“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Most people have two kinds of manners: Private manners and company manners. When we’re by ourselves we’ll let certain things go that we won’t when other people are around, particularly people whom we are interested in impressing. Read the rest…
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Lamentations is a series of complaints to God. Jeremiah wrote these toward the end of his ministry when Babylon had conquered and destroyed Jerusalem. It is mostly a bitter book. It’s tone is both corporate and personal. Chapter three here in particular is very personal. The prophet describes feeling totally abandoned and even actively attacked by the Lord. They are words that ring with familiarity to those who have experienced loss and grief and seasons of great distress today. Read the rest…
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
As the writer of Hebrews defines it here, faith is, by definition, a conviction about the positive existence of something we have not seen. For instance and as the writer observes in v. 3, it is by faith that we conclude the world and everything in it was created by God. We weren’t there and so we could not possibly have seen it. And yet we believe it all the same. The question here we must address in light of modern misunderstandings about the nature of faith, though, is this: Is it reasonable? Read the rest…
In this third part of our Reasons to Believe series, we spent yesterday morning wrestling with one of the more challenging doctrines of orthodox Christianity: The doctrine of Hell. In popular imagining for centuries, the idea of Hell has been one of fiery agony stretching on into eternity. In the modern mind, shaped as it is by tolerance and pluralism, this idea presents a huge impediment to the faith. We are left with two choices: Reshape the doctrine to fit modern mores, or try to understand it better to see if it doesn’t present us with a stumbling block at all, but rather a reason to believe. In what follows we aimed for the latter. Thanks for reading and listening.
A Hellish Problem
Well, this morning as we continue our series, Reasons to Believe, we are taking on a challenge. We’ve already confronted head-on the objections that truth can’t really be known and that the Bible is untrustworthy in terms of revealing anything about God to us. This morning we are going to take on a challenge that is much more emotional than either of these previous two. For many folks it is epitomized in the sermons of men of old, kind of like this one: Read the rest…
“…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is the tail end of an incredible argument that has stretched on for several chapters focused on the greatness of Jesus, our high priest. He is infinitely superior to the old system of priests and sacrifices that had been laid out under the law of the old covenant. Because of Him, through Him, we draw near to God with boldness and confidence of being received. Read the rest…
The Nexus 