SCROLL DOWN TO THE COMMENTS!
What You'll Discover in this Episode:
God Declares Himself
as the Christian's Counselor
In this episode, we will discuss why the Word of God is inspired, inerrant, authoritative, infallible and sufficient. This podcast will provide further understanding in our confidence in the the Scripture and to God as the Author.
To give an introduction about the topic of biblical sufficiency, let us look into the two kinds of revelation:
1. General Revelation
2. Special Revelation
General Revelation
This is what God revealed to all people, in all times and in all places. "For what may be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them." Romans 19. This is a truth that is manifestly set forth before all men. It's clear to everybody.
General revelation has a problem in the interpretation of the facts. It is because our minds are less than perfect, purity and a subject to error. In General revelation, we can try to explain the facts of science as we observe the things that we hear, feel, touch, see and taste. The problem is that although the facts might be accurate, we can misinterpret them.
Special Revelation
This is the Word of God. It's the Scriptures. It's God's revealed truth to a specific time and people. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." 2 Timothy 3:16.
It's the Holy Spirit of God that moved upon the authors of the scripture to write exactly what he wanted written. It means to "breathe into".
The Bible is God's special revelation to humanity. It contains no error and it is truth. It's the inspired, inerrant, authoritative, infallible, super-sufficient Word of God!
The authority of the Scripture is not derived by humans. It's original authority is God. It does not change with the times, culture, the nation or the ethnic background. It cannot be challenged or overthrown. It is the permanent authority of God. It is the ultimate authority. It is the obligatory authority of God. It is consequential authority.
This is the only rule for faith in life. It always is the authority in all theological controversies including the the topic of the sufficiency of the scripture...
Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about this topic and leave your thoughts below in the comments section.
Resources:
The topic of this podcast is foundational to biblical counseling. If a counselor does not believe in the sufficiency, inerrancy and authority of Scripture, they have no place ministering the word of God! God establishes for us that His word is all sufficient. The list of it’s benefits in 2 Timothy 3:16 include teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. In that statement, we are not told to “align our chalkra” for training in righteousness. Our God does not tell us to find guidance from our hearts. We are to look to God alone as our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). Similarly, if a counselee does not believe in God’s word as authoritative and inerreant, there will be a resistance to counsel that they do not want to hear. A biblical counselor must lovingly show their counselees the truths of God through His word and stand on a firm belief in them.
Thank you Jeff for standing firm on the sufficiency of God’s Word. Twice this week I counseled Christian women who had gone down the secular/Christian counseling route before they came to me and both said the same thing, “Yeah, I got really bad counsel there. I didn’t know it at the time but it actually made my problems worse.”
It’s not alright to give non-living counsel! In fact, if we are not giving, “thy word is truth,” counsel we are doing harm. We need to toughen up and realize that counselees want real, lasting truth, not short-term pain relievers which I’d equate to the counseling that makes one feel better about themselves. The old man can only do one thing: die. This week’s chapters in HTCGW were just what I needed to challenge the self-referenced, God wants me to be happy, I’m a victim focused counseling that both these women had been failed by and introduce the “losing of your life to save it,” truths. Only in Christ is found the power to be free from the bondage of self.
Hi Carolyn, It is so good to know that you were able to counsel and guide these Christian women from God’s word who had been misguided by their earlier psychology-based counseling. I liked when you wrote, “…that counselees want real, lasting truth, not short-term pain relievers…” People are looking for the solution and that is only found in God’s word because he is the only one who knows us inside out and sends His Spirit to transform us.
Where do I begin, this was amazing! I wrote this question as Jeff was speaking on the top of my notes. How many of us in the church today are living in the general revelation and are content where we are at, never experiencing the fullness of God because we are ignoring the Spirit of God, who is there to lead us into the Special Revelation?
We need the Word of God! It is our foundation, it is supreme! it is Sufficient! The Word of God is alive and working in our life! It has full authority, it must have full authority in order for us to live as Christ has called us to live. It is all we need.
I think we have as a church moved into using man’s wisdom when it comes to dealing with hard tough cases because of the cost of discipleship, Jeff pointed this out when He said “There is a depth of time, commitment, pain in the tough cases of discipleship.
