Our church is doing a WHY? study - 6 "big" questions about God, Jesus, and Faith.
On Sunday, Pastor Tom discussed the big "WHY?" question of "Why Should I Trust The Bible?" and the thread of consistency found within the Bible:
- a volume containing 66 books,
- written via 40 different authors,
- living in different location,
- in several different languages,
- across a couple thousand years,
We live in an era where even the most amazing technology and skilled technicians can't even accurately translate a book into a movie (i.e. The Firm, Flowers in the Attic, Twilight, Harry Potter 3, etc.!) when the book they are referencing is right in front of them! Yet the Bible has maintained its authenticity and consistency over the years and across numerous translations!
To illustrate this thread of consistency, Tom's wife, Kay, stood up and recited this song by heart called "HE IS" - written by Arron Jeoffrey:
In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus He's our high priest
Numbers, the fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice
In Joshua, He is Salvation's choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and Second Samuel,
Our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of
Broken walls and lives
In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom's cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon,
He is the lover's dream
He is, He is
In Isaiah, He's prince of peace Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He's the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He's the spirit's power
In Amos, the Arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He's the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah
He's pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zachariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the sun of righteousness
Rising with healing in His wings.
He is, He is
In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
He is God, Man, Messiah
In the book of Acts, He is fire from Heaven
In Romans, He's the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from
The curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant's heart
In Colossians, He's the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon
He's our mediator and our faithful pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick
In First and Second Peter,
He is our shepherd
In John and in Jude, He's the lover
Coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings, and Lord of lords
He is, He is
The Prince of peace
The Son of Man
The Lamb of God
The Great I Am
He's the Alpha and Omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
And when time is no more
He is
He is
Throughout the Bible runs a thread of consistency. One that holds it together - solidifies it - binds it. As a kid, I believed that the Bible was just a collections of stories... of fables to teach all of us a lesson or two. It hasn't been until the last few years, that my mindset has changed to include the faith that the Bible is not just a collection of poignant tales, but a manual, written by God. The words may have been penned by man, but the verses themselves are God-breathed. When you are searching for an instruction-manual to this crazy thing called life, you can find tips, tricks, wisdom, rules, guidelines, and more in this single book.
Recently, our family visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky. I plan to write about it in detail in a future post, but one video clip about fossils and the history of dinosaurs struck me; it said:
"Rocks and fossils don't come with tags on them, telling us how old they are. Scientists reach different views about the past, not because of what they see, but because of their different starting points: autonomous human reasoning or God's Word... Our conclusions about the world are affected by the decision to trust either the words of the eternal, perfect God or the words of temporal, fallible men. [Either way] there is an element of FAITH at work in every interpretation of scientific evidence."
Purposefully changing your mind to the faith that the Bible = Truth changes the way you see the entire world. It IS, in fact, life-changing. :)
If you'd like to hear the messages from our church, they are download-able from the Christ's Church at Mason website. The sermons are on a week-delay, so likely the sermon on "Why trust the Bible" will be available after Feb. 22 (2009). But the other messages in this series are posted now.
HERE is the link!
Pastor Tom is an amazing speaker and so is David Ray, (who also does one of the sermons) - I think you'll enjoy what you hear!
:) Mags
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