Bible Text: Topical Study | Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Basic Christianity

In today’s world, as well as in the world of the past, there are many so-called

gods, and just as many theories and opinions as to what God (or god) is like. These past few weeks we have studied about the Bible, God’s Word revealed to

us. It is clear that God spoke through men long ago and used them to reveal to the rest of us just what God wanted us to know.

The validity, veracity, accuracy, infallibility and sovereign nature of God’s Word is without a doubt undeniable and has been overwhelmingly demonstrated and proved time and time again.

The Bible claims to be the revelation of the one true God, and it never attempts to prove His existence, but just begins (Genesis 1:1), “In the beginning God…” Exodus 3:14, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” This title implies and presumes self-existence.

Isaiah 43:10, “…Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me.” 13, “Yes, and from ancient days I am He.”

God states that there is only one God, and He is the only true God, and yet, in Genesis 1:26 He refers to Himself in the plural, as “Us” and “Our.” This of course is a mention of the Trinity, which we will study in much more depth as to just how (Deuteronomy 6:4), “The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” and yet the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all claim to be God, three distinct persons, and yet one God. Again, more on that in the weeks to come.

God says the most important thing that a person can boast about is (Jeremiah 9:24), “that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD.”

Psalm 19:1 says, “the heavens declare the glory of God; “the skies the work of His hands,” 4, “Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

God has clearly revealed Himself to humankind in creation itself (Romans 1:20), “God’s invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature— have been clearly seen… so that men are without excuse.”

God has also (Romans 2:15) revealed Himself within the very conscience of every person and made known to us what is right and what is wrong. In fact, knowing good from evil is a characteristic of God (Genesis 3:22), “The man has now become like one of Us, knowing good from evil”.

So, we see God revealed in creation, and we have God’s revelation to us in our conscience. But God didn’t stop there in revealing Himself to us (see John 1:1-4, 14, 18; 14:7-10)? We will study the deity of Christ in much more depth when we study the person of Christ in a future lesson.

Let’s consider some of the attributes of God:

God is Holy and this is the most repeated attribute of God in the Scriptures, for God is absolutely pure and perfect, He cannot be stained or corrupted by evil. Exodus 15:11, “Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

Psalm 99:9, “Exalt the LORD our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.”

Revelation 4:8, “”Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Because we are God’s children (cf. John 1:13), “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God,” we are exhorted (1Peter 1:15-16) “just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

None of us could obtain holiness by our own merit, but (Hebrews 10:10), “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

God is Righteous and Just — both of those words come from the very same root word — righteousness expresses that God’s nature and behavior are in perfect harmony, and justice describes the manner in which God legislates [makes and decrees] His laws, statutes, commands and judgements, i.e., God is always perfectly right and just in the way He deals with humankind, for God can do no wrong (see Psalm 89:14-16; 119:137-138, 142, 144).

Because God is righteous and just, He must judge sin, the penalty is death (cf. Romans 6:23), but for those who trust and believe in Christ, the penalty has been paid by God’s own Son (2Corinthians 5:21), “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God is Sovereign — this means He is subject to no one, He is the highest in command and authority, there is no higher power and He is superior to all others. Deuteronomy 6:13, “Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.”
Isaiah 43:13, “Yes, and from ancient days I am He. No one can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
Isaiah 45:22-24, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn, My mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked; before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. They will say of Me, in the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.”
Isaiah 46:9-11, “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.” “…I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” “…What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

Because God is sovereign we are assured (Romans 8:38-39), “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God…”

God is Eternal — there has never been a time when God did not exist; He had no beginning and He has no end.
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God…”
Isaiah 44:6, “…I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God.” Revelation 1:8, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” 17, “…I am the First and the Last.”

Because God is eternal, we can trust that (Deuteronomy 31:6), “He will never leave [us] nor forsake [us].”

God is Immutable — God never changes in His character, nature and purpose.

Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”
Malachi 3:6, “I the LORD do not change!”

In Hebrews 6:13, we are told, “When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater than [God] to swear by, He swore by Himself.” 17-18, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear… He confirmed it with an oath,” and “it is impossible for God to lie.”

The immutable character of God is a great assurance concerning the forgiveness and eternal life God says He has granted us through Jesus Christ (Romans 11:28-29), “As far as the gospel is concerned… …God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” [i.e., they can’t be lost, taken away, or given back, salvation is eternal]. 32, “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.”