But God, has promised to be with us to the ends of the earth and to send The Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truths. We need to rely upon Him and answer our calling! Making disciples! Christ Followers!
What more is there to say, “the Bible is God’s Special Revelation to humanity. It contains no error and it is truth. It is inspired, inerrant, authoritative, infallible, super sufficient, Word of God!”
Yes that question, “How many of us in the church today are living in the general revelation and are content where we are at, never experiencing the fullness of God because we are ignoring the Spirit of God, who is there to lead us into the Special Revelation?” Such a huge difference between reading what is in the Bible (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) and living under the revelation daily applied in our lives. so many people read the stories, yet they do not apply them to situations in their own lives. When we speak to those people and we say, “well the Lord says this and that” about a situation, they look at you quizzically as if they have never heard about applying it to our individual lives.
Yesterday morning I was having a conversation with a lady that i attend church with and we were talking about “working for the Lord,” and what that involves. It occurred to me that she believes that “working” to her meant that she was to give money to the church, so that the church could distribute it how it’s needed. I was a bit concerned that her physical works are attending church and learning opportunities in church-related functions, rather than any kind of outreach or offering help to community needs where there is deprivation.
So I guess the added question is, “what do they constitute as being a special revelation, and how do they respond to it?” Maybe this kind of message to congregants would cause them to stand up, take what they learned into their heart, and then lead others to Christ. The workers are few and the harvest is ripe. What do you think?
The authority of the word of God rests on it’s author. I was just telling that to someone the other day. We were talking about a certain issue that she was struggling with (complementarianism vs egalitarianism) and at one moment, I had to tell her that at some point you have to trust God with His word, even when it goes against the zeitgeist. He has limits for everything: men have limits, women have limits, even the ocean has a limit! We are thankful that others have limits, we just don’t like our own! No one does, until we see God’s wisdom in having them, and that comes with time.
I love the Frances Schaeffer quote “The only absolute allowed is the absolute insistance that there is no absolute.” This statement is even more true today. Francis and Edith Schaeffer were great influencers for the gospel in Europe, and did a world of good not only through their literary endeavours, but also through l’Abri. I have read Edith’s book “The Practical Art of Homemaking” many times, it really helped me – especially as a young pastor’s wife!
I remember going through a Frances Schaeffer book with some new missionaries, and they just hated it, they fought it on every point. It is a shame that many today don’t know of the great theologians nor solid theology. If we stay faithful to the word, even when we make mistakes, the Lord will return us to the right course.
Isn’t it interesting that within each era, we can see the differences in opinions within each of the various ideological groups; not just political, but social as well as individual; and in Christian ethics. Each era still having the same difficulties under different contextual and environmental circumstances, and opinions being not so prominent, to then becoming more prominent. It is as if the wants become more inflamed as society progresses, and needs being met raises the bar. So many people having their own life experiences which form their individual opinions, and since many of these are not following Jesus, their opinions form groups that cause others to conform… so on and so forth. Until coming to the Lord, I was on that “fighting every point” path, while not knowing of the teachings of the great theologians and my theological points were way off. I, personally, and grateful for having knowledge of differences, otherwise I would ponder it in my own mind as I did B.C.
I only learned of one point from a legalistic Baptist point of view when I was very small, and held onto that until I learned of the grace of God when I was about 30-31 years old. I still struggle with it having to take everything to the Lord; even sometimes forgetting to take it to the Lord first. So glad that I have a husband who is equally yoked! Well, I think he’s better than me, so I trust his opinions. 🙂
On your point of complementarianism vs egalitarianism, I personally believe in the umbrella: God above the husband above the wife above the children, then all others, within the family context. My husband and I both believe that we each are gifted with things that the other is not gifted in; therefore, we complement each other. I have strengths that my husband doesn’t have and he has strengths that I do not have. We recognize those differences and celebrate those differences. We exemplify those differences in our walk. For instance: my husband is mechanically inclined, and I only have basic knowledge so he will repair anything that is broke. I have extensive administrative knowledge, and his knowledge is basic, so I do all of the ministry’s administrative work. He is a Pastor and studied to be that, but I have knowledge that is equal, so he preaches and I teach (occasionally), and I celebrate that the Lord has equipped him for this role, and prepared him to be my husband whom I can help.
