1 Peter 3:15 admonishes us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
The Reason for God study based on Tim Keller’s book will begin Sunday, February 26 after worship in the Attic using the DVD series that addresses the doubts that skeptics, and sometimes believers, have about religion. The study will last about one hour per session. Sign up here for childcare.
When we think of Jesus Christ, we immediately have a mental picture of a person.When we think of God the Father, we can still imagine a person. The Holy Spirit is different. When we think of the Holy Spirit, we have trouble coming up with anything like a mental image of a person. Our imagination is likely to run to something more like a vague fuzzy cloud. Or perhaps we think of an invisible impersonal force. No wonder the Holy Spirit is often called “it.”
This study is a survey of every single verse in the Bible that mentions the Holy Spirit and His activity. It will help you discover what God’s Word means when it talks about being ‘filled with’ or ‘led by’ the Spirit. Or the differences between the Spirit’s work in the Old and New Testaments. You may be in for some surprises! Most of all, we will learn how our lives can and should be changed and shaped by the Spirit of God, who gives us life, and brings glory to Jesus Christ.
The men’s study group will be on the theology of the Lord’s Prayer. Puritan Thomas Watson wrote, “Let us have a great esteem of the Lord’s prayer; let it be the model and pattern of all our prayers. There is a double benefit arising from framing our petitions suitably to this prayer. Hereby error in prayer is prevented. It is not easy to write wrong after this copy; we cannot easily err when we have our pattern before us. Hereby mercies requested are obtained; for the apostle assures us that God will hear us when we pray ‘according to his will’ (1 John 5: 14). And sure we pray according to his will when we pray according to the pattern he has set us.”
“The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.”
(Psalm 19:7-11)