PROVIDE TEACHINGS
Providing the biblical teachings that God has revealed to me especially in the areas of
apologetics
basics
leadership development
Apologetics
When I was a teen I asked many church members to prove the existence of God to me. We engaged in many lively conversations about matters that I now know relate to the field of apologetics. During those years I can recognize that most of the people I knew were liberals. They were not born again nor did they have any understanding of the Bible. Now decades later I know dozens of evangelicals but I feel deeply disappointed that they are nearly clueless about even the basics of apologetics like the existence of God, reliability of scripture, arguments for the resurrection, etc. I feel sad when most church members I know have nearly zero empathy for the growing number of agnostics or atheists in our midst. Yet in our post modern age the need for this knowledge and skill to present apologetics effectively increases annually. God has given me many and various lessons that I will gladly share in due season.
Basics
I came to faith in Christ at 23 years old. It was many years later before I finally gained a foundation of the basics of the faith. During these three decades in Christ I have heard of very few basics classes offered in the local church. In the Christian bookstore, on the Christian radio and TV and even the seminary we seem to tragically neglect the foundational doctrines of the faith. When asked what the fundamentals of the faith are few have been able to answer me in the church or the seminary. After library research I found this as the long list: authority of scripture, trinity, deity of Christ, virgin birth, blood atonement, bodily resurrection, justification by faith, second coming,
During the reformation the leaders needed to state what they stood for in a simple way. I have found this sentence to be very useful. In my mind and notes I refer to it as SOLAs because the word for alone in Latin is sola.
Eternal salvation is
by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone,
based on the Scriptures alone,
to the glory of God alone
Cambridge Declaration is a wonderful commentary on this sentence http://tinyurl.com/3khe9
The basics are vitally important to me. And here is my one page overview of the subject. http://tinyurl.com/5a97x
Leadership development
All over the globe the number of Christians are growing as a percentage of the population except in North America. In the developing countries they understand that it is important to not only lead someone to Christ and guide them in growing spiritually but then move them into meaningful leadership. After discovering and developing spiritual gifts they need to help others find their niche in the Body of Christ. The Servant Leader is the key player as shown on the diagram of the home page of Four Bridges Ministry www.fourbridges.org The person seeks to bring together the partner, worker and fields by building and improving the four bridges in any setting. I have various teaching related to each of the four bridges.
apologetics
basics
leadership development
Apologetics
When I was a teen I asked many church members to prove the existence of God to me. We engaged in many lively conversations about matters that I now know relate to the field of apologetics. During those years I can recognize that most of the people I knew were liberals. They were not born again nor did they have any understanding of the Bible. Now decades later I know dozens of evangelicals but I feel deeply disappointed that they are nearly clueless about even the basics of apologetics like the existence of God, reliability of scripture, arguments for the resurrection, etc. I feel sad when most church members I know have nearly zero empathy for the growing number of agnostics or atheists in our midst. Yet in our post modern age the need for this knowledge and skill to present apologetics effectively increases annually. God has given me many and various lessons that I will gladly share in due season.
Basics
I came to faith in Christ at 23 years old. It was many years later before I finally gained a foundation of the basics of the faith. During these three decades in Christ I have heard of very few basics classes offered in the local church. In the Christian bookstore, on the Christian radio and TV and even the seminary we seem to tragically neglect the foundational doctrines of the faith. When asked what the fundamentals of the faith are few have been able to answer me in the church or the seminary. After library research I found this as the long list: authority of scripture, trinity, deity of Christ, virgin birth, blood atonement, bodily resurrection, justification by faith, second coming,
During the reformation the leaders needed to state what they stood for in a simple way. I have found this sentence to be very useful. In my mind and notes I refer to it as SOLAs because the word for alone in Latin is sola.
Eternal salvation is
by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone,
based on the Scriptures alone,
to the glory of God alone
Cambridge Declaration is a wonderful commentary on this sentence http://tinyurl.com/3khe9
The basics are vitally important to me. And here is my one page overview of the subject. http://tinyurl.com/5a97x
Leadership development
All over the globe the number of Christians are growing as a percentage of the population except in North America. In the developing countries they understand that it is important to not only lead someone to Christ and guide them in growing spiritually but then move them into meaningful leadership. After discovering and developing spiritual gifts they need to help others find their niche in the Body of Christ. The Servant Leader is the key player as shown on the diagram of the home page of Four Bridges Ministry www.fourbridges.org The person seeks to bring together the partner, worker and fields by building and improving the four bridges in any setting. I have various teaching related to each of the four bridges.
posted by John @ 7:50 PM
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