Pastor David Keuss - Hope without Compromise

Over the past five years I have had the privilege to dig into the study of how we know what we know as Christ followers.  A lot of times your friends say to you when you share about Jesus' love for them, "well, that's your opinion and I respect that, but it's not my opinion" even after you have shared evidence for why Jesus is Savior.  Perhaps you used a Josh McDowell book on evidence for Christianity.  Perhaps you have handed out Lee Strobel's The Case for a Creator .  Still, a perceptive unbeliever in Jesus will want to know:  'I see Jesus is probable, and you believe in him, but how do I know that Jesus is really Savior?'  Or perhaps a postmodern neighbor would say 'how do I know Jesus will save me?'  These are questions what is called 'epistemology' the topic of how we know what we know.  I'll be doing some posts on this topic of how we know what we claim we know for a new book I've just published with a division of Tho...

If you are a parent or hopeful parent to be then a great resource to have on your shelf at home is the book by Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart .  Dr. David Powlison, a well known Christian counselor, says "Tedd Tripp knows what he is talking about" and "he knows children, he knows parents...and he knows the ways of God."  John MacArthur, a Christian pastor and author, says it is suprising "to see how few books are genuinely biblical" on Christian parenting, but you will not "find a more excellent guide" than this.  The book provides great resources and tips.  One instance is how on "communication" Tripp recommends "children need communication designed to inspire and fill with hope and courage."  "Your children know the pain of failure.  They, like you, find things looking hopeless at times....  You can help them assess the reasons for disappointment.  You need to help them understand the promises of God.  Yo...

Sometimes we forget to factor in how Jesus has called us to different living as Christ followers.  He was unlike the world, and that requires stepping out to follow Him, not passivity even though that would be easier.  There is that inevitable pull to do just what feels right, or what our emotions tell us.  But that kind of pull all comes down to forgetting God's plan, which we must not do.  When He set up our Savior Jesus (high priest, called by God, perfect sacrifice) He also called us to a new kind of living, differing from the Old Testament servants of God, but rooted in the fact that serving Christ is higher than serving in the Old Israelite Temple system.  Check out this message from Hebrews 5:1-12 at www.fellowshipofwoodbridge.org .

I had one of those days where God in His providence sends along the right situation to encourage you, and I'm sharing this to encourage you!  I was out and about and some believers were discussing how God works in a situation, but from their own lives.  But it is exactly what God wanted me to hear too, and it served as an encouragement.  I hope you'll remember that God cares enough about you to bring about the timely word or the insight you need through His plan.  Know that He loves you in this and wants you to see He is active in guiding you to good things (Romans 8:28).

When someone asks you at work or out and about, "I know that's what you believe, but how do you know it is true?," they are asking a question easier to answer if you can see the whole range of options.  Most of us Christ followers would say, "well, God has changed my life," or "I had a life changing experience."  That is fine and well, it is true.  But if a person has not had that yet, what would you say to them next if they still ask, and they have not had your experience?  There are several ways to go.  When you care about your friend, and love them, you want them to know God personally through faith in Jesus and to trust His Word to them in the gospel message. One option is to bring in testimony of others, to show that you are not the only one with that experience.  But this is again still the area of experience. You can talk about self-evident truths, such as that there are other minds out there, even though you have not seen them in action i...

A s we have been studying through Hebrews in our church messages, a common theme emerges for our time (chapters 1-2):  look into what it might be that is replacing faithfulness to Jesus, and look instead to Christ Jesus for fulfillment.  For the Jewish Christians Hebrews was intended to go to, they were in a time when (Colossians 2) Jews and many Romans too were tempted to worship angels.  How they did this is not expressly stated.  But we do know that attention and devotion and probably more than likely, refuge and deliverance in, angels was a real problem in the outlook in many's hearts and minds, Hebrews 1.  The author of Hebrews (whether it was Paul or Barnabas, etc) has a goal, it is to help people put Jesus back into the center of their attention and focus.  Probably today you and I are not tempted to directly worship angels as they were.  Even in the years before the 1st century AD, many Jews in the intertestamental period were involved with thi...

T his is a good summary of the situations of many biblical women, some who were biological mothers and some who were not.  It addresses temporary and long-term infertility as well.  If nothing else, it provides a Bible study idea on some of these topics. http://www.infertilitysurvivalguide.com/issues/chapter13.htm