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ADDITIONAL BIBLE QUIZZES
FOR TGOC'S SOUL-SAVING SERIES
ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
In two previous editions of our newsletter (May 29 and June 12), we announced the posting on our Website of the first eight Bible quizzes to accompany our Soul-Saving Series of video and audio programs. We are now pleased to announce the addition of four more quizzes to accompany the next lessons in that series (another four quizzes will follow in the weeks ahead, bringing the total number of quizzes for the series to sixteen). The quizzes are available on our Website at www.thegospelofchrist.com/quiz.
ANNOUNCING THE NEXT TWO LESSONS
IN TGOC'S NEWLY REVISED
N.T. SERIES ON MATTHEW
In our last newsletter, we announced the availability of the first two lessons ("The Birth of the King" and "How to Overcome Temptation") in our newly revised New Testament Series on the Book of Matthew. In this newsletter, we are pleased to announce the availability of the next two lessons ("The Greatest Sermon Ever" and "The Compassionate King"). Four more lessons will follow in subsequent editions of our newsletter, bringing the total to eight.
In his lesson on "The Greatest Sermon Ever," Ben Bailey examines Christ's "Sermon on the Mount" as recorded in Matthew 5-7. As Ben begins, he naturally concentrates his initial remarks on Matthew 5:3-11, which contains the section popularly known as "the beatitudes." The Sermon on the Mount, of course, was all about Christ's kingdom, and what the citizens of that kingdom would be like. In the beatitudes, Jesus discussed specific characteristics that subjects of His kingdom should possess. They would be people who, among other things, were meek, hungered and thirsted after righteousness, were humble, sought peace, and were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake. The thrust of the first part of Jesus' poignant sermon was essentially the same thrust of 1 Peter 1:15, where the apostle admonished Christians, "As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct."
In Matthew 5:17-48, Jesus examined attitudes—attitudes that could lead to divorce, anger, hate, and even murder. Each of the principles that Jesus examined dealt with the mind and the heart as they pertained to a person's actions in his or her everyday life. In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus urged those in His audience to be distinctly different from those who composed "the religious elite" of His day—the scribes and Pharisees (whom He often characterized as hypocrites). In Matthew 6:1, Jesus identified a large part of their problem when he said, "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” The religious elite of the day were doing good deeds, but they were doing them for the wrong reason—for their own self-gratification ("to be seen by men"). In Matthew 7, Jesus dealt with such things as judging hypocritically (vs.1), "the Golden Rule" as we generally refer to it ("Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets"—vs. 12), Christian commitment (vss. 13-14), dealing with false teachers (vss. 15-20), and true obedience to His will (vss. 21-23). Ben brings his study on Matthew 5-7 to a close by observing, "We cannot call Jesus 'Lord,' yet not do what He has commanded us to do. Here, then, is an important practical principle. If we want to do God’s will, we have to obey Christ." So very true.
In lesson four of his new series on Matthew ("The Compassionate King"), Ben discusses Matthew 8-11 where, he suggests, we are introduced to "the compassionate King." In these chapters, we see Christ doing such things as healing a leper (Mt. 8:1-4), healing a centurion's servant (Mt. 8:8-12), healing Peter's mother-in-law (Mt. 8:14-15), healing a man born blind
and simultaneously forgiving the man's sins (Mt. 9:1-7), healing two blind men (Mt. 9:27-31), and reaching out to the lost (Mt. 9:36-38).
But we also see Christ issuing a stern warning to His followers: "You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. He who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt. 10:22). Jesus wanted His disciples (of all ages!) to know that they must be faithful to the very end of their lives if they expect to go to Heaven—which is exactly what Jesus told the suffering and dying saints in the Book of Revelation when He said, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).
In Matthew 11, Christ discussed John the Immerser in the first section of the chapter, and then in verses 28-30 He offered what has come to be known as "His great invitation"—"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Both of these lessons are now available on our Website, where you will find them in video, audio, and written transcript formats. We invite you to examine them for yourself, and to share them with others.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT OUR
NEW BIBLE-VERSE QUIZZES ON
"GOD'S PLAN FOR MAN'S SALVATION"
In our September 4th newsletter, we announced the addition to our Website of a different type of Bible quiz. A number of our readers had requested that we provide some quizzes aimed specifically at teaching a person what to do to become a Christian. We therefore designed a series of quizzes to do exactly that. Plus, the verse-match style of the quizzes is an excellent way to help a person memorize more Scripture (and also serves as a "gentle reminder" about where certain verses are located within the biblical text).
In this edition of our newsletter, we simply wanted to mention these quizzes to you once more—in case you never got around to examining them the first time (or in the event that you might want to re-use them for personal study or evangelism purposes). The quizzes can be found on our Website at www.thegospelofchrist.com/quiz.
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