Recap & Review

Posted On April 30, 2024

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance …”

Proverbs 1:5 ESV

I had a training for work last week about engaging distracted students. One of the tips the speaker shared was the idea of coming back to a concept over and over and digging a little deeper into it each time. In addition to helping me with my teaching, this also got me thinking about my blog. Since we finished Part I of the story, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a breath and reflect on what we’ve learned so far before moving on. As the speaker pointed out, we can gain valuable insight by going back and looking at something a second time.

And the more I consider the crazy summer I’ve got coming up (including a big family vacation and completely revamping two courses for work), I think a summer break from writing this blog is going to be necessary. So, I thought this would be a great time to recap and review some of the doctrines we’ve discussed, as well as give everyone time to catch up on the story if needed. As a reminder, our plan for 2024 is a new format that blends an ongoing fiction story with a devotional each week. Our current story is a science fiction tale I’ve named Awakening. It’s a story about faith, with a focus on the core beliefs of Christianity. Click here for Quick Links to all the chapters in Part I of the story.

We’ll wait until the fall to start Part II. In the meantime, I plan to send out links through Facebook each week during May, June, July, and August to some old posts that tie in to these topics as well, so be sure to be on the lookout for those. I have also included links to them at the end of this post.

This week, I put together a summary of the doctrines we’ve covered so far in the story by copying over sections of Faith’s notes (in the gray boxes) and excerpts from Foundations of Faith (in the green boxes). As you read over them, concentrate on what they reveal to you about God’s Word, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If you’re anything like me, you may be amazed at the new ways God speaks to you through an “old” passage. There are infinite worlds of knowledge to discover as we slow down and focus our attention on what God has to say!

In case you are new to Awakenings, the main character’s name is Faith. In addition to the story line itself, I have been writing fictional study notes and journal entries for Faith to review as she tries to fill in the gaps in her memory. Here are the excerpts from Faith’s “Notes from Christian Doctrines Course” that I’ve put into the story so far. I’ve been using these to tie in the doctrinal focus each week. As you read them (again or for the first time), see if you gain any new insights about God, about how He makes Himself known to us, or about how He wants us to live.

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 2
14 January 2318

“God has taken the initiative to make himself known.  The reasonableness of this concept should be plain.  For whoever or whatever God may be, he is altogether beyond our knowledge…. His infinite greatness is veiled from our eyes.  We cannot discover him by ourselves.  If we are ever to know him, he must make himself known.”
~John R. W. Stott

The Bible tells us that God’s thoughts and ways are far beyond our own (Isaiah 55:8-9). But it also says that we can know God because He has made the reality of Himself plain (Romans 1:19-20). God chooses to make Himself known to us, and He does so in many ways …

Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures are the most important means of revelation. God also speaks directly to individuals. He may do so with an audible voice, through angels, through other people, through the quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit, or in visions or dreams …

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 3
22 January 2318

“… it is God’s nature to be self-revealing. Logic says that the divine would be hidden and inaccessible, but Scripture shows that God desires to be known. It well may be that the hiddenness of God has more to do with the tentativeness of our search than with divine reluctance.”
-J. Ellsworth Kalas

Revelation is a difficult concept in that it requires both searching and faith. The means of revelation may vary, but one of the most significant ways God communicates is through His Word. God sent His Word to teach us, so we would be wise to fervently embrace its instruction. We must continually search for God with all our heart and soul (Deuteronomy 4:29), but we must also trust God to reveal Himself as He chooses …

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 4
28 January 2318

“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.'”
-Matthew 6:9 ESV

“When Jesus taught His disciples to pray in what we call ‘the Lord’s Prayer,’ He emphasized the importance of contemplating God’s holiness … Before we start listing our requests and pouring out our troubles to the Lord in prayer, we ought to focus our full attention on God and His holiness, offering Him our heartfelt praise and adoration. When we reach a mindset of proper reverence, we can ‘draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb. 4:16).”
-Robert Jeffress

The Lord’s Prayer reminds us to focus first on God. We do this through worship, praise, gratitude, and an awareness of God’s holiness. As we learn to quiet our anxious thoughts and set our minds on things above, we prepare ourselves to receive the help He stands ready to offer. God leads us in many ways, and He will take responsibility for showing us what to do.

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 5
6 February 2318

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
-John 1:1-5 ESV

We celebrate Jesus’ birth in human form at Christmas, but we must not forget that the Son existed long before He ever came to Earth. As the second Person in the Holy Trinity, Jesus is fully God and He is eternal. He was active not only during His earthly life, but also before then, and He is still active today.

“In the Old Testament, the Word (or ‘word of the Lord’) refers to an aspect of God’s divine being that has a life of its own. In Genesis 1, the Word of the Lord brought creation into existence. In the stories of Abraham (Gen. 15:4), Elijah (1 Kings 18:1), Jeremiah (Jer. 28:12), and others, the Word of the Lord came to individuals, bearing messages from the Almighty. The Word acts as God’s agent in accomplishing God’s will. In New Testament times, the Greek word logos, or ‘word,’ was used to describe that which holds together the universe and gives it meaning. These are the concepts John drew on in John 1:1.”
-Robert Jeffress

The role of the Word in the Old Testament included creation, bringing light into the darkness, and revealing God’s truth. And God made Jesus the subject of thousands of years of biblical prophecy before His coming. In New Testament Christology, we see Jesus revealed as Word, Christ, Son of Man, suffering servant, Son of God, and Lord.

