Gospel Outreach Conversations

Why did God create us? How did God make us like himself? What does Scripture mean by “soul” and “spirit”? The doctrine of the Creation of Man is the subject of lesson 11 of my 34 lessons in systematic theology. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 36-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman​ Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56​ #apologetics​ #BiblicalTheology​ #doctrine​ #systematictheology​ #Grudem​ #NewLife​ #Chicago

When I began my daily outreach goal over 10 years ago, I soon became aware of just how many of the people around me in my part of Chicago spoke different languages and couldn’t understand me in English. I decided to learn Spanish, and one of the first things I did was to turn my car radio to a Spanish station to begin to get used to the language. I listened for 5 or 10 minutes and felt dumb that I didn’t recognize any of the words from the junior high Spanish class I had goofed off in over 30 years earlier. I felt even worse when I finally realized it wasn’t Spanish at all that I was listening to, but Polish! Needless to say, I had much to learn, but was kept motivated by the people I constantly met whom I dreamed of sharing the Gospel with in their heart language one day. Language learning is especially difficult for someone who starts studying in their late 40’s and has a poor memory and is a slow learner to begin with, but for just that reason I’ve learned the value of persistence and daily disciplines, and I still study almost an hour every day, over ten years into it. Even so, it’s still hard work to have Gospel conversations in Spanish. I do my best and have a long way to go, but the people I talk with are very understanding and patient with me. In fact, it seems that my struggle to speak in Spanish makes them take me more seriously and gives them more time to consider what I am talking about as I have to slow down to search my memory for the right words. They are often more engaged in the conversation as a result, such as in a recent conversation with a man at the park named Jose. The point I would like to make with this is that just as some people might look at my sharing the Gospel in Spanish and conclude that I am “gifted” and that they could never do that, it has really only come with a lot of practice, hard work and persistence; and in the same way being able to freely share the Gospel with strangers I meet in either Spanish or English is also something that has only come with a lot of practice and persistence. But is it a “gift”? I think that many Christians dismiss the outreach efforts of other Christians as something they could never do themselves by simply saying “Well, that’s just not my gift”. They might think it’s something that just came naturally or spiritually and don’t realize all the effort that goes into it. It would be like seeing a marathon runner complete a race and writing off their efforts as something that just came naturally to them without realizing all the h ours and days of running and training they had logged to be able to get that far. Still, I would have to say being able to share my faith easily with strangers, and to do so in their heart language, truly IS a gift, just the same. It is a privilege and a blessing to be able to do so, and I have been gifted with the time it took to practice; with my good health and a supportive family and church; with the examples of people who have sacrificed to share the Gospel who have come before me; and even with my high school teaching job which has given me practice as I have had to teach some of my history classes in Spanish as a certified bilingual teacher. As Christians, we need to acknowledge we have been “gifted” with abilities and skills and talents the minute we realize we are blessed to be at all competent with something we can do that can be used to serve others and build up the Church. And sometimes, those gifts begin simply with the desire, time, and persistence to do the hard work and practice it takes to get there.

The doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons is the subject of lesson 10 of my 36 lessons in systematic theology. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 36-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman​ Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

I’m sure I’m not the only one with facemask fatigue. Like most people I miss being able to give a friendly smile to strangers as I allow them to go first in grocery store gridlock, or when I smile to cashiers as I wish them a nice day after checking out my groceries. More often than not, I suspect, my smile covered up by my facemask gets interpreted as a hard look, and I often forget that strangers have their smiles covered up as well. So as I have continued to try to reach out and initiate Gospel conversations throughout the past year, I’ve been tempted to just wait until the days of facemasks are over. Sharing the good news of our Savior requires sharing the bad news of our sin and our need to be saved. It’s hard enough to do so within relatively short conversations, not to mention with the limitations facemasks put on my ability to express kindness and concern while doing so. So why even try? When conditions are less than ideal for sharing the Gospel, I am inspired, of all places, by a strange passage found in Philippians 1. Paul wrote of some who preached the Gospel “out of envy and rivalry”. They were preaching because they were jealous of Paul’s popularity or success when he preached it. Paul’s rection was telling. He wrote “what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” So what does this have to do with facemasks? Here, too, the Gospel was being preached in less-than-ideal conditions, this time because of the false motives of the preachers. So, despite having to wear a facemask, I will continue to share the Gospel, like I did during a recent conversation with a man named Francisco while we were grocery shopping. We were both talking despite the added risk of miscommunication this causes, and the Gospel was being communicated nonetheless. There are so many excuses for not taking the initiative to share the Gospel, and because it usually requires me to step out on faith into many unknown and awkward situations, its so easy to listen to these excuses and tell myself “why even try?” But Paul’s comment about people preaching with wrong motives reminds me of another comment he made about the Gospel: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18) In other words, the messenger is not as important as the message. I might be preaching out of mixed motives, or distracted by personal problems, or struggling with doubt or some other sin, or disqualified in the world’s eyes by racial or cultural limitations, or any number of excuses, but these limitations don’t take away from the power of the Gospel message. “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:70) So let’s not wait until facemasks come off. Let’s not wait for any of the cheap excuses we’ve been using. God’s power is greater than our limitations. The Gospel is about the message, not the messenger.

