ACBC: The Covenant Part 6
Notes
Transcript
The Covenant
The Covenant
We agree, by the aid of the Holy Spirit:to walk together in Christian love, faithfully seeking by all means to grow in grace and in understanding of the truth of God;to pray and work for the kingdom of God, seeking to have His will done in our lives, in our homes, in the affairs of our community and world, and to contribute to the support of the Church at home and abroad;
We agree, by the aid of the Holy Spirit:to walk together in Christian love, faithfully seeking by all means to grow in grace and in understanding of the truth of God;to pray and work for the kingdom of God, seeking to have His will done in our lives, in our homes, in the affairs of our community and world, and to contribute to the support of the Church at home and abroad;
to be faithful to our commitments, watchful of our manner of life and speech, and careful to guard the name of the Church and its members;to faithfully take the Word of God as the guide for our conduct, to remember each other in prayer, aid each other in sickness and distress and do unto others as we would have them do unto us, remembering always to set a worthy example.When we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other Christian Church where we may carry out the principles of God’s Word.
to be faithful to our commitments, watchful of our manner of life and speech, and careful to guard the name of the Church and its members;to faithfully take the Word of God as the guide for our conduct, to remember each other in prayer, aid each other in sickness and distress and do unto others as we would have them do unto us, remembering always to set a worthy example.When we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other Christian Church where we may carry out the principles of God’s Word.
to faithfully take the Word of God as the guide for our conduct
to faithfully take the Word of God as the guide for our conduct
My Love For The Word
My Love For The Word
When I was first saved, I felt like, well, I was born again. I became desperate for learning everything I could about my new life. I would stay up all night reading the Bible, taking notes, and reading it some more. Some times I would read it fast to get the feel of the entire book over all. Sometimes I would would read it it very slow taking it apart word my word, looking at the grammar and sentence structure.
I would but books such as Mathew Henry’s Commentary, Strong’s Concordance, Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, .... I loved going to church not only because I was part of a new family, but because I felt this desperation that I had to learn more about God and the Son who loved me so much that He died for me before I even known Him.
One of the things I learned right from the beginning was that as Jesus put it...
If I want to know Christ, I need to know what He says.
But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Mt
That mean’s, EVERYTHING is based on the word of God
That mean’s, EVERYTHING is based on the word of God
Life
Health
Directions
Wisdom
Strength to Overcome
The Path to Freedom
I knew that ...
MY PASSION FOR CHRIST WILL MATCH MY PASSION FOR KNOWING HIS WORD
The Topic is to Big
The Topic is to Big
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Bible equates Jesus with the perfect manifestation and expression of God.. so my best hope today is to scratch the surface and inspire us to recommit to His Word and fall in love with it again.
A Quick Theology on the Word.
A Quick Theology on the Word.
“The Word of God” as a Person: Jesus Christ
“The Word of God” as a Person: Jesus Christ
“The Word of God” as Speech By God.
“The Word of God” as Speech By God.
God’s Decrees
God declares a thing to be so… and it becomes so.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Gen
God doesn’t just create and let the time clock go but he continues in upholding creation.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
God’s Words of Personal Address
God speaks directly to a person or group of people
God speaks directly to a person or group of people
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 1:
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
Ex 20:
and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Mt 3:17
Words spoken to you.
These are not equivalent to the written Word of God. Jesus said.... It is WRITTEN....)
The issue is our humanity...
We don’t always hear right
If we hear right, we might not understand right
Often we misapply it… a word spoken to us might only be for us and not for the entire congreagation
The only way to determine if it’s “really God” is to see how it lines up with “what is written.”
God’s Words as Speech Through Human Lips
God uses a person to speak a word verbally.
Prophets
Word’s of wisdom, knowledge, tongues, interpretation...
This requires great caution…
Just because someone says, “Thus sayeth the Lord” doesn’t mean the Lord said it.
The best two tests:
Does it Glorify Christ and His purpose
Does the direction line up with the direction of the written word?
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’
Dt 18:18-20
THAT PROPHET SHALL DIE.
God’s Word in Written Form
By God
Ex 32:16
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
By man
Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Dt
All Scripture
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We need to teach and be taught
We need to reprove and be reproved
We need to correct and be corrected
We need to learn and apply rightghteousness
The path to becoming complete is on the road of Scripture
To do anything of real value, it needs to be built on His Word.
My Concern.
My Concern.
Now I have spent some time on the theology of the Word of God. I went over it so fast that I could not even come close to addressing it appropriately. I have this great desire to stir up in us something greater.
I do not simply want to say read your Bible more - which you should.
I do not want to simply say follow the laws and commands in your Bible - which you should.
I want to push through to something greater.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Philippians 3
Philippians 3
You see the Word of God is way more than a book that we use to give us a pick me up. It is more than a list of do’s and don’ts that point us towards righteousness and holiness. It is more than a story that teaches us about a man that died for our sins so that we can live for Him. It is more than a story.
IT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET TO KNOW HIM.
Paul was a man who was flawless in his execution of the written word but he missed it. He thought the Scriptures were a list of practices… which it is, but the heart of the word is God’s desire to speak to His people. Not just to tell us what to do, but to tell us who He is.
John
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He wants to have relationship.
Our reading of the Word has to come from a place deeper than simply a practice. The practice is great, and it does help us tremendously. But we need to hear Paul’s heart when He says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.... for whose sake I HAVE LOST ALL THINGS.... I COUNT THEM RUBBISH.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Have you ever seen people passionately in love with with someone… they cannot stand to be apart. Being apart is foreign and wrong. You see that’s how Jesus feels about us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
and His desire is that our passion is for Him as well. That we desire to know Him surpasses everything else.