Foundational Doctrines: Truth, Trinity, and Salvation

He is talking to a pastor and telling a pastor what to do. He's telling him to be ready to preach the word, and he's telling him to be able to reprove and rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. But this part is something that I think that we all need to hear. It says, For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wandering off into myths. [00:02:21]

This doesn't make any sense. There is an objective truth, and objective truth says that there is right and there is wrong and there is good. There is bad, and you don't get to just make up whether or not you think something is good or bad or right or wrong. So I want you guys to think about this, and let's take subjective truth to its logical end. Hitler could not have been told that he was wrong in today's society because of subjective truth. [00:07:41]

So the first of our core doctrines that we have to believe to be Christians and to be a member of the Crossings Community Church is that there is objective truth and that the Bible is God. God's perfect, authoritative word. You see, as I said, truth is important. If I or Pastor Phil could not offer you truth in these matters, why bother to come here week after week? [00:08:33]

But the truth is that what we're doing is we're trying to teach you about the God of the universe and what he expects from you. We're talking about things that affect your eternity, either with God or without him. So if we were to look at you and tell you that there is no objective truth, then why believe anything that we have to say? And what I'm getting at here is there's churches in our own community that you go to. [00:09:22]

Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is the truth. And what's important to note here is that the Greek word that is translated there as sanctify is literally translated as set them apart. You see in this. Verse John is recounting for us what is known as the high priestly prayer. This is a prayer that Jesus was praying to God, the father. So the first thing you need to know is it's in the red letters. It's what Jesus said. [00:10:18]

All scripture is breathed out by God and prophesied. And you will be made profitable for teaching, for reprieve, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So here in this letter from Paul to Timothy, Paul is telling Timothy that he has to trust in scriptures both new and. [00:12:17]

As a matter of fact, we don't rely on anything outside of scripture for divine revelation or objective truth. We rely solely on the Bible, and the Bible is the best attested collection of documents. And all of ancient writings. We're going to get a little apologetic here, but let me help you guys understand this. The Bible has the earliest dated manuscripts than any other ancient manuscript by hundreds of years. [00:17:40]

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became human to live perfect and sinless life and to offer himself to be killed for our salvation. We're going to talk more about what we believe about Jesus in a second. Then there's God the Holy Spirit, God's presence in the world today, guiding, comforting, and empowering believers. This understanding emphasizes God's eternal nature and infinite wisdom with each person of the Trinity playing a vital role in God's divine plan for humanity. [00:21:34]

He was the Messiah prophesied about in the Old Testament, and the death on the cross was his sacrificial act to atone for the sins of humanity, offering salvation to all who believe and call in his name. And then after his brutal death on the cross, Jesus was buried in a tomb, and then three days later rose from the dead, proving his power over sin and death. Death and resurrection is central to Orthodox Christianity for good reason. [00:27:12]

But why do we need a defense attorney in the first place? Why did Christ have to die so that we could be in relationship with him? Well, this is the doctrine of what we believe. We believe about mankind and the fall of man. So mankind was created in God's image, but fallen due to sin. So we're going to talk about, just for a moment, Genesis chapter 3 and the story that you find in Genesis chapter 3. [00:28:27]

Now, here's what people are going to ask you. Well, that's dumb. Why did he put that tree there? Well, God put the tree there because man, he wanted man to love him the same way we want people to love us. Like, we want people to love us because they choose to love us. I hope you guys all like me. I hope you love me, and I hope you love me because you have good reason to. [00:30:52]

And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. We can't do it on our own. We can't earn our own salvation. We can't be good enough. We will never be good enough. And no matter how hard we work and how hard. We try, we can never pay that. We will never even come close to paying that. So by grace, we have been saved through faith, his grace, us having faith in him. [00:36:19]