Society is confused and it shows in their actions. Looking out from the Jesus group, they seem to be running around like chickens.
Thank you Pastor Jeff for your podcast. I fully agree with what you said.
Because human wisdom is corrupted by the fall, it is unreliable. No matter how intelligent Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Jung, Skinner, and the creator of the Enneagram are, their work is based on incomplete knowledge and corrupt understanding. God’s Word on the other hand is
INSPIRED – 2 Tim 3:16 “God-breathed”
INERRANT – John 17:17 “the Truth”
AUTHORITATIVE – 1 Thess 2:13 “the Word of God”
SUFFICIENT 2 Peter 1:3 “Everything we need for life and godliness”
So even hard cases’ can be dealt with by reliance on God’s Word as Luke 9:23 is applicable to all. We must consider the whole person when discipling/counseling (1 Thess 5:23):
Body – food, water, sleep, exercise, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality
Soul – we need to offer biblically-based fellowship by enlisting an army of disciplers
Spirt – prayer, worship, and scriptural meditation
Hi Anita, I too found it insightful what Pastor has to say about dealing with the “hard cases”. We, and the people we may counsel, all live in a physical body in a physical world. These bodies, even when in submission to our Spirit, will make their voice heard when neglected, sick, or abused. When working to counsel someone, with what appears to be an issue unrelated to the physical functions of the body, we may tend to bypass consideration of the body; yet Pastor said this is one of the very first things he investigates. I believe we have just been counseled by our Pastor and brother in Christ. 🙂
Human wisdom is corrupted by the fall <– that one right there! I agree. Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Jung, and Skinner are all great examples of what happens when we fall – away from God, trying to do things our own way. These are purposeful fall's because they wanted to find an alternative to believing in God – but they believe now that it's too late. They should have listened to the Abraham/beggar instruction; or maybe they did, and obvious that they didn't believe it. We really need to glean from these intelligent men, and not rely on our own wisdom for instruction; but use our own experience to find the answers in the Bible.
Learning how to find those answers, I believe, takes a lot of discipline and dedication, which then strengthens our ability to counsel, as well as our own walk. Because of the time that learning takes, our walk should not be shortened and I believe that we should never assume that we know everything; otherwise we will become puffed up with pride and arrogance. Oh goodness, arrogance is a huge peeve I have.
I also related to Jeff's statement when he said that he asks them first about their diet, hydration habits, possible sleep deprivation, exercise, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality. I can fully relate to issues such as these. In 2018 I had mucinous-type breast cancer, which runs in the family. I am not the type of person that sits down and takes things lightly and so I decided to check my genetics for this generational curse and found a link related to diet and allergies. I have food allergies and other allergies, that when consumed, cause dormant mutations to manifest. While they were manifesting I had mood issues that my poor husband dealt with, with love and understanding. But after making the necessary changes, my body began to reach homeostasis naturally. It took time, but God blessed it.
I prayed so hard to find out the answer to why all of my aunt's on my father's side, all died from breast cancer. I prayed for these generational curses to be healed, and the enemy to have no power. How amazing is our God that he would open that window for me to know! I now have been able to warn my daughter of these hereditary discrepancies, and she will be able to warn her daughters.
Wow! This week’s podcast really opened up my eyes to so much as well as confirmed a lot of what the Spirit has already been showing me through out the past few weeks, concerning Scripture and our call as believer’s to discipleship. I knew what the difference between the General Revelation of Scripture and the Special Revelation of Scripture, I just never knew the right terminology for it all. I have heard it said before that creation declares that there is a God, but God’s word is what will declare that Jesus is our savior and our need of being in communion with the God of the stars and all things made. I had never seen it put quite the way Pastor Jeff did when speaking of the Noetic effects of sin. This “affects our minds and causes our thinking to be futile apart from Christ”, which is why apart from the all sufficient, inerrant, inspired, authoritative, inspired, and infallible word of God, we are at our best still falling short, and still tainted and inaccurate, even in our best efforts to be somewhat accurate. The Scriptures reveal all we need for all things, and therefore is our final authority in all things.
