Gospel Quote - Stop Running and Come Home

(Continued from yesterday) "God gave us the car-keys to planet earth and said, “Go have fun!” True, we responded by crashing the car. But don’t miss the bigger point, which is this: Knowing what we would do, and knowing how much it would cost him to repair the damage, God went ahead and did it anyway. Why? Because he loves us and believes in us and hopes that one day we will stop running and come home." -- Paul Ellis

Photo by Ryan McAbee

Gospel Quote - Didn't Wash His Hands of Us

Photo by Lucille Pine

(Continued from yesterday) "But God, good Father that he is, didn’t wash his hands of us. He didn’t say, “What a bunch of screw-ups. They’re no kids of mine.” Instead, he made things right, indeed, even better than before, because he still believes in us, he still thinks the best of us, and he longs for us to trust him back. Is this not the greatest untold story of human history?" -- Paul Ellis (Continued tomorrow)

Behind Every Sin - New Graphic

Here is the newest graphic I made in English and Romanian. They are 1920 x 1080 (HD sized). You can download them here: English Romanian. If you click directly on the photo Blogger will open it and you can right click and download it that way as well but they will be a bit smaller (1600 x 900). Here is a link to all the graphics I have made so far: William's graphics

Photo by Texas.713

Why Believe in God? Video, Slides and Notes

Here are the video, slides and notes from my teaching in Bucharest last Sunday. The teaching is in English with Romanian translation. The text in the video is Romanian but you can click on the slides below to see the English as you watch the teaching. The notes are below the slides in two sizes- A4 (Europe) and Letter (United States). You can also watch the video on YouTube if you prefer. Why Believe in God?

18. De ce să crezi în Dumnezeu? from William Anderson on Vimeo.

18. Why Believe in God? from William Anderson

This is the 19th study in the “Growing Deep in the Gospel” series and is the third one dealing with defending the gospel. In this study we answered the question “Why Believe in God?” by looking at five arguments that show why belief in God is the most reasonable conclusion. Those arguments included the cosmological, teleological, moral law, prophecy, and heart-wired.

18. Why Believe in God Notes (A4) from William Anderson

18. Why Believe in God Notes (Letter sized) from William Anderson

Gospel Quotes - What Exaclty is Belief?

Here is a quote from J. D. Greear's new book Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You are Saved which will be coming out on February 1 this year.

Here is how many Christians think of “getting saved:” You realize you’re a sinner and you need Jesus to save you. So you approach Him and ask. Of course He says, “Yes,” writes your name in the Lamb’s book of life, and gives you a “certificate” of salvation. If you begin to doubt whether or not you are really “saved,” you go back and replay the moment of your conversion.

Wrong image, I believe. Here’s the problem with it: What if you begin to ask, as I did, “Did I really feel sorry enough for my sin? Did my life change enough after I asked Him into my heart? Did I understand enough about Jesus, or my sin, or grace, when I prayed?” Uh-oh. Better ask again. Back you to go to Jesus, asking Him again to save you, and you feel better for a while. You can do this as much as you want until you meet Jesus in heaven, at which point you might finally be absolutely assured that you’re going to heaven.

That’s not how the Bible depicts salvation. Re-imagine the above example, but this time when you come to Jesus, instead of asking Him for a “certificate” of salvation, you tell Him that you believe what God’s Word says about His Lordship and His completed work at the cross. You then hop up into His arms, now depending on Him to carry you to heaven. You are leaning your weight on what He did, not on what you will do, to get you there.

If you begin to doubt whether or not you really belong to Jesus, what should you do? Do you go back in your mind to that moment when you first hopped up into His arms? You could. But perhaps it would be easier simply to think about where you are currently resting your weight. “Belief” is resting your weight on Christ’s finished work, and that is something you never stop doing. The way you know you are doing it now is not by remembering when you first started doing it, but by reflecting on the present posture of your heart. Your present posture is better proof than a past memory.

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What Exactly is Belief?