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Posts Tagged ‘Bible’

The Word or the words

Posted in Word of God, tagged , , , , on February 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This verse clearly states that Jesus is the true, living, inerrant Word of God.

Not to sound sacrilegious, but sometimes we Christians can actually make to much of the Bible. People will hold it up and say it is the word of God and worship it more than we worship Christ. Christ is the true Word of God. He is the living and powerful Word and His Spirit lives within us.

In John 5:39 and 40, Jesus told the religious leaders “you study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life”. The religious leaders of the day spent so much time studying the scriptures that they missed the Living Word standing right in front of them.

The written words of God contained in the Bible are inspired by God, but the Bible isn’t the whole picture. God does not live in time like we do. He has no beginning and no end. The written words of God are stories of only a certain recorded period of time.

God won’t do anything that is contradictory to His Word, but we need to remember the Bible is the written words of God and Jesus, living in us by the Holy Spirit, is the true and living Word of God. We were given the Holy Spirit to be our companion, guide, teacher and comforter, and He will lead us into all truth.

This certainly doesn’t mean we don’t need to read the Bible, but we do need to keep it in its proper place.

Jesus is who we are to look to for everything. He is the Word. He is our all in all.

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The Word

Posted in Word of God, tagged , , , , on April 18, 2012|

John 1:1 The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

The Word is not just written words. The Word mentioned here is Jesus, the Living Word.

So many of us focus on what version of the Bible is the true word of God. This verse states that the true Word is alive and living within us as children of God.

If we were never again able to read from the Bible or hear it read to us, we still have the Living Word of God within us to teach us and guide us.

We should read our Bibles no matter what translation we prefer, but we need to remember that the Bible is the inspired words of God, and the true Word of God is Jesus, who lives within each of us through the Holy Spirit.

We can read the words on the pages of the Bible, but it is the Living Word within us that brings to life and gives power to those words we read.

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The Old and the New

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , on March 15, 2012|

When does the Old Covenant end and the New Covenant begin? We tend to forget that the Old Covenant does not end with Malachi and the New Covenant does not start with Matthew.

For the 33 years that Jesus walked the earth, He was still under the Old Covenant, which required following all its rules and regulations.

The New Covenant began when Jesus was crucified. When He said ‘It is finished’, He was talking about the Law, the Old Covenant. Upon His resurrection the New Covenant began and we are no longer required to try and live under the Law, and the way of the Old Covenant.

The old agreement was basically a tutor. A way God used to show humans that we were unable to live a perfect life on our own. It was a way to show us that we needed someone to save us from our sin. Once Jesus came and lived a perfect life on earth, He was able to be the sacrifice that fulfilled the Law and save each of us from our sinful nature (Matthew 5:17).

Now that the Law has been fulfilled in Christ, we are no longer required to try to live by the ten commandments, and the rules and regulations of the Old Covenant (Galatians 5:1-6). To many times we seem to forget that because of grace we now live by faith in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are no longer just a poor sinner saved by grace, although we were sinners and we are saved by grace. We are now the righteousness of God, through Christ. God no longer calls us slaves, but He calls us Sons (John 15:15). We are seated in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6). This isn’t to say that we should go out and do what ever we want, right or wrong (Galatians 5:13). We do have freedom in Christ to do what we choose, but of course there are consequences if we choose things that God has warned us to stay away from.

Today we choose to live a life pleasing to God because of love (Matthew 22:37-40). Godly love is the fulfillment of the Law (Galatians 5:14, Romans 13:8 and 10, 1 John 3:23). We love God, we’ve been made righteous through Christ, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who guides us, teaches us, and gives us strength. We do what is pleasing to God because we choose to out of love for Him, not out of obligation or because we are trying to fulfill a set of rules and Old Testament laws that we couldn’t live up to anyway.

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The Word of God

Posted in Word of God, tagged , , , , on March 7, 2012| 1 Comment »

When we talk about the Word of God, we usually think of the Bible.

If we say the Bible is just a book, we get all offended and ready to voice our opinion that the Bible is the Word of God.

Actually, I disagree with that thought. Based on John 1:1, the Word of God is Jesus. He is the true, living Word of God.