Another aspect that was mentioned again towards the end of the podcast what the fact that we should have a whole army of biblical counselors, biblical discipleship happening, within the body of Christ. I think we are too busy as a people and too self gratifying to lay down our rights, time, space, comfort for another – and yet we have the very word of God that can be healing to a sick soul. I know in my circle the excuses I hear is:
1. I am too busy (we are to busy about the Lord’s business)
2. I am not equipped (we have His Word, that is more than equipped)
3. I don’t want the responsibility (or is it lack of discipline)
4. My home (kids, husband) are my first ministry (which I guess means their ONLY ministry)
5. I am just tired / have too much on my plate already (but what can be taken off our plate for the ‘better’ work to be done)
I think we need to see that God doesn’t say go and make disciples once all the stars are aligned and all things are as they should be – then disciple one another. God does not give us the things He has asked us to be stewards over or has given as a blessing to us, to take place of what He has called us to or to take away from what He has called us to. I believe we need to be more intentional with discipling and being discipled. So many of life’s issues and sin that consumes us, could be avoided or at least given to the Lord and not held onto so long that we are in bondage and ineffective, if we were doing what God has called us to do. Thank you Pastor Jeff for such bold teachings – I want to be this bold when speaking Truth in love. <3
Oh yes how I agree with you on the excuses why people can’t disciple. What has happened that has made it ok to even have excuses? When did it become ok to just soak in the word and not share it? Or wait until you have everything under control and know the word well? It has been one of the greatest and most rewarding things I have ever done!!
I did look further at the “Noetic effects of sin” on the mind and found it to be most interesting! It helped me understand not only did we fall and downgrade our minds at the fall with Adam and Eve but we also suffer the effects of Noah and the General Revelation is enough truth to deny that there is God. After all how could you deny Truth if you could not know it. Discipleship is a commitment both from the believer and one who is being discipled. I find most people have a hard time making a real commitment out of fear that they will let someone down or fail the Lord. But if we see that this commitment comes with the mandate to all who believe in Jesus we will become disciplers and desire discipleship in our own lives!
SO true, we are a people full of excuses when it comes to us being used in peoples lives, it is exactly how and where Satan gets us. If He can keep the church there we are never going to be that army that sees the Hand of God heal and move. We need to wake from our sleep and get right with the Lord! Allow the fullness of the Word to take root in our hearts and minds so that we may rise up as the Army of God and take back our land! He has promised to be with us as we go and fulfill the calling to make disciples!
Yes, this was such a meaty teaching! I will listen to it again. I like your list Kristine of the 5 things we use as excuses. Number 4 has been the go-to since the 80s when “Focus on the Family” influenced us all along lines that in a way idolized the temporal structure of family beyond God’s plan. In the Kingdom on God, one’s human family is not the priority. Interesting how afraid we’ve become to even broach this truth found repeatedly in Jesus’ direct teachings. I’m thinking of Luke 9:59-60, Matt 12:50, Matt 10:36, Matt 19:29, Matt 10:37 . . .
Kristine,
Thank you for reiterating the need for “an army of biblical counselors.” We do need sacrificial ministry in this area! The need is great. I am thankful for the training that we are receiving and I want to encourage others in their training as well! I am blessed to be able to encourage a few ladies in my church toward their certification i biblical counseling, but now I want to recruit more! May the Lord bless this effort.
When talking about general revelation and special revelation Pastor Jeff mentioned Psalm 19, and how the first half speaks of general revelation and the second half speaks of special revelation. With a quick read through it, what Pastor said can clearly be seen. What a beautiful progression is portrayed: a person seeking truth sees the general revelations of God all around him in the world in which he lives; this draws the person to pursue a deeper understanding of God. In doing so, the person opens the Word of God and begins to see God’s special revelations. The truth in these revelations reveal the perfection of God and the fallen sinful state of the reader. There is then a plea for acquittal, and earnest desires for sanctification and to be pleasing to the Lord.
