International Sunday School Lessons – Habakkuk
July 13, 2007
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Posted by Ray Fowler
I noticed earlier this week a sudden jump in people arriving at this site after running Google or other searches for the book of Habakkuk, especially Habakkuk chapter 2. So, I poked around on the web a little and found that the schedule put out by International Sunday School Lessons for this coming Sunday, July 15, 2007, focuses on Habakkuk 2:1-14.
I am not familiar with International Sunday School Lessons and could not find a home page for it anywhere on the web. I am assuming it is similar to a lectionary, except for Sunday School lessons instead of for Sunday morning preaching. Is anyone else familiar with this organization? Is it related to the Standard Lesson Commentary series? If you have any information, please feel free to share it with us in the comments section. Thanks!
Resources on the book of Habakkuk:
And, if you happen to be looking for Habakkuk resources, you can either check out the Blogging with Habakkuk series from earlier this year, or you can access the following messages on Habakkuk found on the Sermons page.
Message series: Habakkuk – The Journey from Doubt to Faith
- Introduction to the book of Habakkuk
- Does God Care? – Habakkuk 1:1-11
- Is God Fair? – Habakkuk 1:12-2:5
- How to Lose It All – Habakkuk 2:6-20
- Is God There? – Habakkuk 3:1-15
- Trusting God No Matter What – Habakkuk 3:16-19
Categories: Habakkuk, Sermons
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Your series on Habakkuk is great. It is with great expectation that I can’t wait for Sunday to share. I will definitely give you credit. I appreciate access to your material to use and quote from . Thank you Debbie
Debbie,
Thank you for your encouraging words. I am glad you found the series helpful, and I will be praying for your presentation on Sunday.
God bless,
Ray
The adult SS lesson moves from The Minor Prophets to Jeremiah ch.7 for this upcoming Sunday- What material do you have that can be shared to enhance the regular SS material- Entitled “Actions and Consequences”- False worship, false prophets, false confidence, and false gods!( Warren Wiersbe- outline)Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Sorry, but I do not have any material prepared on Jeremiah 7 right now. I hope your class went well yesterday. What age group do you teach?
I rotate from the children’s k-5 program into the adult classroom which is 55 and older. We live in a textile community and this class as a whole understands what it means to have it all one day and the next for it to be gone- I used the bulk of your material on Sunday and some things from Warren Wiersbe. There was great class participation and as usual we ran short on time. I recently came across a quote that said, “After hearing you teach/preach do people say, “Wow, what a sermon!” or “Wow, what a God!”. On Sunday I think the response was “What a God”. I ended by reminding the group that we were bound by covenant and grafted in to every promise in the Scriptures. Our God is the living God and so longs to be involved in our lives. Thank Him that the plans he has for us are good!
I appreciate the use of the material, as a Lay Speaker I hope to get the opportunity to fine tune the SS lesson and use the passage from Habakkuk to continue to spread the good news of the Gospel. On to Jeremiah and the lessons learned at Shiloh- sounds like the title for a great western movie Huh? Thanks Debbie
According to Standard Publishing (www.standardpub.com), the Standard Lesson Commentary is based on the International Sunday School Lesson schedule. It works its way through the Bible on a six-year schedule.
Thanks, Dani – I have been waiting almost a year for someone to answer that question for me!
Dear Ray, here are excerpts from a letter of concern I wrote to a ministerial organization to which I belong, concerning the International Sunday School Lessons Schedule. Sorry about the lenth of the comments:
I also have a concern, that I have not addressed during previous administrations, except casually to my colleagues. As you know, many churches [especially Baptist] use in their Sunday School Ministry, commentaries and books based on the “International Sunday School Lessons Schedule.” I am not too sure that it is a good idea to continue using these lesson schedules in our churches, for the following reasons.
1. The International Sunday School Lessons Schedule does not follow the normal progression of either the New Testament Bible Narrative, nor the Bible Story [of Jesus] being told by God, from His perspective. Case in point, in December 2008 we had a series of lessons leading up to the Birth of Christ [Christmas]. The week after, the lesson dealt with the beginning of the Gospel, John the Baptist’s ministry.
The next lesson, the first week in January 2009, was about the Exodus [1:18-21]: How Midwives Serve God, leading to the birth of Moses. What a let down! That’s ludicrous! My soul yearns to hear more about Jesus’ earthly ministry leading up to His passion and ascension. One greater than Moses has already come and gone. Not only is the subject matter untimely and breaks the continuity of the Bible Story, but more importantly, Exodus is not the Gospel [Good News] for the Church, although it eventually leads to the coming of Christ.
In this 21st Century, THE CHURCH NEEDS MORE JESUS CHRIST AWARENESS!
For it is the word of faith in Him that is paramount. Working through the Bible in a six-year schedule is ridiculous and unnecessary [emphasis added]. This is especially true since one can only be saved, granted access to God, through the truths of the NEW TESTAMENT. And the Gentile nations are saved through God’s covenant with Abraham [Gen 12:3,15:6,17:9-10], a covenant of grace by faith, given 430 years before the Levitical Priesthood/Mosaic Law [Gal 3:17,6-8,11-14;Rom 4:3-16 etc]. Further, Jesus the Christ was made an eternal High Priest, from the tribe of Judah, after God initiated the Aaronic/Levitical Priesthood, because God never gave them the power to save souls. So God annulled them, and went with His original plan, on the which He blessed mankind in Genesis 1:28 and in Genesis 3:15, promised a Redeemer [Jesus: Eph 1:3-7;2 Tim 1:9-10;1 Peter 1:20;1 Thess 5:9-10 etc] after man’s fall into sin and death.
