Those Who Have Hope (Part 1 of 2)

“becoming a Christian is a profound, personal, and permanent change. Becoming a Christian is not as a result of lineage. It's not as a result of being born in the right environment, although that may help. It's not as a result of hanging around church buildings, although hopefully that would at least point us in the right direction. But becoming a Christian is a profound, personal, and permanent encounter with the risen Christ that leaves us in no doubt that what we once were, we no longer are, and we have been made radically different.” [00:07:51]

“It is an accompanying great change in behavior. A radical change in behavior. Indeed, if there is no change in behavior, there's no reason to believe that there's been a change in belief. Be very very careful of of somebody who tells you that they've changed their belief system, but you don't see it in their behavior. Either they never understood it in the first place or they don't understand it now. But when you change the way you think about things, you will change the way you do things.” [00:11:48]

“Let me tell you, young people, you commit your life to Jesus Christ, you just signed up for a holy life. You just signed up for a different life. You signed up for a radical change. There must be a change in your behavior. There must be a change that issues from the way you think.” [00:20:25]

“To become a Christian is a mind-altering experience. Anyone who says it isn't doesn't understand what it means to be a Christian. We are not to be afraid of that phrase, although it has negative connotations in certain places. To become a Christian is to change our mind about everything.” [00:09:01]

“If God in his grace has reached out to you in your tender life, understand this, you have been saved from a lot of stuff and it will become increasingly apparent to you the older you get. Some are saved out of a lot of stuff, and if you talk with them, they surely would love to have been saved from it rather than out of it. But whether you were saved from it in prospect or out of it in reality, it is a radical change.” [00:19:04]

“And you see when the Bible is proclaimed in its effectiveness, when Paul was proclaiming it to these people, they realized that their change would be first of all in the way they think. And in the way they think about the world, in the way they think indeed about everything. It'll change the way you think about your garden. It will change the way you think about the sunrise. It will change the way you think about the birds that sing. It will change the way in which you think about taking vacations. It will totally change you.” [00:10:29]

“Before then, I used to listen to the birds sing and say, “That's nice. I wonder where they came from.” I used to look at the sky and say, “What a nice sky. I'm so glad we have it.” But now since he became my father and I became his friend, I say, “Listen to my father's birds chirping, and look at the glory of my father's handywork.”” [00:11:14]

“When we become a Christian, indeed prior to becoming a Christian, we realize that the fundamental problem facing us is the problem of our own rebellion against God, that we have not been doing well in relationship to the Ten Commandments, and they're the expression of God's moral law. And so we find ourselves to be in violation of the perfect law that God has established.” [00:09:32]

“Some, like Paul prior to his conversion, had lived with the idea that the Messiah was only going to be a dramatic and powerful conqueror. And consequently, when in the person of Jesus Christ, there came these claims to Messiahship, those who already had in their minds an expectation which did not include suffering, which did not include meekness, it only involved majesty, they therefore had no place for this Jesus.” [00:03:57]

“Paul had an express purpose. His dramatic change on the Damascus road had made clear to him that he was now a man with a mission, and his mission was in no way uncertain. He was committed to seeing unbelieving people, whether Jewish or Greek, whatever background, to see unbelieving people become committed followers of Jesus Christ.” [00:07:25]

“When he writes to the Thessalonians now, these years after their beginning of the church, he writes to encourage them to commitment. He writes to make it clear to them what he makes clear in the rest of his letters, that if a person professes to be a Christian, that will be apparent in two particular ways. One, it will be seen in what the individual believes, and two, it will be seen in how they behave.” [00:08:30]

“Now, I want to say to you that the absence of such teaching has not only led people to spurious professions of faith in Jesus Christ, but confuses the watching world about what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.” [00:19:32]

“Paul says to them, “I want to encourage you by letting you know that the message of the Lord is ringing out from you, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it.”” [00:12:34]

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” [00:00:56]

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” [00:01:25]