Archive: 2023

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 7 “Explore God” – Can I Know God Personally? (WATCH HERE)

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Open for debate.

506 years ago today in Wittenberg, Germany a catholic monk named Martin Luther sparked a debate in the church and among people about the core tenets of Christianity.  At the heart of the question he challenged was, “How does one have a personal relationship with God?”

In the Catholic Church of Luther’s day, the answer to this question was that the only way a person could get right with God was by a pattern of life that was filled with acts of penance (paying something for your sins), trips to “holy” places on pilgrimages, or the paying of money for indulgences (pieces of paper that were signed by the pope declaring sins forgiven).

Martin Luther struggled mightily inside his heart and outside in his environment of the monastery to find peace with God.  He would deprive his body of its needs; agonize in prayer and yelling at the devil; and meticulously carrying out the duties of a monk.  Yet, even though he was following the path laid out by the church to find peace with God, he had no peace.

One of the unique privileges Luther had as a monk and also being asked to be a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg and so had access to a Bible.  Access to the Bible was a big deal because the average person would have to rely on what the priest taught about the Bible but never had access or ability to read it for themselves.

As Luther struggled to find peace with his relationship with God, he knew God knew him personally but saw him as a righteous judge who could and would punish him for all his sins.  Terror filled his heart until he discovered this truth in Romans 1:16-17:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

In the reading of this Scripture the reality came to heart for Luther that the righteousness that God demanded was not to be found in the works of man, but in the works of Christ.  Trusting the work of Christ is yours give the certainty and the peace that salvation, eternal life in heaven is yours.

When God’s Spirit solidified this truth in Luther’s heart, he went from doubt and fear about his relationship with God to one of peace and hope.  When the focus shifted from his performance to the perfection of Jesus, his conscience finally found the rest it had.

But Luther was not settled with this truth just for himself.

He saw how the hearts and consciences of individuals all around him and under the teaching of the Catholic Church were being tormented by fear.  People were afraid of the punishment of God and so they were being convinced to buy indulgences that were guarantees from the church that their sins would be forgiven.  Not only were they encouraged to buy them for themselves, but for their loved ones who they were taught were languishing in purgatory until enough forgiveness could be earned or bought to free them.  People were spending the little money they had to fill the coffers of the church based on a false teaching that forgiveness could be earned or bought.

Luther could not stand by idle.

So he wrote 95 statements or Theses regarding the sale of indulgences and posted them to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany to begin a debate and what he hoped would be the return of the church back to the clear teaching of salvation and forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus.  The day he did this was October 31, 1517 on “All Hallow’s Eve” or All Saints Eve.  He knew that people would come to church on November 1 for the celebration of All Saints Day, so he ensured the issues for debate were made available for all to see.

October 31 is recognized in the Lutheran Church as Reformation Day.  On this day, the debate was started, but instead of the Catholic Church returning to the truth of the Bible, they dug in their heels and the Lutheran Church was born standing on the clear truth that our relationship with God is secured FOR us by the perfect life, innocent death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s in the grace of God that we are secure in our relationship with God.

 

Apply: What changes for you when your relationship with God is based on Christ’s performance for you rather than your performance for God?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the truth of your word and the message of salvation by grace alone.  Thank you for faithful and bold servants of yours to always teach and rely on the truth of your holy Word to bring the comfort, joy and peace of your grace to the hearts of people.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 6 “Explore God” – Is the Bible Reliable? (WATCH HERE)

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1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

What’s in a relationship?

Do you remember the first time you asked someone out on a date?  You were nervous, a bit clunky and deathly afraid of being rejected.  When the individual said, “Yes” you were happy inside and enjoyed going out on a few more dates after that.  Then, perhaps, the questions got more serious as you wondered, “What is the status of our relationship?”  “Are we just friends?  Are we boyfriend/girlfriend?  Are we exclusive? Etc.” 