Why does God want us to pray? How can we pray effectively? What are miracles? Can they happen today? A consideration of the subject of both prayer and miracles is closely connected with God’s providence, which was considered in the previous lesson. There we argued that God exercises an extensive, ongoing, sovereign control over all aspects of his creation. This chapter will assume an understanding of that discussion of providence and will build on it in approaching the question of prayer and miracles. Once we understand that God is omnipotent and sovereign over all creation, it seems reasonable to conclude that he also preserves and governs everything in the universe as well. Though the term providence is not found in Scripture, it is used to summarize God’s ongoing relationship to his creation. We can define God’s providence as follows: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes. This is a doctrine on which there has been substantial disagreement among Christians since the early history of the church, particularly with respect to God’s relationship to the willing choices of moral creatures. There are two main positions presented - the “Reformed” or “Calvinist” position, and what is commonly called the “Arminian” position. The doctrine of Providence is the subject of lesson 08 of my 36 lessons in systematic theology. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 36-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56 #prayer #miracles #FreeWill #BiblicalTheology #doctrine #systematictheology #Grudem #NewLife #Chicago

So if the Ten Commandments can’t save us, what are they good for? A lot of people I talk with are under the impression that as long as they at least try to follow the Ten Commandments, they are good enough and will end up in heaven. But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions – and once we realize we haven’t followed God’s perfect law, we have already become lawbreakers and it’s too late to start over and get it right. Jesus talked a lot about the Ten Commandments. His whole Sermon on the Mount was an exposition on them. For example, murder is wrong, but Jesus went on to say “But I tell you, don’t be angry with anyone. If you are angry with others, you will be judged. And if you insult someone, you will be judged by the high court. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Jesus also taught that adultery is sinful, but took it a step further and said “But I tell you that if a man looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, he has already committed that sin with her in his mind. If your right eye makes you sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” So if we have called people insulting names, or looked with lust, is there any hope for us? I was thankful to meet a man named Hermando, who has an appreciation for the Ten Commandments not as the way to salvation but more like a mirror that shows us our need to be saved. We use mirrors to show us how we look in order to begin to make changes, but we wouldn’t expect the mirror itself to do the job that only soap and water can do. In the same way, the Ten Commandments are like a mirror or a standard that shows us our true state before God in order for us to realize we need the right relationship with God that only Jesus can give. I told Hermando that many people I talk to think they can just do their best to follow the Ten Commandments, and expect that their efforts at self-righteousness will save them. Hermando just slowly shook his head. He knows better. The Ten Commandments don’t save us – they just remind us that we need to be saved. Thanks, Hermando, for allowing me to record our conversation! It can be seen at https://youtu.be/f1bI6AqW9vM on my Youtube Channel. #church #gospel #tencommandments #evangelism #outreach #Bible #legalistic #evangelical #spirit #churchgrowth #gospel #churchculture #spiritualgifts #fellowship #whathappened #churchdecline #preaching #theology #holyspirit #lutheran #christian #blog #churchnetworks #churchdenominations

Is morality absolute, or is it subjective? In other words, does it constantly change with the time and place, or is it set in stone, like, say, the Ten Commandments? I believe the answer to this question is a big factor behind the polarization of our culture in America – better known as the “culture wars”. But it’s not true that only conservatives believe morality is absolute. Progressives are also known for their rigid conformity to a certain set of politically correct beliefs and values, which is now known as being “woke”. They might have a hard time admitting it, but they often have a more absolute view of morality than conservatives! The difference, I think, is that conservatives believe in past expressions of moral law, such as the Ten Commandments or the Bill of Rights. As a result, they know by experience that we haven’t lived up to these ideals and would generally blame our flawed human nature and immoral choices for this failure. Thus, the emphasis on law and order and personal responsibility. Progressives, on the other hand, believe in future expressions of absolute morality that might be achieved in a utopian society, and seem to have great faith in human nature and progress to reach them. Thus, the emphasis on a more idealistic view of human nature and more blame for our individual failures on immoral societal systems and corrupt governments. I’m starting to realize that as Christians, we do hold to absolute morality like the Ten Commandments or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, but we need to decide if the best expressions of those moral absolutes have already occurred in the past or are something we need to work toward in the future when it comes to politics and individual issues. We need to be “free agents” politically, and the best way to be unified or at least understanding and not demonizing one another is in the free exchange of ideas that occurs in classical liberalism. We have to learn to listen and understand the views of others and weigh them with our own, with the goal of determining which positions are most in line with biblical principles and values. It was the nature of morality that made up a large part of a recent conversation I had with a young man named Corban, who grew up in a Christian household in the Bible Belt. For many like him, a rejection of strict traditional rules feels more a move toward subjective morality, and it was his supposed rejection of absolute morality that also drove him away from strict belief in the God of Christianity. Corban has come to the belief that morality should be determined by whether or not a particular action brings harm to others. He agreed that it would be God to whom we are generally accountable for our actions, but disagreed that God had the right to tell us what we should or should not do specifically. His “cause no harm” belief is like other general maxims that are attractive because they apply to all people, everywhere, such as “all you need is love”; or “treat others like you want the to be treated”. They can seem to be subjective because they are so general they leave interpretation up to each person. But Jesus shared his Golden Rule as a summary of the law, and it was given in the context of His Sermon on the Mount which described absolute morality in very specific ways – “it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Jesus had no democracy or consensus or higher authority on which to base his specific morality – he was recognized not as just another teacher of the law but as one who had that authority himself. Many people want to reject the idea of moral absolutes because they require the existence of a higher authority to make them absolute. Jesus claimed to be that higher authority, which is at least part of the reason he was arrested and condemned to the cross. People might claim morals are subject to culture and historical context, but the morals are still there, absolutely. What changes is the situation they are ex pressed in. We are all guided by a sort of moral compass, which points in the same direction despite the context they are expressed in, so despite their subjective cultural expressions morals are really absolute. It’s not the idea of absolute morality people hate necessarily, but it’s the reminder that an absolute authority has put them in place, and not we ourselves. #outreach #gospel #church

What is the extent of God’s control over creation? If God controls all things, then do we really have free will? How can we be held responsible for our actions and do they have real meaning? Once we understand that God is omnipotent and sovereign over all creation, it seems reasonable to conclude that he also preserves and governs everything in the universe as well. Though the term providence is not found in Scripture, it is used to summarize God’s ongoing relationship to his creation. We can define God’s providence as follows: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes. This is a doctrine on which there has been substantial disagreement among Christians since the early history of the church, particularly with respect to God’s relationship to the willing choices of moral creatures. There are two main positions presented - the “Reformed” or “Calvinist” position, and what is commonly called the “Arminian” position. The doctrine of Providence is the subject of lesson 08 of my 36 lessons in systematic theology. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 36-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

