Bible

Kingdom Living – An Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

/ Bob / Leave a comment

Matthew’s Gospel was written in a time of distress for thee Jewish people. The prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah seemed to point to the beginning of what we know as the 1st Century AD and specifically to about 30-33 AD. Daniel’s “70 Weeks” were up and the Promised One was due to arrive at any moment. However, Rome’s grip on the land was firm and demanding.

Matthew, under the inspiration of the very Spirit of God, spoke to the people about the true Kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven. Of the 162 times the word “kingdom” is used in the New Testament, 150 times it refers to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, etc. 55 of those 150 are found in the Book of Matthew. Of those 55, 47 were spoken by Jesus – including 8 times in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus wanted us to fully understand what Kingdom living was all about and Matthew gives us His instructions in how to do just that.

For the next few weeks we will take a deep dive into the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7. The early Christians learned what it meant to live as Kingdom Citizens in a land controlled by a foreign power. We will see what Kingdom Living is and we will see what it means for us as we live in a land controlled by the prince of the air. (Ephesians 2:1-2)

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 12, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Introduction – Kingdom Living – 07.12.2026Download

Preach On! – The Black Robed Regiment and the American Revolution

/ Bob

The Black Regiment was a derogatory term used by the Loyalists and British officials to refer to pastors who used their pulpits to provide the theological justification and moral authority for the American Revolution; to instill in their congregants an understanding of and a desire for true liberty; and to help them see their cause as a sacred duty.

These ministers of the gospel became more feared than the military might of the colonists. Reflecting on the effectiveness of colonial preachers during the siege of Boston, Peter Oliver, the last royal Chief Justice of Massachusetts, bitterly compared those preachers in their black robes to the actual British military forces: “But as little as the red Regiments performed, the black Regiment played its Artillery to some purpose; and The Pulpit – Drum Eccliastick – Was beat with Fist instead of a Stick.”

The Black Robed Regiment, as they came to be known later, preached sermons which would later be echoed in our founding documents through phrases like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility” and “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” They emboldened their congregants to stand for the truth and, if necessary, fight for the truth. They were a formidable adversary indeed and their contributions live on.

We have a secular form of government – of the people, by the people, and for the people – but the people who founded this nation did so not in a moral vacuum, but in the morality and justice and truth they learned growing up in an Ecclesiocentric, and at times a Theocentric, world. They were taught the Word of God by their ancestors; inspired to know God’s justice and grace through the preachers of the Great Awakening; and they were inspired by Godly men like the Black Robed Regiment who gave them Godly wisdom and strength to stand up against tyranny and fight for true liberty and true freedom. So while our form of government is secular, the foundation on which it stands is sacred.

May we never forget from whence we came. May we never forget that God’s sovereignty brought this nation into existence. And may we never forget that the sovereign God who brought us into existence as a nation can remove us just as easily.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 28, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Preach On – 06.28.2026Download

Faith of Our Founding Fathers

/ Bob

Were our founding fathers Christian? Did they believe in God? Were they Deists? Were they Unitarians? Were they Theistic Rationalists? Were they Pagans? Did their faith have any impact on the way they lived or the way they governed? Did their beliefs change over time? Are our founding documents simply the basis of our secular government or do they reflect the faith of those who wrote them? All of these questions and many more are explored in today’s class session.

One of our guiding principles for this series of lessons is “While we study and ponder the people and events of our nation’s founding, we should do so not to exalt them, but to learn from them so that we can better serve our Lord in the land in which we live.” That is what we are doing with our look at the Faith of the Founding Fathers. We examine them, warts and all, to see why twelve score and ten years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal so that we can decide how we will carry the torch of Liberty into the next 250 years.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 21, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Faith of Our Founding Fathers – 06.21.2026Download

The Great Awakening

/ Bob

The Great Awakening was a revival that swept through the American colonies roughly from the 1730’s through the 1760’s. While it brought thousands of new souls into the Kingdom of God, it also altered the religious, social, and political landscape of Colonial America.

