“Put away doubting and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord. Do not say to yourself: ‘How can I ask of the Lord and receive from him, seeing that I have sinned so much against him?’ Do not reason with yourself like this, but turn to the Lord with all your heart and ask of him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of his tender mercies, that he will never leave you but fulfi ll the request of your soul.”
— Shepherd of Hermas, 2nd century
Discipleship 101 (Luke 8:22-25)
“Whate’er my God ordains is right, Holy his will abideth.
I will be still whate’er He does, and follow where he guideth.
He is my God, though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall, wherefore to him I leave it all.”
— Samuel Rodigast (d.1708)
Components of Exemplary Faith (Luke 7:1-10)
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
— The Letter to the Hebrews
The Power of the Resurrection to Transform (John 20:1-10)
“The resurrection [of Jesus Christ] cannot be part of any history unless it is the center and turning point.”
—Lesslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come
God's Faithfulness Through Generations (Gen. 26:1-11)
“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man’s troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”
—Martin Lloyd Jones
The Results and Root of Faith (John 13:1-20)
Q. What is true faith?
A. True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; it is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ’s merit.
—Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 21
The Mechanics of Idolatry and Christianity (Acts 19:21-41)
“When you are with God, that is what you are; you are no more and no less. Who you are with God defines all the rest.”
— Jack Miller