When Peter made the declaration that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus said, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).Jesus has, indeed, built his church upon this confession of his being the Christ. But, what is the church? In [...]
Archive for June, 2009
Essentials – The Church and Sacraments
Posted in Essentials on June 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Essentials – Salvation
Posted in Essentials on June 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
By simple definition, to save means to rescue someone from something which is threatening or dangerous. So, what are believers saved from? What is our dangerous threat? Paul wrote that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18) and [...]
Essentials – Jesus Christ
Posted in Essentials on June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Deity and Humanity of Christ
Since the early centuries of the church, there has been a great debate concerning the deity and the humanity of Jesus Christ. How can a man be both human and divine? How can a man have two natures? Throughout history, there have been those who focus on one nature [...]
Essentials – Man
Posted in Essentials on June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Our study of the essentials of the Christian faith follows a pattern. We began with a study of revelation both in nature and in Scripture. Our first essential was that God speaks to us and reveals himself to us. We know only what God had revealed to us about himself. Secondly, we looked at God. [...]
Essentials – God
Posted in Essentials on June 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Nature and Attributes of God
What is God like? What are his attributes, his characteristics? We have already learned that all that we know about God is only what he has revealed about himself. Now we come to a study of God himself, and who and what he is. The Westminster Larger Catechism states, “God [...]
Essentials – Revelation
Posted in Essentials on June 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Over the next few weeks, I will be posting the classroom handouts from a seven-part series we did on the essentials of the Christian faith. I need to begin by saying that I got a lot of this material from R.C. Sproul’s Essential Truths of the Christian Faith.
Long ago, at many times and in many [...]
The Prayer of Jesus
Posted in Prayers on June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
…
O righteous Father, even though the world [...]