At its core, the movement shifted the focus of faith away from rigid church doctrine, formal rituals, and intellectualism, placing it instead on personal submission to the Sovereign God and a felt experience of salvation, often referred to as being “born again”.

Driven by orators like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield,

the Awakening preaching emphasized individual sinfulness and

the necessity of personal repentance leading to conversion.

By breaking down traditional denominational barriers and challenging the authority of established clergy, the Great Awakening fostered a unique sense of shared inter-colonial identity and a democratic spirit. It taught ordinary individuals that they had the spiritual authority to make their own religious choices—an egalitarian mindset that helped pave the philosophical way for the American Revolution.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 14, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – The Great Awakening – 06.14.2026Download

From Revelry to Rapaciousness to Reason to Revival

/ Bob

“Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother.” (Cotton Mather – 1702) The Colonies were prospering. They saw it as the blessings of God and well they should have. However, the more prosperous they became, the more they wanted more. Their rapacious desires – their uncontrollable materialistic greed – caused the colonists to push their faith aside in the pursuit of wealth. Mather was right. And he’s still right.

The Jeremiad preachers addressed the sinful ways of the colonists. They spoke of God’s coming judgment in the face of their sinful ways. They highlighted specific sins in their sermons. They called our revelers and drunkards and lambasted families for not maintaining Godly discipline. In short, they gave their congregants a heavy dose of the seriousness of sin.

The Age of Reason was in fine form and offered the colonists a “reasonable” solution. The Age of Enlightenment brought on a shift from the revelation of God to the reasoning of man. There arose a focus on the natural rights of mankind with little regard for the God Who gave them those rights. Science became the answer to life’s problems.

Once again, Satan’s game plan for the destruction of mankind had worked – the lust of the flesh – revelry; the lust of the eyes – rapaciousness; and the pride of life – reason. (1 John 2:16)

Jonathan Edwards addressed these issues in the Northampton Church. He was a Jeremiad Preacher who could bring forth the fear of God and the fires of hell. However, with the seriousness of sin he also brought forth the supply of grace offered freely through the love and blood of Jesus. Furthermore, as one who had read John Locke and understood the Age of Reason, he led people to see the true Reason found in the Gospel message and the reasonableness of the Christian faith.

Revival came to Northampton. Edwards wrote about the revival that swept through the community and surrounding areas in a book entitled “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprizing Work of God.” This book became the blueprint for revival used by George Whitefield and Charles Wesly and countless others who ushered in The Great Awakening.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 7, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – From Revelry & Rapaciousness & Reason to Revival – 06.07.2026Download

The Slow Fade of Faith

/ Bob

The Puritans, and especially the separatist Pilgrims, came to the New World to establish a home where they could fully live out their faith in God. Through struggles of every sort they did just that. Alas, their children – the next generation – did not share in their zeal for Holiness. Thus began a slow fade of faith that would lead the colonies into a period of materialism and moral decay.

It’s not unlike our culture today. We face threats to our very existence as the Pilgrims did – remember September 11, 2001? The Pilgrims bound themselves together in a bond of shared faith in God. So did we. But as time passed and the threat faded, so did our commitment to the God Who brought us through that time.

There are many similarities to the moral decadence of late 17th and early 18th Centuries and our 21st Century moral depravity. It was a very self-centered environment much like our own and the leaders of the church spoke out about the sins being committed, and then turned around and offered what today could be called a watered-down faith – a cheap grace if you will. If ever there was a time ripe for a revival of God’s people it was in the early 1700’s. If ever there was a time ripe for a revival of God’s people it IS in the early 2000’s.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, May 24, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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From Reverence to Revival to Revolution – 1. Coming to America

/ Bob

Coming to America

For God, Gold, and Glory! God’s first directive to mankind was to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28a)  Those who came to the New World had a variety of reasons for doing so, but those whose hearts were turned toward God also came to honor that first directive as well as the Great Commission of our Lord to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”  (Matthew 28:19-20a)

Columbus – The Pilgrims – The Puritans – These all came to the New World with the belief that they were doing the Will of God. However, even those who came for other reasons – gold, land, glory, conquests, future profits, and future military strongholds – unwittingly were doing what God wanted them to do. “For dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” (Psalm 22:28) “He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.” (Job 12:23)

Even as Pope Nicholas V sought out new territory after loosing land to the Islamic forces in the Middle Ages, he and later popes issued Papal Bulls to encourage the conquest of foreign lands in the name of the church. However, what the Pope meant for the good of the church God meant for the good of His Kingdom. And His Kingdom spread all across what we now call North and South America.

