Friday February 14, 2014

Read 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21, John 10:34-36

We use the word ‘inspired’ in a different context than the Bible does. We might say that our husband/wife has inspired us to do something grand or to be a different kind of person. We might say that the scenery inspired us to paint or that our spouse’s beauty inspired us to write a poem or book. This is definitely not the biblical meaning of the word inspired.

The biblical word “inspired” in the original Greek comes from two words  - Theos meaning God and pneu (meaning to breathe out). Hence the word means ‘breathed out by God.’ When we read 2 Tim 3:16 we need to read inspired as ‘breathed out by God’ meaning that God has so superintended things that His Word has come to us as His Word, even though humans were used as authors or speakers.

2 Peter 1:19ff declares that the Word of God did not come to us through the private reflections and/or meditations of men. Scripture/prophecy came to us through the Holy Spirit as He chose to speak through mankind.

In John 10, Jesus quotes Psalm 82 and reveals again that He took all of the Old Testament to be the inspired and authoritative Word of the Lord with His full authority. The law could not be broken because it was Scripture—the Word of God!

Perhaps when we talk of the “inspiration” of Scripture we should use the word ‘expiration’ for it is the Word of God breathed out to us. It comes to us from God as God wants. Sure, it does inspire us but that has a totally different nuance to what the world hears when we talk of being inspired.

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Pray that as the youth meet tonight God’s Word would be faithfully taught and that these youth would be passionate about serving God. Pray that those who are arm’s length from God would bow the knee and confess Jesus as Lord.

ª Pray that God would spur each and every believer in your congregation to love and good deeds. Ask God to bring a servant heart to everyone in your congregation.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What do you think about the modern day trend of preachers giving 3 or so interpretations of a passage and letting the congregation decide the one that best suits them?

2. When can and when can’t a preacher speak with total authority?

3. What guidelines for correct biblical interpretation do we have available to us?

Thursday February 13, 2014

Read Acts 2:16-35

We live in an age of interpretation. Even more so, we live in an age where any and every interpretation is valid. To hold to exclusive truth is considered an error - if you can comprehend such an illogical condition. To say something like, ‘This is absolutely true’, or ‘This is the only truth’, is seen as arrogant and intolerable and is quickly and mercilessly shouted down.

Throughout the New Testament we see that the writers constantly and consistently referred, cited or alluded to the Old Testament as the Word of God. It was their ultimate authority.

We see this clearly on the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached a rousing sermon that brought 3,000 people to Jesus in repentance and faith. As the Holy Spirit was poured out many in the crowd could not explain what was happening. Several made fun of the disciples, arguing that they were drunk and intoxicated.

Peter turns authoritatively to the Old Testament and quotes both Joel (Joel 2) and King David (Psalm 16 and 110) to show that Jesus had to die on the cross and that He had to rise from the dead before the Holy Spirit could be sent to those who believed in Him.

There is no relative truth here. There is no indication that this is simply one of many interpretations. There is no reference to this being a truth just for Jewish peoples. In fact, it is a clearly spoken to all peoples and includes promises for all those whom the Lord will call, from all over the world!

The Apostles and first disciples were not afraid to stand on the truth. They were not afraid to preach the truth. They were not afraid to challenge existing world views and to proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection as the only way to God! They were not afraid to call people to repent and to believe in Jesus for their salvation. At no stage did they present Jesus as one option among many.

The modern day church needs to decide what it really believes. If it chooses to believe the Word, it needs to preach the Word with all the inherent authority that the Word contains.

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Pray that God would fill you and your congregation with the Spirit so that you can do the work God has called you to do.

ª Pray that the Session of your church would be wise and godly and able to discern how to lead people in Christ-likeness. Pray for each elder by name.

 Walk Moment –  What you believe determines how you live. If you reject the Old Testament then you are rejecting 2/3s of Bible. Within that 2/3s of the Bible there are many instances of what God desires and wants for our lives. If you do not know the Old Testament you will remain in ignorance .  This opens the door to greater sin in your life. Close the door!