Jesus came to Earth not only to save us, but to be an example for us to follow. He was chosen to serve, and He chose to serve. The same is true for us. We are all called to serve the Lord, but we must choose to do so willingly. Embracing Christ means embracing the cross. That is, we must be willing to die to self and follow Him no matter the cost. In a sense, we are all called to be “suffering servants,” to humble ourselves so that the light of Christ can shine through us. This is the path we must be ready to walk.

“Thus there was born true God in the entire and perfect nature of true man, complete in his own properties, complete in ours…. He assumed the form of a servant without the stain of sin, making the human properties greater, but not detracting from the divine…. Each nature preserves its own characteristics without diminution, so that the form of a servant does not detract from the form of God.”
-Pope Leo I

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 6
12 February 2318

“Jesus approached God’s will as a previously solved maze puzzle, one that shows the exact route to take. It’s not a direct route. The best maze adventures never are. It will wind in ways that don’t always make sense to us. Sometimes it will seem as though we’re heading into places where there’s nothing but dead ends. Then we’ll see a path we hadn’t considered before, and it will lead us out. At the end of this maze, which we call life, is a place of ultimate fulfillment and joy.”
-Robert Jeffress

Jesus prioritized His Father’s Word, His Father’s presence, and His Father’s will. He diligently studied Scripture, expertly wielding it as a defensive spiritual weapon against Satan as he tempted Jesus to abandon His earthly mission in the wilderness. He refused to allow pressures of the day distract Him from spending quiet time alone in God’s presence. And He diligently pursued God’s will, embracing it as the only thing truly essential in His life. God’s will for our lives doesn’t always make sense to us, but God doesn’t leave us to figure things out on our own. He is ready and willing to help us if we will make time to listen to Him.

“When we look at the cross we see the greatness of divine love, which delivers us from fear and kindles in us an answering love. We respond to love with love and no longer live in selfishness and sin. Other ways of putting it include the view that the sight of the selfless Christ dying for sinners moves us to repentance and faith.”
-Leon L. Morris

Jesus is our example in how to follow God’s path for our lives. He died so that we could live. Are we willing to do the same? Are we willing to put to death anything in our lives that detracts us from God? Are we willing to serve others regardless of the cost? Are we willing to respond to Him in love, in repentance, and in faith?

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 7
20 February 2318

“The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The word spirit (Hebrew ruah, Greek pneuma) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around men, and understood by them as the power of God.”
-James D. G. Dunn

As Christians, we sometimes take for granted the power that resides in us. When we accepted Christ into our lives, we also accepted His power into ourselves. This is the same power that created and sustains the universe. It is the same power that parted the sea, healed the blind and lame, and brought the dead back to life. It is the supernatural power of God Himself. And it lives in us, giving us the strength and ability to do His will.

“The Spirit uses what we have and what we make available. And according to the biblical record, the Spirit uses what is needed in a given situation.”
-J. Ellsworth Kalas

One of the most fascinating and exciting things about the Holy Spirit is that He partners with us to accomplish His work. He doesn’t force His way into our lives. He will sit quietly in the background if that’s what we want. But if we are willing to make ourselves available to Him, He can do amazing things through us as we step out in obedience and faith.

As part of the story, I invented a book on doctrine that I titled Foundations of Faith. If you pay attention to the dates on Faith’s notes (2318 AD) compared to the fictional publication date for this book (2476 AD), you will notice that Foundations of Faith is something that doesn’t exist yet in the present timeline of the story. How it comes to be written is something I plan to reveal later. But for now, I’ve been using excerpts from it to summarize some of the doctrinal ideas we’ve been discussing. As you read them, see if anything new jumps out.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
~Matthew 22:37 GNT

Loving God includes loving Him with your mind. As God’s child, you should long to learn as much as you can about your heavenly Father. In doing so, you discover more about His ways and His will for your life. His thoughts are infinitely higher than yours, so you will never understand Him fully in this life, but you should strive to understand Him better today than you did yesterday. And you should continually remind yourself of what you believe.

You have important work to do in God’s kingdom. But building a solid foundation is essential before you can build anything else. A firm understanding of the core beliefs of your faith, and a strong dedication to their application in your life, is essential if you want to build something that will last. And a solid foundation is necessary for withstanding the storms that will invariably come.

The universe is unlike anything you could have ever imagined! And it is vital to prepare for whatever lies ahead. A faith that’s asleep is of no use to anyone. Let the Holy Spirit awaken your mind, refresh your soul, and transform your heart.

– – – – – – – – – –
Excerpt from FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH
25th anniversary ed., Helios Publishers, 240 AN (2476 AD)

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously,
and he will give you everything you need.”
~Matthew 6:33 NLT

God chooses to make Himself known to us, and He leads in many ways. It’s okay if there are times we don’t hear His voice. He is always with us, and we can trust Him to take the initiative to reveal His plans. God invites us to bring our questions to Him, but we should focus on seeking Him more than obsessing over finding answers.

