Dennis R. Wiles First Baptist Arlington April 19, 2026 2026: Flourishing Together: Transformed on The Jesus Way Gospel Guide: John Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:1-2 EASTERTIDE 2026: Shaped by The Spirit April 12, 2026 – May 30, 2026 The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. -Jesus (John 14:25) The New Temple 1 Peter 2:4-10 Theme for 2026: Flourishing Together: Transformed on The Jesus Way Theme for Eastertide 2026: Shaped by The Spirit www.fbca.org/biblereadings A Disciple: A person being formed by Jesus as they follow Him in accomplishing His mission. SALVATION HISTORY: Creation, Fall, Judgment, Call of Abram, Covenantal People of God, Revelation of God, Redemption, Missional Call, Revelation of God, Messianic Prophecy, Eschatological Hope, Messianic Fulfillment, Kingdom of God, Inaugurated Eschatology, Pentecost, Gifts of the Spirit, Missional Call, Consummation! THE SECOND TEMPLE – The Second Temple was built by the Jews who returned from the Babylonian Exile. The project was overseen by Zerubbabel. The dedication of the new temple is recorded in Ezra 6. JESUS AND THE TEMPLE The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. -Jesus (Matthew 12:6) As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” -Mark 13:1-2 Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. -Jesus (John 2:19) A NEW ERA, A NEW TEMPLE “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” -John 4:20-24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. -Acts 17:24 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” -2 Corinthians 6:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. -1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. -Ephesians 2:19-22 THE CHURCH: The Church is the New Temple of God, comprised of living stones built upon the foundation of Jesus Himself, our Chief Cornerstone. We are to live holy lives that reflect the presence of God’s Spirit within us and among us. We declare His praises to a dark and needy world!
