Sunday Morning Report

Our pastor this morning began a new series on doctrine called "What We Want To Believe." We will be looking at the doctrines of the historic Christian faith and setting out what we as a church adhere to. Because the church is relatively new, about five years, and there are a large number of new attenders, the elder body decided it would be good for everyone to know where we stand doctrinally. It will be a way to define for people what the biblically allowable positions are within the church, and what someone who is interested in teaching must NOT teach against. As a new person myself, and as one who desires to teach above all things, I am looking forward to these sermons, and if the one preached today is any indication of what the others will be like, then I will be heartily fed in the coming weeks! :)

A word on the title. Pastor Jason said he'd chosen this title because we Christians don't live as if we actually believe what we say we do. For example, we say we believe the Bible is God's Word...yet the Bible too often collects dust on our shelves or our night stand. Too true. We say we believe in the existence of hell...yet too often we fail to share the life saving message of the Gospel with anyone! Ouch. I hate when pastors act like they have to teach truth like this...who do they think they are?!? :)

So this first message was on the doctrine of the Bible. As a preface, our pastor shared a story of a friend of his from his college days who, through his own foolish actions, was almost killed by a train. After the event, the pastor asked him why he would do such a thing, and his friend replied that he'd only been trying to have fun. The point being, of course, that too many people today just want to have fun, and don't realize their life is in danger...of hellfire! As he shared this I was reminded of a recent verse I read from Proverbs 14:12, which says that "[t]here is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." The world thinks it is right to seek material goods as a main focus of life...it thinks that having it all in this world is all that matters because it is all we have. But this way of thinking leads to death. What seems right to a man is not what God has declared IS right.

As far as the doctrine of the Bible, our pator shared four characteristics of it which our church believes:

1) Scripture is authoritative:

"...all the words of the Bible are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God."

This is self explanatory and I daresay any self-professing Christian who denies this needs to closely examine him/herself to determine why they believe themselves to BE Christians!

One thing our pastor pointed out and which I completely appreciated was that you cannot persuade or convince someone to believe this truth. No, this must be granted to a person by the Holy Spirit. Without the work of the Spirit, a person might believe as the demons believe (James 2:19), but they will not believe unto salvation! A good text for support of this is found in Hebrews 4:12, which says that "...the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

2) Scripture is clear:

"...means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all submissive people who will read it seeking God's help."

I liked that our pastor pointed out how the fact that there are disagreements among Believers is NOT due to any lack of clarity in the Word, but due entirely to us! Whether it be sin in our life or a failure to completely seek the counsel of the Word, the failure to understand is due to us.

3) The Necessity of Scripture:

"...means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the Gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God's will, but is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God's character and moral laws."

To paraphrase our pastor...do we need the latest fad? The newest research? We cry out to know God's will when His revelation for our life is in our very hands! The Bible teaches us how to live our lives out, whether at work or at home or at church. We do not need anything else!

4) The Sufficiency of Scripture:

"...means that Scripture contains all the words of God He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly."

Brothers and sisters...we need NO other revelation! As the pastor said, the cults are characterized by a reliance upon "new" revelation, and this new revelation always involves false teachings! I want to add something the pastor mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, which I wanted to save to add here because of its appropriateness: "...if you come up with something new, you are probably a heretic!"

I can't wait 'til next Sunday!