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THE
BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?
EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?
GOD
- MAN
Is Jesus really God?
RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?
SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?
TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.
SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.
FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?
GUIDANCE
How does God guide?
REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.
BORN
AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?
SAVING
FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven
ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?
TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?
MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.
THE
CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the
new millennium.
PURPOSE
How
can I find a great purpose for living?
IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of
God.
SELF-ESTEEM
How
can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.
LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.
THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.
Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.
A purpose with lasting consequences
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"Jesus
offers... a destination that will endure when all the false values
and dreams of this world have crumbled to dust"
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It has been said that life is all signposts and no destination. However, Jesus offers, not only a destination, but a destination that will endure when all the false values and dreams of this world have crumbled to dust.
Someone has written:
Live for your athletic achievements—and some day the elastic in your legs will go, your reflexes will slow down, and your life will be "over".
Live for your scholastic attainments—and some day knowledge will pass you by, and life will be over.
Live for your family alone—sometime the children will be grown and gone, and life will be over.
Live for your business success—some day age will come, younger men will reach impatiently for your place, and life will be over.
But live for Christ—live for the inheritance that fades not away—and life will then have just begun!
God planned this universe with the ultimate intention of creating humans with whom he could enjoy a loving relationship. He did not go to all that trouble just to put us here for a brief span of time and then cast us into oblivion. He is a more wonderful God than that! When people put their trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord of their lives they become "citizens of eternity", as the great Russian novelist Dostoyevsky put it. "And they will reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:5).
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"Your
heart will always be where your treasure is"
Jesus Christ |
Jesus constantly challenged people to live for the things that will last forever. In his famous Sermon on the Mount he said, "Don't store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them. Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will always be where your treasure is" (Matthew 6:19, 20).
For those who are committed to live for Christ:
Our Father is in heaven (Matthew 6:9)
Our Saviour is in heaven (Hebrews 9:24)
Our home is in heaven (John 14:2-4)
Our name is in heaven (Luke 10:20)
Our life is in heaven (Colossians 3:1-3)
Our heart is in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21)
Our inheritance is in heaven (I Peter 1:3-5)
Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)
So a Christian is one who has long-term goals, the rewards of which will last forever.
This means that none of the good I do here will be wasted. After writing a long chapter on the resurrection, both of Christ and the believer, Paul wrote: "Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). It is the person who is focused on eternity who is the true realist and who will be the winner in the end. "Things that are seen don't last forever, but the things that are not seen are eternal. That's why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen" (2 Corinthians 4:18).
This does not mean that the Christian who has such long-term goals is unconcerned about the needs around him or her in this life. David Neff, writing in Christianity Today, put it well:
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"
If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most
for the present world were just those who thought most of the next"
C. S. Lewis |
Precisely because Christian hope is fixed on God's future, believers are freed from the security-loving ties that would bind us to the present order. Like Wilberforce who risked reputation and fortune to fight the slave trade, like Father Damian who gave his life to care for lepers, like Jim Elliot who forfeited his life to bring a violent people the gospel of peace, we are not to be tied to success, security, wealth, or power.
Rather, we are to be open to taking risks for God, to being pioneering agents of godly change. Knowing that God has secured our future we can work for the world's salvation and well-being, relieving suffering, discrimination, ignorance, and injustice wherever it is found.
The perceptive writer C. S. Lewis said in Christian Behaviour:
Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.
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How can I find a great purpose for living?
A purpose that fits with reality
A purpose that satisfies the deepest longing of the heart
A purpose that enables us to face life's greatest difficulties
A purpose with lasting consequences
A purpose that involves a choice
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