Brad‘s Bible Study

This week, we examine faith and trust, faith and works, works and words, wisdom and righteousness, and how James rolls all of these into a wonderful magnificient flow of encouragement, warning, and mystery. 

We begin our four-week series on James with an extensive introduction setting up the themes James is going to talk about and the techniques he is going to invite us to use. Most importantly, we begin to explore James as an invitation to read and re-read scripture with different lenses, bringing the Old Testament and New Testament into a continuous story. 

We conclude our series with some questions that have come up with class, and then the biggest question of all: so what? What does this mean for my life? We did we study this series?

To address that question, we take a new look at John 3:16 and see the way that the resurrection lens can transform our reading of Scripture.

Jesus didn't just die and come back, he promised his followers very specific things. This week takes a look at those specific promises. Chief among them: resurrection.

This week, we explore Old Testament prophecies, Solomon's dedication speech, and the many meanings of She'ol as we take a look at what Jewish people believed about heaven and life after death in Jesus' day. 

Week 1 of a new series that looks at the Bible's pictures of heaven and life after death. This week introduces the topics we will be covering and explores two common pictures of heaven, their history, and they can change the way we read the Bible.

We wrap up our overview of Mark with three days in Jerusalem, culminating in the the incredible, impossible scene of Jesus' victory in death. 

The Son of Man must suffer and die and rise. This is the crazy, unexpected, upside-down claim at the heart of Mark's gospel. This week, we see Jesus tell his disciples three times, and watch as he comes closer and closer to fulfilling his words. 

In chapters 3-8, we see Jesus' identity and the question of recognition becoming more and more urgent. After Peter finally declares the Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus responds with a shocking declaration that changes the trajectory of the whole story.

In this four-week series, we are looking at how Mark arranges the events of Jesus' life to tell a story. In this first movement, Mark displays the growing tension of Jesus as both Messiah and Divine, culminating in a heatbreaking scene between Jesus and the Pharisees.