Developing Convictions + Jerusalem: The Key of the Last Generation

Developing Convictions

Dr. Charles Stanley

Jeremiah 17:5-8

An acorn needs nutrients and time to grow into a tall, sturdy oak tree. Likewise, men and women of conviction develop gradually through committed Bible study and prayer. Ready to get planted firmly in biblical truth? Here’s how:

Make a list of issues for which you need to form a conviction. Here are questions to help you get started: Do you consider the Bible true and trustworthy? Do you think that believing in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved? What is the Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of believers and unbelievers? Are we to forgive others in every situation? How should Christians approach finances? What’s your purpose in life? What is your role in the church and at work? How should you think and act regarding social issues like capital punishment, abortion, and racism?

It is my hope that these questions will open the eyes of those who haven’t contemplated how their personal philosophies have developed. It’s time to change that. Study the Bible and make God’s Word the cornerstone of your thinking. A concordance will point you to scriptures that relate to the above topics. Evaluate what the Bible says rather than looking at an issue through the lens of personal preference. Ask, What does God say? rather than What does this mean to me?

Once you know what God says, you have a choice to make: Believe Him and commit to living according to your conviction, or continue being tossed by waves of doubt and indecision (James 1:6). Root yourself in God’s Word and be called one of His oaks of righteousness (Isa. 61:3).

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org

Jerusalem: Key of the Last Generation

^{Hosea Chapter 6}

¹ Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

² After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

³ Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

⁴ O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

⁵ Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light thatgoeth forth.

⁶ For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

⁷ But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

⁸ Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

⁹ And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

¹⁰ I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.