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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, July 3, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :How to Read the Bible [1] Bible Verse:2 Timothy 3:12-16 (ESV) "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the servant of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Message:
There are three fundamental rules of reading the Bible, for Christians:
1. The Bible is the Word of God;
2. The Word of God is what is actually written in the Bible;
3. What is not written in the Bible is not the Word of God.
bread of life, communion
The first rule is the most basic. Christianity is a discipline of obedience to God’s word. Once a person decides that they will believe or follow this part of the Bible but not that part, they have broken the discipline, and replaced the Word of God with words created in their own mind. They do not worship the God who said, “I am.” For the original and only source of our knowledge of God is the Bible; and if it is not inerrant, then any part might be erroneous.
To breech the integrity of the Bible and accept less than its entirety is to worship a manmade god. It is a decision to worship what one sees in the mirror as a greater authority than the inspired Word.
To clarify terms, the word “inspired” is very narrow and specific in Christian dialogue. It means, actually, the exact same thing as “breathed by God” (compare “respiration”) and refers to men who wrote a book under God’s direct hand. “Breathed” was a Hebrew idiom for “spoken”, the idea being that the very breath responsible for a spoken word was from the “lungs” of God — only God uses spirit, not lungs, to speak. Do not confuse it with the common use of “inspired”, which has broadened over the years to mean any brilliant and intuitive action.
(Note: Theologians define four levels for the knowledge of God: “Revelation”, meaning words God spoke in his own voice, such as the ten commandments; “Inspired,” which means God directed a human hand to write or say something; “Illuminated,” which means that the Holy Spirit has given a reader/writer understanding of something that his mind alone could not grasp; and “Interpretation,” which is using one’s mind to explain the meaning of the Bible.)
Monkey feeding a bird, from an illuminated Bible
The quote from 2 Timothy is critical to understanding Christianity, for it self-validates the Bible. One may disagree with it (and many people do), but then the Bible becomes just another book. As Paul tells us: we must take it all or take none of it. For it is only by the Bible that we know anything of Christ; and if the Bible is not inspired, we lose Christ.
The doctrine of Biblical inspiration is separate from arguments over literalism; inspiration tells us that the Bible is truth, from start to end. But the Bible is a book of supernatural truth, not scientific or historical truth. One might believe, for example, that the length of the “day” in which God created various parts of the universe means something different than the 24-hour period of the earth’s current rotation, without affecting the truth of Genesis 1. There are myriad and complex doctrines, all with five-dollar words attached, about how one might interpret the Bible; but getting bogged down in them is a distraction from our life in Christ.
I had intended to talk about Rule 3, actually, but we are out of room and have not even finished with Rule 1. We will continue this next Sunday.
Well, there is room for one last verse. Look at this lovely quote, written by Peter: “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. ” (1 Peter 1:23-25)
Meditation : Prayer : O Sovereign and almighty Lord, bless all your people, and all your flock. Give your peace, your help, and your love unto us your servants, the sheep of your fold, that we may be united in the bond of peace and love, one body and one spirit, in one hope of our calling, in your divine and boundless love.....Amen |
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