Relationships are a key part of our earthly interactions.  We not only have a relationship with our spouse, but we have relationships with friends, co-workers, neighbors etc.  Some people you have to have a relationship with and others you choose to have a relationship with and still others you desire to have a relationship with.

What makes relationships challenging is when you have to guess where you stand with that person.  Are they a friend or foe?  Are we good or not? 

As we consider our final question of the series, “Can I know God personally?” one realizes that the intellectual answer to the previous question, while important, is not complete if there is not faith to believe the answers God gives to the questions.

Can I know God personally?

The short answer is, “Yes, you can.”

However, perhaps the place to start is not with the 10 steps to get to know God, but rather the answer to the question, “Does God want to know you personally?”  This answer is “Yes, he does.”

Perhaps when we start with the question, “Can I know God personally?” we focus on what I have to do to get to know God.  However, when we start with understanding how much God does because he personally knows and loves you, it quickly engenders the reaction, “Yes, I want to know this God who knows and loves me so well and so much.”

The Apostle John wrote in his first letter, “We love, because he first loved us.”  This is true with every aspect of the Christian faith and life.  It is always God’s love and relationship with us that leads us to have a relationship with him. When I see and understand God’s deep love for me, a natural response is, “Why wouldn’t I want to have a personal relationship with him?”  God becomes the coolest kid on the block that everyone wants to be friends with.  God becomes the most popular kid at the dance that everyone wants to dance with.  He moves our response of faith by simply being the God who loves you so much.

And when he establishes his relationship with us in our hearts, we begin to see more clearly the wisdom and truth of the answers he gives to the six previous questions.

 

Apply: What aspect of God’s relationship with you moves you the most to believe more fully in him?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for doing all that was necessary to have a relationship with me.  Lead my heart and my life to always live for and follow you.  AMEN.

 

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 6 “Explore God” – Is the Bible Reliable? (WATCH HERE)

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This week we have presented various evidence that the Bible is reliable.  However, even if I believe something is reliable, it has no use unless I trust it enough to put it to use in my life.  In a simple way, I trust that bananas are a reliable source of potassium.  I have no intention of eating them.

So if we simply put the focus on the empirical evidence of the reliability of the Bible and simply let it rest with the conclusion, “Ok, you’ve convinced me the Bible is reliable,” we still have missed the full point.  The good Lord has given us his Word ALONG WITH evidences of its integrity and credibility for one purpose: to USE it!

In our group this week, one of the participants pointed out this very important reality which especially applies to Bible-believing Christians.  We can have all the confidence that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God and still let it collect dust on our shelves or the app remain unopened on our phones.

Jesus knew this would happen, but didn’t want it to so he speaks this encouragement:

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 

The full power of the Word of God is unleashed when we a) hear God’s Word and b) put it into practice.  

And perhaps here lies the greatest tension for us in this question, “Is the BIble reliable?”  The BIble is reliable.  Will we rely on it?

Perhaps we see the Word of God like a generator.  When the storms blow and the power goes out, we rely on the generator to work.  It often does and then when we are done, it sits to collect dust in the garage.  We need to repent of this spirit with the Word of God.  It is not a “break in the case of emergency” book.  It is God’s Word for every day of our life which also leads to a faith that brings us to eternity.

What we find when we listen AND put God’s Word to use is the blessing God communicates is unleashed.  We find peace in the promises of God that remind us of his love, presence, and protection.  We find hope in knowing with certainty we are fully forgiven and eternal life is ours through Jesus.  We find guidance for better relationships, management of wealth, and involvement with the body of believers.

And much more.

Perhaps our reaction is like the crowd when Jesus finished his Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 7:28-29) 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. 

We may just be surprised at the authority, the impact, the reliability of God’s Word when we open the Bible, read it, practice it and in every aspect of life and faith, rely on it.

Apply: What is one habit you can work on to bring the Word of God into your life daily WITH the habit of putting the truth you read into practice as well?