God is Omniscient — God is all-knowing, He knows all things past, present and future; He has all knowledge (see Psalm 139:1-6, 13-16).

God knows the worst and the best of all of us, yet He unconditionally loves us! God is Omnipresent — God is all-present, He is everywhere in the universe

(see Psalm 139:7-12).
Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

So, you can’t be hidden from God, neither can you be lost, for He always knows where you are!

God is Omnipotent — God is all-powerful, there is nothing that is beyond His strength and power to accomplish.
Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”

Because God is all powerful and we belong to Him, we have nothing to fear (1John 5:4-5), “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

So, what is the ultimate message from the holy, righteous, just, sovereign, eternal, immutable, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God?
1Timothy 2:3b-4, “God our Savior [who] wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”

2Peter 3:9, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” 13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Pastor Mike <‘(((><

Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Basic Christianity

Audio Recording Available soon..

It is my desire for you be amazed by God’s Word, that is, the revelation of God given to us in the 66 Books of the Bible; the most awesome Book…

Think about it. The words were sovereignly “breathed out,“ originating from and authored by God, who used some 40 different human authors, on three continents (Africa, Asia, Europe), written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), over a period of about 1600 years, and as originally given, is without error. How is that possible?

2Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”
2Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Revelation 22:18-19, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

Today I want to excite you about the Bible, by sharing with you some examples of just how God’s Word speaks to the past, the present and the future.
A Common Flood Story: There is a Sumerian king list from c. 2100 BC that divides itself into two categories: the kings who ruled before a great flood and those who ruled after it. One of the earliest examples of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh (from ancient Mesopotamia, c. 2100 BC, describes a great flood sent as punishment by the gods, with humanity saved only when a great ship is built.

A later Greek story, tells of a couple who survived a great flood sent by Zeus. Taking refuge on the top of a tall mountain, they survived, and supposedly they repopulated the earth by throwing stones behind them that turned into human beings.

A story from China records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters escaped a great flood and were the only people alive on earth. After the great flood, they repopulated the world.

Hawaiians have a flood story that tells of a time when, long after the death of the first man, the world became a wicked, terrible place. Only one good man was left, and his name was Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. The waters came up over the earth and drowned all the people; only Nu-u, his family, and the animals with them were saved.

One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for Noah and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood stories in the folklore of people groups from around the world. The stories have a common theme, except for various details and cultural differences, and they seem to be telling a very similar story.

As the story of the Flood was verbally passed down one generation to the next, over hundreds, thousands of years, some parts of the story would no doubt have been lost or altered in some way (the telephone game).

But did you notice the Hawaiian patriarchal survivor’s name Nu-u, is very similar to Noah.

Hebrews and Bricks: See Exodus 1:11; 5:10-21…
The Bible says when the Hebrews were slaves under pharaoh in Egypt, they built

cities using bricks of clay mixed with straw, then clay and stubble, then clay alone. In 1883, Henri Édouard Naville, on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society of London, was the first to identify and examine the ruins of Pithom, mentioned in the

Bible, as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, prior to their Exodus from Egypt.

Neville excavated all three types of brick at this site, just like the Bible said. The Hittites:

In 2Samuel 11:3, David is inquiring about “Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
Genesis 15:18-21, “The LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites…” Numbers 13:29, …“The Hittites… live in the hill country.”

Joshua 3:10, …“God will drive out …the Hittites.”
The Bible frequently mentions the Hittites, but for centuries skeptics of the Bible

pointed to the lack of any evidence of the existence of the Hittites, alleging that, the Bible was in error.

But in 1906, Hugo Winckler excavated Hattusa, the Hittite capital that once rivaled both Egypt and Assyria in its grandeur (See Biblical World, pp. 290ff.) Extensive evidence of the Hittite nation was uncovered, validated, and catalogued. Chariot Wheels in the Red Sea:

Although most secular historians consider the parting of the Red Sea (for the escaping Hebrews) and the drowning of the Egyptian armies (by God, to protect His people), to be a fable or a myth.

