June 3, 2026

This evening we came together to praise our Heavenly Father and to share our experiences that show how he has been present in our lives.

---

May 31, 2026

Luke 20:20–26 ESV

So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.  So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.  Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”  But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,  “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”  He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.

Discussion Questions:

Jesus continues to be tested by the religious leaders.  We would like to look at the following incident from two perspectives.  The first is to understand the details of what happened.  And the second is to discuss the deeper spiritual lessons.

1)  How was this a trap?  How did Jesus disarm this trap?

2)  What does this incident tell us about the interaction the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world?  Is Jesus saying that they are both legitimate and just run in parallel with each other or is he somehow saying that one is superior to the other?

Discussion Summary:

This question was meant as a trap for Jesus.  If he answered yes, he was recognizing Roman authority over God’s nation.  If he answered no, he would be rebelling against Roman authority and law.  This question of taxation was answered in the negative by Judas the Galilean who is referred to in Acts 5:37.  According to Josephus he led a tax rebellion that was viciously put down by the Romans.  Jesus answered this question by referring to God’s arrangement of allowing earthly rulers to exercise authority (Romans 13:1-3; John 19:11).  This authority is only not recognized when it is in direct violation of God’s laws (Acts 4:19; 5:29).

This incident tells us that God’s Kingdom and the kingdom of this world run in parallel with each other, but they are not equal.  The kingdom of this world which is ruled over by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) was not given to him by God.  Instead we are to think of Satan as taking this kingdom, or usurping it.  God allows this under what is called the “permission of evil.”  Christians are to view themselves as “transported into the Kingdom” and as having “their citizenship in Heaven”  (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 1:13).

This incident also invites the Christian to ask themselves, “Who do I belong to?”  Once we give ourselves to the Lord, we become his servants.  As is recorded in Isaiah 44:5, “They will say, ‘I am the LORD’s…and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’S…”  Are we rendering unto God’s what is God’s?

---

May 27, 2026

Romans 2 ESV

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.  We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.  Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?  Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.  For God shows no partiality.  For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.  For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.  They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them  on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.  But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.  For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”  For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.  So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?  Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.  For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Discussion Questions:

Paul stated that the purpose of this letter is to show how God through Jesus Christ fulfills Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous shall live by faith.  In chapter 2 Paul continues to discuss who is righteous and who is unrighteous.

In chapter 1 Paul showed how pagans are considered unrighteous by God.  In chapter 2 Paul is now turning his attention to a new category of people.  In this chapter Paul is speaking to those Gentile Christians who wrongly think that they have to have a foundation of the Mosaic law in order to be righteous. Paul feels that it is necessary to clear up some misconceptions that have been introduced by those false teachers. 

1)  In verses 1 – 16 Paul is addressing the misconception that if a Gentile Christian is doing righteous deeds according to the Law, then those deeds are counted as righteous.  How does Paul show that this is incorrect?

2)  In verses 17 – 29 Paul is addressing the misconception that Gentile Christians had to come into the Mosaic covenant relationship first, in order to be considered righteous in God’s eyes.  How does Paul show that this is incorrect?

Discussion Summary:

Verses 1-16:  Paul is now speaking to those who think they will escape the fate of the unrighteous (verse 3) because they rely on God’s mercy as promised under the law covenant in Psalms 62:13 and Proverbs 24:12 (verse 6).  However, they have misunderstood the purpose of the law.  It was not to excuse sin, but it was to lead them to repentance (verse 4).  This same argument is also given by Paul in Galatians 3:19,24.

Verses 17-29:  Paul states that the law was supposed to enable its followers to guide others to righteousness, but they were unable to do this because of their own weaknesses not the law’s.  If you cannot keep your own precepts how can you teach others?  Even circumcision which was the sign that they were in a covenant relationship with God was not enough if it did not affect their hearts. (See Jeremiah 9:22-25)  Gentile Christians who were following the law would experience these same issues.

