FRIDAY GATHERING
Some of the names we are considering: AhiHale (house fire), JesusChurch, HISChurch, House Church at Kealia, TrueVine, Rock of Ages. So any ideas that we can pray about would be helpful.
Basic focus could be, Why we trust the Holy Bible as the Word of God for faith and practice.” And how to use the Library of 66 writings accumulated from about 1600 BC to 100 AD or about 1600 years. Job is the oldest manuscript. Job lived after Joseph but before Moses (after 1650 BC and before 1500 BC But we are free to go in any direction and can fly with the wind of GOD So why do about a billion people on planet earth consider the Holy Bible as a source of spiritual truth?
1. Unity of the truth found to be the same in all 66 writings. In Gen. 4:4 we see Able offering a lamb. In the Gospels we see that the Lamb of God is really Christ Jesus as HE was sacrificed for sin as per the prophesied in Isaiah 53 & Psalms 22. And it Rev. 21:23 we again see Christ Jesus as the Lamb of God and the light of heaven. The unity on this one subject in the 66 different writings is astounding.
2. Wisdom found in the Bible that works even today. The Bible warns against DEBT. And debt is one of the biggest national curses today, Proverbs 22:7. And that the only safe sex is in a conventional marriage, Exodus 20:14 ( And that is so true, 2.3 million STD cases 2017 in the U.S. and up about 70% from 2013.) And concerning abortions, there are about 125,000 babies murdered each day now on planet earth.
3. Evidence of physical Truth from the beginning and unchanged. In Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah notes that GOD is enthroned above the circle of the earth and in Heb.11:3 what we see in made of things that can not be seen, like atoms. And the warning from 2 Pet.3:12 that in the end time the elements will melt with fervent heat. As a young man, prior to WW2 that was held up as a joke, but no more. Job even writes that GOD has hung the earth on nothing, Job 26:7. Now that is a winner for a guy writing about 3500 years ago…. I believe there must have has some help here.
4. Witness of Christ Jesus in the Gospels. It is most interesting for me that 4 different men could write the story of Christ Jesus so very different from each other and yet all agree in every point. And in every doctrine they are united and actually each of the 4 complete a greater picture for us. Also they gave their lives as a testimony that what they wrote about and experienced was the truth.
5. Messianic Prophesies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled. There are more these 68 Old Testament Prophesies concerning the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God and more as the King of Kings. Here is the list: http://www.about-jesus.org/complete-chart-prophecies-jesus.htm
Seems this would be impossible if not true and guided by the Holy Spirit.
6. Care in the preservation’s of the translations into English. The care in preserving the Old Testament was unusually careful even to the numbering of the letters and adding up the numbers for the lines across to see that nothing was missed in the copy. The Early letters of the New Testament were more difficult to collect. We find complete notes and letters in about AD 200with the first complete New Testament found in the 4th Century, The Codex Sinaiticus. The original writings began in about 41 AD and mostly completed by 98 AD. Original manuscripts have yet to be found but the 4,000 parts and pieces that have been found dating from that time all matched up to the New Testament manuscript found in 400 AD. For individual dating history goto: https://amazingbibletimeline.com/blog/q1_bible_who_wrote/ So personally because of the unity of thought I feel the 27 documents are accurate as to what was said and done at the time. These scriptures have come to be alive to me in my life as very accurate. More on this: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS722US722&q=new+testament+timeline+poster&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTtdO2663hAhUmjlQKHahgBywQ1QIoBnoECAoQBw&biw=764&bih=738
When encouraging some one to read the Bible always point them to the Gospel of John as that is a wonderful overview of the Gospels and leads into the history of the Church in Acts and a good treatment of Truth in Doctrine in the Book of Romans by St. Paul.
7. Supernatural experiences of healing and deliverance should be expected when correctly applied. There are many denominations or divisions and each one may have a slightly different interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Care must be take here as Christ Jesus prayed for our Unity, John 17:20-26. So actually there is but one Church of Christ Jesus and all who love and obey HIM are members. So the very first thing to do if on a Spiritual Quest is to get the over view of what the LORD’S CHURCH really looks like before joining up and getting trapped in a small box of a denomination or division. And even when called non-denominational, it can be a box. The Creator only uses Faith and Love to bind us to HIM with no strings attached. He never uses pride, top down authority, fear, greed, lust for power, and such to bind us to HIM or to each other. “GOD has not given us the spirit of fear but of Love, Power and a sound mind.” It is my experience that if a gathering of people will come to honor God and love each other as in John 17:20-26, 1 Cor.12, 13 & 14, Eph.4:11-16 that the Holy Spirit will fix all of the problem that come to the gathering. The Holy Spirit can only bless us as we are in love, humility and obedience to GOD’s TRUTH.
Hope to see you Friday at our little house church for fellowship, food, ministry and blessings, Ken<><
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