not what day you celebrate the Sabbath, but rather that you choose at least one day to set aside time to rest in Jesus.

How do we keep this Commandment?

Acts 2:42-47

  • Underline: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
  • Write: God’s Word and Worship

We continue to keep this Commandment by gathering with other believers to learn from God’s Word and to Worship together on a weekly basis. We join together to praise God for who He is and to remember what He has done for us. It is our time to be refreshed and recharged for the week ahead, and the ministry that God has prepared in advance for us to do.

Class Documents

Ten Commandments 2:
God’s Name

October 11, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God’s name is powerful and to be respected. There are right and wrong ways to use His name.

Read Exodus 20:7

  • Underline: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
  • Write: “2nd Commandment” or “2C”

How do we use God’s name in vain?

Read James 3:9-10

  • Underline: From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
  • Write: Misusing God’s name

Read Matthew 5:33-37

  • Underline: Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
  • Write: Misusing God’s name

Read Matthew 26:63-64

  • Underline: I adjure you by the living God
  • Write: Misusing God’s name

Read Matthew 15:8-9

  • Underline: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
  • Write: Misusing God’s name

There are many ways that we misuse the name of God. Whether it’s cursing, swearing, or claiming our honest by “swearing to God!”, we regularly misuse His name. This includes phrases like “Oh my God!” or even “OMG” because we all know what it actually stands for. In addition, we misuse God’s name when we claim to follow Him, but live our lives as if He does not exist.

How should we use God’s name?

Read Psalm 50:15

  • Underline: call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
  • Write: Use God’s name!

Read Psalm 103:1

  • Underline: bless his holy name
  • Write: Use God’s name!

Read Ephesians 5:20

  • Underline: Entire verse.
  • Write: Use God’s name!

Read John 16:23

  • Underline: whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
  • Write: Pray in Jesus’ name!

God’s name is powerful and He tells us to use His name in certain situations. These include calling out to God when we are in trouble and asking Him for help or when we are worshiping Him. We are to give thanks for all things in God’s name and to pray in “Jesus’ name.” When we pray in Jesus’ name, it means that we are praying the prayers that Jesus would pray if He were in our situation. This means we ask God to show us what to pray for, then pray for that in Jesus’ name.

Class Documents

Ten Commandments 1: No Other Gods

September 27, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

God desires to be first priority in all areas of your life. Nothing should come before Him.

Read Exodus 20:1-3

  • Underline: You shall have no other gods before me.
  • Write: “1st Commandment” or “1C”

Who is God?

Read Matthew 28:19

  • Underline: name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
  • Write: God in Three Persons (see Deut 6:4)

Read Deuteronomy 6:4

  • Underline: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
  • Write: Not 3 gods, but 1. (see Matt 28:19)

The difficult to understand truth about God is that He is only one God, yet there are three “persons.” The Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit are all God in their own right, but they are only one God, not three. It’s similar (though not exactly!) like an apple that is made up of skin, flesh, and the core. Together it is one apple, though there are three distinct sections. The three “persons” of God each have unique roles and ministries, though they are still just one God.

Who do we worship?

Read Isaiah 42:8

  • Underline: my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols
  • Write: Worship God Alone

Read Matthew 4:10

  • Underline: You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.
  • Write: Worship God Alone

God demands our full attention. He is not content with us worshiping Him when we feel like it, or only worshiping Him on certain days. God desires to be the first priority in our life all the time. When we elevate other things to be more important than God, we are worshiping false gods.

What false gods do people worship?

Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-15

  • Underline: What accord has Christ with Belial?
  • Write: Watch out for false gods!

Read Psalm 115:4

  • Underline: Their idols are silver and gold
  • Write: Watch out for money!

Read Philippians 3:19

  • Underline: with minds set on earthly things.
  • Write: Watch out for stuff!

Read Matthew 10:28

  • Underline: And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
  • Write: Watch out for people!

Some false gods are obvious like Islam or Buddhism. Others are less obvious like money, things, and people. How do know if we’re worshiping a false god? It’s all about priority. If we say we believe in God, but we are consumed with trying to gain more “stuff”, then “stuff” is our god. If we say we believe in God, but all we ever do is talk to our friends and never to God, then friends become our false god. God demands first place in our life. While friends and stuff are certainly not evil, they can get in the way when we chase those things instead of God.

How do we keep this Commandment?

