As we approach the end of our series on the book of 1 John as a guide to the character and personality of God, Glenn Hoburg leads us through what it means to know a true and living God. Unlike many modern understandings of faith as a private narrative you can tell yourself for comfort, John does not leave room to conform a faith to you. Instead, true faith in the true God changes you. And in the process, it delivers you from the fatality, force and foolishness of sin.

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There is perhaps no greater evidence of faith than prayer, yet fewer dimensions of the Christian life are more frequently misunderstood. Because the gospel reveals to us a God whose character is unique among the images of god painted by the other philosophies and worldviews around us, it also invites us to pray differently—with greater freedom and clarity—than we ever have before. And it also provides us with a compelling confirmation of those prayers.

Christianity did not start as a movement of people dedicated to a theoretical spirituality. Instead, it got its start through real people providing testimony about and evidence of actual experiences and encounters. Throughout the Bible, God doesn’t just call his people to un-anchored faith, but instead challenges them with evidence of his presence and character. One of the hallmarks of true faith is a response to this kind of testimony.

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Everyone has faith in something—some kind of foundational beliefs and assumptions that are impossible to test—and things that are true continue to be true whether you believe in them or not. So, what do the beginning of true faith in the God of the Bible look like? Where does that faith come from? And what advantages, resources and promises come along with it?

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Everyone lives their life according to some degree of faith—some core assumptions taken as self-evident, the validity of which we never test. The book of 1 John, though, offers us the opportunity to test the basic assumptions in which we place our trust, and shows us how what we put our trust in relates to how we understand God’s character and personality. This week, we look at what false faith is, why it occurs and where we get the confidence to resist it.

You can now download the bulletin for the worship service that goes with this sermon.

Note that there is no discussion guide this week. Instead, please learn more about Winter Term and sign up for a class.

God wants a relationship with us marked by love and forgiveness, but how can we learn to abide in the love that he offers? In our continuing series on Knowing God, David Noble helps us start to understand what it looks like to trust in God’s generous love more than we trust in our own merit or accomplishments.

You can now download the bulletin for the worship service that goes with this sermon.

Note that there is no discussion guide this week. Instead, please learn more about Winter Term and sign up for a class.

Jesus’ instruction for us to call God, “Father” can be incredibly challenging, especially when the Bible’s description of God is so at odds with our own experiences with our earthly fathers. In this first sermon on Sonship (a sub-series in our ongoing series on Knowing God), David Noble helps us grasp what it means to have a relationship with our heavenly Father marked by forgiveness and acceptance.

You can now download the bulletin for the worship service that goes with this sermon.

Note that there is no discussion guide this week. Instead, please learn more about Winter Term and sign up for a class.

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas a week behind us and a new year stretching out before us, it’s a convenient moment to reflect on the central realities of the gospel, which provides us with a new life and a new view before calling us to share that gift with those around us.

You can now download the bulletin for the worship service that goes with this sermon.

Note that there is no discussion guide this week. Instead, please learn more about Winter Term and sign up for a class.

It’s easy to forget that the Psalms are meant to be sung, especially when the songs are dedicated to subjects that we aren’t used to praising musically. One such psalm is Psalm 119, which praises God’s law. But when we read that psalm through the lens of Christmas, it’s easy to see why such laws can move us to song (and what they tell us about the King who handed them out).

If there is a God, would you have an appropriate sense of his greatness? A reasonable sense of his scale? And if you did, why would you ever expect to be recognized by him? The biblical prophets understood that the only proper response to the power and greatness of God was fear and trembling. However, in Jesus Christ, God provided more than just a picture of his power—he provided a picture of his heart and the means to approach him with comfort and joy, as well.