Chariot wheels, axles and other artifacts were found in the Gulf of Aqaba in the late 1970’s, the place most Biblical Scholars believe the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea to escape the the Egyptians. The artifacts found here were covered in coral, which made it difficult to see them clearly, but they found numerous wheels – some were still on their axles, and some were off, they also found chariot cabs without the wheels (See Exodus 14:21-28).
Nebuchadnezzar’s Brick’s: Nebuchadnezzar II, also spelled Nebuchadrezzar, was king of Babylonia from about 605 BC to 562 BC; he is mentioned by name about 90 times in the historical and prophetic books of the Bible, but mostly he is referenced in the book of Daniel, as the main character alongside Daniel, in chapters 1–4.

Nebuchadnezzar served as God’s instrument of judgment on Judah for its idolatry and disobedience;in fact God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as “My servant” three times in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10).

Nebuchadnezzar is famous for conquering Judah and destroying Jerusalem about 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan, his general, completely ransacked and destroyed the temple along with most of Jerusalem, deporting the majority of remaining Jews to Babylon.

Fired clay bricks with Nebuchadnezzar’s name were excavated in the 1800’s, dated 580 BC, now displayed in the London British Museum.
Walls of Jericho: (See Joshua 6:20), “So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”

Hebrews 11:30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”

Several archeological excavations were done in Jericho in the 19th and 20th centuries in which much has been discovered; most amazing, the walls on the hillsides seem to have fallen out, not in, creating a ramp for the Israelites to easily enter the city.

Dead Sea Scrolls: In 1947 a Bedouin herdsman near Qumran, stumbled upon ancient scrolls when he tossed a rock into a cave opening and heard the sound of pottery shattering. This discovery led to the search for more scrolls, and between 1947-1956 some nine hundred manuscripts were discovered in eleven caves around Qumran, along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Over two hundred scrolls were portions of the Bible itself, dated 250 BC–AD 68, meaning that we now had copies of the Old Testament 1000 years older than current copies, and yet there were not any notable discrepancies when comparing the older with the currently held copies of the Old Testament.

In addition to the people and things recorded in the Bible that I have already mentioned, places such as Haran, Megiddo, Shechem, Shiloh, Gibeah, Beth Shemesh, Beersheba, and many other cites and urban sites have been excavated, not to mention that archeological findings have also validated many of the nations and people groups mentioned in the Bible, e.g., Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Amorites, Philistines, etc., demonstrating that fact, not myth or fable, is what is recorded in the Old Testament historical narratives.

Also, consider the following quotations from prominent archeologists:

“…it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” — Dr. Nelson Glueck (Rivers in the Desert, p. 31) “…archaeology has confirmed countless passages which have been rejected by critics as unhistorical or contradictory to known facts … Yet archaeological discoveries have shown that these critical charges … are wrong and that the Bible is trustworthy … We do not know of any cases where the Bible has been proved wrong.” — Dr. Joseph P. Free (Archaeology and Bible History, pp. 1,2,134)

Consider Science?
Job 26:7, “[God] stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on

nothing.”
Isaiah 40:22, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

Both Job and Isaiah wrote long before scientists or explorers firmly proved the earth was round.

Today we have pictures from space to show the earth’s circular shape, and yet Job (4000 years ago), and Isaiah (3000 years ago) knew the earth was round, long before technology confirmed what God said through them.

Throughout history men have professed many beliefs about the heavens and the earth, but God revealed His truth through His prophets, in His Word.
Psalm 8:3-9, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”

Men didn’t know of any “paths in the sea,” until Matthew Maury read this verse and determined to find them, discovering the ocean currents, he became known
as the Father of Oceanography, writing the first textbook on modern oceanography, in 1855 (Impact, 9/91, pp. 3-4).
Ecclesiastes 1:7, “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.”

Today we understand he three major processes of the water cycle, i.e., evaporation, condensation, precipitation, to which I will add accumulation and circulation of water. The cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation happens over and over. How did Solomon know this long before hydrologists studied and verified these cycles? God’s wisdom was given to him, just as it was to Job, Isaiah and David, among many other prophets of God!

What is written in the Bible has never contradicted any proven scientific fact; and yet it has miraculously stated many scientific truths centuries before men knew, let alone could validate such proven scientific evidence.

While the Bible has been repeatedly proved accurate, those who criticize the Bible have never been able to disprove it. This fact alone ought to strengthen our faith to accept and believe the Bible.

Consider Prophecy?

