Welcome

1. Welcome Adult II Couples Class 2013 discoverjoy.com

2. What was the last thing you said to your spouse before going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after waking up this morning? Question of the Day

3. Prayer Requests John Harris Mike Dalton-Back SS Classes Morning Service New Lay Servants Heils in Brazil -Xukari tribe Tim Dalton -Direction Lauren and Matt Evans-pregnancy Kevin Young & Paul Wilman

4. Events Calendar Class Events Church Events • REAP Visitation (R Team) • Benevolence Fund • Monthly Fellowships • 24 August-Woffords • September • October • Dinner Out Friday (NA) • 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 Sept) • Quarterly Service Project • Methodist Hospital Ministry • Crochet Classes (10am Saturdays) • Promotion Sunday (Today!!) • If you’re looking for a way to get out of this class without attracting attention, now’s your chance! • Youth & Parent Mtg (7 Aug) • Children’s Back to School Party (10 Aug) • Lord’s Supper Service (11 Aug-AM) • E-Sunday (11 Aug) • Widow’s Breakfast/Car Wash (17 Aug) • Mexico Mission Trip (30 Aug-6 Sep)

5. What was the last thing you said to your spouse before going to sleep last night and the first thing you said after waking up this morning? Question of the Day

6. Chronological Bible DiscipleshipIva May & Dr. Stan May Week No. 31 2 Chronicles 2 Kings Jeremiah Psalms Habakkuk Daniel

7. End Times Missions Chronological Bible DiscipleshipIva May & Dr. Stan May Church Gospel Silent You are here Return Captivity Div. Kingdom Kingdom Judges Conquest Exodus Patriarch Creation

8. Review Creation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin. Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Pro-misedLand and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself. Conquest:Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land. Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, oppres-sion and deliverance (the sin cycle).

9. Review Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succes-sion of kings (Saul, David and Solomon) who rule over a united Israel.

10. Divided Kingdom • King Solomon dies and due to the foolishness of his son Rehoboam, ten tribes rebel and form the Northern Kingdom of Israel which is lost in captivity 209 years later • Two tribes (Benjamin and Judah) form the Southern Kingdom nation of Judah, which lasts for 345 years before Babylon conquers and carries them away to captivity • God Speaks during this Era • Sends His prophets to warn Israel and Judah to repent • Promises Judah that He will bring them back after 70 years of captivity • Describes the One who will come and establish God’s kingdom forever • God Acts during this Era • God raises up the Assyrians to take Israel into captivity • God raises up the Babylonians to take Judah into captivity • God Reveals during this Era • His jealous for His people and forbids them to worship idols • His desire to bless His people, but will judge their continued disobedience

11. Overview • Two lessons ring clear in our study of the Bible so far • Laws alone cannot change the rebellious unbelieving heart of humanity • Humanity needs something else that changes the heart-a “new birth” • Moses spoke of a day when “the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” • Hundreds of year later, Jeremiah and Ezekiel give seven details that describe the external benefits and internal changes affect-ed by the new covenant

12. God’s New Covenant promises to ad-dress the sinful heart in those who come to Him in faith by af-fecting internal changes that impact behavior.

13. THE Divided Kingdom Era Jeremiah 31 Ezekiel 16 & 36 A Kingdom of New People The Internal Work of the New Covenant The External Work of the New Covenant

14. Context • The prophet Jeremiah promises a new covenant to Israel in the midst of their growing distress • They have completely failed to keep the first covenant (the Law) • They are headed toward the judgment of captivity in Babylon • Jeremiah announces that God will create a new covenant with His people • The prophet describes the first three components of this New Covenant and the internal changes it will cause in the hearts of the people

15. The Internal Work of the New Covenant Jeremiah31:31-34 Jeremiah 17 & 24 Romans 1

16. Internal Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Affects Man’s Thinking • Adam and Eve’s sin changed the way all men think • Paul describes the state of Adam’s descendants (Rom 1:21) • Romans 1:21 – “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.” • Man, lost in the emptiness of his own wisdom, pursues a life alienated from God • The LORD Promises through Jeremiah to Correct the way people view their relationship with God • “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it” • This New Covenant internally changes the way people think • About God • About themselves • About the world around them • About the life they live • This altered thinking leads to lasting behavior changes

