CCF GLC 1 Book 2 Session 2 One Basis - Bible

welcome to our second session of book two of GLC essentials in our previous session we talked about prayer because when we accept Jesus Christ into our life we are brought into a new personal relationship with God and as with all relationships communication is essential prayer is one way for us to nurture that relationship with him in this session we will talk about how God communicates to us through his word the Bible the Bible's proof in an expression of God's love for us through the Bible God communicates to mankind what he is like and how man can have a right relationship with him God's Word is our creators manual for living the Apostle Paul tells us that the Bible is the sufficient and final authority on all matters of faith conduct and character [Music] you [Music] you might be asking why believe in the Bible for Christians the Bible is our primary source for knowing God and his ways it is a living book where God Himself speaks to us to provide instruction inspiration and direction but how can we be certain that it's really the words of God can it be relied upon consider the following facts we believe because of the truth of the Bible the Bible chronicles hundreds of prophecies that have come to pass many of them in ways that are beyond human control of the approximately 2500 prophecies that appear in the pages of the Bible about 2,000 have already been fulfilled in Jesus more than 350 prophecies of the Old Testament have come true about 40 of these refer to the coming of the promised Messiah the probability then that Jesus of Nazareth could have fulfilled even eight of such prophecies would be only one in 10 to the 17th power that's 1 in 100 quadrillion for instance Micah chapter 5 verse 2 predicted that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem I say a 7:14 predicted that he will be born of a virgin and Psalm 22 predicted the horrific manner of how Jesus would die on the cross such accuracy of predictions could have not been possible apart from the undeniable conclusion that such prophecies indeed came from God considering it is an ancient book the Bible also anticipates and affirms many of the base scientific facts in Genesis 17 12 God instructed that circumcision was to be done on the eighth day medical data today shows that it is on the eighth day that the child developed sufficient amounts of vitamin K which is necessary for blood coagulation other examples are the allusion to the water cycle in job 36 into the Earth's shape in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 22 the Bible also has references to real people places and events as proven by historical and archaeological evidences one such case is the existence of the Hittites mentioned in both Genesis 23 and second samuel chapter 11 a century ago the Hittites were unknown outside of these Old Testament citations thus critics were quick to dismiss it as a figment of biblical imagination however in 1906 archaeologists digging east of Ankara Turkey discovered the ruins of hatice's the ancient Hittite capital at what is today called but gauss coy as well as its vast collection of hittite historical records which showed an empire flourishing in the mid 2nd millennium BC this is just one of the many archaeological discoveries that attest to the Bible as a reliable and invaluable Word of God number two we believe in the Bible because of its unity the Bible is unique in human literature it was written by over 40 authors in three languages Arabic Hebrew and Greek on three continents over a period of 1500 years and yet is without contradiction or error now imagine reading three newspapers today that describe the same event yesterday they almost certainly would not agree even on the most important of details yet the Bible has a single unifying theme Jesus Christ the books of the Old Testament looked forward to his coming in both typology 's and prophecies the books of the New Testament on the other hand testified to what he said how he lived and to his second coming the Bible is a story of how God's drama of redemption was finally fulfilled in Jesus we believe because of the accuracy of the Bible the ancient manuscripts attest to the Bible's accuracy one of the most notable would be the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Qumran caves in the deserts of Israel ancient copies of Old Testament manuscripts that are thousands of years older than what is readily available to Bible scholars were excavated when compared to our modern Bibles there was an astonishing identical similarity except for some minor differences in spelling and other negligible details this discovery alone proves the impressive accuracy and careful preservation and transmission of the text of the Bible particularly the Old Testament as for the New Testament we have more than 5,000 manuscripts this is remarkable considering that the more numerous the copies and the closer they are to the original writing the more certain we are of its accuracy the thousands of ancient manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament include copies that are within only a hundred years of its writing by stark contrasts the earliest manuscripts of ancient classics like Aristotle and Caesar date from more than a thousand years after their writing and are attested to by only a handful of manuscripts no other ancient document comes close to the Bible in manuscript evidence and this is despite attempts to stamp it out of existence in AD 303 the Roman Emperor Diocletian decreed that all Bibles should be burned less than a generation later however Christianity was accepted as official religion of Rome Voltaire was coded as having predicted that the Bible will be relegated to the junk heap of history within a hundred years of his death ironically Bibles were being printed on a printing press in his own home 50 years later more than two hundred years after his death the man for the Bible shows no evidence of waning it is still the world's number one bestseller number four we leave in the Bible because of its divine inspiration perhaps what sets the Bible apart from other literature more than anything else is that it claims to be the very words of God well there are numerous books that attempt to understand and explain God and his will in the pages of the Bible it is God who reveals himself in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 it is said that all scriptures is filled mostess usually translated as inspired this Greek word conveys the picture of being breathed out