Dr. Emir F. Caner, Truett-McConnell College president, was the speaker. He used as his text a passage from Jude 1:3-4: Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
He stated that according to recent surveys, on almost all issues, the current generation of college students is more Biblically-centered and more conservative than the previous two or three generations. However, 80% (or more) of college students don’t attend church. Then he asked the questions: “How would you defend/define your faith? What does your faith mean to you?”
He invited the listeners to be a retro church, saying that if we are to be what God wants us to be, we will be Christians according to the New Testament.
Pulling four terms from the Jude text, he talked about four characteristics of our faith:
- It is a faith that we can and should struggle for. We have been taught an “easy believism,” but obeying God’s command means being willing to stand for our faith regardless of the consequences.
- It is a faith that we can and should defend. God has already proved himself—the designer of all creation—and we can contend earnestly for the faith, not any faith.
- It is a faith that is complete. Salvation is complete at the time of the new birth. We all continue our maturing process as Christians, but our salvation is a completed fact from the time we accept Christ.
- It is a faith that we can be confident in. One of the greatest ways that we can grow in Christian maturity is to be discipled by each other—in other words, to be an active part of a church congregation. Mature Christians must go to church because Jesus Christ died for the church.
Dr. Caner concluded by saying that if we gain respect for those who have gone before us, we will never forget what God has given us.
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