They came to America!

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on 2 consecutive Sundays, May 10 &17, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Coming to America – 05.10.2026 & 05.17.2026Download

The Household of Faith

/ Bob

The Book of Galatians is all about the Church being the Church the way that Jesus wanted the Church to be. He begins the book by outlining his position in the church and his authority to address the ways in which the churches in Galatia were veering off from the church Jesus wanted. He then nails down the central doctrine of the church – justification through Jesus, our Savior.

Finally, he presents the church as a blessing to the world as they walk in step with the Spirit and allow the Spirit’s fruit to be seen in their lives. That fruit is evident to all and it is especially useful in building up the fellowship of believers – the church – so that the love of Christ can be spread from the congregation to the community. It’s all about love – the love of God Who loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son to die in our place so that we might have everlasting life.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples – if you love one another.” – John 13:35 –

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, April 26, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 04.26.2026 – Lesson 12 – The Household of FaithDownload

Dancing with the Spirit

/ Bob

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” (Galatians 5:1) In Chapters 5 & 6 of Galatians Paul is giving instructions in how to live by faith and how to grow in that faith as you live it out daily. In Galatians 5:16 he instructs his readers, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” As humans we have a problem – a sin problem – and it’s rooted in the human bodies which we rely on to literally live on this planet.

The term translated “flesh” refers to the physical body. Unfortunately, we can become much too attached and fond of the things that make our bodies feel good that we allow those desires to dictate our actions. The ultimate result of this problem is addiction, but there are plenty of wants and desires that exceed our needs and we have a tendency to indulge those emotional drives while ignoring the Spirit Who is trying to keep us from being ensnared by those desires.

Paul’s answer is found in Galatians 5:25 – Dance with the Spirit. Spend your time in the Word, in prayer, in worship, in fellowship with other believers – in other words – dance with Spirit. Then the ways of the Spirit, which Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, will not only develop in you – those ways will become your ways. You’ll be dancing with the Spirit. But remember, when you dance with someone, only one person can lead. Let the Spirit lead and enjoy the dance – the Dance of your lifetime.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, April 19, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 04.19.2026 – Lesson 11 – Dancing with the SpiritDownload

The Slow Fade of Faith

/ Bob

In Galatians 4:12-20 we get a glimpse into the personal life of Paul. We see him in his vulnerability, in his discouragement, and in his relationships with those he once knew as close friends. Paul taught them well, but now his Gentile converts were following the misguided teachings of a group known as the Judaizers – those who believed that to be a good Christian you must first be a good Jew. Paul had left them on solid ground spiritually, but now they were fading from faith to a works-based belief system that was actually a trap. This was not the first time Christians had wandered from the faith of the Gospel and it won’t be the last.

Jesus dealt with the slow fade of faith within hours of dying on the cross. In Mark 14 Jesus says that all of the disciples will deny Him whereupon we find Peter saying, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” What we sometimes overlook is that in verse 31 we read that all of the others said the same thing. These were the same disciples who in Mark 14:50 all deserted Jesus and ran away.

The slow fade of the church is clearly seen in two of the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. The Church at Ephesus was said to have left their first love. The Church at Laodicea was declared by Jesus to be neither hot nor cold but rather just lukewarm. So disgusting that He said He would vomit them out of his mouth.

However, the warning that we must heed today concerning hearts turning cold comes in Jesus’ discourse in which he describes the end of the age. Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. Many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

~Matthew 24:9-12~

Guard your heart – even the most zealous can grow cold.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 15, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 03.15.2026 – Lesson 8 – The Slow Fade of FaithDownload