We have no excuse before God; The whole of creation in which we live testifies of God’s existence, power, and Glory; yet we, who were created in the image of God, fail to testify of these things. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NASB
I loved seeing in Psalm 19 the progression from general revelation to special revelation. It was so clear! And just like God I had a God appointment at the grocery store today with a man hurting and searching. He spoke about religion being shoved down his throat. I was able to work psalm 19 in, because it was so fresh on my mind, and show him that though we can see God in creation it is marred and scarred by our sin, but there is the exciting part and that is the second half of Psalm 19 where there is special revelation. And with special revelation religion disappears and God becomes real AND our soul is revived!
It is amazing! How God So loved the World… We are without excuse, He has shown us the way back into His arms and has made it possible for us to get there. All that must take place is a surrender to His Son and the acknowledgment that we need Him. We have attempted to fill the whole in our lives with so many different things in this world and they rob us of life. We are blinded to the truth. We who have seen the truth, let us rise up and bring those around us who are hurting to the Word of God, and allow Him the Wonderful Counselor to heal their hurts and take their burden so that they may live!
I agree! Such a blessing to have Jeff point that out about Psalm 19. “In keeping them is great reward,” Vs. 11, caught my attention because “reward” is so misunderstood by suffering Christians. The “do good-get good,” approach to following God results in great disappointment and disillusionment when loss, trials and testings come along. Jesus referred to “treasures in heaven” as our goal but I know I was told as a young believer how my life would be blessed by keeping God’s word. I assumed that meant something quite different 🙂
Rick,
The progression in Psalm 19 is truly beautiful, isn’t it? I love that the observation of general revelation starts with the heavens – the sky above. It reminds me of when my young children began to ask questions. They inevitably got to the question of “why is the sky blue?” The sky is blue because the Creator made it that way! This is the “speech” that pours out day to day – there is a Divine Creator! Certainly the ‘law of the Lord’ can be seen in the laws of nature. This, too, draws us to want to learn more about this Creator. All glory to God!
JoAnn
Thank you Rick, you explained it very well. No doubt we have no excuse before God. God has revealed Himself through creation and later by sending His Son Jesus to save us and give us His resurrected life. The Lord has offered His love but if any refuse they will face judgment for rejecting the love offered by God’s one and only Son.
Yes! I really loved that Pastor Jeff expounded on this. I hear people always say that we need to be en example of Jesus but then never speak His truth or invite them to hear Truth. I think that is half Truth. It is one thing to declare there is a God and another to draw them to the Word of God that declares His gospel truth. We need to make sure we are living life clinging to the vine and to be that reflection, but we are also to speak the gospel truth or invite others to hear the gospel truth, for that is how one comes to be saved. Someone reflecting Christ is what drew me to want to know why they lived differently and loved differently, and that is what caused my heart of curiosity to accept their invitation to church. Once in the church the Word preached is what pierced my heart and opened my eyes to see what I knew to be morally wrong as sin, before my God, and this drew me to confession, repentance, and a life surrendered to the gospel truth. I have never been the same! So learning about general revelation and special revelation gave me such understanding of the difference.
Loved this podcast on the sufficiency and inherency of scripture. Especially since we are to base our whole lives upon the truth of the word of God. I hope to continue to walk in these truths and be transformed as well as lead others into Gods truths also. The pull of the world is strong and always pulling people to its ways it’s thoughts and deeds, but I pray that Christians continue to rise up and be bold and be spirit filled for Jesus, for our generations and the ones to come.
You are correct, the pull of the world is strong and always pulling people; it doesn’t have to pull hard since the sinful nature is prone to go the world’s way. So often, however, when a person has fully indulged in the world, they can later be found empty, broken, and depleted of all hope; this goes for both the wealthy and those in the gutter. These people were not overlooked by Jesus, but rather sought out by Him, for it was these that were hungry for true manna. If Jesus sought these out, so should we; the hunger is there and God has given us the manna to distribute.
It is amazing, isn’t it, how the world pulls people in. People who seem to know the difference, just acting like it isn’t a big deal to toe the line with sin. It is wise to cling to the Lord, walking close with Him, to be equipped to minister to the brokenhearted when they hopefully do return to Him.
