Satan plays a main role in the book of Revelation. This sermon introduces who Satan is and his origin. It also addresses the primary tactics Satan uses and how we can combat and overcome them.
Jim Beilby seeks to answer the question of where God is in the midst of the realities of our day-to-day struggles. This sermon addresses the apparent hiddenness of God when we are not experiencing his personal presence.
How do we understand the problem of evil and its relationship to God’s work in the world? The common perspective is that God causes evil, but Greg offers an alternative view.
God is at work in all things—even in times of great suffering—to bring about his purposes. Those who are called according to his purpose will join in and cooperate with God’s work, allowing the Spirit to form them to live into God’s new work.
We live in a world where Satan has laid claim to creation, while at the same time God is fighting to redeem all things through the work of the cross. These two fundamental forces are simultaneous, and we see them everywhere. Our calling is to participate in the good work that God is doing in order to advance the Kingdom.
We primarily think about the problems we face today in terms of individualism, pointing fingers at persons who are making bad choices. However, the Bible speaks of the struggle against systemic issues, what are called “principalities and powers” that shape the structures of how we live. The unique call of Kingdom people is to focus our struggle against these systems, … Read More
God is love, and our job is to receive and replicate that love. This means that it is crucial that we rightly perceive what God’s love actually looks like, something that some find challenging in the midst of creation that is overrun by violence. How then do we reconcile the nature of God’s love when nature itself seems to point … Read More
If we read the Old Testament assuming that it all is about the cross of Christ, then we can see how God stooped to the level of the cultural conditioning of the Old Testament authors to allow himself to be portrayed as violent. In addition, when we read carefully, we can actually see, within the passages of violence themselves, the nonviolent character of God breaking through.
The Bible can seem to conflict itself depending on how it’s being interpreted, but what if the conflict isn’t with the Bible at all? For example, the story of creation often results in conflicting views and beliefs among people. But what if the conflict isn’t with the story itself, and is instead found in what lies behind the story – the very conflict we are to be standing with God against? Read More
Atheism, which means “without God”, makes a lot of sense – if your understanding of God also omits the reality of Satan, because then God appears to be the only one to blame. But when Satan is held accountable for his ruthless reign, and God is understood to look like Jesus, a life “without God” makes no sense. Read More