Truth: a debatable idea; a negotiable commodity; a historical relic? Is the idea of truth as a sure and certain reality lost and gone forever? This incredible question with profound implications for the 21st century church is what we gathered to consider at Passion4Christ 2016.

Our attendance was a bit lower, but joy and love in Christ were in no way diminished as we gathered on October 26 to relax, pray, interact, learn, and worship. We enjoyed good food, inspiring decor, unusual theme dinners, reflection, fellowship, and instruction from God’s Word. We were served by a volunteer staff who “set the table” so to speak. They did this with joy so the attendees could focus on the Word.

We came to meet with God; to hear from Him; to be challenged to engage and confront a culture of darkness and death with the light and life of the Gospel.

What shall we use to confront a skeptical world. The Scriptures are the only adequate tool we have. We also addressed the question of the existence of God and the absolute necessity of moral absolutes woven into human conscience and the truth of Scripture. These questions were addressed by Charles Cavanaugh and Matt Shackelford. And Daniel Cavanaugh challenged us to be ready to confront the culture by following Paul’s example on Mars Hill.

In the midst of these sessions, we stopped to have our first ever Q&A at P4C. The response was positive with good questions indicating thoughtful listening. Then Dewey Novotny urged us to consider why we are here, to live our lives to the glory of God. This was followed quite naturally by the challenge that we are created in the image of God which gives meaning to the answers to all these questions.

If we are to face an unbelieving world with confidence, we must invest our lives, our futures, and our eternal hope in that which is of ultimate value. This was our closing exhortation. Our lives are not valued by temporal and earthly investments or achievements but in the eternal truth of the Gospel, for which we must be willing to give our lives. We were challenged to “Buy the truth”. All of the things we enjoyed at P4C2016 were for this; to believe in, embrace, and give our lives for the truth in Jesus Christ. Our brothers and sisters left with this ringing in their ears. May we all live it in the days ahead.