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On-Going Mini-Series

Bible Studies

Codes & Descriptions

Class Codes
[A] = summary lessons
[B] = exegetical analysis
[C] = topical doctrinal studies
What is a Mini-Series?
A Mini-Series is a small subset of lessons from a major series which covers a particular subject or book. The class numbers will be in reference to the major series rather than the mini-series.

Messages with tag - Persecution

Acts (2010)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 9:1
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 4 mins 26 secs
Before we study Acts 9, a biographical sketch of Paul is essential. His road to Damascus experience is so important that the Holy Spirit has chosen to refer to it several times in Scripture. Here we see the miraculous nature of Saul’s conversion and the power of God in transforming a life. Get to know Saul through events surrounding him as he was growing up, his family, his education, his extreme persecution of Christians, his Jewishness and his leadership involvement as he spread the Christian message to the Gentiles. God’s role through intervention in history and His determination of ultimate reality are so counter to our cultural beliefs that reaction to these events has been extreme and dismissive. Learn about political correctness and its function in the suicide of Western Civilization.
Acts (2010)
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 9:1
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 5 mins 42 secs
The study of Saul’s conversion is more than academic. It becomes a study of our own times and how the Holy Spirit works today to totally redirect lives we have considered a lost cause. This revelation to Saul is repeated in scripture as an objective account of a historical event which was witnessed, and not just an imagined happening within Saul’s head. Saul uses his background as the catalyst in a severe acting out of passion directed against the gospel which may also mask an over-zealous but positive inclination toward God. Learn the significance of the bright light, Jesus’ introduction in terms of His humanity, Paul’s blindness, why Paul and Jesus spoke Hebrew instead of Aramaic, Paul’s conversation with Agrippa and Paul’s commission from God as apostle to the Gentiles.
Acts (2010)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 11:19-30
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 1 hr 4 mins 29 secs
Our passage backtracks in time to the scattering of believers after the persecution of Stephen. It is God who expands His Church. Compare God’s progress report on the expansion of His early Church to today’s Church Growth Movement and the compromises necessary to post growing numbers as an indication of success. Is it human methodology or transforming Truth that grows God’s Church? Learn the history of Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch where the Jewish believers fled and evangelized to the Jews. Follow Barnabas, the encourager, sent from Jerusalem to Antioch where he summons Paul for help and where the followers of Christ were first called Christians. See how the Church supports its own when Jerusalem suffers famine. Understand the focus of real growth in God’s plan for His Church.

Hear an answer to claims of those who have “been to heaven and back” and write a book about it.
Acts (2010)
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 13 & Matthew 16:15-18
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 59 mins 1 sec
Acts is a transition, a historical narrative that is descriptive, not a prescriptive pattern of what happens in the Church today. The phenomena of the church growth movement in the late 60s based church growth on sociological issues and stressed experience as a validation of the Bible. As is often the case with Satan’s plan, this method seemed to work. But understand fully the instruction Jesus gives Peter to feed His lambs while He builds the church. Jesus doesn’t tell Peter to manage an organization through techniques in church growth, but instructs him to proclaim and teach. Review Paul’s journeys and allow instruction from his many discourses to teach us how we can maximize our approach with the message of God’s Word to people in our lives with differing backgrounds.

Also includes John 21:15-17
1 Thessalonians (2013)
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5:28 & Acts 17:1-10
Series: 1 Thessalonians (2013)
Duration: 1 hr 1 mins 23 secs
Ready to take a tour? First you need to know where you're going and what there is to see. Listen to this lesson to get ready to take a fly-over of 1 Thessalonians and learn the background for the letter in Acts 17. Find out how the Apostle Paul points out the reality of oppression and suffering for church age believers and the importance of focusing on the Lord's return for comfort.
1 Thessalonians (2013)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
by Robert Dean
Passage: 1 Thessalonians 1
Series: 1 Thessalonians (2013)
Duration: 1 hr 0 mins 13 secs
There's no way to sugar-coat it. Studying the Bible isn't always smooth-sailing. Listen to this lesson to grasp a series of steps to help master 1 Thessalonians. Discover both the internal and external evidence about the author, the Apostle Paul. Learn about the way of life in Thessalonica that made the contents of the book relevant. See how the theology in the letter brings comfort to believers of all ages who are under oppression and suffering.
Acts (2010)
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
by Robert Dean
Passage: Acts 20:7-38
Series: Acts (2010)
Duration: 57 mins 48 secs
Why would any young man turn down a chance for fame and fortune to follow a path that leads to suffering and persecution? Listen as the Apostle Paul delivers a stirring farewell message to pastors encouraging them to communicate the Word of God and not go off course or give up. See how he lays out the way that the pastor must address people in terms of their thinking and strengthen them to face the challenges of life. Discover that there is a colossal future inheritance for those who produce divine good that far outweighs the rewards of any career path in this world.
Matthew (2013)
Sunday, February 23, 2014
by Robert Dean
Passage: Matthew 5:10-12
Series: Matthew (2013)
Duration: 44 mins 47 secs
How's this for a promise from the Word of God? If you are a disciple of Christ, growing and maturing spiritually, you can be absolutely certain that you will suffer unjustly for what you believe. Listen to this lesson to see how you should rejoice and be glad when you are mistreated for your Christian beliefs because it means you will be richly rewarded in Heaven. Learn the importance of hanging in there during suffering and being willing to accept the loss of everything today because of your future role in the kingdom of God.
Matthew (2013)
Sunday, November 30, 2014
by Robert Dean
Passage: Matthew 10:16-25
Series: Matthew (2013)
Duration: 55 mins 7 secs
Hated? Dragged into court? Our own families turned against us? Listen to this lesson to hear how Jesus warned his twelve disciples that they would face persecution. Learn the difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of the Cross. Understand what ''he who endures to the end will be saved'' means. Even though this was directed to Jesus' disciples and those in the future Tribulation, understand that during the Church Age we will face opposition and that Jesus promises never to leave us or forsake us. Click here to listen to or view this Bible class.
Matthew (2013)
Sunday, December 07, 2014
by Robert Dean
Passage: Matthew 10:24-31
Series: Matthew (2013)
Duration: 53 mins 49 secs
If someone is hurling insults at you, what should you do? Listen to this lesson to learn that Jesus warned His disciples they shouldn't react in fear when someone insults and persecutes them for believing in Him. Sure, insults and persecution cause us to become afraid, but we need to understand that while fear is a natural reaction, we can make a conscious decision to trust God. See a number of reasons that show how much our Heavenly Father knows and cares for us. Apply this commandment not to fear to your own circumstances so you will not be ruled by the fear factor.