Responding to the Message

Chris Hearty

James 1:19-27

How do we prepare the soil of our heart to welcome the God's message/ Receive the word of God by paying careful attention in order to truly understand it. Be wise listeners, who are slow to speak and slow to anger. And finally, keeping your attention fixed on the perfect law of liberty, be a purposeful doer of the Word; Put into practice what you know to be true.

Learning to Meditate

James Rochford

Psalms 1:1-6

Psalm 1 draws a contrast between the "blessed" and the "wicked." The blessed person is the one who delights in God's Word, which brings happiness, stability, and guidance. To experience this blessing, we must learn to meditate regularly on scripture.

The Ways of Knowing

Jim Leffel

Deuteronomy 6:4-8

Released from the Law

Chris Hearty

Romans 7:1-25

What does it look like to depend upon God as we grow spiritually? Paul teaches us how to depend upon God and not on our own fleshly power to grow spiritually. Although the Law is good and holy, it is not meant for us to try to live under Law as we endeavor to grow in our relationship with God. The Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life. We can look to the Law to know where we fall short, but not to find the power to change and grow. We can only find that in Christ Jesus.

Four Ways to Fall for Counterfeit Christianity

Conrad Hilario

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Paul writes to the Corinthian Church warning them about false teachers and defending himself and his message. Modern Christians must also be aware of the presence of false teachers and familiarize themselves with authentic biblical teaching and know how to identify false teaching when they hear it.

Counterfeit Christianity

James Rochford

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Paul writes to the Corinthians about being wary of false teachers who distort the gospel. He defends the true gospel he preached by comparing his integrity and love for the Corinthians to others who want to get rich off them. False teaching is every bit as prevalent today as it was then and Christians should be prepared to refute it and evaluate a message by its content and the character of the messenger.

The Fingerprint of God

Ben Foust

Acts 14:1-17

Paul and Barnabas travel to Lystra, where they preach the gospel to gentiles with a Greco-Roman worldview. Paul contextualizes the message, arguing from creation for the existence of a single, personal, all-powerful God. These same arguments hold today and can help us understand the message of the Bible, in a culture saturated with naturalism and postmodernism.

Evidence of Evil

J. Warner Wallace

Acts 14:1-17

One evidence for the existence of God is the reality that transcendent, objective moral truths exist. Through personal examples and through our own justice system, there emerges a transcendent, objective being to whom we are obligated, above even the current law itself. If moral truths do not come from individuals nor from groups, they are either an illusion or an evidence for a creator God. The persistent presence of evil and injustice causes us to turn toward an objective source to define evil. As we explore the idea of evil, we begin to explore the character of God and how a loving and all-powerful being could allow evil to exist in our world.

Suffering - Pastoral Care or Apologetics?

Pat Reeder

1 Peter 3:15

Unfortunately some of us have been perpetrators or victims of apologetics used during sensitive and difficult times that are cringe-worthy. How do we balance providing truth and biblical answers in times of suffering with being a caring and sensitive friend? This workshop helps practically break down scenarios and address appropriate responses to others' suffering based on timing and relationship, amongst other factors. As we learn some practical steps in both pastoral cases and apologetical cases, we become better equipped to provide thoughtful responses to others around us.