In John 20, Thomas revealed his struggle with a big hurdle to faith–and Jesus reached out to him, meeting him where he was, but challenging him upon receiving answers, to believe. (It seems to me that in the church, Thomas has been used as a negative example of doubt instead of an example of Jesus reaching out and communicating with someone who had barriers to belief.)
Today church people forget or simply don’t realize that a large portion of those in our society, and those coming into our churches, don’t automatically accept the reliability, authority, and truth of the Bible. People have struggles and questions on the issue. How can we reach out to this like Jesus did to Thomas? How does this challenge those of us who are Christ-Followers to value and use the scriptures we hold so dearly? Do we read them and study them and live by them–apply them to our daily lives?
In this message we addressed the following serious questions that people have:
- How can we know that this bible is truly of God and not a human invention?
- Hasn’t the Bible been distorted by human writing methods over hundreds of years?
- Aren’t there errors in the thousands of copies and translations?
- How did we get this compilation of the books that we call the Bible?
- Can we trust the men who wrote the various parts of the Bible?
You’ve heard it all before… The promises out there for a better life get tiresome after awhile, because you know they don’t deliver. However, they do touch on a profound and inescapable truth: you were created to live out a rewarding, richly-textured relationship with God and others. Deep down, you long to experience that kind of life. But how? Based upon the teachings Jesus gave the last night before he went to crucifixion, SOUL REVOLUTION is about learning to do life with God moment by moment in community with others. It’s about developing a habit of continuous conversation with God, willing to do his will, becoming all God intended you to be.
