Ken Erisman - Grounded in the Faith: An Essential Guide to Knowing What You Believe and Why

2013 by Kenneth Erisman

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4233-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Italics have been added by the author for emphasis. Italics to indicate additional words to clarify expressions in the original language and oblique type to indicate New Testament quotation of Old Testament texts have not been preserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Material reprinted from ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH by R. C. Sproul. Copyright 1992 by R. C. Sproul. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Material reprinted from Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion? by Bruce K. Waltke, Eerdmans, 1995. Used by permission.

Material reprinted from Knowing God by J. I. Packer, Hodder and Stoughton / InterVarsity Press, 1973. Used by permission.

Material reprinted from MERE CHRISTIANITY by C. S. Lewis copyright C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. 1942, 1943, 1944, 1952. Extract reprinted by permission.

Material reprinted from The Forgotten Trinity by James White, Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 1998. Used by permission.

Material reprinted from When I Dont Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper, 2004, 123, 15052. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187.

Photo on page Baker Photo Archive. Courtesy of the Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion, 13 King David Street, Jerusalem 94101.

In our postmodern world, it is so critical to become grounded in the historic doctrines of our Christian faiththis is why I commend Kenneth Erisman for this excellent discipleship guide, Grounded in the Faith . Both new and mature believers in Christ can benefit from these timeless and faith-strengthening insights.

Joni Eareckson Tada , Joni and Friends International

Grounded in the Faith is an outstanding tool to use in helping believers understand and embrace the basic doctrines of Scripture. It is simple enough to use with new believers and comprehensive enough to use with those who have been believers for some time but have never been taught basic theology. I know of no other discipleship tool like it available today .

Jerry Bridges , author of The Pursuit of Holiness

Some books are like steak without sizzle, and others have sizzle and no steak. This guide to becoming grounded in historic, sound, biblical theology is steak that sizzles. Profound theology is presented in such an engaging manner that it is a meal to be savored and shared. Changing the metaphor, under Coach Erismans tutelage, the Christian learns the heavenly game plan and how to execute it well, and the church team will come to its destined maturity in Christ Jesus.

Bruce K. Waltke , professor of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary

To be a Christian of depth and substance we must first understand what we believe. Here is an exciting discipleship tool that delivers sound, biblical theology in a way that is compelling and fresh! Grounded in the Faith offers a great corrective to our message-lite and method-driven culture. I know it will benefit not only the young Christian but the mature believer as well.

Rebecca Pippert , author of Out of the Salt Shaker

Discipleship guides are a dime a dozen these days, and rarely worth the price. They typically lack the theological depth and practical wisdom so essential for successful Christian living in a postmodern world. Thats why Im so excited about Ken Erismans new work. This is discipleship as it was meant to be: God-centered, Christ-exalting, and solidly grounded in the authority of Holy Scripture. Theres nothing superficial in the spirituality Erisman promotes. It is biblically rigorous, culturally relevant, and focused on producing grace-empowered and spiritually discerning followers of Christ. I highly and heartily recommend it.

Sam Storms , Enjoying God Ministries, author of Pleasures Evermore

Every church member a disciple? A sweet dream, but how may it be made reality? A step in the right direction is the provision of this interactive, user-friendly teaching tool for disciple and friend to work through together. Its theology is mainstream evangelical at its crisp, clear best; its choice of ground to cover reveals good judgment; and its interactions are thoughtfully calculated. All in all, it is a very useful adult catechetical resource. I commend it most warmly.

J. I. Packer Board of Governors Professor of Theology, Regent College

The Aim: J. I. Packer, after an extraordinary lifetime of scholarship, concludes that the greatest challenge for the twenty-first-century church is catechesis. By catechesis Packer means the process whereby believers in Christ are grounded in the essentials of the faith. He concludes, Where wise catechesis has flourished, the church has flourished. Where it has been neglected, the church has floundered. The aim of this book is to see the church flourish for the glory of God. We are convinced that by designing this guide to be user-friendly but at the same time keeping Reformation depth, followers of Christ will have a transferable tool to become grounded in the faith.

EVERYONE NEEDS A COACH

Even world-class athletes need coaches. And you are in a real sense a spiritual athlete because the Christian life is described in the New Testament as a raceLet us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:12). In order to run well we need the encouragement and wisdom that comes from Gods Word. There is no better training than to get grounded in the faith. These sessions will give you the opportunity to become established in those timeless essentials of the Christian faith. What you will gain from this guide is classic, historic, sound biblical theology that is a reflection of the best biblical scholarship through the centuries. This training guide will give you important, in-depth knowledge to understand God and his plan for your life. This process of coaching and training is what is called discipleship. We have designed a training method that has three simple stepsListen, Absorb, and Interact. This creates an easy-flow format that allows the discipleship process to virtually run on its own.

The first step is Listen. It should be no surprise that this guide is deliberately formatted to teachto impart to you valuable information. If you entered medical school and were introduced to a class on the makeup of the brain, you would not be expected to immediately come up with your own answers about brain surgery, but you would want to learn and build upon the history of medical knowledge that has been passed down through the years. This is what we are seeking to do with this guidehelp disciples learn by passing on historic, sound, biblical theology so that individuals can build their faith upon that foundation. We believe that followers of Christ can grasp deep biblical truths if they are presented in manageable-sized bites. After the material is presented there is then a much better platform from which to interact and engage in meaningful discussion.