What does it mean to love God?
Again I enjoyed the privilege of presenting at our weekly Thursday morning Men’s Bible Study (aka MBS), an exercise I appreciate for its stimulus to study and opportunity to share thoughts about faith with men I trust. This time I may have “bitten of more than I could chew” in the time allotted, but we had a good time together. The Zoom format works well for us since so many of us aren’t in the area anymore due to travel or living at a distance, and Zoom allows us to record our sessions to gather together without taking time to leave our homes and reach a common literal location.
This time I might have outdone myself in packing the presentation. One of my colleagues admired how much was there to delve into and asked me to list the topics. Here’s the list I came up with:
- There is an actual spiritual reality that underlies all we see and can’t see.
- The true God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the universe is identified clearly as YHWH. All other “gods” are spiritual also, but are created beings, many of which are false and compete with the true God.
- False gods present the world with a dangerous mix of false ideologies and religions.
- Discerning the difference between truth and falsehood requires the active involvement of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the gift of discernment.
- Christian faith involves conversion from faith in self and false gods to faith in the trinitarian God of the Bible, which revolves around the life and witness of its Messiah, Jesus .
- Secular humanism and other ideologies/religions are learned sets of rites, rituals, and ethnic ways of behaving based on alternate views of reality.
- Genuine, saving practice of Christian faith involves intimate involvement of the whole person body, soul, and spirit in developing loving and trusting relationships with the triune God of the Bible and those around us.
- Progressivism* is a false notion, as is universal salvation or any faith that does not recognize both the first and the promised second coming of Jesus Christ.
Although the topics were large enough to occupy most of my hour-long allotment, it actually clocked out at “only” 59:51 minutes. Feel free to take in as much as you’d like! Click here to download and view a PDF of my PowerPoint presentation and/or click here to view a video recording of the presentation. Many of the concepts and realities discussed in this presentation are actively integrated into our Celebrate Salvation studies. Are we solidly grounded in our Biblical faith or inadvertently following the world’s much more shallow ways?
PS: The Zoom format has also proven to be an excellent venue for Celebrate Salvation groups. If you’re interested, have any questions about my recent talk or groups in general, or would like some support in getting a group going in your neighborhood or church, please feel free to contact me!
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