God will not forgive me — my relationship with Him damaged Difficult — only hurts me (December 7) Nothing more sinful than my heart My forgiveness of others must not be predicated on their repentance Rather, God’s forgiveness of me is predicated on my forgiveness of others 6. “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” Difficult God does not tempt anyone (James 1:13) “Testing” of our faith is a good thing (Jam 1:2-4) “Evil” can also be “evil one,” i.e., Satan Basic idea is clear: Express our dependence on God for our moral needs We are not capable, in and of ourselves, to resist the power of sin and Satan Only God can protect us from sin — “Wretched man …” Our reputation, authority over ourselves, our will be done Shows itself in self-reliance (physical, spiritual, and moral needs) Enslaved Prayer teaches us that we should be obsessed with God — his holiness, reign, will In that obsession we see our utter dependence on him for all things With our hands open and empty, we come to our father in prayer. Free — rest, trust, serve Prayer is worship, and lets worship God right now Encourage you to follow the pattern tonight
Looking at a miracle, and instead of praising God — “panspermia” 2:14-21) Not drunk Not even Galilean sailors get drunk at 9 a.m. Fulfillment of prophecy Joel’s prophecy about the coming Day of the Lord Day when God would pour out His Spirit and all would prophecy “Kerygma” — the essential nature of NT preaching Look at sermons throughout Acts — say the same basic thing — model 1. Jesus lived — miracles (2:22) 2. Died — fulfillment of prophecy (2:23 — human responsibility for sin; God sovereignly accomplishing His purposes) 3. Raised from the dead — exaltation (2:24, 33, 36 — “Lord / Christ”) 4. Call for repentance (2:37-39) If our evangelistic services would follow the same pattern — avoid much of the mess in the church today — “Sorry for your sins?” = “Salvation by sorrow.” World has many answers to the question in v 37 1. Be a good person, sincere — deny the reality of sin If there is no sin — no need of repentance — no cross — Father lied to Son Street corner; Liberal churches; Schuller (Hughes, 101) — “Get along!” 2. Earn favor with God Jehovah Witnesses (doors + other things) Mormon (married in temple) Muslim (pray)
1. Learned it from childhood — from people he trusted Mother and grandmother, and Paul (1:5) Kiersten’s and Tyler’s comments 2. “Firmly believed” — became fully convinced in the course of life’s experiences Lived out the truths expressed in the Bible — saw that they are true (self-validating) In my experience, it has never let me down — esp. hard to believe (e.g., Jam 1:2) As opposed to other claims of truth — live out — fail to convince Cross cultural experience: Mall — Victoria’s Secret poster — promise that sexual titillation satisfies In your experience, has looking at pornography ever, fully, deeply satisfied? 3. Personally (opinion), it makes better sense to believe the Bible than not to believe Origins — Design Exists such a thing a good, beauty — Scripture’s answers make good sense Historical accuracy — internal consistency — fulfilled prophecy Tied up with this is the fact that Jesus makes better sense than anyone else This is his story — Bible makes sense because Jesus makes sense 4. Ultimately Timothy/you/I/children believe what Paul is saying is true When I read the Bible, I am hearing God’s voice True of any and all belief systems — ultimate reality — based on faith, not fact Materialists — nothing outside the world of sense — faith (≠ prove) Evolution (religion surrounding it) — based solely on faith They will deny it — but where is proof? (bush become tree over 2 million) Question: which faith-based system best explains reality? I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. Only have enough faith to be a Christian Don’t have to put my brain on a shelf — there are supporting arguments