Read Matthew 22:37

  • Underline: love the Lord your God with all your heart … soul … mind.
  • Margin: God wants all of me!

Read Psalm 118:8

  • Underline: Entire verse
  • Margin: Turn to God in trouble!

The way to keep this first and greatest Commandment is to put God first in all areas of our lives. This means both in the good times and the bad as we turn to Him when facing hard times.

Class Documents

Lord’s Prayer 2: Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done

March 14, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

The-Lord's-Prayer-Web-Header-580

God’s Kingdom will reign on earth no matter what we do, but we ask Him to use us to make it happen. We also pray that He would send His Word and the Holy Spirit to help us believe in Jesus.

Your Kingdom Come

Read Romans 14:17

  • Underline: the kingdom of God is … righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
  • Margin: Send me your Spirit, Lord.

Read 1 Peter 2:12

  • Underline: Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
  • Margin: Send me in your Spirit, Lord.

Read Isaiah 55:11

  • Underline:my word … shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
  • Margin: God’s kingdom will come

God does not need our help making His kingdom come. In fact, it will come whether we help it along, fight it every step of the way, or do nothing. But we pray that God would send His Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts and establish His kingdom there first. But we also pray that He would use us to bring His kingdom about, as we are sent out in the Holy Spirit to live lives that point to the saving love of Jesus. When we aren’t sure if we’re being effective, we remain encouraged.

Your Will Be Done

Read John 6:40

  • Underline: For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life
  • Margin: God wants to save me.

Read 1 Timothy 2:4

  • Underline: who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • Margin: God wants to save everyone.

Read Romans 16:20

  • Underline: The God of peace will soon crush Satan
  • Margin: God’s Will frustrates Satan.

God’s desire for you is that you would know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He created you and He’s crazy in love with you. He doesn’t want you to go to hell, but to instead spend eternity with Him in heaven. Not only that, but He wants all people to be saved. Here we pray that God’s desire would come true for all people: that they would accept Jesus as Lord. God’s will also “frustrates” the plans of Satan. Satan carefully lays plans to lead us away from Jesus, but God disrupts that plan with His Word, bringing hope and life to His people where Satan would send despair and death. Ultimately, God will defeat Satan once and for all, casting him into the fiery pit of hell.

Class Documents

Lord’s Prayer 1: Our Father, Hallowed Be Your Name

February 7, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

The-Lord's-Prayer-Web-Header-580

God, our loving Father, is the sole recipient of our worship and prayers. We are to keep His Name holy.

Overview of Prayer

Read Revelation 22:8-9

  • Underline: Worship God.
  • Write: Pray to God alone

Read Romans 8:26

  • Underline: the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
  • Margin: Pray in the Spirit

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

  • Underline: pray without ceasing
  • Margin: Pray a lot!

Read Matthew 6:5-8

  • Underline: when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
  • Margin: Pray from the heart.

Read Matthew 6:9-13

  • Underline: Pray then like this
  • Margin: The Lord’s Prayer

God is to be our sole focus of prayer. Only He can hear and answer prayers. We don’t pray to angels, dead saints or loved ones, or other objects, but to God alone. He not only invites us to pray continually, but partners with us as the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf when we don’t know what to say. Jesus also gave us specific words to pray when we don’t know what else to pray for, what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. So when we are uncertain what to pray, we can confidently pray this.

Our Father in Heaven

Read Luke 11:11-13

  • Underline: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
  • Margin: God gives good

God tells us to approach Him as a loving Father. He is able to provide all things good to us and never fails us.

Hallowed Be Your Name

Read Jeremiah 23:28

  • Underline: but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully.
  • Margin: HALLOW God’s Name.

Read Matthew 5:16

  • Underline: let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
  • Margin: HALLOW God’s Name.

Read Romans 2:23-24

  • Underline: breaking the law … The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.
  • Margin: HOLLOW God’s Name.

Hallowing and Hollowing are two similar, but opposite words. Hollowing is the more common and familiar word. It means to take substance or value out of something. So if I hollow out a piece of wood, all that would be left is the outer shell. It is less than it once was. Hallowing is like adding or protecting the value that is already there. While we can not make God’s Name any more holy than it already is, we can protect the value of God’s Name by using it correctly.

