“Stinkin’ thinkin,’” as some call it, … I will share how the Four Essential Truths have deeply formed and informed how I have chosen to live my life. Note: There are only four videos here and you might notice there isn't a separate video for "Mind." There must be a reason God calls us to see everything through this lens. We recognize there are various interpretations found in the Evangelical Church. In our society, love is usually spoken of in passive terms. Secondary essentials are likewise necessary truths, but there is no self-declared penalty for their denial – yet they are still essential to the Christian faith. In living a life around the Four Essential Truths of The Way, we find our ultimate purpose. My body gently leaned back in my office chair and I felt as if I was floating. As we explore this you will find that our way of seeing and responding to the world is deeply flawed due to the influence of our culture’s dispositions. Charles Stanley (July-30-2019) Daily Devotional: Essential Truths of the Faith. In my outline Bible Study I list four truths that our Christian faith is built upon. The Nature of Man. The Nature of Man 3. These few words are intended to be the center of every faithful person’s life. It is truly beautiful, speaks to the deep presence of God in our lives, and gives me goosebumps every time I show it to someone new. These types of love have a tendency to be motivated by self-interest, self-gratification, and self-protection. 1. One of those is found in Ephesians 2:20 another is in 1 Peter 2:4-8. There will be space for you and others to share you own understanding and discoveries. Faith and good deeds must be distinguished but never separated. The Old Testament predominantly used one Hebrew word, aheb, to express love. I have at times been touched with a similar sense of peace and transcendence, but it has never again been so powerful and so profound. The calling of the Christian is not primarily to develop feelings of love for others. There have been many times in my life, and truth be told there still are times, when I feared I may be missing the entire point of the journey. 4:12-13). For example, Jesus clearly lived out his life according to the Shema/Great Commandment: Jesus loved God with all his Heart – and this led him to a life of serving others. www.revrichnelson.com, As I prayed, I began to feel as if I was being caught up into something much larger than myself. Soul . Fast forward many years and one day, about halfway through seminary, I was sitting in front of a computer trying to write a paper. I think it may have been an image of what God does for us, melting our coldness drop by drop, with the warmth of Love - allowing us to return to the source-waters, no longer dangling on our own and separate from all the other drops, but rejoined as One. However, we can control how we respond and act toward a given person. Election. I’ve since come to realize it is the great Sacred Symbol, found in religions and cultures across history. In the Bible, Matthew chapter 7 and verses 24 and 25 tell us, “"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Every child of God knows the basics of the gospel, since they are necessary for salvation. This prayer turned into a mystical experience that startled me and started me out following The Way. My own journey of chipping away at The Block began, of course, when I was young. I suppose some people call this an out of body experience. Faith in Christ means trusting in Him as Savior and submitting to Him as Lord. I doubted this could be true at first. These two types of love are common to all human beings. Jewish children commit it to memory the way Christian children memorize the Lord’s Prayer. THE FOUR B’S OF OUR FAITH ! And I have come to find it sets before us the pathway of The Four Essential Truths that leads us into Life. As Paul wrote, "now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Sproul provides brief explanations of biblical concepts every Christian should know in language everyone can understand. Agape love, then, is the ultimate fruit of the Spirit. It took these words of Jesus and freed my mind to understand them in ways I might never have imagined unless I’d had this symbol to anchor them to. For centuries before Jesus, the Jewish people affirmed the words of the Shema as their central statement of faith. The works and decrees of God 4. Since this week is a deeper dive into the Shema/Great Commandment, rather than present a new Elder of the Week, I will give you resources to dig deeper into the meaning of the Shema, especially the original Hebrew meaning of these words. And why wasn’t everyone talking about it? The Shema was, and continues to be, a central component of Jewish belief, worship and life. The Church and the sacraments 9. I’m sure that, from an external perspective, my body was still firmly in the chair. The Necessity of Works. It is about our vocation, or more literally our calling (vocation and vocal share the same root word). 1. Has this truth been foundational for you? Looking for a fundamental understanding of the Bible? AbeBooks.com: Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (9780842320016) by R. C. Sproul and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. The apostle Peter wrote of seven godly qualities of character a Christian should be developing in his or her quest to become like God ( 2 Peter 1:5-7 ). The New Testament, however, describes a third kind of love. 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