Isaiah 42:8-9, ”I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

God predicted future events. It takes a Supreme All-knowing Being to foretell the future accurately. If the God of the Bible can do this, then He must exist and must be the true God.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22, “The prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak… that prophet shall die.
…When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come true, the LORD has not spoken.”

If a man attempts to predict the future and fails, that man is not speaking for God or by God’s power, and so, when the Bible writers correctly predicted the future, this indicated that God was working through them.

The Bible foretells the coming of God’s Son (Luke 24:25-27, 44-48). The Old Testament Scriptures spoke about Him, and He fulfilled all they said about Him.

The Apostles often quoted Old Testament prophecies declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, both Lord and Savior [see Acts 2:25-36; 3:18- 26; 13:27-39].
A few of the Prophecies about and fulfilled by Jesus:

His Place of birth: Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-6).
To be a Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25).
Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-9). Crucifixion (Psalm 22:16-18; 34:20; John 19:18-37).
None of His bones to be broken (Exodus 12:24; Psalm 34:20; John 19:33, 36) Died for the sins of hers (Isaiah 53:4-12; 1Peter 2:21-25)
Buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).
Resurrection (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:24-32).
For a man to a fulfill just one or two of these prophecies would be amazing, but

to fulfill all eight of them would be astronomical (if one of ten tickets is marked and placed in a hat, you have a 1 in 10 chance of blindly reaching in and getting the marked ticket. For one man to fulfill all eight of the above prophecies would be expressed as a 1 in 1017 chance (100,000,000,000,000,000), verbalized as a one in one hundred quadrillion or one in one hundred thousand billion chance.

Mere men, writing by their own human wisdom, could never have perfectly revealed the past, present and future like this, but the Bible writers did so time and time again, about people, places, things, events, science.

The witness of Scripture testifies that God exists and that He spoke through these men, and Jesus is the Lord and Savior God sent into the world, the Living Word, and all the people in this world will be judged by how they respond to God’s One and Only Son, Who, by the set plan, purpose and power of God fulfilled all that was written about His birth, life, death and resurrection.

You can completely trust that everything the Bible says is absolutely true and will come to fulfillment in and through Jesus Christ: crucified, resurrected, and coming again to bring eternal condemnation in hell to all those who have rejected Him, and eternal exaltation in heaven to all those who have received Him.

Acts 10:43, All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him

receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Basic Christianity

Last week we began our study into some of the major doctrines of Christian
theology.
Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.”
When it says, “in the past,” it seems to be speaking of the Old Testament, and when it says, “in these last days,” it seems to be speaking of the New Testament.
Last week we considered how God reveals Himself through General Revelation (Creation and Conscience), and Special Revelation (Theophanies, Miracles & Signs, and His Word). God has given us external evidence (creation, Romans 1:18-20), and internal evidence (conscience, Romans 2:14-15).
Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, died in 2008, said:
“Now we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world… The essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same. Consider the enormousness of the problem: Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment. It asks what cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter and energy into the Universe? And science cannot answer these questions…”
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been there for centuries” (God and the Astronomers [New York: Norton, 1978], pp. 14, 114, 116).
Giant telescopes are able to view stars and galaxies billions of light years away – light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so, a light year, in distance, is 5.88 trillion miles. How big is the universe? Only God knows.
The earth is about 25,000 miles in circumference, weighing 13 septillion pounds (13 with 24 zeros), and it just hangs in space at a 23.5° tilt (causing the sun’s light and energy to hit the different regions of the Earth at different angles throughout the course of the earth’s daily rotation and yearly orbit). Spinning at about 1000 miles per hour, the earth is moving in a rotation around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (at an average distance of 93 million miles from the sun), in an orbit that is 580 million miles long.
How can such mass, speed and power, be intricately and harmoniously held together on a precise course? A Master Designer, Creator, and Sustainer is the only plausible answer to what we see and now know exists!
The name Helen Keller is probably familiar to most of you, popularized in the 1962 movie, Miracle Worker. Helen, born in 1880, was a normal baby until about 18 months of age, when she contracted scarlet fever, leaving her blind, deaf and mute. Her family hired a young teacher named Ann Sullivan to be her care giver, through whom Helen learned how to communicate via touch, and eventually she learned to talk.
When Ann Sullivan first tried to tell Helen about God, the girl responded that she already knew He existed, but she did not know His name (The Story of My Life [New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905], pp. 368-74).
Do you remember howPaul reveal God to the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill in
Athens (Acts 17:23-28)? Paul said he was going to introduce them to the
“unknown” God, telling them that God “is not far off from anyone.”
Hebrews 4:12, “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-
edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
There is a preponderance of evidence about God displayed in creation, there is also the internal witness of our conscience, making us justifiably guilty if we reject Him; and yet, God mercifully and graciously reaches out to us, by sending His own Son to save us, by dying for us, and all this is written in God’s Word.
God’s Word tells us that God loves us, has revealed Himself to us, and wants us to have a personal and eternal relationship with Him.
Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I
take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!’”
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart.”
1Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Wow, so although mankind is conscious of God’s existence, most of mankind will not glorify Him, the majority of the billions of people who have lived on this planet (which was made especially for them, by God) have rejected Him, unwilling to acknowledge, let alone to honor and worship Him.
Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in
the splendor of His holiness.”
1Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Man doesn’t thank God for all he has received from God (life, food, water, purpose, pleasure, a future and a hope); the majority of mankind is indifferent toward God, leading them to foolish thinking, allowing their hearts to become darkened, separating them farther from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
2Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
When men reject or suppress the knowledge of God as displayed in creation and written in their consciences – they remain guilty, without excuse, utterly deserving of God’s righteous judgement to be condemned to hell!
John 3:16-18, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because He has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
God mercifully put on flesh (Isaiah 7:14), lived among us (John 1:1-4, 14), took our punishment for sin (Romans 5:8), and even removed sin’s curse, from all who confess Him as Lord & Savior (8:1; 10:9-10).
Christians serve and honor God best by knowing and proclaiming God’s Good News, that God’s Son came to save us, that we would continue to proclaim the message of salvation to all who will listen.
Romans 10:13-15, ”’Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Pastor Mike <‘(((><

Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Basic Christianity

Today, as we begin our study, Christian doctrine of theology. I think it isimportant that we define some of the key words before we get started:
Christian – an adherent of Christ i.e., a believer & follower of Christ, who lives in, belongs to, and exemplifies Jesus Christ .
Doctrine – the incontrovertible beliefs, teachings, commands, precepts, and principles that one acknowledges and adheres to.
Christian Doctrine – the body of instruction that Christians ought to believe, revealed in the Bible.
The Bible – God’s revelation to man, given by God, contained in the 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament Books. It is our primary source for God’s instruction and intent, it provides our understanding of God, from God.
Faith – (Hebrews 11:1), “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” i.e., faith is trusting and believing in something that you cannot explicitly prove.
Christian Faith – Believing in the finished work of Christ for everything we need to know God in this life and to live with Him in heaven.
Theology – formed from two Greek words: Theos = God, and ology = study or science of, i.e., theology is the study of God’s nature and character; His purpose, plan, provision and destiny for all that He has created.As we study the teachings [doctrine] of the Bible, we are able to form a Christian Theology that equips and encourages us to actively apply our Christian faith to our daily life where others see us, leading to opportunities for us to serve as witnesses of Christ (see 1Peter 2:11-12; 3:15-16; 4:7-11).

We must understand and acknowledge that God reveals Himself to us, and apart from Him initiating the relationship, we could not know Him (see John 1:1-4, 14, 18; 1John 2:6; 5:11-13).

Let’s consider the two main ways God reveals Himself to us, known as Natural Revelation and Special Revelation.

Natural Revelation, also called General Revelation, speaks of how God reveals Himself in both creation and conscience.

Creation (see Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:18-20)

What does creation reveal about God? His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature.

Conscience (see Romans 2:12-16)

What does our conscience reveal about God? Con = with; science = knowledge, God placed knowledge of His law in our hearts that we might know good and evil (Genesis 3:22-23), “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil… So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.”

The problem is no one does good, no one keeps the law; all sin, all deserve death (see Romans 3:10-12; 19-20, 3:23; 6:23).

Think about it — creation declares that God exists and He is sovereign. Our conscience tells us what is right , yet we do wrong; both creation and conscience cause us to seek a fuller revelation of God, to know how we can be saved from our sin.

Special Revelation allows us to know God more fully and personally.