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. If Jesus’ believed that mankind was created at the start of creation and not millions of years later (Matt 19:4), should we believe this too? Why or why not?

2. How do you respond to a believer who refuses to give Jesus complete authority in his/her life?

3. If “worship” means to focus solely on God then how can we include more “worship” in our busy lives?

Wednesday February 12, 2014

Read Mark 1:1-27

How would you respond to this situation? Picture yourself in a cell group or a Bible study group and after a somewhat tense discussion about a particular Bible passage one of the members who has opposed everyone else screams out, without trying to be funny or ridiculous, ’I am God!’ How would you respond? What would you say? What would you do?

Jesus made that very claim as He walked this earth. In Mark chapter 1 we see that not only did He claim to be God but He also proved that He was God.  

In fact, Mark’s gospel opens with the very words ‘The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ This could well be the title of the entire book. What follows is proof that Jesus, the Messiah/Christ is the Son of God.

Throughout this chapter we see that Jesus has authority over people He calls them to follow Himself and they leave everything, even their means of survival, to follow Him. Jesus demonstrates authority over the evil spirits. He simply speaks a word and people are freed from possession. There is no dance, no song, no hocus-pocus. We also see His authority over disease. Again He simply speaks and people are instantaneously healed. Later on we see that Jesus has authority to forgive people for their sins - something which only God could do.

The people realized that Jesus had a different and greater kind of authority than the contemporary teachers. In verse 27 they exclaimed, ‘What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to the evil spirits and they obey Him.’ The apostles also realized that He had authority and that His teaching was different to the teaching of the religious leaders of the day. In 1 Timothy 5:18 we read

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Why is this verse so important? The first quote comes from the Old Testament and the second quote comes from Jesus’ own lips. The Apostles put Jesus’ words on par with Scripture, namely the Word of God in the Old Testament. They believed that what Jesus spoke was directly from God, just like the Old Testament!

What we believe about Jesus and His words will affect and determine what we think about the rest of the Bible and how we live our lives. All these things are intricately and intimately intertwined.

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Pray that throughout this year your church would see many conversions to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Pray that God would bless your church with much conversion growth.

ª Pray that God would raise up His people for the various jobs, positions, roles that will be needed throughout the year. Pray for a sensitivity in all the believers to the voice of the Spirit in calling them to serve and to use their spiritual gifts.

Walk Moment – Worship must come first. We need to focus on God and His greatness and majesty etc. When we lose ourselves in God we can then live a life worthy of His calling. Our walk flows out of our worship. Too many Christians are simply walking the walk without worshipping the Lord. Too many Christians are too busy to worship God and are thus burdened by the road that God calls them to walk on.

Tuesday February 11, 2014

Read Matthew 4:1-11

There are many believers who give the Old Testament far less weight and validity than the New Testament. Some have even made statements such as, ‘I don’t read the Old Testament because I can’t relate to the God of the Old Testament.’ Others have made statements like, ‘I think the God of the Old Testament is totally different to the God of the New Testament.’ Even the statement, ‘The Old Testament is about works while the New Testament is about grace’ reveals a false dichotomy within the Bible.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus thought about the Old Testament and the God of the Old Testament? In Mark 12:36 Jesus showed that He believed that the Old Testament was written under the inspiration of God and that the Holy Spirit spoke through its human authors. In Luke 24:25-27, 44 we see that He thought every part of the Old Testament was the authoritative Word of God Almighty. In Matthew 22:29ff Jesus actually rebuked and denounced those who refused to believe the Old Testament. At no point does Jesus contradict the Old Testament or seek to reduce it in terms of its authority or validity as the Word of God.

During His 40 day desert temptation, Jesus quoted the Old Testament with full authority. He believed that the Word of the Old Testament had complete authority over satan and even over his own life.