To many times we Christians focus so much on The Bible that we forget we have the living Word of God inside of us. The Holy Spirit, who is God in spirit form, just as Jesus was God in human form, lives within us.

There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the Bible, as it is God inspired. Through it we can learn from the past, we see the story of redemption throughout, we come to know the love God has for us and how he purchased our salvation through Christ. We learn what pleases God and we come to know that it is only by Grace that we are in right standing with God.

The Bible teaches us the Law and how we humans are completely unable to live a life pleasing to God through the law. The law was our tutor to bring us to realize that we need God’s grace through Christ.

The Bible teaches us of the freedom we now have in Christ and that only by His grace can we live a life pleasing to Him. There is nothing that we can do on our own to earn or deserve what He has done for us.

The part we need to get over is how we like to fight and argue over which version of the Bible is the ‘true’ word of God. We need to remember that all versions of the Bible are only versions, man-made interpretations of the original words God gave through the Holy Spirit.

We need to focus on Jesus. Only Jesus is the true and living Word of God. When we focus on Christ and listen for the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit of Christ within us, we will then hear and come to understand the true Word of God.

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Simply Jesus

Posted in christian living, tagged , , on February 29, 2012|

N.T. Wright Interview: “Simply Jesus” & Wright Responds to Critics

Used by Permission from Beyond Evangelical The Blog of Frank Viola

Today, I’m featuring N.T. Wright on the blog. This interview fits in nicely with our series on Beyond Evangelical. But first, a little context.

My favorite New Testament scholar of the 20th century was the British scholar F.F. Bruce. Bruce was a “bright and shining light” in 20th century evangelicalism. He was prolific, churning out high quality work year after year. He had the rare ability to write academic books as well as popular (accessible) books. Bruce’s specialty was Jesus and Paul.

F.F. Bruce also understood the importance of chronology in New Testament studies. Consequently, he published a translation of the New Testament that put all of Paul’s letters in chronological order. (Yes – cough — F.F. Bruce was a major inspiration for me. Hence, I credit him in my Untold Story of the New Testament Church.)

In addition, Bruce was a powerful apologist, substantiating the historicity of the Gospels in the face of 20th century liberalism. To top it off, F.F. Bruce was a capable theologian as well as a New Testament exegete (a rare combination).

Enter N.T. Wright. Another British evangelical scholar.

Click this link to read the unedited interview:
http://frankviola.org/2012/01/23/ntwright

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Proper Mindset

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , on February 23, 2012|

Several times I’ve talked about modern day church and the way it is way off base from what it should be.

It is not that I am against church, but it is a matter of being clear on the proper meaning of the word. Not that we have to be politically correct in description, but I feel we need to be clear on the matter in regard to our mindset.

Normally when the word church is mentioned, we all think of a building we go to on Sunday to learn about God. We also think in terms of how much we go to church as being a guide to how spiritual we are, or how close we are to God. We think of the doctrines, rules and regulations placed on us by the church as ways to make us better Christians.

We need to reset our thinking. The Church is not a building. The Church is the bride of Christ, all of us who are saved by grace. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The building is just a place where we can meet and conduct spiritual meetings and Christian social events.

Just as the mindset we have when we talk about the word of God. We first think of the Bible. The Bible actually are the words of God, but the true living Word of God is Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Jesus is the Word of God. There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the words of God, but we need to focus on the fact that the Word of God is alive and living within each of us as born again people.

Although sometimes it may seem unimportant of how we think of church or the Bible, it is very important that we understand what is really meant. The old mindset of a building and a book need to be replaced with the fact that the Church are those of us who are redeemed through the blood of Christ and the Word of God is Christ Himself, alive and living within us.

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Can’t We All Just Get Along

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

When it comes to Christianity, with all its different denominations, interpretations, different versions of the Bible, it seems there are always times when we run into conflict.

Each of us as brothers or sisters in Christ seem to want it our way. Our ‘church’, our interpretation, our version of the Bible. We each feel that we are right and feel the need to distance ourselves from those who feel differently.

Have you noticed how religion just wants to set the rules so each of us know what it takes to be a ‘good’ Christian? Do this, don’t do that, stay away from this and make sure you participate in that. Be in every service and be active with this group or that group. If you aren’t reading a particular version of the Bible, you are just wasting your time, if you aren’t part of a ‘church’ you must be backslidden, at least that’s the way some fellow Christians make you feel. Rules, rules, rules.

