When the Restoration Movement began in our nation in the early 19th century their slogan was: In essentials unity, in matters of opinion liberty, in all things love.  This is the movement from which independent Christian churches, Disciples of Christ and Churches of Christ emerged.  People wanted to restore the church back to the Bible.  The Bible would be the only creed.  They understood that when it comes to our Christian faith, we must be united in the essentials; but when it comes to matters of opinion there is freedom.  Today there are people who confuse their opinion with the essentials of theology.  As followers of Jesus, we must be able to know the essentials from the non-essentials of our faith.  The non-negotiable from what is negotiable.

The Bible is the word of God; God uses it to transform us into the people he wants us to be.  Jesus prayed that his people be set apart by his truth. John 17:17 (Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth)
2 Tim.3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
For Christians to experience growth and transformation in their lives; they must not lose the hunger for God’s word.  As baby craves for milk, we must long for the Bible so we can truly grow.

As followers of Jesus we need to be acquainted with the gospel; we need to know what it is and what it isn’t. In a shifting culture, it’s imperative that Jesus followers know the content of gospel; a word that appears over 75 times in the NT. For some people when they hear the word gospel, they think of a type of music. When we read in the NT about the gospel, it never refers to a musical genre. The gospel was the reason many Christians died in the first and 2nd century.

Maybe you have seen the TV show by Morgan Freeman, “The story of God” For centuries people have wrestled with the question is there a God out there? How do you even know that God exists? Is there evidence out there to the existence of God? If the skeptics would consider the evidence they would know that God exists and that He wanted people to know him. So if you doubt his existence, he welcomes you to examine the evidence that point to himself. You can get to know this God, not just know about him.
Scripture tells us that what is known about God is plain or visible, it’s evident.

At the beginning of the year you get to see lots of resources on the web in how to be a better person; people pledge themselves to obtain certain goals in life and so forth. You are probably familiar with the book “Become a better you” by Joel Osteen. His book and many other books have great advice for people whether you are Christian or not. Things like don’t worry, be kind to yourself and others, set goals, forgive those who offended you; always love people more than things, work diligently, etc. However, why is it so hard to implement these things in our lives?