God's Love

Dennis McCallum

1 John 4:7

Paul describes vividly what biblical love is, and the love that God has for us. God's love is sacrificial, patient, hopeful, and it never fails. Biblical love is deeply tied to the meaning of life and the gospel message that we Christians share.

Goal Setting

Dennis McCallum

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Paul explains that boxers don't box without aim, and in the same way Christians shouldn't work without aim. Sluggards lust after their desires and don't give out love. God calls us to do His work with His power, but we need to be willing to act on His calling.

Love and Freedom

Dennis McCallum

1 Corinthians 10:23-29

Paul called the Corinthians to sacrifice some of their freedoms for the conscience of a younger believer. God's moral imperatives are clear in scripture, but some moral choices seem grey and unclear. We shouldn't draw moral lines that God hasn't drawn himself, but in a spirit of love it is good when we lay down our freedoms for the benefit of another person.

Marriage, Sex and Divorce

Dennis McCallum

1 Corinthians 7

Paul called the Corinthians to be content where they are at, whether they are single or married. Paul warns the Corinthians that divorce is damaging, but in really bad circumstances may be the lesser of two evils. It's much better to be married than it is to burn with lust.

Christian Ethics: Right, Wrong, and the Gray Areas

Dennis McCallum

1 Corinthians 10:23-29

While there are moral absolutes (things that are definitively outside of God's will), there are also gray areas within the realm of the freedom we have in Christ. These are matters of conscience: individual moral imperatives that may be directly from God or may occur as a result of confusion. We must show sensitivity to others' moral imperatives and sacrificially love them by denying self for the sake of their conscience. We should never judge them or force our views on them, creating arbitrary absolutes that have no basis in Scripture. Testimony by Melody Furno included.

How Can a Loving God Allow so much Suffering?

Gary DeLashmutt

2 Corinthians 1:4-5

Pain and suffering is an unavoidable part of the world that we live in. Much of the pain and suffering in this world is a result of human choices, which is a consequence of the free will that God gave us. Some pain and suffering are consequences of us living in a fallen world; there isn't always a clear reason for the suffering we endure, but we know God can use it for good and can show us things through our pain.

The Argument from Presuppositions

Dennis McCallum

Romans 1:18-20

God made certain truths about Him evident within us. In other words, when we look inside ourselves, we see evidence that we were created by an infinite, personal God. Our own beliefs and actions show that this is true. To say that people are significant, free, moral beings implies that they were created with a spiritual nature. It is impossible to argue for morality, human dignity, or freedom under any worldview aside from theism.

Requisites for Relational Closeness

Gary DeLashmutt

2 Corinthians 2:4-11

The Corinthians had trouble with addressing a member of their body who was in a deep non-repentant sin, Paul himself had to visit them about it. Through this, we see how forgiveness and a relational closeness between each other and God impacts our walk with Him. This relational closeness is characterized by 4 requirements: agree on God's moral absolutes, be willing to discipline, be willing to repent, and be willing to forgive.

Parable of the Soils

Dennis McCallum

Matthew 13:1-23

Jesus spoke in parables in order to keep the truth about God's kingdom concealed from those who were not really interested in the truth. The parable of the soils is one such parable. In each part of this story, the message is the same and the messenger is the same, but the outcomes are different because the hearts of the hearers are different. God knows our hearts perfectly; better than we know them ourselves. If we reject God's Word, we harden our hearts against Him. Eventually, after several rounds of hardening, we lose our ability to hear Him at all. So then, our freedom of choice is real, but it is also finite. We can choose which type of soil we want to be, but we should choose wisely and immediately.\r\n