A Biblical Meditation on Experience and Truth

D.A. Carson

Psalms 1

As D.A. Carson exposits Psalm 1, a few blaring questions come to mind. For one, the stark contrast between the righteous ones who meditate on God's Word and the wicked may seem too black and white for our modern experience. Through this lecture, however, Carson presents seven steps to process and think through Psalm 1. This includes understanding the different literary forms of the Bible, understanding how each genre works, describing Jesus' own parallel thinking, etc. Through this deeper, intellectual look through this psalm, we can truly gain understanding of meditating on the word. \r\n

Reaching College and High School Students in an Age of Cynicism

Scott Risley

Conrad Hilario

2 Corinthians 5:11

The percentage of student involvement in a church is decreasing at a staggering rate. Today's youth are growing up in an age of extreme cynicism toward everything from people and institutions to knowing truth. In order to effectively reach high school and college students, it's essential to look at the culture they were raised in and be able to both critique what the world has taught them about significance and replace that with God's perspective.

Are we Getting the Job Done? Is the Church Still Relevant?

Dennis McCallum

2 Timothy 4:1-2

The Church's mission is to reconcile the world to Christ, both bringing people to know to know the Lord and then to grow with him. Unfortunately, the American church is failing at this mission. Transfer growth has caused the appearance of perhaps doing well in areas, but this is not our mission. Across the country, it seems our culture is harder to reach than it was before, but we need to be careful to avoid the faults of the emergent church and other responses. The answer to this problem is not to dilute the gospel and avoid the hard truths, nor is it not to create a fortress around us, walling believers off from the world of temptation. We must stay relevant with our culture without changing the gospel, and we must make sure we are faithfully and boldly preaching God's Word.

The First Missionary Journey

Ryan Lowery

Acts 13:1-40

The history of missions is split between the harmful and the helpful, but if the claims of the Bible are true then missionaries are essential. Luke's historical account of Paul's first missionary journey shows what missions look like when done correctly. All of us should seek to be missionaries in our own culture or another.

General Revelation (Part 2)

Dennis McCallum

Romans 1:18-20

By exploring the areas of morality, freedom, and human dignity through the views of pantheism, animism, and theism, we see that it is only possible to remain internally consistent with our beliefs under one worldview: Christianity. To believe people are significant, free, moral beings implies that they were created with a spiritual nature and aren't simply matter. Romans 1:19 says that God "made Himself evident within us," and our actions show that at some deep level, we know this to be true.

8 Essential Attitudes (Part 5)

Dennis McCallum

Hebrews 13:8-9

One goal of effective Christian living is to represent balanced biblical truth. We are able to accomplish this as we teach what the Bible teaches and emphasize what the Bible emphasizes. Perhaps the most emphasized teaching within scripture concerns God's grace; His unmerited mercy towards us at Christ's expense. Christians who are strong in the grace of God are able to reflect His truth in a real way that separates itself from false and strange doctrines.

No Give on the Gospel

Gary DeLashmutt

Galatians 1:6-10

Paul starts off defending the Gospel message against the Judaizers. Their main teaching is that salvation requires both faith and works. Paul insists that this or any other message taught by anyone else (including angels) is false. He isn't a religious bigot, but instead just very insistent on the Galatians knowing the truth about the very important and weighty topic of salvation, even if it makes him disliked by people.

What is Faith?

Dennis McCallum

Hebrews 11:1-6

Biblical faith is not wishful, forceful, or emotional thinking, but is rooted in a confident assurance of the object of our faith, in this case Jesus Christ. Biblical faith is convinced of the unseen reality that God exists, is good, and is worth trusting to the point of personal action. Faith is the basis for a personal relationship with Christ, and is God's ideal for how we follow Him, as it cultivates dependence and trust in Him over self.

Healthy Truth

Jeff Gordon

Hebrews 4:12

The Bible teaches that objective truth exists and brings both spiritual and physical health into our lives. Jeff Gordon explains the truth's role in exposing us so that, from there, we can grow. He advocates the stability we gain from basing our lives on truth and expands on practical applications such as: taking courses on the Bible, meditating on scripture, memorizing verses, and acting on truth.