Similar to the 2nd Commandment (You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God), we hallow God’s Name by using it correctly. Through teaching God’s Word, pointing attention back to God for our good deeds instead of ourselves, and calling on His Name when we are in trouble, we hallow His Name. Conversely, we hollow God’s Name when we publicly say we believe and trust God, but continually disobey Him. In other words, when we talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.

Class Documents

Confession and Absolution

January 24, 2013 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Confession and Absolution 580

Key Theme: We have lived below God’s standard and deserve only death. But Jesus paid the price that we might receive forgiveness instead of punishment.

The Effects of Sin

Read Genesis 3:16-19

  • Underline: pain, pain, cursed, pain, thorns, thistles, “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
  • Margin: Sin’s Fruits

Read Ezekiel 37:11

  • Underline: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.
  • Margin: Sin separates us from God

Sin is an everyday reality for us. Literally, sin means “missing the mark.” God has demanded perfection, and we have fallen short. Because God is perfect and holy, He cannot tolerate sin, and therefore cannot tolerate the presence of sinners such as us. The effects of sin are felt physically though pain, suffering, and even death. But there is also a spiritual consequence from sin. It is a separation from God, as if we were “cut off” from Him. Because of our sin, we are unable to have a relationship with God.

The Promise of a Savior

Read Genesis 3:14-15

  • Underline: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
  • Margin: Jesus!

Read Ezekiel 37:12-14

  • Underline: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.
  • Margin: Jesus brings new life

Read Romans 5:8

  • Underline: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  • Margin: God acted for us.

God was not content with the status of our relationship. He knew that we could not restore the relationship, because we were sinful through and through. But He knew that He could do it. And so God spoke not only judgment to His people, but also hope. He told them of the savior that would come to act on their behalf. He told them that He Himself would be the one to rescue His people. While we were powerless to do it, God acted for us.

The Forgiveness of Sins

Read 1 John 1:8-9

  • Underline: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  • Margin: God forgives

Read Psalm 103:12-13

  • Underline: as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
  • Margin: Our sin is gone.

Read Isaiah 1:18

  • Underline: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
  • Margin: God cleanses us.

God decided to make matters into His own hands and restore our relationship with Him. But because God still cannot abide sin, something had to be done. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, lived a perfect and blameless life, but suffered the death that we deserved as sinners. We have lived (and continue to live) as sinners, but receive the life and relationship with God that Jesus deserved. God forgives our sin not because we deserve it, but because Jesus paid the price so we might have the forgiveness.

Class Documents

Baptism 2: Blessing and Power of Baptism

November 29, 2012 /

This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Baptism Web Header 580

We are washed clean and connected to Jesus in Baptism, not by our own working, but through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

The Blessing of Baptism

Read Galatians 3:26-27

  • Underline: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
  • Write: I am in Jesus.

Read 1 Peter 3:21-22

  • Underline:baptism … now saves you … through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
  • Margin:Jesus saves

Read Luke 23:39-43

  • Underline:And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
  • Margin: Baptism not required to be saved

Baptism carries with it an amazing blessing: we are made into God’s special kids. When we are baptized, we are brought into God’s family through the power of Jesus. While we are still sinners, we are able to be in a relationship with God because we have “clothed ourselves with Christ” by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our baptism. Baptism really does bring the forgiveness of sins to our lives, namely the washing away of the original sin that we inherited from our parents and their parents, all the way back to Adam and Eve. While it is a tremendous blessing, those who have not been baptized but believe in Jesus can still be saved (the thief on the cross was saved despite never being baptized). However, whenever humanly possible, we should be baptized to receive all the blessings that come with it.

The Power of Baptism

Read Ephesians 5:26

  • Underline: having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.
  • Margin: Baptism works because of Word

Read Galatians 5:24

  • Underline: those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
  • Margin: I am not a slave to sin

Read Romans 8:37-39

  • Underline: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • Margin: I am forever connected to Jesus

Baptism washes us clean not because of the water, but because of God’s Word spoken and connected to the water. God’s Word brings life, and in the case of Baptism, uses water as an additional vehicle for that life. Baptism gives us the power to overcome in our life, no longer being a slave to sin, but alive in Christ. Prior to the Spirit entering our lives, we were powerless to stop sin. Now, we are connected to God’s divine power, allowing us to choose righteous living instead of sinful through the power of God’s Spirit within us. Baptism also connects us to God in a way that can never be severed. No matter what bad things come our way, we cannot be cut off from God because we are connected to Him in Christ Jesus.

Class Documents

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2023 Intersections

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