Tripp 12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust

Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith That Will Change Your Life
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 979-8-8749-0540-8
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

Bestselling Author Paul David Tripp Helps Teens Understand 12 Doctrines and Apply Them to Daily Life As Christian boys and girls mature into righteous men and women, understanding the core tenets of the faith could not be more critical, especially as they face indoctrination from the outside world. But understanding doctrine is more than just comprehending the truths of Scripture; it's a God-honoring lifestyle shaped directly by biblical belief.  In 12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust, pastor and bestselling author Paul David Tripp examines 12 core doctrines of the Christian faith to see how they can transform a teen's heart and life. Using clear language and relatable examples, he defines doctrines such as God's sovereignty, justification, and glorification, helping young people fall deeper in love with their Creator and Savior. Each chapter explores a specific doctrine through 7 brief readings, making it perfect for daily study. - Accessible Book on Doctrine: Features easy-to-understand language crafted especially for teens - By Paul David Tripp: Excerpts adapted from his book Do You Believe? - Applicable: Tripp unpacks 12 doctrines and presents their relevance for the Christian life - Perfect for Daily Study: Each of the 12 chapters explores a specific doctrine through 7 readings (less than 450 words each) - Makes a Great Gift for Ages 13-18

Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, an award-winning author, and an international conference speaker. He has written numerous books, including Lead; Parenting; and the bestselling devotional New Morning Mercies. His not-for-profit ministry exists to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Tripp lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Luella, and they have four grown children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tripp, Paul David

Leseproben

2

God

What We Believe

There is only one true God. He is unchanging, immense, eternal, and beyond human comprehension. He is almighty, most wise, and most holy. God is the source of all life and goodness in and of himself. He does not need anything that he made. He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and longsuffering—forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. He rewards those who diligently seek him. He hates sin and will not clear the guilty. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Why We Believe It

The passages below inform the Christian doctrine of God’s existence and glory. God has spoken in the Bible, so we believe what he has said there. In the following pages, we’ll explore this key doctrine and what it means for us as we follow Christ.

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:6–7

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.

Micah 7:18–20

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;

the Lord is avenging and wrathful;

the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and keeps wrath for his enemies.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,

and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Nahum 1:2–3

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John 1:14–18

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33–36

How It Matters

Throughout this chapter, we’ll focus on the glory of God. There’s no one else like him—he alone is God. He is breathtakingly powerful and beautiful, and he created everything in the universe to reflect his power and glory. God also created us to enjoy his power and glory. Sadly, because of sin, we often love the power and beauty of creation more than the Creator. Yet we cannot escape the reality of God; we live in his world. Through all its changes, ups, and downs, the unchanging God is faithful and dependable. And this God has revealed his glory most powerfully and beautifully in his Son. Jesus died to bring glorious grace and forgiveness to sinners. Now we can enjoy the glory of God once again!

1. How Big Is Your God?

I was raised in a Christian home. Yet as I was growing up, my thinking about God was far different from the picture of God found in the Bible. Then my brother Tedd came home from college and began to talk to me about God’s total control over all things.

This was a piece of the doctrine of God I had never heard before. Our conversations flooded me with questions, hurt my pride, and made me angry. During one of our debates, I got so mad that I took off my shoe and threw it at Tedd. A day or so later, he brought me a paperback copy of the Bible and a yellow marker, and said, “This summer read through the Bible and mark every instance of the sovereign rule of God over all things.”

I took the challenge. This summer reading project not only corrected my poor theology, it also changed the trajectory of my life. I was not only moved by the picture of God’s complete rule, but I was also blown away by his immeasurable glory.

Few believers suffer from a view of God that’s too big. Yet many suffer from a picture of God that is sadly too small. We can’t allow ourselves to hold a theology that shrinks God down to a manageable size. Yet it’s easy to do.

Here’s the problem. When you are working to understand any concept or term, you always begin your process of understanding from the vantage point of your own experience. For example, if I use the term father, you will define that term based on your experience of your own father. Your understanding won’t change until I define what I mean by that term.

Yet when it comes to God, no experience in my life is comparable to who and what he is. Our God is incomparable in the purity of his holiness and the expansiveness of his glory. For the rest of this chapter, I hope you’ll see—and be blown away by—what God’s word shows us of his brilliant glory.

Read: “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” 2 CHRONICLES 20:6

Reflect: Have there been moments in your life when you felt awe or wonder at God’s greatness?

2. The Glory War

God has no glory rival. There is only one who exists in the universe who is ultimate in glory, ultimate in greatness, ultimate in beauty, and ultimate in perfection. And because God is glorious, there’s one thing you must understand: Life is one big glory war. Here’s how the battle takes shape.

Each of us is hardwired by God for glory. We are attracted to glorious things, whether it’s an exciting drama, an enthralling piece of music, or the best meal ever. God made us this way to drive us to him. We will always be shaped by the pursuit of some kind of glory. So the battle begins with this question: What glory right here, right now, has captured your heart?

Sin makes us all glory thieves. We take credit for what only God could produce. We want to be sovereign and we want to be worshiped. We complain when we don’t get whatever it is that we want. But in living for our own glory, we steal glory that belongs to God.

Only God’s glory can satisfy the glory hunger in our hearts. If you could experience the most glorious situations, locations, relationships, achievements, or possessions in life, your heart still would not be satisfied. Creation doesn’t have the capacity to bring contentment to our hearts. That’s not its purpose. Instead, creation is designed to point us to the glory of the one who can satiate our hunger and give peace and rest to our hearts.

God’s grace alone has the power to win the glory war in our hearts. We all tend to continually revert back to self-glory. So the only hope for us is that the God of glory will rescue us from our glory thievery. In amazing grace, Jesus willingly came on a glory rescue mission. He lived righteously on our behalf, died for our thievery, and rose again, conquering sin and death. Because he did, there is hope that we will finally be free from self-glory and live forever in the light of the satisfying glory of God.

Read: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.” 1 CHRONICLES 29:11–13

Reflect: Put the passage above on a card and tape it to the mirror you look in every morning.

3. A God-Shaped Life

Do you know the first four words of the Bible? Here they are: “In the beginning, God” (Gen. 1:1).

These may be not only the four most important words in the Bible but also the four...