It's one of the most popular religions out there, but it doesn’t have buildings, clergy, holy scriptures or an organizational structure. It’s so informal its followers aren’t even aware they are members. But it is the source of inspiration for blockbuster movies and pop song hits. One of these movies has morphed into a Christmas classic, and features a kindly but often befuddled elderly angel named Clarence whose mission is to “earn his wings” by serving an earthling named George Bailey who seems to have lost his way. So what is the name of the religion that inspired the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”? It’s called “Wishful Thinking”, and people become its followers when they decide they can create spiritual reality by simply wishing it into existence. I’m being facetious, but I do believe that for many people, such as a young couple I met at the park – Ishmael and Adelina – wishful thinking leads them to believe in theories about spirituality that include ideas like reincarnation, ghosts, and guardian angels as part of God’s care and love for his people. For Adelina, belief in a guardian angel or possibly visitations by deceased relatives came from dreams or visions she had during her treatment and struggle as a cancer survivor. As a Christian, I see these sorts of things skeptically because I don’t see them supported by scripture, and because they can be a distraction or diversion from the glory that only God deserves. But that’s not to say they aren’t real. In fact, 2 Cor. 4:18 tells us that the spiritual realm is even more real than the physical: “As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” The “things that are seen” – the physical realm, are less “real” in the sense that they are temporary and have a very limited lifespan while the “things that are unseen” – the spiritual realm are more real because they are eternal. Maybe God was reminding Adelina imeof this reality, and giving her time to respond. So, whether a distraction from the Gospel by the enemy of our souls or a friendly reminder of our eternal destiny, God can use Adelina’s spiritual experience to alert her to the reality of the spiritual realm. I just pray she will move past the “wishful thinking” stage and begin to relate to God’s revelation of Himself in the pages of Scripture and through the words of faithful Christians who teach it.

Out in a parking lot, just after he parked his tow truck, I was asked an interesting question by Chris, who works as a “repo man”. These are the guys who take possession of vehicles after their owners have failed to keep up payments. Their owners are given a limited time in which to make payments and then, that’s it! Times up! Party's over! It could happen at any time. A delinquent borrower might have a full cart of groceries only to find that their car was suddenly towed away while they were shopping. Or the vehicle might mysteriously disappear from the parking lot while they were working. And this happens more often than you might realize. Did you know over 2 million vehicles are repossessed by lenders every year? That’s over 5000 vehicles a day! So the interesting question Chris asked me, in response to my question about God and eternity, was this – “Why do we only have a certain amount of time? That’s one of the biggest questions I have, why do we have an expiration date?” I thought that was interesting coming from a guy whose job is to be sort of a “grim reaper” with people’s vehicles. Surely he has thought through what would happen if there was no possibility of repossession – if people were just allowed to default on their loans indefinitely. With no deadlines looming, don’t we all have a basic tendency toward procrastination? So is it fair to try to make a comparison between the limited time we have in making car payments, and the limited time we have to walk this earth and breathe the air? Probably not. But I’m thinking that maybe there is a connection if we realize that there are certain tasks that, like the deadline to make a car payment, we are given a limited time to complete. Maybe God knows our sinful nature and that we also have a tendency toward procrastination when it comes to the tasks He has given us to complete during our stay here. So what are these tasks? It has to be somewhat different for every person since, after all, we are all given very different “expiration dates”. Psalm 139:16 tells us “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God ordains long lives for some, short lives for others, and our date with eternity often arrives unexpectedly. But there may be one common purpose God has for us all. He wants all people to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4) In 2 Peter 3:9 we read that "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." This passage refers to God’s delaying of the “last days” in order that more people might come to faith and repentance. The “promise” referred to is repeated in the very next verse – that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” But I believe it also refers to our own personal final days. We may not know when the “thief” will come, but today we can have peace with God through a faith relationship with Jesus. We all have a date with destiny, and none of us are guaranteed a warning before the “repo man” comes!

Have you been “born again”? What does that mean, anyway? There is an important reason Jesus used the analogy of being “born again” to describe the experience of entering the kingdom of God and receiving eternal life. Jesus was comparing the beginning of our spiritual life to the beginning of our physical life. Just as no one brings themselves into this life by their own decision to be born physically, so no one whom the Bible describes as “dead in their trespasses and sins” can decide to be born spiritually. So how can we know if someone has truly been “born again”, or even if we ourselves have for that matter? The spiritual birth isn’t as obvious as the physical, so we can’t know for certain, but the Bible definitely gives us some clues as we “continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling” as it says in Philippians 2:12. For that sort of self-reflection, it would be good to read - and wrestle with - the entire epistle of 1 John, which states its purpose near the end: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Wrestling through assurance of our salvation is too big a topic for a brief social media post. But I would like to mention one “clue” that can help us know if we ourselves or others are indeed truly born again. Many people self-identify as being born again, like a guy named Phil whom I met just after he finished fishing at a nearby lake. After getting all the fishing advice I could, I asked him if I could change the subject and find out what he believes happens after we die. Phil told me he was “born again”, so I wanted to find out more that might confirm that it was true. In the short time we spoke, I came to believe Phil is indeed born again, due to a big clue I got when I asked him how he could be sure he was saved. The clue came both in what he said, and in what he did NOT say. When I asked why he believes himself to be saved, he simply said “Well, Christ died on the cross for our sins. If it wasn’t for the Gospel, there wouldn’t be no hope!” Phil pointed to Jesus and the cross as his hope for salvation. What Phil did not point to, however, was himself or any effort on his part to be saved. He didn’t say “I received Christ” or “I prayed a prayer of salvation”, or “I repented of my sins”. These might be descriptions of the kinds of things that do happen when one is born again, but I could tell Phil knew salvation was not because of something he had done but was entirely due to God’s sovereign gift in Jesus. It was not something he could buy or earn with good deeds or religious activities, but it was a work of the Holy Spirit by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. What then, does it mean to “work out” our salvation? It definitely doesn’t mean to work “for” it. Rather, it means to do the work of bringing to maturity the spiritual rebirth we have already experienced, to live out and grow the faith and repentance we’ve begun to be given. I could see how some of that work has been done in Phil’s life, as he has been listening to good preaching on Christian radio and stayed connected to sound doctrine. I could also see where he has more to “work out” in his faith, as he is not connected to a local church that can further challenge him and help him grow in Christlike character. Earlier in the Gospel of John, before he told how Jesus described our need to be born again, John also wrote about it himself. He said those who are born spiritually are “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” It is not something we do for God, but something God does for us. Have you been born again? If so, like Phil, you should know - but also might need to be reminded - that it is entirely a gift of God, not anything you worked for or deserved. You might also need to know and to be reminded that, like a baby that is born physically, those who are newly born spiritually need to exercise and grow in faith, to “work out their salvation”, in order to mature into the godly people God intends us to be.

