No Escape from Tension/Conflict #1

Driving home: There is no escape from tension and conflict in living the Christian life.

An elastic band is used to physically demonstrate tension as forces pulling the same object in opposite directions, illustrating the internal and external pressures believers face.

Let's take the word tension. If we think of tension with reference to physical realities, it is the result of forces pulling the same object in opposite directions. Before me, and now on my left finger, the elastic band from the office of Trinity Baptist Church complements of the tape ministry. It is presently hanging on my finger in a state of relaxation.

14:22 - 14:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: There is no escape from tension and conflict in living the Christian life.

Tension in a marriage, where partners pull in opposite directions on an issue, is used to illustrate relational tension, extending the concept beyond physical forces.

Opposite directions pulling upon the same object. And when I say there is no escape from tension in the Christian life, I have in mind that physical imagery and reality of tension, but also the sense in which we use tension in human relationships. It is a state of strained relationships. A state in which there are present in the relationship between two or more people levels of hostility.

15:33 - 16:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is that no Christian this side of death or the second coming of Jesus can escape from the tension and conflict which will be his constant companions while walking the narrow road that leads unto eternal life.

War and the 'trenches' of football line play are used to illustrate conflict as the clashing of opposing and hostile forces, emphasizing the intensity of spiritual battle.

Well, conflict is to be in a state of antagonism. It is the clashing of opposing and hostile forces. And the most vivid illustration of course is the conflict that occurs in a war. When parties from different countries or assigned roles in different causes are out to kill to capture, to totally immobilize one another.

16:48 - 17:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is that no Christian this side of death or the second coming of Jesus can escape from the tension and conflict which will be his constant companions while walking the narrow road that leads unto eternal life.

The difference between escaping from prison and simply leaving home for a walk is used to define 'escape' as breaking loose from an enforced or unwanted state, clarifying the sermon's title.

The other seeking to push him backward in order that they might control what is called the line of scrimmage. Now I'm using these words deliberately and I'm bringing the connotation of warfare and of these illustrations of tension deliberately for when I say there is no escape, escape is to get out of or to break loose from an enforced or unwanted place, state or condition. If you happen to go out after a good meal today to take a walk, to clear your mind and to burn up a few calories and to meditate, on this morning's message, you would not say to your neighbor whom you met on the street, oh ...

17:59 - 19:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second biblical reason for inescapable tension is the presence and activity of a hostile world system. Martin explains that believers are delivered from bondage to this…

The modern environmentalist movement is presented as an example of the world's subtle influence, promoting a pantheistic worldview that denies man's unique place and God's role as creator, contrasting it with the Puritan worldview.

Man is not fundamentally different from the animals. It does it through the so-called concern for endangered species. My friends, are you deluded? I'm 99.99% of the environmentalist passion in our day is a pure view of reality. The sand on the sea and the sandpiper and the whale are not fundamentally different. We're all part of this one great system and if there's anything to be called God the whole system is all God and the grain of sand is as much a part of God as you and I and the whale are. I'm deceived by an Al Goetz

51:14 - 52:11 Read in full sermon