Prayer: Lord thank you for providing your powerful, reliable, life-giving Word to me.  Forgive me for neglecting it all too often.  Let me be the wise person that daily hears your word AND puts it into practice.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 6 “Explore God” – Is the Bible Reliable? (WATCH HERE)

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Almost every online store has some sort of rating system.  If you sell things on Facebook Marketplace, you as a seller are rated.  One of the things that factors into the ratings is if the product description is accurate.   If you say something works, it has to work.  If not, people will not trust you to be honest in your listing.

If you buy something on Amazon, you will look at the reviews and determine if the product you are looking at does what it is supposed to and whether it will last, or has durability.  

When we invest in something, we want to make sure it works.  If it doesn’t work, we are not going to spend our time or money on it.

So what about the Bible?  Does it work?

Perhaps it may be hard to define what it means if the “Bible works”?  But a place to start is to see what the Bible claims it is supposed to do.

Here are three Scriptures which give us indication of what the Bible is supposed to do:

1. Create faith:

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

1. Give salvation:

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

1. Guide life:

Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

If these are three claims of the Bible, then I would expect to find evidence that the Word of God actually does these things.  Here’s an example of each:

1. At Pentecost, the message of Jesus changed the hearts of 3000 people!

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

1. John is given a glimpse of all those that are in heaven because of faith in the message of Jesus…the Gospel

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

1. And is there blessing for life by being in the word of God?

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

And then there is your experience.  It’s the Word that has brought you to faith.  It is the Word that has given you the certain hope of heaven through the Gospel and it is the Word that brings blessing to you as you put its truth into practice in your life.

Is it reliable?  It works.  If it works, it is reliable.

Apply: What impact have you realized from the time you have spent with the Word of God?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your Word which is powerful and effective, to bring me to faith, guide me in life, and promise me eternal life with you.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 6 “Explore God” – Is the Bible Reliable? (WATCH HERE)

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Matthew 5:18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 

At first read this verse perhaps seems like an exaggeration Jesus is making to highlight the point that his Word will last forever.  However, in his words is a very practical point that had been carried out for centuries by those that were privileged to be “Scribes,” or ones that HAND copied the pages of the Old Testament.  Each of these individuals had a very high regard for the text they were handling and considered it the Word of God.  They in no way wanted to be the ones responsible for allowing the smallest letter or word to disappear from what they fully considered the Word of God.

To understand the detail, here are nine realities about the process of hand copying the Scripture:

1. They could only use clean animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts.
2. Each column of writing could have no less than forty-eight, and no more than sixty lines.
3. The ink must be black, and of a special recipe.
4. They must verbalize each word aloud while they were writing.
5. They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the word “Jehovah,” every time they wrote it.
6. There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone.
7. The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, and the document became invalid if two letters touched each other. The middle paragraph, word and letter must correspond to those of the original document.
8. The documents could be stored only in sacred places (synagogues, etc).
9. As no document containing God’s Word could be destroyed, they were stored, or buried, in a genizah – a Hebrew term meaning “hiding place.” These were usually kept in a synagogue or sometimes in a Jewish cemetery.

https://scottmanning.com/content/process-of-copying-the-old-testament-by-jewish-scribes/

As a result of this meticulous work to bring the words of God from one manuscript to the next and then preserve them for future generations, we see the hand of God in this human process to ensure there was no deviance from the very words and the very truth of God’s Word.

So, is the Bible reliable?  If one looks to the history behind the transmission of the text of the Bible, we can safely conclude that from every human means possible, those that engaged in this awesome responsibility of copying God’s very words, took the matter very seriously.  And when something is taken seriously so that accuracy might be passed on, that builds a rock-solid reality of reliability.  Thank God for this gift!

Apply: Which of the above points of process for the scribes give you the most confidence that the Word of God truly is reliable?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for guiding the process of copying your word so we can be certain we have your very words with us today! AMEN.