Maybe it’s time to stop arguing over versions, interpretations, church attendance and such and start focusing on Christ, who is to be our first love. If we can focus on Him and loving others, we should be able to agree to disagree on other topics.

When we find common ground in our faith in Christ, when we love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, we should be able to look past the minor differences we have in our various denominations, Bible versions and interpretations.

Let’s stop fighting against each other and begin to love one another as Christ loves us. Don’t let the minor differences come between the love we can have for one another and the things we can share and learn through fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Hell…No?

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , on September 23, 2011|

Rob Bell, the pastor who enraged Bible-believing Christians with his book ‘Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived’, has resigned from Mars Hill Bible Church. Bell, who argues that hell does not exist, says God is calling him to pursue a “growing number of strategic opportunities.”

Love is the main theme of God. God is love. I’m not sure I am ready to say that God saves everyone and that hell doesn’t exist, but I do know that no matter what, God loves us all.

True, love is how Christians should be known. God loves everyone and has made a way for everyone to receive the gift of salvation. But God doesn’t force this gift on anyone and those who choose not to take it may one day have to take the consequences for it.

Now, is hell a real place of eternal torment or was it a dumping ground near Jerusalem that has nothing to do with punishment? There is a very real debate over this issue and I certainly don’t have the answer. The thing is, trying to get people ‘saved’ with the threat of spending eternity in hell is not the way to do it. People are truly changed by God’s love, and by God’s people living out that love to everyone they meet.

God does not want anyone to spend eternity in a place of torment. He has provided the way of escape if there is a hell. But we want to focus on the fact the God loves us all, and we want to accept and enjoy his love, not just escape the thought of eternal punishment.

When we love someone, we want to do things that please that person and make them happy. Same with God, we want to be pleasing to Him and do things for Him. We don’t do these things out of obligation, or because of rules and regulations. That’s law. We do them out of love and that is the way we should help lead others to Christ, through love.

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Faith and Works

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2011|

James 2:18 You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works…..

I have always read this verse with the thought of works being things I do to earn what God has given me, salvation. Maybe not earn, but pay back for what God has done. After thinking a little about this, I think that what is being said isn’t paying God back by doing good things. Our works are a result of our love for Christ and what He did for us. Our works are our actions that we do day by day. Our actions are a result of spending time with Christ and learning from Him.

We need to truly be His disciples. A disciple is one who spends time with the Teacher, listens to His every word, watches how He acts, spends all his time with the Teacher, eating, sleeping, talking, traveling, learning, just like the disciples of Jesus. It is then that our actions will mimic those of Christ. The Bible says we can be no better than our teacher, but when Christ is our Teacher, we have the best.

When our actions are the same as His, people will no longer see us but they will see Jesus. Our actions, or works, then show the love of God to the world. Our ‘good’ works as far as we normally think of works, and our words do not mean a lot, but our actions speak louder than either.

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Works vs Faith

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2011| 3 Comments »

Galatians 2:16 – nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus…….

We Christians sometime spend our time trying to obey the 10 Commandments and trying to do the right thing, when in actuality, we don’t need to be trying to keep the law at all.

We will go to church every time the door is open, tithe our 10 percent, we will not smoke, drink, dance, go to movies, we will look down and condemn those who do or do not do what we feel the Bible commands. We feel guilty every time we mess up and think God is going punish us if we do not do everything we know is ‘right’ to do as Christians.

What happened to grace? What happened to being saved through faith in Christ, and Him alone. Not Jesus and baptism, not Jesus and doing this or that, not Jesus and refraining from doing certain things. We are saved through faith in Christ and to be quite blunt, we do not ‘have’ to do any of these things or do not ‘have’ to avoid certain things to be a child of God. We have a freedom in Christ that was bought and paid for with the death and resurrection of Jesus. That does not mean we just live our lives doing whatever we want, but we living in the freedom we have through grace. We do things out of love, love for God and love for others. It is no longer out of obligation or trying to follow any law.LoveGod

Let’s stop putting all the rules and regulations on others that we think will make them better people and love them with the love of Christ and let God lead them in the way He wants them to go.

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