Why do so many people disbelieve Christianity and reject the message of Jesus Christ? The underlying problem is that we do not want to give up control over our lives and have God be our ultimate authority. To overcome unbelief we must see our need for a Savior and look to Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, who died for us on the cross.

How do we know that Christianity is true? There are two tests of any valid worldview - that it is intellectually credible and existentially satisfying. The main evidence for the truth of Christianity is Jesus Christ himself. If we look at the magnitude of Jesus' claims and the evidence of his life, we are led to the conclusion that Jesus is who he says he is.

There are three kinds of people who are open to Jesus: the poor, the violent, and the "least of these." Those who are poor, or those who know they're no different than the poor, identify with Jesus the most. If we identify with him and choose to accept him, he will disrupt our lives in order to change us and heal us.

Jesus is the final Word and ultimate truth of God. But if we don't listen to and accept God's final Word, we can't have a personal relationship with him. We have to adjust to God's finalities, just as he adjusted to ours by becoming human and dying for us. This understanding should melt our hearts and change our lives as we become more and more focused on God and the gospel.

We must submit to God's will for us to gain a life filled with true joy. Submission means we must wrestle with what God gives us, decide to trust God, and put the events in our lives in the context of an eternal perspective.

Why did Jesus use his powers for something as trivial as replenishing wine at a party? It is because he knows that history will ultimately end at another feast, the wedding supper of the Lamb. Jesus sits in sorrow at this wedding party as he thinks of the price he will have to pay in order to invite us to the ultimate wedding party. He offers us his wine so we may taste God and know joy.

God's Word is perfect and true, and we can measure everything by the standard of Scripture. God reveals himself to us through nature, through the written Scripture, and through Jesus' actions. In these ways God enables us to learn about him.

What do we learn from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? Jesus is incredibly humble but absolutely immodest. He orchestrates his entry to show that he is the King. His message to everyone is that they can crown him or kill him, but there is no middle way. The same choice holds true for each and every one of us.

One of the major narrative plot lines of the Bible is the story of the lamb. It runs all through the Bible, beginning with the story of Abraham being asked to kill Isaac, continuing with the Passover in Egypt, and running through the Passover supper with Jesus and his disciples. In all of these cases a lamb is offered as a sacrifice for a debt. In John 1, John the Baptist tells us to "behold the lamb of God," meaning to soak in and understand who Jesus is and the debt he paid for us with his death.

What does it mean for Jesus to be the alpha and the omega? When we see him as "alpha," we see him as God. We understand who we are in the light of knowing that we are beings created by and for God. When we see him as "omega," we cease to use Jesus as a means to a greater end. Instead, Jesus himself becomes our greatest end.