Tuesday, January 15, 2013
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 13:1-3
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 4 mins 19 secs
Our scene is in Antioch in a well-established, conservative congregation, about 15 years after Pentecost. Antioch thrives with commerce and the decadent culture of the times. It also has a large Jewish population, within which are Christians, viewed as a sect of Judaism. Teachers and prophets gather to minister to the Lord and fast. What does it mean to minister to the Lord? What does fasting accomplish? Today a fast can be an initiation into a weight-loss program, a systemic purge, a social protest or a mystical manipulation of God. What was fasting about as it was practiced scripture? Is it a prescribed ritual for us? Is Biblical fasting an anachronistic term in our modern culture. Should we fast?
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 13 & Matthew 16:15-18
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 59 mins 1 sec
Acts is a transition, a historical narrative that is descriptive, not a prescriptive pattern of what happens in the Church today. The phenomena of the church growth movement in the late 60s based church growth on sociological issues and stressed experience as a validation of the Bible. As is often the case with Satan’s plan, this method seemed to work. But understand fully the instruction Jesus gives Peter to feed His lambs while He builds the church. Jesus doesn’t tell Peter to manage an organization through techniques in church growth, but instructs him to proclaim and teach. Review Paul’s journeys and allow instruction from his many discourses to teach us how we can maximize our approach with the message of God’s Word to people in our lives with differing backgrounds.Also includes John 21:15-17
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts & Topical
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 7 mins 38 secs
These Apostles fulfilled Jesus’ mandate to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. The focus of our documentation of the church, after it spread from Jerusalem, was to the west. We lose access to documents from the Eastern Church, but there are ancient records with information that can be considered, but not always reliable. Follow the biographical information available for these Apostles from scripture and historical tradition. Learn what we can know of their lives, the area of their ministries, confusions that may have been caused by names, relationships and martyrdoms. Erase any doubt with the understanding that Judas Iscariot was not a believer. As church age believers, what is our mandate?
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 10:9-43
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 5 mins 25 secs
Jewish religious practice at this time observed strict separation from Gentile culture, even though the Jews did have a level of missionary activity. To disrupt centuries of tradition was truly revolutionary. Peter’s encounter with Cornelius, carefully orchestrated and revealed by God, signals a complete change of direction from strict observance of the law exclusive to the Jew, to universal inclusion of the Gentile in Grace. Peter had to contemplate the enormity of this change, but lost no time in obeying God and going to Cornelius in Caesarea. Cornelius and his family responded to Peter’s revelation of Truth. See how Cornelius and his family acted to fulfill God’s sign to the Jew of a judgment to come for national rejection of their Messiah.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:18 & Ephesians 5:22-27
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 3 mins 30 secs
This passage is for every member of the family. Key words addressed to women, here and in parallel passages, are submission, fear (respect), authority, suffering, humility, and obedience. These concepts have application in everyone’s life. Originally woman was meant to co-rule. The Fall changed everything. The redemption solution for women emphasizes submission. Do women want to be part of the solution or contribute to the intensification of the consequences of judgment? If suffering and sacrifice are related to submission, they are temporary teachers, necessary for growth and as a witness to angels and men. Submission is addressed to the woman’s volition and may require patience and endurance, but through obedience, God is honored, we are blessed and rewards are granted.This lesson also includes 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Titus 2:3-5.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:18-21
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 0 mins 34 secs
Marriage can be a great source of joy, or suffering, depending on whose rules of relationship you apply. See how relationship roles predate creation and how elements of creation communicate and reinforce God’s design in role distinctions. Where is the equality in marriage? Does headship imply greater value? Does submission imply lesser value? See how God’s original purposes for man and woman were directly frustrated because of the Fall. Appreciate how God did not abandon us in the hopelessness of judgment but provided a solution in ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ and spiritual recovery in time through the Holy Spirit and the Word.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 9:1-21
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 14 mins 23 secs
This class is taught on the eve of Yom Kippur. In recognition of that, Dr. Dean began class with a
short video of Aveinu Shebashabaim, a Hebrew prayer for the State of Israel, sung by the Chief Cantor of the Israeli Defense Forces. As Christians we recognize the importance of supporting Israel and the Jewish people in light of Genesis 12:1-3 and we appreciate how God’s love for Israel lives forever in His covenants and promises. Understand the real threats Israel and the Christian world face today and the Christian’s role in support of Israel.The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is an example of another witness for the faith shown throughout Acts. Was Saul, in his thorough knowledge of the scriptures, an Old Testament believer or was he covered in layers that suppressed the Truth in unrighteousness? How long after the crucifixion did this event take place? Did Saul’s commission include more than just the Gentiles? Get the sequence and significance of events that began on the road to Damascus and led to Paul’s baptism and the beginning of his ministry.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:15
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 51 mins 51 secs
We come to know the will of God through the accumulated wisdom of His Word. God no longer gives special revelation and examples of our set of circumstances may not be in Scripture. Learn the different categories of God’s will with illustrations from Scripture. Peace in this verse is the vertical peace of reconciliation which brings the horizontal peace within the Body of Christ. The real question in every life is, “How can I best serve God with my life?” With that focus, prayer and trust, the will of God is no longer a guessing game.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 3:5-7
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 54 mins 36 secs
Sunday, October 23, 2011
by Robert Dean
Passage: Colossians 2:2-4
Series: Colossians (2011)
Duration: 1 hr 8 mins 17 secs
What treasure are you seeking? Scripture tells us that spiritual assets and riches already exist in the believer's life. But how can we know that is true? How can we have that assurance?In this lesson we learn these riches are activated as we learn God's Word, creating confidence and the ability to apply the Word to real life situations. We acquire wisdom, a skillful execution of the knowledge we have. We learn the true meaning of Paul's reference to "mystery" and how it is related to the new entity - the body of Christ. We learn that all (not some) treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ and are ours. Here's the formula for our growth process: understanding = knowledge = wisdom.So what is bringing the most meaning and significance to your own personal life?