Challenge for 2017

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 15, 2017 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

Here we are at the beginning of another year!  This lesson is a break from our James study, though the topic flows directly from our discussion from the first two verses in James 4, and we will actually land right back in James 4 for our conclusion.  God had given me this topic back in October for our annual New Year’s lesson, and I had been thinking about it since late 2015.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about “casual Christianity” in church and among our leadership.  The more I think about it, the more concerned I am that I and many others are practically living exactly that type of Christian walk, and aren’t even aware of it.

It is because of that possibility that this study compares Jesus’ “greatest commandment” and our lives to see if we are living up to His expectation of us – and our commitment to Him.

The Most Important Thing

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  39 min., 19MB

Where Are You Going?

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 6, 2015 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

This study came from four different sources that are closely related in their practical truths. I was reading something and came across this quote:

“Bad habits are easy to make, but hard to live with. Good habits are hard to make, but easy to live with.”

And somehow God took that thought and reminded me of one of my favorite Andy Stanley sermon series, Destinations: The Principle of the Path. And when I started thinking about that, I remembered a recent sermon by one of our teaching pastors where he talked about the process of how our thoughts become attitudes and actions, and how those actions become habits, and how those habits will determine our lives. And then I remembered some great wisdom from Andy Andrews that really helps make it all practical.

I began thinking about all four principles and realized there is an important reminder / warning for us at any age and place in life that we be careful with our minds, intentionally choose what is influencing our decisions, and make sure the destinations that are set by our current paths are where we want to end up.

Where Are You Going?

And in the process of doing that lesson, I updated an old lesson on controlling your thoughts.

Control Your Mind – Update

And in the Scripture meditation point I realized it would be helpful for me to put together a starter list of passages for people to meditate on.

Meditation

Here are the recordings of my teaching this series (AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices):

(My new lapel microphone does a much better job getting my audio, but a much poorer job picking up audio from the group, and this lesson had a huge amount of wonderful discussion that ended up being large chunks of silence on the recording, so I had to remove it.  That results in some odd transitions, but it’s better than wasting the listeners’ time.  I may have to start running two separate recordings to capture both well.)

Week 1 – Introduction (8/2/15), 47 min., 24MB

 

Week 2 – Destination     (8/23/15), 41 min., 20MB

 

Week 3 – Direction     (8/30/15), 28 min., 14MB

 

Week 4 – Direction     (9/6/15), 42 min., 21MB

 

Week 5 – Direction     (9/13/15), 32 min., 16MB

 

Week 6 – Decisions / Thoughts    (9/20/15), 44 min., 22MB

 

Week 7 – Friends     (9/27/15), 40 min., 20MB

 

Week 8 – Friends (do-over)     (10/4/15), 20 min., 10MB

 

Week 9 – Friends / Music     (10/18/15), 33 min., 16MB

 

Week 10 – Music / Books     (10/25/15), 52 min., 26MB

 

Week 11 – Bible / Scripture Memory / Scripture Meditation     (11/29/15), 44 min., 22MB

 

Week 12 – Prayer / Worship     (12/6/15), 16 min., 8MB

One Thing for 2015

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 4, 2015 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

As I typically do at the beginning of each new year, this lesson is a special challenge for the year for my group.  It is a call to commit to daily Bible reading.  First, we recognize why we so often need to make New Year’s resolutions:  a lack of self-discipline.  Next we come to understand how a lack of self-discipline is rooted in our unwillingness to control our minds.  Then we learn how daily Bible reading will positively affect our lives by bringing our thoughts in line with God’s and help us make better choices.

The One Thing for 2015

You’ll notice that some of the presentation notes are blank.  That’s because I have taught that content before and didn’t have time to type in the explanations.  And because I knew I would be adding the audio to the post that would fill in the blanks, as well.  AAC format usable in iTunes and with iPods.  59 min., 29MB

Key Roles of the Gospel Mission

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on August 30, 2006 under Bible study, Series | Be the First to Comment

Series of 10 lessons and mini-lessons primarily in Acts that show the many ways believers can be involved in missions.

Mission Roles

Control Your Mind

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on May 1, 2004 under Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

This lesson is a practical treatment of Phil. 4:8, and is a very valuable and important discipline for all believers to understand and practice.

Control Your Mind

[Update:  I updated this lesson in December 2015 as a part of a later series.  Find the update here.]