In fact, if we were to summarise Jesus’ attitude towards the Old Testament we see that He submitted to it because submission to the Word of God is the right and best attitude in worship of God. Jesus refused to bow down to satan because the Word of God says that we are to worship God and Him alone. Jesus refused to turn stones to bread because the Word of God said that man shall not live on bread alone. He refused to put God to the test because it contradicted the Word of God in the Old Testament.

What’s your attitude towards the Old Testament? Do you believe it as the Word of God or do you seek to reinterpret it in the light of some modern day theory or belief system?

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Ask the Lord to grant everyone in your congregation a believing heart that takes the entire Word of God as the authoritative Word of God. Pray that this knowledge would lead to acceptable worship in reverence and awe.

ª Pray that the children in your congregation would also love God and worship Him acceptably. Pray that the children would be conscience of God 24/7 and worship Him with their entire lives.

Word Moment – We need to believe all of the Old Testament as being God’s infallible and inerrant Word to us. It is our job to discover what God is saying to us and not to re-interpret the Word according to some theory or belief –system invented by mankind.

Sometimes that will mean taking a route that is ridiculed by modern day man and by the so called ‘knowledge’ of the world.

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Are there bits in the Old Testament you find hard to believe? Why is this?

2. Are there bits in the Old Testament you don’t believe at all? Why is this?

3. Should we try to mirror Jesus’ attitude  of the OT and God in our own lives? Explain your answer.

Monday Feb 10, 2014

Coming Up Sonday February 16:

I Don’t Have To Believe the Whole Bible

 Read 2 Tim 3:16, Matthew 20:28

I remember as a young believer hearing the story of a Christian man who claimed to his minister that God had told him that he should divorce his Christian wife and re-marry his secretary. That man put a supposed word from God above and beyond Scripture.

While it may seem clear that this man was acting inappropriately, what about the employer who claims that she gave the job position to a particular person because God told her to. She have placed ultimate authority in a supposed direction or command given from the Lord Himself.

When we consider the issue of authority we find that believers put their ultimate authority in many things. Some take the creeds (eg the Apostles Creed) or historical confessions (such as the Westminster Confession of Faith) as their ultimate level of authority. Some take experience as their ultimate experience. When the Toronto blessing was rampant, people wanted to experience it regardless of what the Word of God said. Experience was put higher than the Word of God! Others will put Christian reason or logic as their ultimate authority, rejecting everything that doesn’t work in their own way of thinking and reasoning. Still others will put science and modern day knowledge as their ultimate authority. We can all relate to the church, even just in the last century, dismissing and explaining away all miracles because science had ‘proven’ that miracles could not happen.

Biblically speaking God has all knowledge and has revealed that knowledge to us in His Word. Thus our knowledge of God and His standards and His requirements of us come from the Word He has given us. Knowing God’s word and God’s standard/requirements is pivotal and vital if we are to worship in spirit and truth.

Each believer has to ask him or herself the hard questions: Is the Word of God MY ultimate authority? Do I believe the Word as MY ultimate authority? Have I placed something, someone or some institution above the Word of God in terms of authority?

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Pray for the Youth Leaders in your congregation. Pray that these men and women will be living lives that reflect the glory and holiness of Christ Jesus. Pray that their lives are so attractive that more and more youth come to Christ through them.

ª Pray for the children’s workers in your congregation. Ask God to give each one an understanding of the importance of their work. Pray that each of the workers will be able to communicate biblical truths clearly and that they will be able to relate to the kids in a way that encourages them to follow Jesus passionately.

Worship Moment – Knowledge and worship go hand in hand. You can’t worship without knowledge. If you don’t know what God is like, you can’t worship properly. Mindless repetition or self-produced worship is not worship at all. Only God can tell us what is and what is not acceptable in worship.

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. If you were applying for a job in a Christian firm and the boss said to you that God told him to give the job to someone else, how would you respond?

How would you respond to the statement, I don’t believe the OT. I only read and meditate on the NT