and clarifies to us that the Bible source is ultimately God himself Apostle Peter explains how this has been made possible no prophecy came from what a person wanted to say but people led by the Holy Spirit spoke words from God of course each book of the Bible shows how the personality of the writer and his distinct style of writing are reflected in the book that he was tossed by God to write nonetheless the finished product remained to be no less than God's Holy Word and finally number five we believe in the Bible because of its transforming power the Bible is not just any other human book throughout the course of human history countless lives have been transformed by the supernatural power of God's Word drug addicts have been cured by it homosexuals set free by it be abandoned oppressed and outcasts were cared for because of it hardened criminals reformed by it sinners rebuked by it and hate turned to love by it the Bible possesses a dynamic and transforming power that is only possible because it is truly God's [Music] another question might be why follow the Bible a genuine believer having been indwelt by the Holy Spirit will have a desire to learn and follow what the Bible instructs our Christ likeness is in direct proportion to our obedience to its word experiencing the truths of the Word of God is what makes it life-changing so what are the spiritual blessings we get when we follow the Bible let's find out psalm 119 verse 105 says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path imagined to walk safely in the woods at night we need light to keep us from tripping or falling into holes in the same way the Bible can be our light so we do not stumble in this world's forest of darkness it reveals entangling roots of false values beliefs ideologies philosophies and others like it as we journey through life the Bible serves as our road map which points out safe routes obstacles to avoid in our final destination God's Word is also our supreme resource for victorious Christian living in the Bible God provides the spiritual truths and moral principles that men need to be saved and be equipped to live righteously 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 to 17 reads all Scripture is inspired and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work this passage tells us that the Bible 1 is useful for teaching teaching refers specifically and exclusively to sound doctrine given to believers through God's Word scripture equips believers with accurate and comprehensive knowledge of God's truth second scripture is useful for rebuking scripture convicts believers of misbehavior and exposes ungodly Kandam it has the Ministry of tearing down and destroying not only what is false but also what is sinful in our character third it is useful for correcting scripture not only teaches sound doctrine it also exposes what is false and erroneous the Bible helps people straighten out errors in two ways the first one is it provides a complete presentation of the teaching if only part of the truth has been presented and thus taken out of context it also provides a right understanding so that it can be properly applied and fourth scripture is useful for training scripture not only exposes bad behavior it also provides training in righteousness the Bible shows people how to glorify God and instructs us on how we can live to please him so why say the Bible because we grow in spiritual maturity by studying God's Word acknowledging the Bible as reliable and powerful in changing lives and a consistent and diligent study of God's Word are vital to the discipleship journey of every believer we must be very careful not to ignore misrepresent or misinterpret God's Word as a believer we must strive hard to correctly proclaim explain and apply the word of truth in our lives [Music] finally you might ask how can I learn God's Word for one through personal Bible reading and Bible study Deuteronomy 17 verses 18 to 19 reads when he takes the throne of his kingdom he is to write for himself on scroll a copy of this law taken from that of the peace to our Levites it is to be with him and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees the instructions was for the king to write down a copy of the law writing it down by hand would help him learn what it says in the same way regularly reading the Bible will help us become familiar with a ways and character of God the history of his people and the life and example of Christ Ezra chapter 7 says he had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month for the gracious hand of his God was on him for Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the law of the Lord and to teaching its decrease and loss in Israel the gracious hand of God was upon Azra because he had set his mind to study the law to obey it and to teach it this tells us that the spiritual blessings in favor from God come to those who set their hearts to study obey and teach God's Word Ezra had dedicated himself to this pursuit it would therefore be great for all of us if we would follow Ezra's commitment and love for God's Word by dedicating yourself to the pursuit of God's truth through the daily reading of his word you will find that the Holy Spirit will lead you into a clearer understanding of it as a Bible says ask seek not but if this is so then why are so many Christians today not growing in their faith it is simply because many read the Bible but are not obedient we all may acquire biblical knowledge but if do not obey and apply that knowledge in our lives there can be little or no growth at all so if you want to grow spiritually we need to adopt a system that encourages behaviors that lead to spiritual growth the obedience based Bible study method or obvs is a process that encourages those behaviors read obey and share that is the process in a nutshell you will learn more on this in your small group discussion which is another way of learning the Bible if one way of learning God's Word is through personal Bible reading and personal study of the Bible another way to learn is through group studies there's much to be gained by joining others who are similarly committed to learn about God's character in his ways you'll find out more about this in another lesson for now enjoy your group discussion and God bless you [Music]

Channel: Gabriel Rebuta

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Keywords: ccf, glc 1, book 2, session 2, one basis, bible

Id: s_j2Gy4pf34

Length: 17min 31sec (1051 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 28 2019