As I initiate gospel conversations with a wide variety of people in public places, naturally some go better than others. Almost always the conversations that don’t go well are not because the person I talk with totally disagrees with me, but rather those that are with people who just don’t care much about eternity or spiritual things. That was the case with a man from China whose American name is Winston. He described himself as worldly, with no interest or belief in anything beyond this life. At the same time he was careful to say he respects the belief of those who do, no matter what religion they might belong to. Winston seemed to have a general understanding of Christianity, that “Jesus died for our sins”, but without belief in God and with judging himself to be a good person by his own standards, this didn’t really mean much to him. Toward the end of our conversation, however, Winston expressed the view that many wars have been fought in the name of religion. I had to agree, and my initial reaction was to defend true Christianity as peaceful and Jesus as a man of peace. But is that true? Does every reminder of wars fought in the name of Christianity have to be an automatic justification for those who want to reject Christianity as hypocritical and untrue? Does fighting for our faith and for Christian values automatically disqualify our witness as Christians? After all, Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” He often told people he healed or who experienced forgiveness “Go in peace”. He calmed down his disciples by telling them “Peace be with you”, and he was greeted on the night he was born by angels proclaiming “peace to those on whom his favor rests”. In Isaiah we read that he is the “Prince of Peace” and “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.” But do all these references to “peace” automatically mean we are not to fight for anything? What kind of peace was Jesus referring to and when does he intend it to occur? That passage about peace in Isaiah clearly referred to his government, prophesied to occur during the end times. The peace he gave to those he forgave or healed seemed to refer to an end to guilt or pain, and the peace he gave to his disciples seemed to be words of assurance in the face of adversity: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Maybe we conveniently forget that Jesus also said “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." This he said in Matthew 10, where he was instructing his disciples about the difficulties of persecution and spiritual warfare. He told them - and I believe he also tells any of us who want to follow him – “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” On the night before his violent and torturous crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives…” I believe this means that the “peace” Jesus offers is not like the “peace” the world offers. The world seems to offer peace by running away from conflict, by glossing over differences, by pretending everything is okay. Jesus offers His peace while we are running into battle, while we are taking a stand, and while we are working, maybe even fighting, to be peacemakers. I started to tell Winston that Jesus was a man of peace, but then some of these verses came to mind. I began to feel dishonest or at least hypocritical, so instead I explained that Jesus gives us something to live for and something worth dying for. I asked Winston if there was anything he thought was worth dying for, and he said that as a citizen he should be willing to die for his country. I explained that countries really are only temporary, but that a greater cause would be to give one’s life for God and His glory. Sometimes that will mean dying in service to one’s country, or to defend one’s family, or in service to Christ. Do the many religious wars negate the validity of the Gospel? Many faithful Christians have died for their faith and in service to God in many ways. Looking back from the larger picture of history it may seem many died in vain or for causes we now judge to be unworthy, or at least mistaken. But before we judge, let’s ask ourselves, what will we die for? What are we even living for? The peace Jesus offers is not the worldly peace that comes from disinterest in the things of heaven like Winston has, but peace in the midst of living and sometimes fighting for the glory of God and laying down our lives like Jesus did.

How did God create the world? Did he create every different kind of plant and animal directly, or did he use some kind of evolutionary process, guiding the development of living things from the simplest to the most complex? And how quickly did God bring about creation? Was it all completed within six twenty-four-hour days, or did he use thousands or perhaps millions of years? How old is the earth, and how old is the human race? These questions face us when we deal with the doctrine of creation. Unlike most of the earlier material in this series, this lesson treats several questions on which evangelical Christians have differing viewpoints, sometimes very strongly held ones. This chapter is organized to move from those aspects of creation that are most clearly taught in Scripture, and on which almost all evangelicals would agree (creation out of nothing, special creation of Adam and Eve, and the goodness of the universe), to other aspects of creation about which evangelicals have had disagreements (whether God used a process of evolution to bring about much of creation, and how old the earth and the human race are). This is Lesson 7, based on chapter 7 of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Bible Doctrine” – an abridged version of his longer work – “Systematic Theology”. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with others comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