Hence, there is nothing between Exodus and Malachi that can save a non-Jewish person [a Gentile] or sanctify a believer [2 Thess 2:13-15;John 3:18].
So for the most part, the Old Testament can only encourage, strengthen, and comfort and serve as examples to ”Born Again Christians” [John 3:3-8,14-18; Heb 1:1-3,2:3,9:10;1 Peter 1:18-23,25 etc]. In reality, in a deeper spiritual sense, that’s what the 16th Century Protestant Reformation was all about [Rom 5:1-5,6-11;24-28;Gal 2:16,21,3:21-26;Acts 15:7-12,13-18,29 etc], bringing Salvation exclusively into the New Testament, by Gods grace through faith in Jesus the Christ alone [John 11:51-52,12:47-48;1 John 2:2,4:10;1 Peter 2:24,3:18;Acts 4:12;Col 1:27 etc].
2. The International Sunday School Lessons schedule devotes entirely too many teaching sessions on the Old Testament [“law of sin and death”], which was done away with in Christ. And not enough on the truth of the Gospel about how to live a life pleasing to God, New Testament style:
NO CONDEMNATION! John 5:24,29;6:39-40,47;Matt 19:27-29;Rom 5:1-5,8:1-2,29;Col 1:12-14;1 Cor 10:13,1:1-7;3:15;1 John 1:9;Heb 4:16;Rev 3:20;2:11,20:6 etc]. So, according to these Scriptures, a Born Again Believer in Jesus the Christ [a true Christian] cannot go to hell, even if he or she wanted to do so. Because God is faithful, He cannot deny Himself, and He swore by it. NOW THIS IS BETTER THAN A “RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT.”
3. Lastly, I feel that the International Sunday School Lessons Schedule, and the Sunday school books that uses it are not conducive to “growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” because of its undue emphasis on the Old Testament Law of sin and death. The New Testament is positive: we have been redeemed! Hebrews 6:1-2, in context, tells us to explore the unchartered spiritual territories of the New Testament.
So, at some future point in your administration, I would like to discuss further with you the possibility of asking the conference theologians and scholars to come up with a more New Testament content centered lessons plan schedule, for our conference and for the universal church.
Again, God bless you. With warmest regards, in Jesus’ name,
Evangelist [Rev.] Lee McClain
Web: ctsministry.org
E-mail: CSMinistry@aol.com
Scripture Union follows a method that brings one through the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once every five years. I think this is a great mix!
I am not as knowlegable as many of the people who have responded but I would like to share. There are many plans as good or better than the International Lesson Plan, but any of them are only as good as the person presenting. Yes, the plan is all over the place and confusing if you want to follow through a natural sequence, but you can work with it. I would have chosen something else if it had been my choice, but I am glad for all the support material. The Teacher’s Book, the Annual Book and the Student book. The Methodist Advocate also helps each week. The Old Testament is vital for our understanding of the history as well as the religion of Jesus.
I found this site because I was looking for help with tomorrow’s lesson since I do not have the support books. I only have the Annual and it is not enough and my own knowledge is certainly not enough. I will keep looking and maybe I have find what I need. Thank you for allowing me to express myself.
Lee, Sharon and Betty – Thank you all for commenting. Lee, although I have not personally seen the study materials we are discussing here, I certainly have no objection to teaching and preaching from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is just as much the inspired Word of God as the New. Of course, we read and study the Old Testament from a New Testament perspective now that Christ has come. Still, knowing the Old Testament helps us to understand the New Testament that much better and all that God has done for us in Christ.
Sharon – Thanks for the tip on Scripture Union.
Lee – Thanks for sharing your perspective on the lesson plans.
I know I’m jumping in on an old discussion, but I wanted to make Brother Lee and others aware of the philosophy behind the Intl. Standard SS lessons. I quote from a Baptist publisher’s site, Smith Helwys:
“The International Sunday School Lessons plan of the Uniform Series provides a listing of Bible text outlines for study across a six-year period. These outlines propose only the text to be studied and do not propose interpretations, doctrines, or religious implications that are to be drawn from the study of the respective texts. Conclusions derived from study of the texts are left in the hands of those who use the outlines in order to produce an orderly Bible study curriculum for use in the local church’s Christian education ministries. The outlines are chosen to cover as much of the Bible “as is fruitful for group study” across a six-year plan.”
So they are trying to give a survey of the Bible over 6 years, but the doctrinal perspective and so on is up to the teacher, thus they can be used by any denomination.
I think they are very useful and I am trying to introduce them to our local church here in Mali, West Africa, b/c their approach to Sun. School lessons tends to be whatever strikes the fancy of any given teacher.
However, I have yet to find the source of these proposed lessons, or who sets up the plan.