---

May 24, 2026

Luke 20:9–19 ESV

And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.  When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’  But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’  And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”  But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?  Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”  The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

Discussion Questions

1)In what way is this parable directed against the scribes and chief priests?

2)  What is the meaning that:

• the stone is rejected
• the stone is tripped over
• the stone falls on some

Discussion Summary:

This parable in indictment of the religious rulers of the nation.  The owner of the vineyard represents God, the vineyard itself the nation of Israel and the tenants represent the religious rulers (Isaiah 5:1-7).  Throughout Israel’s history God had sent his prophets to them to correct them, but they and their messages were rejected.  In this parable the motivation of the religious rulers is laid bare.  They want the inheritance.  In other words, they wanted to change God’s arrangements and keep themselves in charge.

The reference to the stone is taken from Psalm 118:22,23 and Isaiah 8:14,15.  This stone refers to Jesus as shown in Acts 4:8-12; Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Peter 2:7.  The leaders as a whole rejected Jesus as coming from God.  They then like jars that fall on that stone, or like jars that the stone falls upon are destroyed from their position.  This shows the complete judgement that will come upon them when the nation itself is destroyed.  (Matthew 3:11,12; Romans 9:32,33).

---

May 20, 2026

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,  which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,  To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—  that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.  I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.  So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Discussion Questions:

Letter Introduction

1)  Verses 1-17:  Paul introduces himself and his letter to the Roman brethren.  What facts does Paul want the brethren to keep in mind as they read?

2)  Verses 18-23:  Which beliefs does Paul say “make pagans unrighteous” in God’s eyes?

3)  Verses 24-32:  What does Paul say is the connection between these pagan beliefs and sins against God’s order?

Discussion Summary:

Verses 1-17:  Paul begins and ends this section with an appeal to the Old Testament scriptures.  He will be proving that Christians do not receive justification under the Mosiac Law from the Old Testament itself.  In particular, he will be using Habakkuk 2:4 as his foundation thesis.  Paul also wants the Roman brethren to know that he has a personal interest in them and hopes to have a mutually beneficial relationship with them.

Verses 18-23:  Paul explores why idolatry, practiced by all pagans at that time, is primary evidence of their sinful condition or unrighteousness.  Idols dishonour the invisible, all-powerful Creator God by instead of worshipping him, worship things that are visible, sense-less and created.  Isaiah 44:18-20 says that they worship what they know to not be God, therefore they worship a lie.

Verses 24-32:  This also results in seeing “gods” in a degraded state.  The gods of the pagan world act like humans.  They are prey to all evil, spiteful emotions and motivations.  This leads to the conclusion that there is no righteousness from heaven – no ideal of justice, honour and right.  So if there is no righteous order and authority from above, there is no compulsion to strive for righteousness below.  Sin has then a rebellious element.

---

May 17, 2026

One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”  He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”  And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’  But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”  So they answered that they did not know where it came from.  And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Discussion Questions:

After Jesus symbolically cleansed the temple, he proceeds to confront the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  In verses 1 to 8 Jesus responds to a question about his authority to teach.  We would like to discuss the implications of Jesus’s response.

1)  What would the religious leaders have considered proper authority for Jesus to teach and  what was Jesus’s authority to teach and how was it manifested?

2)  Why does Jesus use the example of John the Baptist?

Discussion Summary:

The religious leaders did have a God-given authority (Matthew 7:28).  However, they had misused their position and so Jesus was given wisdom and knowledge outside of their system, by God himself.  Still they only acknowledged authority with their sanction.  They expected him to have learned under one of their teachers in order to be a teacher.  (Example of Saul of Tarsus, Acts 22:3).  Jesus’ authority was manifested to them and to the people by his works (John 10:37,28; 14:11).

