Hello, children. Welcome to Spring Branch Academy, where we are seeking to instill wisdom and inspire worship in every student by the grace of God and for the glory of God. Today, we're finishing up our social order lessons. Remember how we've considered from Genesis form and fullness and the two ways of approaching society going up in hierarchy, and going level to the side in egalitarian, the two principles of derivation and design. Today, we're looking at the two ways people try to change society. One way is like remodeling a house. We call it reformation. We basically change some things, but keep the basic shape of society in place. A revolution is like blowing up the house and then starting all over. Revolutions are often very destructive. People get hurt and many die. And as Christians, if you're a believer in Jesus, we often are not in favor of revolutions. And usually they're driven by some big idea or dream. which assumes things of this world that God hasn't ordained, that God says isn't going to happen. And so often a reformation is more realistic. If we have a reformation, which is a form, then it can provide fullness, a revival. And so interesting, reformation can often lead to revival, just like discipline in our lives can occasion and internal change as God's word revives us. Language is so fascinating. There are eight parts of speech, nouns and pronouns, verbs and adverbs, adjectives and interjections, prepositions and conjunctions. What are those nouns? A noun is a person, place, or thing. And a proper noun is a noun with a capital letter. I bet your name is a proper noun. Are you Sebastian? Probably not Sebastian. Genevieve? Probably not Genevieve. But whatever your first name is, it has a capital letter, doesn't it? That would be a proper noun. And in general, a noun, again, is a person, place, or thing. In scripture, we're considering justification by faith and not justification by works. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2.4. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2.4. Galatians says, however, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who does them shall live by them. However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who does them shall live by them. Galatians 3.12, and everyone who is of the works of the law, Paul says, is under a curse, and he backs it up with a quote from Deuteronomy. So we can't get into heaven based on being a good boy, a good girl, on what we do. It's by faith because we enter heaven based on what Jesus did and we believe in him. We trust him that he is enough and his cross clears us of guilt. That's why we say with Paul in Ephesians, by grace are you saved through faith. And this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works that no man should boast. Do you see it children? If it was my actions and what I did, I could take credit and boast about it. but it's what Jesus did for me and dying for me. So I boast in Jesus. By grace are you saved through faith and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works that no man should boast. Abraham was a man like that. He believed in God and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. God just chose him. Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land that which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And children, if you believe in Jesus, you have then the same faith as Abraham. And you could even be called a son or a daughter of Abraham. Well, Jesus told many stories, didn't he? We call them what? Parables. One of the parables talks about weeds, remember that? And how the enemy sowed weeds in a good field, and the harvest had to grow up, and then the harvesters took the weeds out, which is a sign that God lets the world go on with the believers and the unbelievers until the end of the age, and then the angels come and take the wicked away. Well, Jesus told another story about a net thrown into the sea, which brought all sorts of fish in. Some of those were fish we don't eat, and they got thrown away. Some of them are good fish. And so Jesus made the point that at the end of the age, the angels will go out and remove the wicked from the world. which we ultimately know is those that were proud. Remember, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him. And so they get taken out of the world, and they get thrown into a place called hell, where there is great misery. There will be, according to Jesus, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping is crying. They will be in pain and be hurting. and gnashing of teeth is anger. They'll be angry at God for throwing them there. And yet they can't blame God. They were the ones that were proud. And so we need to remember that We need to believe in Jesus so that we can go to the kingdom of heaven, which is so valuable. It's like the pearl of great price or the treasure found in a field, remember, which was hidden and a man sold everything he had to receive that treasure. That's your choice, children. It's the kingdom of heaven or it's the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Your faith is in the middle. Will you believe in Jesus? I pray that you do. In math, we're learning about numbers, which is different than a numeral. A numeral is what you write on a page to show your number, but the numbers are like the counting numbers. We learned about the cardinal numbers, one, two, three, four, five, and the ordinal numbers, first, second, third, fourth, fifth. Now we're going to learn about the integers. Integers have negative numbers, 0, and positive numbers. So it's like counting down. When we go like 