Despair may not be a word that we use that commonly these days, as we often jump to speaking of depression. But despair conveys something of the fact that life’s storms have not passed and there is still something lingering.
Many of us know something of this, of how the despair of life comes at us from every direction. Most of the despair that we experience is also common to most of humankind — heartbreak, terrible health conditions. But in this text, we see despair of a rather unique kind. This is a despair that seems to cut off ultimate hope at its legs, and is a sort of divinely associated despair.
Church disappointment. We can think about it at a personal level. We may think that we can find acceptance, community, intimacy. We come, thinking that we can experience something of God’s grace lived out among God’s people, and people living out the truth that we are justified by faith alone, not works. But, then, what about works? Are we free to live in any way we want?
The disappointing church is a reflection of our sin.
If we look at 2 Timothy 4, we will see something of the discouragements of Paul’s own life and ministry, things that tugged at his heart and he might have been disappointed by. As we read it, we hope that you will give yourself permission to feel the same disappointment with the church but not to stay there and also see how he deals with it.
At the heart of the question “Is God’s Word trustworthy” is another related question – is God trustworthy? Does He mean what he says? Will He intend to do what He promises? Can He deliver results?
What exactly does our world need?
This whole account in Judges 19 is told in plain language and that can be so jarring for us. It is a shocking tale of grotesque morality presented in plain prose.
It poses a question for us: How normal is evil? Do we know that we have normalised evil around us, such that we look at what is evil, wicked, cruel, shameful and bat not an eyelid?
Does your worldview have a category for evil? Or is everything a matter of choice, lifestyle, social structures and forces?
This is the first of six studies that will focus on some common questions that people might have. This study will focus on doubt, and it important that we start here because arguably, doubt undergirds the rest of the studies.
Not only is doubt pervasive, but doubt left unaddressed is a dangerous thing. It festers and spreads.
The goal of this study is simple — that we, like Thomas, may believe that Jesus is the Christ. John himself tells us plainly