Jesus used the example of John the Baptist to show their error.  John was the witness to Jesus’ baptism by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:1-6) in fulfilment of Isaiah 40:3-5.  Jesus’ claim to be the fulfilment of Isaiah 61:1-3 in Luke 4:16-21 came directly after his baptism.  John himself was born a prophet by the power of God (Luke 1:57-80).  His holy life and preaching was well known throughout the nation.

---

May 13, 2026

Discussion Questions:

Before we begin our chapter by chapter study, we would like to become familiar with the book as a whole.

1)  The ecclesia:  Who founded the Roman ecclesia and what do we know about it?  Was it composed of Gentile Christians or Jewish Christians?

2)  Timeline:  When did Paul write Romans?  Can we correlate it to any time in the book of Acts?

3)  Theme:  Why did Paul write the book of Romans?  Was it in relation to a specific issue? What is the overall theme of the book?

Discussion Summary:

We are not told in the scriptures if a particular apostle founded the Roman ecclesia.  We are told that Jews from Rome were present at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10) and perhaps someone who was there that day brought back the gospel message to the city.  Around 49 AD the Roman Emperor expelled all the Jews from the city of Rome.  We are told in Acts 18:1 that the Jewish brethren were forced to leave at that time.  We can assume that when that ban was lifted 5 years later, many of the Jewish Christians returned to Rome.

From various clues in the letter to the Romans and in Acts we can deduce that Paul wrote this letter while he was in Corinth.  According to Acts 20, Paul was in Greece for 3 months (verse 2) before leaving for Jerusalem (verse 16) carrying with him the donation he had collected for the brethren (Romans 15:26-28).

Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to set forth in an orderly fashion his understanding of a Christians life of faith as shown in Habakkuk 2:4 “The just shall live by faith.”  While he was careful not to step out of his God-given jurisdiction as Apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:3), he felt obligated to explain why Christians could not receive justification under the Mosaic Law.  He also had had experience in mixed ecclesias and wanted to give practical counsel (Romans 1:11) to the brethren in Rome who were once again going to be a mixed Jewish/Gentile ecclesia.

---

May 10, 2026

Luke 19:45–48 ESV

And he entered into the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling,  saying to them, “It is written, ‘And my house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a cave of robbers!”   And he was teaching every day in the temple courts, and the chief priests and the scribes and the most prominent men of the people were seeking to destroy him.  And they did not find anything they could do, because all the people were paying close attention to what they were hearing from him.

Discussion Questions:

1)  Why does Jesus quote two separate scriptures to explain his actions?  (Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11)

2)  Why would Jesus make a point of cleansing the temple before teaching in it?

Discussion Summary:

Jesus based his action of cleansing the temple on Isaiah 56:7.  This prophecy shows what the temple was intended to be – a holy place for prayer.  After Solomon built the temple, he had a dedication ceremony in which he spoke of the temple’s purpose (2 Chronicles 6:17-20).  In reality the temple in Jerusalem was corrupted time and time again throughout its history.  The prophecy in Isaiah 56 also points to the future purpose of the temple – a house for all people.  In the Kingdom reality the Lord will accept worship from all people even those who were prohibited from temple worship under the Mosiac Law.

Jesus also based his actions on Jeremiah 7:11.  This prophecy states that the temple had become a den of robbers.  This reflects the situation in Jesus’ day where the religious rulers had the temple under their control and used it for political power instead of in the service of the people.  Ezekiel 34:8 also reflects this situation where it says, “my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep.”

It was necessary for Jesus to cleanse the temple before preaching there, to reflect his rejection of the religious hierarchy.  It also foreshadows Malachi 3:1-4 a prophecy of the Lord’s second advent.  There the Lord suddenly comes to his temple and a purifying process of the people begins.

---

May 6, 2026

This evening we came together to praise our Heavenly Father and share the many ways in which we have felt his presence in our lives.

---

May 3, 2026

Today we joined via Zoom an in-person/online convention that was held in Hartford, CT USA.

---