Our generation’s cynicism, even skepticism, about truth has become so much a part of the spirit of the times that we give but little thought to the damage this can wreak on society and culture.

We live in a world of lies, half-truths, and outright deceit concerning some of the most important matters people can consider. Even in the Church, the tendency to try to “improve” on God’s truth, or to force God’s truth into the frail glass slipper of our preferred ways of thinking, is in many ways gaining ground.

Only those who stand firm under the truth of God will have the discernment, wisdom, and grace needed to help our world find its way out of darkness and unbelief into light and life in Jesus Christ. But this will only be the case as we resolve to let God be true with respect to all matters on which He speaks, and to regard alternative opinions as unreliable.

The Truth that Makes Us Free looks at the big questions that every human being needs to confront, and it urges us to do so from under the cope of divine revelation in Scripture. Only as we stand under the Word of God will be able to rise above the lies of our day and live fully and fruitfully within the light of truth.

Light is a powerful image for representing Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Jesus identified Himself as the Light of the world. In His Kingdom, all who believe in Him walk in the light as He is in the light.

But what does this mean? What are the effects of it? How does this happen? And what does it mean for us to refract rather than merely reflect the light of Christ into our world?

The soul is the starting point for improving our walk with and work for the Lord. All that we are begins from within us, where our heart, mind, and conscience work together to make us the people we are. If we ignore our soul, or fail to understand its operations, we will be subject to whatever winds of doctrine might fill the sails of our soul at any time.

We want to have strong souls, like the souls of those first believers in the book of Acts. This series will help us to realize more of the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom as they did, so that we may turn our world right-side up for Jesus.

I want to insist that following Jesus is first of all a matter of the soul – heart, mind, and conscience. Unless we are inwardly devoted to Jesus, focused on Him, and committed to knowing and growing in Him, and doing His will, no amount of external involvements will make us true disciples.

Everyone needs encouragement. Just as important, every believer is called to encourage others. But what is encouragement? What does it accomplish? How does being encouraged affect us? How can we become better and more consistent at encouraging others?

These are the questions we’ll be exploring in the ReVision series entitled, “Encouragement.” We begin by looking a two really great encouragers at work, and then briefly examining the work of the great Encourager.

I don’t know of any place in Scripture that so concisely outlines the salvation we have in Jesus Christ as 2 Timothy 1.12 and the surrounding texts.

Here Paul shows us that faith entails action. It’s not just some form of intellectual assent – nodding agreement to doctrinal truths. Salvation engages us in every aspect of our lives, so that we take up a journey into Christlikeness day by day.

If we want smooth sailing to a safe destination in the life of faith, we have to understand the winds that are against us.

The Christian’s highest calling and privilege is to know Jesus Christ. To know Jesus is to know God the Father, and thus to know eternal life in Him.

Two teachings of the apostle Paul govern this series on Restoring the Reconciled World. The first teaching is that Jesus Christ – by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension – has reconciled the world and all things in it to God. Second, God has given to us, His people, a ministry of reconciliation, which takes the form of restoring the reconciled world’s freedom and goodness to the praise and glory of God.

Why are there so many psalms encouraging us to seek the Lord for revival? Obviously, because God wants us to do so. And He has provided the psalms to guide us in understanding what revival is, why it’s necessary, and how we may seek it from Him.

Jesus has called His followers disciples – learners. We are commanded to learn Him, that is, to increase in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.