Conversations between Catholics and Protestants about the basics of salvation often end up with both sides “talking past” one another, and I wonder if this could be avoided if we could realize we are both talking about two sides of the same coin. I’ll try to explain. I asked a Catholic man named Onofre?, from Mexico, about the difference between someone who ends up in heaven and someone who ends up in hell. His answer included the usual Catholic emphasis on doing good deeds, loving one’s neighbor, etc. Of course, as a Protestant, my emphasis was on the free gift of grace God gives us when we put our faith in Christ. Onofre agreed, but said that one’s faith must include repentance of one’s sins, which leads to the good actions he was speaking of. We Protestants possibly overreact when Catholics seem to depend on their good works rather than on Christ, and Catholics possibly overreact when Protestants speak of faith without mentioning the works that result from repentance. Could it be that both sides see what is lacking in the other while being blinded to what is lacking in their own perspective? Jesus warned us that many religious people will claim to belong to Him and He will plainly say “I never knew you!” Catholics might think Jesus was referring to those Protestants who “prayed a prayer” for salvation which never included repentance or a changed life, or who also look down on others for not belonging to the right church or having the right doctrine. Protestants might think Jesus was referring to Catholics who think they will be saved because of their religious piety, church attendance, and good deeds while hypocritically looking down on others, or simply because they are baptized members of the Catholic church but unchanged and still worldly. Either way, maybe both Catholics and Protestants need to listen to the criticism of the other side and see it as a correction for their own overreactions. As I see it, Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who began the protest for church reform in 1517 that led to the Protestant Reformation, was himself guilty of overreaction when he referred to the letter of James as an “Epistle of Straw”. He didn’t question its inclusion in the Bible, but instead questioned its importance in expressing the Gospel. I would argue that, instead, the letter of James is highly important in helping both Catholics and Protestants avoid the overreaction of our respective positions. In James, we have a discussion of the relative importance of faith and works, two key points of discussion between Catholics and Protestants. James 2:18-20 says “But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” It also goes on to say “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” As Luther saw it, a major problem with the Catholic Church of his time was an emphasis on good works to the point that many people thought they must ADD their own good works to the work of Christ in order to be saved. In my Gospel outreach conversations with Catholics, I find that this is still the belief of many, but for others there is the understanding that the repentance that comes with faith in Christ alone will RESULT in good works. They know their good works can’t save, but the kind of faith that saves, does indeed work. When I ask these faithful Catholics how they can know they are saved, they often point to their works as evidence of that saving faith. We Protestants are tempted to think they believe their works have actually saved them, when they are really only looking at works as a sign of the salvation they already have in Christ. On the other hand, when I ask Protestants how they can know they are saved, many tell of praying a “sinner’s prayer” or of some sort of salvation experience, but don’t have the repentance and good works that come from that kind of saving faith. They might think faith is simply belief without repentance, but James says “Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” If “salvation” were like a coin, it would have two sides – faith on one side, and repentance (that leads to good works) on the other. We may look at that coin from different perspectives, but both faith and repentance are on the coin, both come from God, and both are part of the salvation experience.

Late in our conversation at a park, I asked a man named Julio “Isn’t an artist greater than the art they create?” I guess I thought the answer would be obvious, but Julio thought about it and said that no, not necessarily, as he has sometimes appreciated great art pieces only to find out that the artists who created them were basically jerks who were full of themselves. He made a good point, and I needed to rethink my argument that one of the reasons God is worthy of our worship is because, as the ultimate Artist, God is so much greater than His wonderful creation which so often leaves us awestruck and speechless at the beauty of its creativity or vastness or intricacy. I had assumed Julio would agree with my assessment that any one of God’s attributes, His creativity in this case, would be so perfect as to compel us to bow down in worship. Earlier Julio had said that he believes in some sort of God or higher power but saw no need to worship Him, saying that the need to be worshiped would be a sign of weakness or a trite human emotion. In fact, Julio sees himself on the same level as God, believing that we are all part of God as both creator and creation. I think this illustrates what can happen when the lines between Creator and creation become blurred. We either bring God down to our level and criticize him for appearing to have human flaws and weaknesses, or we elevate ourselves up to God’s level and fail to acknowledge the awesomeness of His being that is so much higher and greater than ourselves. Either way, the result is the same: Like Julio we could never bring ourselves to bow down to God in worship. So to rethink my assumption that any one of God’s attributes would be enough to inspire us to worship, I need to say that God’s attributes probably should not be considered in isolation from one another. In the case of God’s creativity, for example, I could picture someone like Julio appreciating the Creator’s wonderful creation, yet considering the Bible’s description of God to have character flaws in his harsh judgement of sin, not realizing God has other perfect attributes such as His justice and His holiness. The Bible tells us we have only a partial understanding of God’s attributes from our observations of nature, which theologians call His “general revelation”. Romans 1 tells us that “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” This “general revelation”, available to all people regardless of religious background, is enough to convict us of our pride, our arrogance, and our sin in relation to a Creator who is so much greater and wiser than ourselves. But this general revelation is not enough to save us. For that, we need the specific revelation of God’s Word, where we can read or hear about God’s “specific revelation” of salvation through faith in Jesus. As Christians and believers in God’s Word, we have the freedom to enjoy each of God’s many attributes, whether we learned of them in general revelation through nature, or in the specific revelation in God’s Word. When we see God’s attributes in context, we can enjoy them all without condemnation. We can appreciate the art of the Creator, yes, but we can also bow down and worship the Artist himself in all of his glory.

How can God be three persons, yet one God? The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. To study the Bible’s teachings on the Trinity gives us great insight into the question that is at the center of all of our seeking after God: What is God like in himself? Here we learn that in himself, in his very being, God exists in the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet he is one God. This is Lesson 6, based on chapter 6 of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Bible Doctrine” – an abridged version of his longer work – “Systematic Theology”. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with others comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

