Gospel.com Blog

Here are a few sermons on heaven and hell from sermonindex.net:

Hell, What is it like?

What and Where is Heaven?

Heaven

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Revelations 4:

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

This week’s focus at Gospel.com is church history—the often inspiring, sometimes discouraging chain of people and events that embodied the Christian church throughout the centuries. It seems fitting to kick off our church history week by commemorating the birthday of one of the church’s greatest and most influential minds, Thomas Aquinas!

Aquinas, who yesterday would have turned 783 years old if he were still alive, is considered one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Christian church. While the popular stereotype of medieval theologians imagines them sitting around debating minutia (“How many angels could dance on the head of a pin?”), Aquinas wrestled with many of the same fundamental questions about God and Christianity that skeptics and believers ask today: Can the existence of God be proven by logic? How can God be three persons in one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How can Jesus have been both fully God and fully human?

Here are a few links to explore if you want to get to know this great theologian/philosopher a bit better:

(more…)

Christians rarely have trouble remember that Jesus was God—after all, that’s pretty key to our understanding of the Gospel story. But in focusing on his divine nature, is it possible that we overlook and minimize the fact that he was also fully human?

Jesus’ dual nature as both God and man is a difficult concept to wrap our minds around, but it’s a important part of Christian belief. Delve Into Jesus offers us some help in understanding this paradox with a new devotional essay, Human God.

(more…)

What does it mean to be human? It might sound like a cliched question from a Philosophy 101 class, but it’s an important one–how can we make moral decisions about life, death, and ethics if we can’t define exactly what it means to be a human being? The philosophy of “humanism” has taken widespread root in our culture–but do we know what that means?

These are the questions asked by apologist Ravi Zacharias in a moving and insightful talk about his new book The Grand Weaver. Listen to his talk in MP3 or RealMedia. If you couldn’t explain what it means to be human, or what your purpose in life is, Ravi’s talk will give you plenty to think about.

The last several months have seen a number of essays and articles in the mainstream press about the phenomenon of “new atheism”–a resurgence of interest in atheism, as expressed by charismatic writers and speakers. Atheism presents many challenges to the church, raising questions about Jesus, the reliability of the Bible, and even the rationality of religious faith. Can Christians answer these challenges?

Many Christian apologists are responding to the questions raised by “new atheism.” Over at Uplook Ministries, Will Bennett has posted a lengthy essay summarizing important atheist claims and pointing out what he sees as their weaknesses. Elsewhere in the Gospelcom Alliance, the Just Thinking” column archive at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries is a good apologetic resource, particularly an essay on doubt and certainty by Alistair McGrath. And over at RBC Ministries, the “Answers to Tough Questions” site has a section devoted to questions about the existence of God.

There’s a lot of reading material to absorb in those links, but if the atheism/religion debate interests you, these apologetic essays are a good place to find the beginnings of a Christian response to atheism’s challenge.

Recently, comments about Islam made by the Pope caused a tremendous stir in the Muslim world. What was the Pope trying to say–was his controversial statement a slip of the tongue, or an important part of his argument? How do Christians communities living in predominately Muslim lands respond to the statement? A new column at Arab Vision analyzes the Pope’s comments and the impact they’ve had on religious dialogue throughout the world.

Is there a Christian case for environmental stewardship? Christianity is often seen as indifferent (or even hostile) to modern issues of environmental conservation. Does the Bible give us any guidelines for relating to our environment on Earth? Is Christianity responsible for careless and destructive attitudes towards the environment?

These are the questions addressed by Preston Bristow in a recent article on the root causes of the ecological crisis today. Bristow relates the story of early Christian ecological pioneers, presents the case for Biblical stewardship of the Earth, and challenges Christians to discard destructive and un-Biblical ideas about humans and their relationship to God’s Creation.

Is it possible to remain faithful to Christ while at the same time standing up for the rights of those who disagree with us? That’s the question Mart DeHaan is asking in his latest Been Thinking column:

My guess is that most of us would vote to protect a person’s right to be a Buddhist, Muslim, or atheist American. Yet, who would deny that voting to protect a person’s right to reject Christ is as serious as the public policy issues that are dividing us?

In today’s political climate, Christians are often asked to defend the rights of those who don’t share our beliefs or values. Are we ignoring Christ’s command to spread the Gospel when we stand up for the rights of other to practice non-Christian religions? DeHaan suggests that, in the face of such ethical questions, it’s time to remind ourselves exactly what it is that we believe. Read the full column and take a few moments to ponder this important–but often undiscussed–issue.

Looking for a sermon on a particular topic? If you can’t find it at the Sermon Index, there’s a good chance it doesn’t exist! Sermon Index has recently topped 10,000 audio sermons, in addition to the 15,000 text sermons. There are also active forums, podcasts, and a collection of vintage photos to help you in your reading–well worth a visit, whether you’re a minister researching a particular topic or “just” interested in hearing what Christianity’s great thinkers have to say about a certain subject.

The Ravi Zacharias ministry website has some excellent new articles online this month. For starters, try this interesting piece on “squandering” life, in which Betsy Childs compares our culture’s idea of the successful life with the Biblical ideal.