17. Internal Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Changes Hearts • Adam and Eve’s sin altered the heart (mind and will) of every man • Paul describes Adam’s descendants as “darkened” in their foolish hearts • Romans 1:21~ “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.” • Jeremiah previously identifies this problem • The heart is ruined before God (Jer 17:9-10) • Jeremiah 17:9~ “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it?” • A new heart must be given for a person to know God (Jer 24:7) • Jeremiah 24:7 ~ “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.” • The New Covenant promises such a heart change • The LORD says that He will “write it on their hearts” (33) • It is God’s direct work in the heart that converts it from willful pride to humble submissiveness

18. Internal Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Restores Relationship • Adam and Eve’s sin resulted in their eviction from the place of fellowship with God (Garden of Eden) • All their descendants experience this same separation • Adam was created in the sinless image of God • Adam’s descendants would bear the image of his sin-caused scars • Their only hope of restoration of relationship was found in the promise of a coming Redeemer • “I will be their God and they shall be My people” (33) • This is not a proclamation of religion • It is the restoration of relationship through the New Covenant

19. Discussion What was Judah’s problem in reestablishing their relationship with God? Was it solely a lack of knowledge of God and His Law? Are their people today who are in active rebellion against God who know all about God and His Word? What’s the difference between that person on one who is in a right relationship with God? How important is God’s work in the heart to having a relationship with Him?

20. Context • A few years later the prophet Ezekiel speaks of the New Covenant • Jeremiah is prophesying in Jerusalem • Ezekiel has been taken captive to Babylon and prophesies there • He also speaks of God’s judgment on Israel due to their harlotry • Concludes the condemnation of Israel with a promise of a new covenant in Ezekiel 16 • Reveals the final four aspects of the New Covenant

21. The External Work of the New Covenant Ezekiel 16:60& 36:25-27

22. The External Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant is Everlasting (Ezekiel 16:60) • Ezekiel finishes a scathing chapter with a promise of hope • Ezekiel 16:60 ~ “Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. • This hope would come from an everlasting covenant, not based on what men could do, but what God would do • “…when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares. • Only God could provide a permanent atonement for sin • The offering on the Day of Atonement only removed the sin of the previous year • It could not deal with sin in any permanent way • God’s provided Atonement would be complete and everlasting in its scope

23. The External Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Cleanses the Past (Ezekiel 36:25-27) • Adam and Eve experienced fear, shame, and guilt • Fig leaves provided temporary covering • The sacrifice of animals offered temporary payment for sin • Neither were effective in removing the recurring stain of sin from their attitude or actions • The New Covenant from the LORD promises com-plete cleansing from all sin • Ezekiel 36:25 ~ “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthi-ness and from all your idols.”

24. The External Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Transforms People from the Inside Out • There is only one cure for the depraved heart of man • Remove the offending heart (mind or will) • The LORD promises to make this change in the lives of His people • Ezekiel 36:26 ~ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. • God promises to replace the old heart with a new heart • A heart that is responsive to Him

25. The External Work of the New Covenant The New Covenant Empowers People to Live Differently • The power behind these outward results of inner change • Ezekiel 36:27 ~ “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.” • God’s direct intervention in the human heart is necessary to affect an external change • God must work directly in the human heart • Only God’s work can produce godliness in the walk of life

26. Discussion Who was the One who made it possible for God to establish the New Covenant by permanently dealing with sin? What was special about Jesus’ sacrifice that enabled Him to enact a permanent fix for sin? Has God fulfilled His promise to remove the heart of stone from sinful man and replace it with a heart of flesh that is responsive to God? How so? Do we enjoy a complete fulfillment of this prophecy today as believer? What aspect is yet to be fulfilled?

27. Conclusions • God performs what the New Covenant promises by chang-ing our minds and hearts of when we come to Him in faith. • It is impossible to belong to the New Covenant order with-out having experienced genu-ine internal changes that affect our behavior. • Only God’s work in the heart can bring about a permanent lasting change in the way man views his relationship to God.

28. Bible Trivia Test Jeremiah, 2 Kings(1pt) • What Babylonian God did Jeremiah condemn that shares a name with a mountain in Arkansas? • “Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed…” (Jeremiah 48:1) • What was the name of the Egyptian king that Josiah confronted in battle during which Josiah would be killed? • “In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up…to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo.(2 Kings 23:29) • What were the Recabites commanded not to do by their ancestor, Jonadab? • “But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.” (Jeremiah 35:6)

29. Bible Trivia Test Bonus Questions (4pts) • How long was the short reign of Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and where did he die? • “Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem…Necoimprisoned him at Riblah…he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. (2 Kings 23:31-34) • What was the name of the goddess for whom the women of Judah baked cakes of bread? • “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven…” (Jeremiah 2:18)

30. Next week….. Daniel 1 A Captive Kingdom Adult II Couples Class discoverjoy.com