hope

The Living Stone, The Cornerstone, and The Sure Foundation– 1 Peter 2:1-10

/ Bob

Peter becomes the construction manager in the 2nd chapter of his letter. He lays out the blueprints and explains how the church is to be built. Jesus is the foundation on which we build our lives. Jesus is cornerstone. Jesus is the capstone. Jesus is the Living Stone. Jesus is also the stumbling stone for those who refuse to acknowledge Him as Lord.

He also points out that we are living stones which will be the building blocks for the kingdom. And he goes on to point out that we are a royal priesthood of the faith. As he does so, the image of Christians as the Temple of God becomes clear. Just as the Temple was the place where the faithful went to find love, mercy, hope, and faithfulness, now we as the Living Temple should be the place where people go to find the same love, hope, and faithfulness of God through the Gospel Message of Jesus, the Messiah.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, January 26 2025. 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 is Hunger for Holiness: Living Pure in an impure World. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/hunger-for-holiness-1-peter-digital-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 01.26.2025 – The Living Stone – 1 Peter 2.1-10Download

How to Pray for Healing – James 5:14-16

/ Bob

In the beginning God created a perfect world free of disease and decay and death. It was His design. Humans chose to follow their own plan – their own design – and the result is sickness and entropy that ultimately leads to death. But God chose to provide a remedy for the fatal choice. Healing. We can never be healed from the ultimate end – death – but God designed the human body to heal itself. While doctors provide healing cures, they only work because of God’s design. God is Jehovah Rapha – the God Who Heals. At times He intervenes in the natural course of biology and heals miraculously. At other times He allows us to pursue earthly modes of healing, but at all times healing comes because of His design.

Healing is above our pay grade. We must go to the God Who Heals to request healing and we must trust Him for the outcome, knowing that healing is not only above our pay grade – it’s above our ability to comprehend it. We are not always healed physically in the way we desire, but we must glorify Him whether healing comes in the way we want it or not.

Moreover we look longingly to the day when we shake off these mortal shells and join our risen Lord in Glory. Therein lies the ultimate healing.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, November 17, 2024. 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 is Prayer the Moves Heaven: Power with Purpose. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/prayer-that-moves-heaven-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 11.17.2024 – How to Pray for HealingDownload

Trust God – Not Those Who Say Trust Me

/ Bob

As U.S. citizens we must be politically active even if that only means availing ourselves of the privilege and responsibility to vote.  However, thinking that our ultimate hope lies in the hands of any politician or political party is simply foolish. Vote, campaign, and/or contribute to the candidate or party of your choice, but know that God is a faithful fountain of hope no matter what a politician or governmental official says or does.

Psalm 146:3 – Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.

Jeremiah 17:5 – Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Isaiah 2:22 – Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?

Psalm 118:8-9 – It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

Romans 13:1 – For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

Hope Against Hope – Light at the End of the Tunnel?

/ Bob

Hope is found throughout the scripture. The Greek and Hebrew words which are often translated as hope involve the concept of waiting – specifically waiting on God. In Romans 8 we read that hope which is seen is not hope. We hope for what is not seen. Hope lives in the future in spite of our present struggles.

Is Hope the Light at the end of the Tunnel? No

The light at the end of the tunnel is something we can see that tells us that end of the tunnel is just ahead. But Romans 8 says that hope which is seen is not hope. When there is no light we still have hope because the invisible God is at the end of the tunnel. In fact, the light within us is Jesus Christ and He’s all the light we need in every tunnel.

But those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

Because those are the people who have real hope – those who don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel but know personally the God Who waits for them at the end of the tunnel and Who, in fact, occupies the entire tunnel. We wait upon Him. We hope in Him. We find our light in Him. In our present sufferings He is our hope of future glory. Furthermore, He is with us always even to the end of the age – or in this case – to the end of the tunnel.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 21, 2024. 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 is Praise Him in the Storm: When Life Falls Apart – A Study of Job. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/praise-him-in-the-storm-job-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – 07.21.2024 – Job 9.13 & 14 – Hope Against HopeDownload

Why Is Suffering a Part of Life? – Job 7:1-21 –Part 2

/ Bob
Job lost it all – family, business, health, property – and with all of that he lost all hope. In the 7th Chapter of Job he comes out swinging. He has nothing left to lose so he lays it all on the line before God. His entire life seems futile. He can’t find rest in his sleep. His misery haunts him night and day. The questions about the meaning and purpose of it all rage in his mind to the point where he feels he would be better off dead.

