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STRONGER TOGETHER: The Power of Community Date: January 8, 2022 Video Sermon: Click on the play button below description to watch. The modern culture of individualism promotes self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and self-achievement. People tend to think that it is better to be independent and strong on their own than be dependent upon others and working to help each other. The deception is that no one can be as successful working alone as they would be if they were in community. We each have different faith communities, but God did not intend for his church be isolated from one another. He has placed each believer uniquely in the body of Christ as members one of another to be in community. We will flourish and thrive in life and in our faith if we live in community as God designed. And we can better support each other in our fight against the adversary […]
In “Reading the Bible Critically—Part 1,” I stressed the importance of paying careful attention when we read Scripture. We sometimes inadvertently lack the focus required to grasp its meaning. The antidote to that syndrome: Be a serious reader of the Bible! But what does that mean? Someone might say, “I want to understand the Bible, but being ‘serious’ doesn’t sound like fun. I want to enjoy reading the Bible, and so I don’t want to take it too seriously. I just want to know what it says.” Well, that’s where the dilemma starts: “Knowing what the Bible says means knowing what the Bible says.” I don’t intend for that to be taken as some cheesy cliché, but it is, in fact, what oftentimes lies at the heart of the issue. People want to understand the Bible, but they fail to realize what it takes to get that understanding. Now, I’m not […]
WHO WANTS TO BE CRITICAL? The word “critical” often has a negative connotation in people’s minds. To be “critical” can mean “to criticize severely and unfavorably, to be excessively judgmental, to be inclined to find fault.” But the word “critical” also carries a positive connotation, meaning “to exercise careful evaluation and skillful judgment of a matter.” If you take your car into the mechanic because there is a strange noise happening in the engine, and they tell you that they’re going to do a “critical diagnostic test,” that’s a good thing because they’re going to look very carefully at the results of the tests to try to determine what’s wrong. It is this sort of careful investigation and attention to detail that we mean with the phrase “reading the Bible critically.” It’s about not just reading the Bible on a superficial level but developing a keen sense for how to […]
“Faith”—a small word that houses an enormous truth. It calls forth a responsibility from the one who holds it because faith is something that cannot live on its own without being sustained by the one in whom it dwells. In its essence, faith is trust. But that definition falls short by itself. The biblical meaning of “faith” also necessitates the idea of loyalty, which results in faithfulness. Therefore, a more fully developed meaning of “faith” is that it comprises a steadfast conviction that results in allegiance or commitment to someone or something. That definition may sound great and all, but having faith is not as simple as snapping your fingers. Maintaining a “steadfast conviction” is not something that just automatically happens inside us. It takes deliberate effort and a conscious determination to form in one’s mind and heart, and it must be carefully guarded and preserved. The Apostle Peter calls […]
