Faith at the Breaking Point

By John Ankerberg and Erwin Lutzer

Why does God allow the trials we face? How can we know God still loves and cares about us? When we face dry spiritual times and God seems far away, how should we respond? How do we continue when we feel our prayers are unanswered or we feel unimportant to God? Dr. Erwin Lutzer will answer these questions and more in this three-program series. Dr. Lutzer also discusses the topics of temptation and suicide. You’ll find strength and encouragement as we discuss biblical principles from the life of Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Ankerberg
• Release date: Mar 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781941135440

John Ankerberg

John Ankerberg, host of the award-winning John Ankerberg Show, has three earned degrees: an MA in church history and the philosophy of Christian thought, an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a DMin from Luther Rice Seminary. He has coauthored the 2-million-selling Facts On series of apologetic books, as well as Taking a Stand for the Bible and Israel Under Fire.

Book preview

Faith at the Breaking Point

Study Guide

By John Ankerberg & Erwin Lutzer

Published by ATRI Publishing

Copyright 2019

ISBN 9781941135440

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. No part of this publication, including the artwork, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations in printed reviews—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Edited by Dillon Burroughs. Layout by Amy Dean and Beth Lamberson. Cover Design by Beth Lamberson, ATRI Publishing, Chattanooga, Tennessee

CONTENTS

Title page

Introduction

Session 1: Can We Trust God During Difficult Times?

Session 2: Facing Temptation

Session 3: Standing Firm in Christ

Leader Resources

Appendix A: Final Thoughts on Death and the Christian (Erwin Lutzer)

Appendix B: How to Begin a Relationship with God

Appendix C: Praying for Those Who Do Not Believe

About the Authors

About the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute

Introduction

Welcome to the Faith at the Breaking Point study guide. Why does God allow the trials we face? How can we know God still loves and cares about us? When we face dry spiritual times and God seems far away, how should we respond? How do we continue when we feel our prayers are unanswered or we feel unimportant to God?

We’ll also discuss the topic of temptation in this series during a special program in which we discuss the temptations of Jesus and how he responded to the devil’s attacks. You’ll find strength and encouragement as we discuss biblical principles from the life of our Savior during the time He faced the temptations of the devil in the wilderness.

We look forward to how this study will help you both better understand your own Christian faith and how it will help you in sharing your faith with others. Through it, we hope you will be better able to contend for the faith (Jude 3) as well as to show Christ’s love to those in need.

This study guide was created to use with our videos available as M4Vs or DVDs at: https://www.jashow.org/resources/faith-at-the-breaking-point.html. We have also included the links to our transcripts for each of the programs on our site.

FOR YOUR GROUP

This specific study guide is uniquely designed to help provide an opportunity to hear on a unique issue influencing our world. We encourage group discussion, with groups of no more that twelve in size, or to divide larger classes into smaller groups for a portion of each study to discuss questions. Group leaders (or table leaders in larger groups) are responsible to direct each meeting, prepare for each session’s study time, build relationships with group members, and seek to involve each person in a meaningful manner. Through this personalized combination of quality teaching and interactive discussion, we have designed each session to provide an educational and life-changing experience for each person involved.

Interact

At the start of each session is a brief summary of the session along with a couple of opening questions related to the topic. Each group will want to discuss this material together before watching the DVD. This Getting Started section is written to prompt discussion, surfacing the difficult questions the DVD will later answer. Each person should feel free to share their perspective on this segment as time