Why is it that some people I talk to about the possibility of eternal life are really not that concerned about the subject, while others can’t stop thinking about it, like a young man named Carlos I talked to recently? He told me “I’m in a 24/7 state of constant worry” and as a result he was very passionate in talking about it. But surely, this kind of worry and stress can’t be good for a person. And it can’t be what God wants for us. After all, didn’t Jesus say “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Jesus offers a “peace that passes all understanding”; yet Carlos’ constant sense of worry and fear actually comes from not knowing just where he stands with Jesus from one day to the next. On the one hand, he has committed some horrible sins in the past, which he says he has repented of and that he has been changing his life around. On the other hand, however, he never knows if he has done enough good to make up for the bad he has done, and he certainly doesn’t want to fall back into the same bad behaviors. So why don’t more people have this sense of urgency when it comes to spiritual things? Relatively few of the people I talk to who seem to have a certain sense of peace about spiritual things, often to the point of disinterest, tell me their peace with God comes through faith in Jesus. Instead, I find a whole lot of suppression, denial, diversion, and escapism tactics. Rather than live with the stress and worry that Carlos spoke of, most seem to have settled into the false sense of peace that comes from distraction through entertainment or busyness, or from the self-righteousness that comes from false beliefs about God. I found Carlos’ urgency to be honest and refreshing, even though it’s not a state of mind I believe God wants for him in the long run. Carlos’ urgency puts him closer to God than the complacency of the disinterested. It is for this reason Jesus often made statements that pushed people out of their peaceful comfort zone. He said “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, not peace, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.” Jesus wanted to keep people from mind-numbing complacency when he said “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” He knew people need to turn from their false sense of security before they could receive the only true path to peace. They need to know they need to be saved before they are ready to receive the Savior. So does that mean Carlos needs to stay in a state of constant worry and stress toward God forever? Absolutely not! It just means he needs to turn from the false security he is trying to find by trusting in his own good efforts, and instead put his trust in the one who offers true security. All of Jesus’ statements offering the “peace that passes all understanding” are directed toward those who put their faith in Him rather than in themselves or someone else. And the many statements Jesus made about bringing a “sword” or causing division are designed to shake up the complacency of those with a false sense of security. I think that message has already hit home with Carlos.

How is God like us? In this lesson we consider the attributes of God that are “communicable,” or more shared with us than those mentioned in the previous lesson. The list of attributes here put in the category “communicable” is a common one, but understanding the definition of each attribute is more important than being able to categorize the attributes in exactly the way presented in this book. This is Lesson 5, based on chapter 5 of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Bible Doctrine” – an abridged version of his longer work – “Systematic Theology”. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with others comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

Many people I meet on the street self-identify as, say, atheist, agnostic, or any one of a number of religions, but I rarely meet anyone who would call themselves a “secular humanist”. So I was interested to find out more about secular humanism from a man named Rich I talked with at the park recently. And as I’ve considered what he told me, as well as looking up more about it on my own, I’m convinced many people would qualify as secular humanists, even in churches, and don’t even realize it. It’s a kind of worldly thinking that can be easily disguised as something else, so it needs to be identified. What makes it hard to identify is probably the “humanist” part. The American Humanist Association describes humanism as “a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility.” There is so much there that has close parallels with Christianity. When God created He brought order to chaos, making logic and science possible. The beauty of creation shouts of the artistry of it’s Creator, and the fine-tuning of our earth for life demonstrates His compassion, as it is also demonstrated throughout history in the pages of Scripture. As creatures made in God’s image, we each carry His dignity and intrinsic worth and value, and the freedom we find in Christ allows us to live out God’s concern for our fellow image-bearers, both now and in our stewardship of our planet for future generations. The part that betrays worldliness, though, is the “secular” part. “Secular” is defined as “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.” Together, then, secular humanism is “the belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.” That was pretty much the way Rich described himself, and even though many people don’t realize it, any pursuit of self righteousness and fulfillment without being rooted in God’s standard of morality and His purpose for our lives is the very definition of secular humanism itself. No, as created beings our purpose comes from our Creator, as do our standards of morality. The Bible gives us Someone greater than ourselves to live for. We are to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” – the eternal, not the temporal. And though we all have a general sense of morality in our God-given conscience, the Bible gives us “teaching… reproof… correction, and… training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16) This doesn’t mean Christians are to throw out our God-given ability to think and reason for ourselves. Acts 17:11 gives an example of the value of critical thinking: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” We are to evaluate and discern between the secular and the spiritual: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:5) The secular goal of living out all that it means to be human, as Rich put it, is too small, for who would better know what we are capable of as humans than the one who created us? We are creatures made in God’s image, yes, but He wants so much more for us than that. God wants us to live out our purpose as children of our Heavenly Father: “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil 4:6) “…in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3) Eph 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace, through God and not of ourselves, and then vs.10 goes on to tell us to what purpose we are saved for: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are created to be children of God through faith in Jesus, and created to then do the good works God intends for us. And there is nothing more human than that. Youtube Channel: YouTube.com/c/jeffreiman #secular #humanism

How do we know that God exists? Can we really know God? How is God different from us? In this lesson and the next we will examine various aspects of God’s character, traditionally referred to as his “attributes.” But before addressing the character of God, it is necessary to begin with the basic question, how do we know that God exists? This question is not a major focus of this text and is treated more fully in courses on apologetics. However, an introduction to some of the evidence for God’s existence will provide a helpful foundation for the study of God’s character. Beyond this, we can also ask whether, if God does exist, is it possible for us to really know him? This is Lesson 4, based on chapter 4 of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Bible Doctrine” – an abridged version of his longer work – “Systematic Theology”. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

