ComChurch Teaching and Discussion Audio

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas season, we are also reminded that He will come again to Earth, this time to judge, rescue, redeem, and remake all things. We live in this “in between time”, and because of His promises we wait with hope. It is that hope in His return that should cause of to live radically different lives than those without hope. We should be people of hope who live with a better outlook on life, a commitment to holiness, and a desire to share our hope with others.

After Jesus Jesus makes a way for rescue from the human cycle of wandering from our home and created purpose, He returns to the Father. In His place, He sends the Holy Spirit, God’s presence in our hearts and in the world as he works out his purpose. That purpose, according to Paul in Ephesians 1, is “a plan that will climax when the time is right as He returns to create order and unity—both in heaven and on earth—when all things are brought together under the Anointed’s royal rule.” …a plan that will fulfill his promise made to Abraham.

Perhaps the most pivotal anchor points of “the faith once and for all given to God’s people” are what we believe about the death and resurrection of Jesus, where the rescue and salvation that Jesus speaks of in John 3:16-17 is enacted once and for all. The crucifixion and death of Jesus make a way for reconciliation with God, once and for all, and the resurrection of Jesus empowers God’s ultimate rescue of his people and renewal of his creation.

When Jesus begins his public mission, he introduces himself by saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” But what is he calling them to repent of? And what does he mean the Kingdom of God is coming near through him? Understanding what Jesus meant in the time and place he said these words is key to understanding Who he is, what he’s doing, and what it has to do with us and our lives.

If God is love, if God is good, if God is all powerful and many other “God” things, where is he in a world racked by pain and division and violence and suffering? The scriptures reveal a God who, from the start, has been working from within the world to heal the world…a God who will not be stopped.

The most basic foundational belief of the Faith handed down once for all people is the belief that God is real and that He is who the Bible portrays him to be. Certainly we can never summarize or fully explain that God, but in His goodness He has revealed himself in many ways, allowing us to not only know about Him, but to actually know Him in a personal way.

As humans we have a naturally embedded desire for justice and an undeniable draw to beauty. So why do both justice and beauty seem so elusive, so temporary? Despite our best efforts, the human crusade for justice remains fragmented at best. And our experiences of beauty are usually temporary, giving way to the more mundane realities of life. Is it possible that our innate hunger for both – and even our fleeting encounters with them – point to a bigger story in which each ultimately will arrive in full?

Nicodemus was an expert in God in religion, and John records that he came to Jesus under the cover of darkness burning with unanswered questions about spiritual life. We aren’t so different. Despite our habitual efforts to suppress our deep spiritual thirst, something deep inside continues to insist that there must be more.

Jude urges the early church to “struggle hard for the faith once and for all given to God’s people.” The struggle, of course, is to stay rooted in the historic, biblical Kingdom of God as the kingdoms of this world compete for our attention and affection. This marks the beginning of a new series on what we believe and why it matters.

While we aren’t all called to be evangelists, we do all have a hope to share with the world. Peter gives us some important instruction on how to do that, even in a hostile culture.