Tough Questions

As promised, here are the answers to some of the questions you submitted during last weeks sermon. I have tried to categorize the questions as much as possible since many of them had similar themes. Also, I have posted video from JD Greear that will answer some of the questions. JD is a great friend and is the Lead Pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, NC. I interviewed him last week on the topic of "How Can there be one religion"? He spoke, via video, in last weeks message.

Here are the first three questions:

Question 1: Doesn't the Gospel of Jesus exclude a lot of people?




Question 2: What about all the denominations within Christianity, how do you determine which one is right?

Yes it is true that there are hundreds of denominations within Christianity. Most of these denominations were started for very good reasons. Usually they were formed in an effort to clarify and raise the importance of certain doctrines within Christianity.

Here are some things to remember when judging the "rightness" of a particular denomination:

- Does this particular denomination celebrate the essentials of the Christian faith (Virgin Birth, Sinless Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection of Jesus. Authority of Scripture, etc.)?
- How does the denomination relate to the local church? Jesus promised to build His Church, not a denomination.
- Is Jesus the main focus of this denomination?
- How does the denomination view grace?
- What is the mission of the denomination?
- Etc.

All in all, denominations are fine and some cases are very significant. I don't think it is wise to simply dismiss denominations as a whole, but denominations should never take precedence over Jesus and His church.

Question 3: What makes the Gospel of Jesus different?






OK...I will post more of the questions later. Thanks for submitting them. Would love to hear your comments.