For decades, a northwest Indiana fundamental Baptist mega church sent a fleet of buses into many Chicago neighborhoods such as mine to pick up children for their youth evangelism ministry. The buses were staffed mostly by students from the church’s Bible college, who led the ministry both at the church and in the buses while traveling. They taught Bible stories, scripture memorization and shared the Gospel, with many games and prizes along the way to make it fun and exciting for the children. Seeing their buses came and go every Sunday I have to admit I was somewhat critical that they took kids away from their families and local churches and enticed them with so much fun and games. I was running a local church youth ministry at the time and couldn’t begin to compete with them. But I could see that as the children they worked with got older, the sparkle of the fun and prizes wore off and the implications of Gospel’s call to repentance and faith became real, so most ended up dropping out of the bus program as young teens. Later scandals made it even easier to be critical of their ministry, and I became more committed to local, relational ministry as a result. However, as I have been reaching out to people in these same neighborhoods over the years, I’ve met many dozens of adults who had been involved with this bus ministry as children. I’ve had the chance to ask them about their experiences, and overwhelmingly I’ve noticed that, although most have fallen away from any profession of faith they might have made in the ministry, almost all have expressed a soft heart toward the things of God. One of these people was a young man named Alex, whom I met while grocery shopping. At first, when I asked about his beliefs, Alex seemed overwhelmed by despair and distraction to the point where he no longer believes in God or the hope of eternal life. But as we talked and he remembered more of what he had learned and experienced in the bus ministry as a child, the embers of his faith began to turn into a flame. Like so many children of parents who are willing to give their kids over to strangers on a Sunday morning rather than take them to their own local church themselves, Alex had no local church to fall back on once he stopped going, and instead fell into the distractions and temptations of the neighborhood. He freely confesses he would need to make some serious changes if he were to begin to follow Jesus through repentance and faith. But I could tell he still has the hope of God’s love that he first heard about through the faithful youth leaders he met in the bus ministry. Psalm 34 tells us “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Alex has been privileged to “taste and see” of the things of God through this ministry. Despite my misgivings about it years ago, I’ve met people like Alex and am increasingly grateful for the work God began in them through this ministry. Without it, they may never have experienced the hope of heaven and the love of God’s people, and their hearts would likely be hardened as a result. Now, I believe Alex has no doubt that he could also be one who is blessed as “one who takes refuge” in God. I hope he realizes he needs not only to repent and believe for salvation, but also to spend time daily in God’s word and regularly with God’s people in a local church. The seeds planted by the faithful people of the bus ministry are still there, and his heart is still soft enough for them to grow.

I got a bit of a history lesson from a conversation with a man named Rudolfo, an atheist and retired social studies professor from Mexico. He views the Protestant work ethic of Americans and its close association with capitalism as a better path toward prosperity than the traditional economics of Mexico, which he believes were stifled by the politics and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Rudolfo talked about Benito Juarez, former President of Mexico, a liberal reformer who viewed the Catholic Church as a major obstacle to bringing prosperity to the people of Mexico. Juarez worked to break up the economic monopoly held by the Roman Catholic Church and other rich landowners in order to build a vibrant middle class, and he viewed Catholic teachings as stifling to people’s motivation to work hard and to take risks as entrepreneurs. I had initiated this conversation with Rudolfo in order to create an opportunity to share the Gospel, not to discuss politics or economics, but in the case of the “Protestant work ethic” I believe there is a close connection to the Gospel. Rudolfo talked about how, even as an atheist, he is still a baptized member of the Catholic Church and how he felt it would be easy for people to lose their motivation to work hard in this life as long as they faithfully raise a family, support the church, and look forward to prosperity guaranteed in the next life rather than in this one. On the other hand, Rudolfo believes North American Protestants are motivated by a need to work for a salvation that is not guaranteed by church membership, and he believes this has been the motivation for a work ethic that has brought great prosperity to Americans and built a strong middle class. He was pretty outspoken in our conversation, but I did my best to explain a more biblical view for what has come to be called the Protestant work ethic. While it is true that salvation is not guaranteed by membership in a church, it is NOT true that salvation can be earned by good works or hard work. Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation, emphasized the biblical truth that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph.2:8-9) So if salvation is given by God as a free gift, why the Protestant emphasis on hard work? And this is not necessarily the religious work needed to build up the church, but also includes secular occupations that result in building up one’s family, community and society. Why would Protestants become known for such values as diligence, discipline, and frugality? Luther also emphasized the dignity of work – that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph.2:10) We were created for work, and can find great fulfillment and dignity in our efforts. Originally, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it.” It was only after our fall into sin that work became burdensome and often treated with scorn and contempt. But in Christ, not only church workers but workers in all sorts of moral and beneficial jobs can have a noble vocation, using our God-given abilities to fulfill our God-given roles in life. In this way, we don’t work to BE saved, but rather we work hard in noble vocations because we ARE saved. However, while I believe this idea of the Protestant work ethic started with these simple beginnings, I think it went on to take on much cultural baggage. As a sign of salvation, hard work and discipline came to be viewed as a way to virtue signal to others that one is blessed by God, much in the same way that great wealth was in biblical times and still is. It became closely connected with corporate capitalism, and as people became more removed from the consequences of their hard work the lines between moral and immoral occupations became blurred. Many southern white protestants, not wanting to be associated with slave labor, lost sight of the dignity of work and fell into poverty themselves and created a permanent underclass. And now, the phrase is often seen as a racist reference to white supremacy, as if whites are the only people who work hard in noble vocations. I can only share what I know to be true. I remember working hard in wrestling practice in high school, and thinking “I’m sure glad I have a coach, because I could never make myself work this hard on my own.” I knew I would only do the minimal amount it took to keep the coaches from kicking my butt, and I thought that as an adult I would probably need the same kind of motivation. But when I became a Christian, my thinking changed. Instead of asking what I HAD to do to get by, I asked what do I GET to do to please my Heavenly Father? I prayed “Lord, you gave your life for me. Now I want to give my life for You”. And that, to me, is the simple essence of the Protestant work ethic.

