At the core of Christianity resides three key elements — faith, hope, and love — and all three elements share a common trait: they motivate one to act. James teaches us to live out our faith through works. John challenges us to love with deeds, not just words. And like its brethren, true hope compels one to seize a better future through action.
Tag: the gospel of Jesus
Over the past couple of decades, neuroscientists inadvertently discovered something fascinating — our brains naturally default to thinking about the future. They happened upon this little gem through the use of control groups who were instructed in various MRI studies to “think about nothing.” As researchers learned, our minds quickly drift from nothing to something, and the something we drift toward is thoughts of the future.
One of the more interesting books I read this last year was Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others. The author, Shane Lopez, was one of the lead researchers in the area of hope before his untimely death in 2016. Though Dr. Lopez takes a secular approach to the topic, I found a great deal of overlap between his conclusions and how the Bible presents hope. The empirical evidence along with revealed knowledge suggests we are “hard-wired” to be hopeful.
Psalm 110 is a key Messianic prophecy cited by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews. For our purposes, I would like to examine three aspects of the prophecy over the next three blog posts, if the Lord is willing:
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The Messiah is the Son of David
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The Messiah is superior to David
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The Messiah is a priest
Mankind has always been captivated by great public speakers. We can look through history and see those are remembered for their great oratory skills. To name just a few: Cicero, Patrick Henry, and Winston Churchill. These were men who inspired and persuaded others not only by their message but by their eloquence and charisma.