In this week’s podcast discussion Pastor Jeff talked about Godliness, and in the Word of God there being 2 kinds of revelation: general revelation and special revelation, and about the sufficiency of scripture. In systematic theology of bibliology and what God has revealed to all people is the discipline of Christian Theology that formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith, which addresses issues about topics, and what is true about God and His universe. This was a very thought provoking message…
The scriptures show us the general appearance of the “who, what, where, when, and why” of God; while a relationship with Him shows us “special revelations” of who, what, where, when and why He is in our daily walk as we relate to Him each day.
This morning when I woke up, I did my normal routine of praying before I stand up out of bed and God placed “the condition of our youth” on my mind. After praying I grabbed my phone to see if my husband sent me a text message from work, as he always does, and after reading it and responding I opened Facebook. The first thing that was on my feed was an article posted by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: “Only 2% of American Millennials Adhere to a Biblical Worldview, Study Finds.” This is a special revelation to me because God knows my heart, and how I feel about this Romans 1 behavior of our youth.
The Bible, as Pastor Jeff said, in all times and all places is a general revelation; like Roman 1:19: “for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.” But the belief in God and those following God is slowly declining, according to those who are doing the researching and conducting polls.
With Millennials so aggressively seeking secularism, we have to match and exceed their aggressiveness – with love. Last Thursday night my husband preached on the twelve tribes, and compared them to 144,000 Billy Graham’s that will be sent out. How many true Christians are there today? I looked up this information last Friday…
In a 2019 poll those who identified as Christian:
• 2018 & 2019 – 65% <— WOW!
• 2015 – 75%<— (maybe the shooting at the AME Church, or the movie theater)
• 2014 – 70.6% <– (maybe the reports on clergy abuse)
• 2012 – 78% (maybe when they thought the Lord was going to return 12/21/2012),
• 2008 – 79% and 77% in 2009 (maybe due to the recession),
• 2001 – 81.6% (probably due to 911),
• 1990 – 85%
That is a 1% decrease per year. Atheism doubled from 2% to 4%. A News Now Poll said: “The increasing anarchy and corresponding calls to upend the American republican system (and to move toward socialism) could not occur without the massive decline in Christianity in America.”
We are being charged with “not going out” and making disciples of all nations. Are we guilty? I think so. Discipleship inside of church is incredibly important! So is going out and leading those to Christ, who are not stepping inside of a church, so that when they hear and they do step inside, that discipleship will be immediately following their confession of sin. My husband correlated the 144,000 in Revelation 14 with 144,000 Billy Graham’s going out and causing a revival after the rapture. Those who repent after the rapture will have to be martyred for their repentance and belief (Rev. 6:9-11).
The Lord wishes that none should perish and says in Ezekiel 33:8 – When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.” And reaffirmed in Romans 3:19 – “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.”
With the Word of God being available everywhere, there is none who have not at least “heard” of God or a god, where searching for the truth should be on everyone’s mind; at least those who care to know truth. Otherwise, those who live by what “other’s” teach or proclaim on social media, at least need to hear that there is a Creator and spark their interest.
Thanks for sharing your facts on the polls for Christianity today, and super encouraging to hear and be bold about what God has said. The world is always bold about their beliefs so I think Christians should also rise up and speak the word of God in discipleship to those we know as well as to those we might get to meet by chance.
Honestly, Kristi, this has been a visible degradation over the years. Though, I should say there is a particular type of rejection of the infallibility of the word of God in the American church. Being a missionary, I try to tread lightly on this subject, because I don’t live there anymore, but I think I can see things objectively. Here, most, if not all are persecuted for being Bible-believing Christians. At the very least, we are mocked, many lose jobs, friends or family members for turning to Christ. One of our congregants had his life and his family’s life threatened just last week for giving his life to Christ. This is in France, by people in France.
The enemy would have the church be so watered down and non-effective for the ministering of the saints that we become just a social club, and the number of believers dwindle. I even know a lady who turned away from the faith, (in America) renounced Christ, yet asked her parish if she could continue being on the ministry team, to which the Pastor was more than happy to have her remain serving in the church as a renounced believer.