Can only Bible scholars understand the Bible rightly? For what purposes is the Bible necessary? Is the Bible enough for knowing what God wants us to think or do? Since we affirmed in the introduction that systematic theology attempts to summarize the teaching of the whole Bible on various subjects, we are now explaining why we would focus exclusively on the Bible as God’s word. We turn from a discussion of the authority of Scripture in Lesson 02, to discuss here in Lesson 03 (1) the clarity of Scripture, (2) the necessity of Scripture, and (3) the sufficiency of Scripture. With regard to the first characteristic, most Christians would agree that the Bible is our authority in some sense. But in exactly what sense does the Bible claim to be our authority? And how do we become persuaded that the claims of Scripture to be God’s Word are true? These are the questions addressed in this chapter. This is Lesson 3, based on chapter 3 of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Bible Doctrine” – an abridged version of his longer work – “Systematic Theology”. There are recordings of Grudem teaching from his longer book available online, and as we would expect with someone of his expertise, his teaching is very extensive, even more so as he answers questions from his class. On the other hand, my purpose here is to offer a very concise version of his abridged book, focusing on the major topics he covers and especially highlighting the passages from the Bible that relate to each topic. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context? My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration. I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well. Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows: Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56

Is it possible to share the Gospel without being the self-righteous, judgmental type? I believe it is, and here’s why… In the Bible, Jesus warns his listeners not to judge others the way the self-righteous Pharisees had been judging Him, who had been just waiting for a sound bite from him that would allow them to dismiss him and cancel him out of existence. Many claim that when Jesus said “Do not judge”, it meant we should never judge anyone else. But here’s what he said in context: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matt.7) Jesus wasn’t telling us not to judge. To stop judging would mean we have to stop thinking. Instead he went on to warn what would happen if we are judgmental like the Pharisees – “for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged”. Rather than teach us NOT to judge, Jesus taught us HOW to judge. We are to be careful to judge ourselves first – “first take the plank out of your own eye” he went on to say. After healthy self-examination, Jesus then taught that “then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” The kind of judging we can do for others is judgement or discernment that will help them, just like physically helping improve their sight or removing a splinter. We can use our natural ability and tendency to judge people and the world around us for their well-being. One way in which to help others by judging is to help them guard against false teachers and false teaching. Later in Matthew 7 Jesus taught how to judge false teachers: “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” and “by their fruit you will recognize them”. To follow Jesus, then, means that we as Christians will use our God-given ability to judge and discern truth first (and regularly) upon ourselves, and then to help others with their problems and to help them recognize false teaching. This is what I try to do in my Gospel outreach conversations, such as a friendly and respectful conversation I had on a street corner with a young man named Mike. Mike believed himself to be a good person in God’s eyes, so I asked some questions to help him compare himself to God’s standard – God’s moral laws such as the Ten Commandments – rather than just human standards like just being a friendly and positive person. In doing this I was trying to help him judge himself – to remove the “plank” out of his own eye – so that he could see more clearly and then to be able to recognize false teachings he has come to accept. I tried to help him see the inconsistency in his beliefs when I asked if he thought he was better than other people. “Oh no” he said, so I pointed out this would put him on the same level as, say, Hitler! If we truly believe in good and bad moral behaviors, we need to see ourselves as somewhere on the moral spectrum, and this means some people will be better and some worse than ourselves morally. We must naturally do this when we judge ourselves and others by human standards. But when it comes to our relationship with God this human standard of judgment is a sign of the false teaching that makes all most religions “works-based” – that is, dependent on our own human efforts to earn some sort of heavenly reward. In contrast, God’s standard of judgment is His moral perfection, which puts us all in the same moral category – guilty sinners who can't save ourselves by our own efforts. Only by God’s standards can we avoid the judgmental, self righteous attitudes of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned, and include ourselves in the same sinful category as the next guy, able to judge ourselves and help that next guy to do the same, and to help them see that we are all equally in need of the Savior.

How do you determine spiritual truth? Reason? Common sense? Logic? These approaches seem sensible, maybe even scientific. So why do they lead to so many different conclusions? One reason my outreach conversations never cease to be interesting to me is I am amazed at how varied and creative the answers are to my simple question – “What do you think happens after this life?” A young man named Oscar responded with a detailed description of his belief that we are, as humans, the result of an experiment conducted by aliens who are monitoring our response to their manipulations of our gene pool, and that as higher powers these aliens themselves are gods from other galaxies. Oscar had cobbled together his beliefs from various videos he has watched on the history channel, especially “Ancient Aliens”. He wasn’t joking, and I took him seriously, because this is really no different than dozens of other beliefs I’ve heard. After all, outside of God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible we are left with either our own reason, common sense, and logic, or the reasoning and logic of others. Of course. some unbiblical beliefs are more common that others. Some I would say have reached the level of “accepted science”, such as the idea that since energy cannot be created or destroyed but simply changes forms, then our spirit or soul will likewise change forms when we die and become absorbed into a larger energy collective. Basically, we just cease to exist. After I talked a while and focused on the fact that building and creating our own ideas about God is really a modern form of idol worship, Oscar turned from his space alien theory and focused on perhaps the most common idea about God and eternity of all: that on God’s balance scale we will be rewarded in heaven for our good deeds. But I thought it was interesting how in one conversation I heard one of the most outlandish views of eternal truths - involving space alien gods - juxtaposed with one of the common views, a heavenly reward for our good behavior. It was interesting because both views have something in common – they are based on the reason, common sense, and logic of man, and they are both equally mistaken. Using our God-given faculties of logical thinking and common sense serves us well in many areas of life. But when it comes to spiritual truth, our ultimate authority needs to be God’s direct revelation through His Word. In the Bible, the first letter of John ends abruptly with a warning: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” It’s an important reminder, because we can build idols physically, but we can also build them in our imaginations when we rely on our own abilities to know and describe God. But how can we avoid idols? Fortunately, just before ending with that warning against idolatry, John gave advice on just how to do so: “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” Knowing Jesus is the way to avoid idolatry. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the image of the invisible God, which means if you want to know God, look to Jesus. John tells us that Jesus gives understanding, and we learn about Jesus’ life and ministry through God’s word, the Bible. It might not seem as polished and engaging and provocative as “Ancient Aliens”, but then again, it is there to give us eternal truth that can lead us to a right relationship with our Creator, not to distract us and lead us unwittingly into idolatry.