As we go through periods of suffering – times when we experience the worst that life can throw at us – we, too, find ourselves asking questions: Why me, Lord? Why do these things always happen to me? What have I done to deserve this kind of abuse? Are You even there, Lord? While it is possible to know some of the reasons for the suffering, that doesn’t calm the silent storm raging within us. The questions are valid as we see in the life of Job, but finding the answers should not be the ultimate goal. Our hope is not in finding the answers – our hope is in finding Him, Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant. In Him we gain understanding, love, strength, and the hope to endure and even thrive in the midst of the suffering. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.


This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 16, 2024. 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 is Praise Him in the Storm: When Life Falls Apart – A Study of Job. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/praise-him-in-the-storm-job-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Why Do We Suffer? – Job 7:1-21

/ Bob
Job lost it all – family, business, health, property – and with all of that he lost all hope. In the 7th Chapter of Job he comes out swinging. He has nothing left to lose so he lays it all on the line before God. His entire life seems futile. He can’t even find rest in his sleep. His misery haunts him night and day.

We have all had days . . . or weeks . . . or months . . . or years when we have felt this way. Maybe it wasn’t to the degree that Job felt it or maybe it was. The thing is that suffering is a part of the human condition. We live in a fallen world. We live in a decaying world. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics says that entropy is the soup of the day and that soup is constantly cooling not unlike our physical bodies when we pass from this world to the next. We are decaying right along with the rest of creation and that decay leads to suffering. It’s inevitable.

Job didn’t deny this. He pointed it out and told us how it affected him in every way. Physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually he was experiencing his anguish.

As we look at our own struggles we have a marked advantage over Job. He didn’t have the scripture to give him guidance in how to endure the pain and suffering of this world. He didn’t have the indwelling Spirit to guide him into all knowledge. And he didn’t have the example of the Suffering Servant, Mashiach, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to serve as an example of how to live victoriously even as our mortal bodies are dying pathetically. The Scriptures give insight into why we suffer and how to live as we suffer. That’s what this study was all about.


This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 9, 2024. 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 is Praise Him in the Storm: When Life Falls Apart – A Study of Job. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/praise-him-in-the-storm-job-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .

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The 7 Last Words of Christ

/ Bob
As Jesus hung on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for all mankind, he spoke 7 times. Those 7 statements form the “7 Last Words of Christ.” As the dying declaration of Jesus it is important that we know the significance of these statements. As we look at each statement we will see how Jesus spoke scripture in these last hours of His human life. We will also see how he demonstrated his teachings and completed the primary purpose of His life – the redemption of fallen sinners.


Obviously, these seven statements are not the last words Jesus spoke on this earth, nor are they the last words He will ever speak since he continues to speak to us today through His Spirit. However, the statements He made on the Cross are followed by the ultimate “Last Word” as seen in the Resurrection. When Jesus, in His last moments on the cross, said “It Is Finished,” He gave the last word on Atonement as He was the final blood sacrifice required by God. When God raised Him from the dead He put the final nail in Satan’s coffin as He proclaimed the last word concerning life and death now and always.




This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 24, 2024. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Check the Lost and Found – Luke 15:1-10

/ Bob

We all lose things. We have all searched diligently for our keys, glasses, or wallets. It is as if our life gets put on hold until we find those lost items. So it is with the woman who lost 1 of her 10 coins and the shepherd who lost 1 of his 100 sheep. Everything came to a grinding halt until they found that which was lost. And then it was party time because what was lost was now found. Yay!!

All we like sheep have gone astray. Each one of us has turned away from God to follow our own path. (Isaiah 53:6) And yet God doesn’t give up on us. He pursues us like the Hound of Heaven. He will not let us go until we realize that in our search for meaning we realize that Jesus is who we have been searching for all along. And when we repent of our sinful ways He is there to lovingly caress us with His gentle hand even as he gestures with his other hand for the party to begin.

Check the lost and found. Are you lost or are you found?

(Follow this link to read “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson – houndofheaven.com/poem)

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 3, 2024. 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 is Jesus Storyteller: Timeless Truths from His Parables. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at: https://gc2press.org/jesus-storyteller-luke-study-guide/ .Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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