Theophanies are appearances of God to man in a form that can be seen (Greek Theos – God, phainein – to appear or to show). God appeared to Abraham (Genesis 17:1; 18:1), to Isaac (Genesis 26:2), to Jacob (Genesis 32:30), and to Moses (Exodus 3:2-6; 33:18-23).

Miracles and Signs is another means through which God expresses Himself, as through the Flood (Genesis 7), the Burning Bush (Exodus 3), the Egyptian Plagues (Exodus 7-13), the Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14).

God’s Word is the living, eternal, spoken and written revelation from God to man, about God and man (John 1:1-4; see Hebrews 1:1-2). Long ago God spoke through the prophets (Old Testament). In these last days He has spoken through His Son (New Testament).

See 2Timothy 3:14-17…

Paul writes to Timothy (vv. 14-15), who could only have had available the Old Testament, as a child, as the New Testament had not yet been written.

But, ALL Scripture (vv. 16-17, OT/NT) is God-breathed, authored by and originating from God, as God’s sovereign instruction (see 2Peter 1:16-21).

Genuine Christianity holds up the Bible alone as the revealed Word of God, and although it was written by men, God Almighty is the author.

God-breathed means that the origin of Scripture is God, not man! (2Peter 1:21), “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The human speakers/writers were moved by God to proclaim God’s revelation. God did not use robots, androids or puppets to write the Bible; He used men with individual personalities and idiosyncrasies to accomplish His will, yet God’s control was always on them, resulting in the Bible–the Word of God in the words of men.

God authored the Bible, and because He is perfect, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, the result is inerrant, infallible, authoritative.

The Bible was written over a period of about 1600 years by about 40 different human authors, e.g. Joshua (a military general), Daniel (a prime minister), David (a shepherd King), Nehemiah (a cup bearer), Luke (a physician), Paul (a tent maker), Peter (a fisherman), Matthew (a tax collector).

The authors of the 66 books wrote from a variety of places: Moses, from the desert wilderness; Paul, from a Roman prison; John, from the island of Patmos.

They also wrote from three different continents (Africa, Asia, Europe), in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek).

The Bible is all about Jesus Christ, God’s Son (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53). From beginning to end, the Bible is the unfolding inerrant, infallible, sovereign story of God’s love for mankind, through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of God’s Only Son, Jesus the Christ.

John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”
John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The Bible is a complete harmony that cannot be explained by coincidence or collusion, its unity is a strong argument in favor of its divine inspiration. There are other good reasons that also support the Bible’s claim to be the
divine and complete Word of God:

The testimony of the early church
The witness of history and archaeology
The evidence of changed lives throughout the ages The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in one’s life

This sovereign and supernatural book is quite unique; for it speaks with authority of that which is known and that which is unknowable, of that which is delightful and that which is damning, of man’s successes and his failures, of eternity past, present, and future! No other book has such credentials, and although it has been attacked relentlessly, its opposers have been silenced.

You can trust the Bible. More on that next week.

Today we celebrate Communion [the Lord’s Supper] here at First Baptist Church, as we do the first Sunday of every month.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, as God’s Son, is both Lord and Savior, Creator and Sustainer, and the Ultimate Judge over all, as He punishes and praises. He is the Living and Eternal Word of God, the fullest expression of God in human

form; and as the Lamb of God, He has taken our punishment for sin, so that we might not be condemned to an eternal torment in hell, but instead live joyfully in heaven with God forever, no more death or crying or mourning or pain.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and that all things were created by Him and through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.

God has made peace and reconciled all things to Himself through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

That is the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have you repented of your sins? Do you believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, confessing Him as Lord and trusting Him as Savior?

If not, why not? We are all sinners, get over it! But realize that although the penalty for sin is death, God offers the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ to all who call upon Him, and He turns no one away!

The Lord’s Supper remembers the sovereign sacrifice and supernatural resurrection of Jesus Christ: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.

1Corinthians 11:23-26, “when Christ had given thanks, He broke the bread and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me’ and they each one took of it and ate it. After supper Jesus took the cup and passed
it …saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood shed for you; do this, in remembrance of Me.’ And they each one drank it. Whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns to take us to our eternal home; let each of us continue to obediently serve Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, as He enables us – until that day arrives.

And all God’s people said? Amen!

Pastor Mike <‘(((><