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. That's like the negative numbers getting up to 0. And then beyond it, we go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, which are the natural numbers after 0. It's kind of like the years leading up to Jesus. Abraham lived 2,000 years before Jesus. That would be like a negative integer. And we now live about 2,000 years after Jesus. That's like a positive integer. In science, we had the two myths. Evolution and the Big Bang. Those are the stories of origins. Evolution is in biology. The Big Bang is in physics. Chemistry doesn't have a myth, really. And we saw that those myths have in common that something greater comes out of something lesser. Well, let's talk about the three mysteries of modern science. The origin of motion. How did things start moving? The origin of life, how did things start living? And the origin of mind, how did there get to be thinking? We know that a God, our God, the Great, the Almighty God, He created motion and life and mind. And so we have an explanation for it that makes utter sense. They have no explanation for these things, that's why I'm calling them mysteries. They are a leap into a new kind of thing. What a wondrous thing that is. When you leap into something brand new, that's literally a creation. Last week we considered the boundaries of the Roman Empire. You have the two rivers on the north, the Rhine River and the Danube River, and the Sahara Desert to the south. Well, today we're going to consider some big cities. course Rome is a big city in the Roman Empire that was the capital but do you remember that Constantine moved the capital he built the city and named it after himself Constantine City which is Constantinople say that word with me Constantinople now look at your mom and say Constantinople well two three other cities that are important are Antioch and Alexandria. Those had a lot of theology in them. Antioch emphasized the humanity of Jesus. Alexandria emphasized the divinity or the godness of Jesus, that he's fully God. And then there's Jerusalem, which kind of lost importance, but we remember that was the city where Jesus died and rose again, and where the church first began at Pentecost. And so those five cities, children, I would like you to remember and know where they are at on a map. Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. Well, our poem that we've been learning in history is Jesus, Apostles, the Fall of Jerusalem. Nero, the Romans, and Constantine moves them. Martyrs Ignatius and Polycarp dying. Then Irenaeus and Origen writing. Now Athanasius stood firm contramundum. Basil and Gregory's also stood with him. Antony, Benedict, monks, and the mystics. The church in the east beginning patristics. Basil and the two Gregory's, are an interesting trio. Basil of Caesarea has a brother named Gregory of Nyssa. And then they have a friend named Gregory of Nancyanzus. That's why there's two Gregories. They're all friends and they lived in Cappadocia. So history calls them the Cappadocians. Everybody say that. The Cappadocians. They joined with Athanasius to defend the Trinity. I don't agree with all their words. But we shouldn't agree with everything any theologian says. Only the Bible is without error, but we can appreciate the good things they said and the stand that they took in defending the Trinity. A couple of their ideas have some value in that the Son of God became man so that man might become sons of God. I changed it to be more friendly to the idea of being born again. Also, Gregory Nancianzus said that that which is not assumed is not healed, which means Jesus had to be fully manned for us to be fully healed. Again, this is not exactly a scriptural statement, It's more of philosophy, but we can see in the Bible there is an emphasis that Jesus had to be all things like his brothers in order to be a faithful and merciful high priest. So the idea is still there. When you grow up, may the Lord give you lots of discernment. because the church has a good mixture of good ideas, bad ideas, and then ideas that need to be carefully considered and used rightly and they can be then good. I would count these ideas like that. There's also two monks, Antony and Benedict. Antony is in Egypt He's in the east. Benedict is in the west. Benedict starts a monastery. Monks had to take three vows, a vow of poverty, a vow of celibacy that they would never marry, and a vow of obedience. They would do whatever the abbot says. I personally believe this is contrary to the freedom of the gospel. Antony, he went and lived an isolated life for 20 years. I personally also find this emphasis contrary to the gospel. A self-improvement project of disciplining oneself in order to be ready for martyrdom is not the same thing as living a life of love in community with God's people. And so as a result of these things, they don't seem to imitate and follow the Lord Jesus and his message. So please be careful about the monks and the mystics. Mystics have a way of approaching God that's outside the Bible, largely, They have purgation, illumination, and union as a spiritual or mystical experience. These have become quite popular. That's why I want you children, even now, to know about them. See, you're warned. And so, at this point in church history, the church is starting to gain a tradition that is contrary to the Bible. We're going to need, eventually, a reformation to bring the church back to the Bible. and then a revival to fill the church with the power of the spirit for the mission into the world. That's coming in future lessons, Lord willing. God bless you children, amen.