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Once Saved, Always Saved? What the Early Christians Never Said
Daniel Willis
Salvation is a gift no one can earn and a race every believer must run. Drawing on Scripture and the earliest Christians, Daniel Willis explains its three tenses: we were saved, are being saved, and will be saved if we finish. He also clears up faith, obedience, righteousness, and assurance.
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The Historic Faith Encounter
Encounter Messages
Every message from the Encounter, newest first. Watch each one as a lesson, then take the quiz and work through the discussion questions.
Newest message
Once Saved, Always Saved? What the Early Christians Never Said
Daniel Willis
Salvation is a gift no one can earn and a race every believer must run. Drawing on Scripture and the earliest Christians, Daniel Willis explains its three tenses: we were saved, are being saved, and will be saved if we finish. He also clears up faith, obedience, righteousness, and assurance.
Quiz Discussion Start lesson
A Recovering Calvinist Reads Romans 9 Again
Jason Logoluso
Jason Logoluso tells how the early Christian writings changed the way he reads Scripture. They separated election from predestination, taught him to read passages in their whole context, showed him Christ in the Old Testament, and grounded his separation from the world. He urges Christians to study their method along with their conclusions.
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The Shepherd of Hermas: Hope for Repentance
Tom Kruger
The Shepherd of Hermas, one of the most widely used books among early Christians, is all about repentance. Its vision of a tower shows God chiseling sinners to fit his church. Because God holds out hope for repentance, Christians should keep hoping for others.
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The Lord’s Supper: What Unifies Us?
Kyle
Communion should unify the church, yet it often divides her or is treated as common. Early Christians received the bread and cup as the flesh and blood of Jesus, a medicine against sin and food for the wilderness. Their view stood between transubstantiation and memorialism and left the how a mystery.
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The Early Christian View of the Kingdom Parables
Bill Shiley
The seven parables of Matthew 13, read as the early Christians read them, show that God sows His word and each hearer chooses how to receive it. The fruit of Christ-like virtue is what God seeks and what decides the judgment. Together the parables work like a puzzle box lid for all of Scripture.
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Why Did David Get a Pass? The Early Christian View of Repentance
Jason Willis
King David committed terrible sins, yet he became the standard of righteousness. Jason Willis finds the reason in repentance. Early Christians saw it as a way of life: turning from sin, loving God and neighbor, and remaining in righteousness to the end, with real mercy for those who truly return.
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The Church Did NOT Fall Apart After the Apostles
David Bercot
Before Nicaea, the church stood firm on the essentials, corrected people in love, and lived by Jesus' teachings. After Nicaea, fights over precise wording pushed that aside and the kingdom lifestyle was largely lost. The church did not fall apart when the apostles died, and Christians should defend that truth with tact, aiming to win hearts.
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The Day Christianity Changed
David Bercot
The Council of Nicaea was the great turning point for Christianity. Bishops followed an emperor, added a word not found in Scripture to silence Arius, and soon accepted killing heretics. David Bercot teaches that changing the historic faith to defeat an error does more harm than the error.
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When Theology Became More Important Than Lifestyle
David Bercot
Before Nicaea, Christians cared most about how a person lived, kept their essential beliefs short, and could disagree on other matters without condemning one another. After Nicaea, theology grew complex and dogmatic, and the Sermon on the Mount lost its central place. That spirit still shapes churches today.
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