Hi Becky,
The first thing I thought about after reading your post pertains to the persecution that our ministry has seen throughout the years, and sees consistently. Just over the last couple of years we have had the LGBTQ community come up against our ministry, Black Lives Matter, police, the city, organizations that do not want us to preach, other church’s… and we pray and see miracles – true miracles. Lives have changed, people have repented, and yet we will still be persecuted. Jesus is with those who diligently seek Him and who diligently, with love and patience, speak the truth of His Word, gently pulling back to Christ all who are lost whom we come in contact with. This is discipling in the world that we experience.
I get it, persecution isn’t fun and it’s scary when our lives are threatened (we have had our vehicles vandalized many times); but God provides. I thank Him for providing, for His protection, for paving our way even if it does seem a little bumpy. I just watched a movie today about Cory ten Boom… I pray that my faith will always be this strong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHjiGwG4cFY
In times like today where we have people we don’t even know fact checking information we would like to discuss, I don’t know where I would be without having a plumbline of absolute truth! The fact that we can rely on one thing that has no error, infallible and sufficient for all of life brings me comfort and protection. Any challenge to the “fact” that the bible is not absolute truth is scary because what then is truth and or “fact”? Whatever we or the fact checkers decide? What the world needs now is a good dose of God’s inspired, inerrant authoratative, infallible and sufficient word of God! It would change everything! We as disciples and counselors have the very needed job right now to bring the Word to world where up is down and down is up! The simple and powerful word of God is SO refreshing! Dividing Psalm 19 into General revelation and Special revelation was new to me and would be a great place to start with disciplees so they can see power of God as HE reaches out to us first through general revelation, creation and then moves into personal, special revelation. He does this powerfully through His inspired and sufficient word! The only rule for faith and life!
Amen, I love knowing that we have something to rely on that is truth, as John 17 states! Gods word is sufficient and inerrant, especially in a world where people want to believe what they want to believe. God directs us and shows us what are his true and right ways, because without his guidance we would deceive ourselves as the Bible says- our hearts are deceitfully wicked, who can know them. Thankful for truth.
Amen! Facts are not facts unless their based on truth and the source is verified. We know Jesus is the truth and verified it in the resurrection. But what about those in the church who are troubling themselves by denying the authority or sufficiency of scripture? Does it make sense to think we are living in a great apostasy or possibly even the “Great Apostasy” I honestly would not be surprised to find out we are there in what 2 Timothy 2:3 calls the falling away. Perhaps groups of Christians have thought they were living in such a state but we are truly in a power struggle for not only the nation but the whole world which is under the sway of the wicked one! May we see to our walks and our families by holding the line at these critical issues being discussed such as Authority of Scripture, The Inerrency of Scripture, and The Sufficency of Scripture.
Good podcast! I will tell you I don’t know how many times I have experienced the cycle of bad choices (sin) which blew past any Godly counsel and lead someone including myself into a serious physical downward spiral. Before and after realizing what has happened the conclusions have been that sin and disobedience can put you into a serious crisis physically and of course spiritually and getting grounded first in Christ will set the foundation. The Authority of scripture will challenge any person to consider God’s ways and our ways our choices and failures and his ultimate wisdom in life. I find it so unnerving that so many institutions that are considered Christian are debating God’s word and even seeing Pastor’s and Theologians know the truth yet be unchanged or even doubt God’s authority it makes me understand we are truly living in a state of Apostasy. I find myself looking to evaluate whether what I am saying or doing is falling into any of these things we are talking about. Although I know I am not perfect my real desire is to live in the truth! What is scary is that many Christians desire to live in their truth and for that I truly fear for the coming generations of young people behind me, may It be that we carry the torch and burn bright with a fervent spirit based in love and truth out of the life source who is our Savior Jesus Christ!
I loved the quote that the authority of scriptures is based on the author. I will remember that! I do believe that though the world be growing more and more dim, the light of Christ that we reflect shines brighter and brighter. It does attract more attention, not always good attention (!) but it does draw those who are seeking Him out. Keep shining Michael! “The Authority of scripture will challenge any person to consider God’s ways and our ways our choices and failures and his ultimate wisdom in life.” This is such a great description of sanctification or continuing on in our old way of life.