James Meyers, III begins a series considering how we received the New Testament canon, how this term compares with “Scripture,” how we define “canon,” and more. In this session, he lays out many of the problems that arise when discussing the Tew Testament Canon which will be answered in this series. However, he wants the Christian to “grasp the weight” of the problems, and thus, purposefully leaves the audience in anticipation.

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James Meyers, III begins a sermon series regarding what are commonly called the “Minor Prophets” due to shorter books as compared to the “Major Prophets.” While James understands the reason for this terminology, he fears it may minimize their contributions, and so prefers the designation of “The Book of the Twelve.” Today, he introduces the prophets, and the first of the Minor Prophets,” Hosea.

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To conclude this series, James Meyers, III considers the power of executing authority within the institutions of state and church. James continues discussing what the apostle, Paul, said in the thirteenth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, but considers other instances within the Bible to get a better idea as to what is being communicated. While there are times and occasions when it is necessary to be disobedient to these institutions, and while either institution may stray from God’s authority, we must be humbly mindful of our duties as Christians and be slow to disobey. All authority is under God, and we must therefore find our obedience in accordance with His will. While this series has been something of a critique of Secularism, it has been repeated that we have no repudiation of that which is secular.

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James Meyers, III discusses the relationship between church and state, and how these are differing arenas of authority, but how they are both under the True Author of authority, God Himself Who gave Christ all authority in heaven and on earth. James traces the aspect of civil government from the Garden of Eden to today and considers how the Christian lives under the secular civil authorities. Additionally, he considers how secular governments are to govern outside the parameters of Church Government. This is a timely message for all Christians, but particularly we who live in America.

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James Meyers, III considers the relationship between the natural sciences and the theological sciences. Since the closing of the 19th century, there has been an increasing antipathy from one community toward the other, whereas, historically, that was not the case. James traces some of the events which led to this, but desires the Christian to embrace natural science because “all truth is God’s truth.” Historically, there have been times when Science has corrected Theology. There have, also, been times when Theology has corrected Science. We are now in one of those times and the Christian is not to retreat to some form of mysticism, but to reveal the philosophical biases and illogical deductions of the modern scientist.

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James Meyers, III considers some of the history of the Literary Arts, and when we began shifting to a more image based society. While observing some of the effects of this shift, James encourages the Christian to be People of the Word in order that we might reach this generation of images. We do not seek to remove or restrict these media, but rather return to a cogent and linguistic approach which we can refine through reading the Word and Classical Christian Literature.

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Having considered many of the major secular philosophies, James Meyers, III begins to discuss certain areas of life in which philosophy is involved. In this session, James discusses the beauty found in art. The iconoclastic age has wearied many Christians into detesting art entirely, or perhaps are ambivalent. James encourages Christians to return to the love of art as has been historical. Beauty is of God, and we are to seek “to behold the beauty of the LORD” (Psalm 139:4) and to “worship Him in the beauty of His holiness” (Psalm 29:2). James considers how we might establish the objectivity of beauty, and how it most certainly is not “in the eye of the beholder.”

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James Meyers III considers the philosophy known in academic circles as Hedonism. While Hedonism might be fairly unknown or misunderstood, many contemporary philosophers opine that the West is a hedonistic culture. In its nascent form, it seeks optimal pleasure and the avoidance of pain as the ultimate pursuit of life. James considers this and compares the philosophy of Stoicism which unexpectedly has more in common with Hedonism than one might think. He then contrasts these systems with the Christian pursuit of pleasure.

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