What We Believe - How can we respond?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this fifth session, we looked at the question:  How can we respond?

• John 14:23 -  Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them.
• Proverbs 28:13 - If you don’t confess your sins, you will be a failure. But God will be merciful if you confess your sins and give them up.
• James 5:16 - If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.
• James 2:18, 22 -Suppose someone disagrees and says, “It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.”I would answer, “Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.” Now you see how Abraham’s faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did.
• Matthew 28:19-20 - Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
• I Corinthians 13:3 - What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive?  I would gain nothing, unless I loved others.
• Romans 8:35-39 - Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death   all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.” In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!