Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Job 8:8

Adrian Rogers tells us, “Truth is to your spirit what food is to your body, what light is to your eyes, and what sound is to your ears.” There is a famine in the world for truth; this is why, as Christians, we can never lose our burning ambition to discover, know and practice truth.

In Job 8:8, Job’s friends respond to his suffering with an urge to appeal to look for answers from the philosophers of yesterday. And America has been shaped, molded, and skewed by a few philosophers of yesterday; their ghosts still haunt us, even now.

The first is Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who rejected moral absolutes and alluded to the dangerous sentiment that the strongest idea wins, and therefore history is evolutionary and there cannot be any absolute.

Ludwig Feuerbach built upon this theory by saying, “If there are no absolutes, then there can be no God,” coining what we now know as humanism.

Karl Marx built upon Feuerbach’s theory by asking, “If there is no absolute and no God, what is the future and purpose of mankind?” As a result, Marx founded communism: a godless system that refutes the worth or dignity of an individual.

Then came Charles Darwin, who asked, “If there is no God, then how do we explain our existence?” He concluded that man is simply a product of evolution.

The final ghost that still haunts us is Sigmund Freud, who says our idea of God comes to us from our childhood fathers. The extreme permissiveness and perversion we see today is also a result of Freudian psychology.

These ideas have been around for a long time but have resurged in recent days. We shouldn’t be discouraged; these theories do not have something readily available to us, as Christians: the truth, and the Holy Spirit. We, who see the Bible as the incorruptible, indestructible, and indispensable Word of God, must stand, anointed with the Holy Spirit and a heart full of love, and preach the absolute truth of the Gospel.

Apply it to your life

Do you know what you believe, and why you believe it? Familiarize yourself with the truth of the Bible. Remember, as Adrian Rogers says, “Facts are like a recipe and truth is like the meal; digest the truth and it will change your life.”

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: 1 Peter 3:10

As Bible-believing Christians, our worldview affects everything in life. Yet we are living in a post-Christian society, hostile toward those who view the world as we do. As a result, we may be tempted to retreat; but in reality, there is no place to hide.

Rather, we have to come together, united in our Christian worldview, and learn how to articulate it.

We recognize five principles of our worldview in the Book of First Peter. This letter was essentially a handbook for survival for the early Christians in Rome.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” Here are the five principles:

Lordship.

We must make up our minds that nothing will stand in the way of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Learning.

Those who don’t know Jesus have some excellent questions; we must make a habit of learning all we can so we’re ready to give an account for what we believe and why.

Lowliness.

The Bible teaches that we are to have a lifestyle of meekness. Meekness is not weakness; it is strength that is channeled and under control.

Lifestyle.

The early Christians possessed a hope so real, vibrant, and incontrovertible, that they stood out. Our only chance against a world that bad-mouths and criticizes us is our ability to out-live, out-love and out-pray people. Our hope is our rock-ribbed assurance in Jesus Christ.

Love.

We live in a hurting society, with wounds desperate to be mended and questions desperate for answers.

Adrian Rogers says, “Our job is not to save America; our first responsibility is not to preserve our freedoms. Our prime responsibility is to witness to this world of Jesus’ grace and power; to say it and mean it, “Jesus is Lord.’”

As the days grow gloriously dark, we can find comfort in knowing the church will survive, for Jesus said, “Upon this rock I’ll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Apply it to your life

As Adrian Rogers says, “We are personal representatives of the Lord Jesus, and the church can continue to grow even when it is perceived by (society) as the enemy. I’m calling you to a Christian world view that’s backed up by a Christian lifestyle.”

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Ecclesiastes

The Book of Ecclesiastes is the journal of King Solomon. It is a record of some of the perplexities he had, as well as some of the mistakes he made. There are three themes from this book when considering the beauty of this life we get to live.

First, this book reveals the complex mysteries of life.

God does not want life to make sense to us. God, in His infinite wisdom, makes life a mystery to draw us to Him. God put eternity in our hearts; He gave us a desire to see life from an eternal perspective. The answer to life’s mystery is not in nature, history, or science. The answer is that apart from God, wisdom, wealth and work are all meaningless.

Ecclesiastes also addresses the challenging adventure of life.

In spite of its mystery, God urges us to live with enthusiasm and joy. We cannot let our problems make cynics out of us. There are going to be some hard times; we would be foolish to not enjoy the good times. Adrian Rogers says, “Since God is good, we should live joyfully. Since God is sovereign, we should live confidently. And since God is holy, live life reverently.”

Finally, this book reveals that life is a comprehensive test.

Everything is going to come to judgment. Because of this, we must learn to rejoice. Adrian Rogers says, “God’s laws do not restrict us; they liberate us.” We must learn, also, to rest and remember; to honor, to obey, to serve God in every season.

Everything that King Solomon wrote is by divine inspiration. But we know some things he didn’t know because we have the New Testament. We have an understanding that even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, did not have before he died, primarily, the answer to the age-old question: What is life all about?

Glory to God, we know that Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life, and that you might have it abundantly.”(John 10:10)

Life is about Jesus and only Jesus. Apart from Him, everything is meaningless.

Apply it to your life

Life is a complex mystery and a challenging adventure. In order to pass the comprehensive tests of life, we must learn to rejoice in every season, to rest in God’s grace and goodness, and to remember Him.