The Holy Spirit is our guide for understanding God’s will. Jesus Christ is our example to follow. And the Bible is our standard for interpreting what God says.

The Bible connects us to God’s wisdom and power and allows us to glimpse life-changing truths. As we seek God in the Scriptures, He reveals who He is and teaches us to do His will. It can be difficult to distinguish God’s voice from the many others that surround us every day. But we can rest assured that God will keep speaking if we will keep listening. The best way we can learn to discern His voice is to spend time in His Word.

Seek God. Focus on Him. And the answers will come.

– – – – – – – – – –
Excerpt from FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH
25th anniversary ed., Helios Publishers, 240 AN (2476 AD)

“So go and make followers of all people in the world.
Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
~Matthew 28:19 NCV

God’s nature is to be self-revealing, and He has revealed Himself to be one God existing in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each equal yet distinct Person exists in loving relationship with the others, and each is fully God.

The fullness of this mystery is beyond our human understanding, but maybe trying to fully comprehend it isn’t the point. Twentieth-century Earth theologian Christopher Mwoleka offers us a useful, as well as challenging, perspective on the Trinity:

“I think we have problems in understanding the Holy Trinity because we approach the mystery from the wrong side. The intellectual side is not the best side to start with…. The right approach to the mystery is to imitate the Trinity…. God does not reveal Himself to us for the sake of speculation. He is not giving us a riddle to solve. He is offering us life. He is telling us: ‘This is what it means to live, now begin to live as I do.’ What is the one and only reason why God revealed this mystery to us if it is not to stress that life is not life at all unless it is shared? If we would once begin to share life in all its aspects, we would soon understand what the Trinity is all about and rejoice.”

Perhaps the best way to understand the Trinity is to imitate the Trinity. God has shown us that to live at all is to live in community. We cannot do this alone. Thankfully, we don’t have to. To go and make followers of all people means to bring them into this loving community of life with God and with each other. And then we can experience the life He has always meant for us to live.
– – – – – – – – – –
Excerpt from FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH
25th anniversary ed., Helios Publishers, 240 AN (2476 AD)

This week’s Scripture passages focus on the doctrines we’ve been discussing as well as the importance of holding on to the teachings we’ve received. By taking the time to recap and review what we’ve learned so far, I pray we will grow in wisdom, increase our understanding, and obtain guidance for the path ahead!

Here are links to some previous blog posts that also tie in to the doctrines and concepts we’ve been discussing this year. Feel free to review them this summer while you’re waiting for the next part of the story to be published. My goal is to have the first chapter of Part II published on September 1, so this list of posts should be enough to hold you over. To access a post listed below, click on the post title. I will also send out a link each week between now and then through Facebook. I hope reviewing these old posts will bless you in new ways. Have a wonderful summer, and I’ll see you back here in September! : )

Title	Topics/Theme	Date Published
Learning to Hear God	Holy Spirit, hearing God	5/10/2020
Prophecies and Promises	faith, promises, prophecy	10/11/2020
Read. Pray. Love.	renewal, God’s Word, prayer, love	1/3/2021
There All the Time	doubt, faith, seeking God	1/24/2021
Frozen and Waiting for Power	Holy Spirit, power, prayer, faith, Frozen	2/21/2021
Chaos Theory	chaos, providence, bigness of God	3/21/2021
What Did Jesus Say Right Before John 3:16?	faith, Christ, Son of Man	4/11/2021
Everything Is Kung Fu	spiritual training, obedience, The Karate Kid	4/25/2021
Set Your Mind on Things Above	wisdom, renewal, transformation	5/30/2021
SPACE PETS	Bible study, meditation, Rick Warren	6/20/2021
How to Stay Tuned In to God	hearing God, transformation, C. S. Lewis	6/27/2021
Following the Road Map	Bible study, Holy Spirit, wisdom, direction	7/4/2021
Programmed for Greatness	trust, transformation, computer programming	9/12/2021
The Power to Change the World	prayer, power, providence	10/17/2021
God’s Gentle Whisper	hearing God, voice of God, acoustic levitation	11/28/2021
Distance Learning	Bible study, faith, wisdom, math	1/23/2022
Write Your Story	faith, purpose, calling, evangelism, creative writing	3/27/2022

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Glory belongs to him both now and forever. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18 NIRV

References:

• Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Readings. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Dunn, James D. G. “The Doctrine of God the Holy Spirit.” The Portable Seminary, edited by David Horton and Ryan Horton, Bethany House, 2006, pp. 147-159.
• Jeffress, Robert. What Every Christian Should Know: 10 Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. Baker Books, 2023.
• Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Study Manual. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Stott, John R. W. “The Doctrine of Scripture: Introduction.” The Portable Seminary, edited by David Horton and Ryan Horton, Bethany House, 2006, pp. 22-24.

Images & Audio:

• Images created using Midjourney Bot AI image generator, midjourney.com
• Audio clips from mixkit.co