Pastor Fred Campbell

Our Faith Stands on the Bible

Isaiah 55:10, 11

II.                   The Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God.

III.                  The Bible claims to be the revelatory Word of God.

III.         The Bible claims to be the authoritative Word of God.

IV.       The Bible claims to be the powerful Word of God.

1.         It declares creative powers.  [Psalm 33:6; John 1:1-5; Hebrews 11:3]

2.         It declares sustaining powers.  [Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15-17; 2 Peter 3:5-7]

3.         It declares life-giving powers.  [Genesis 18:10; Romans 4:17; Luke 1:34-38; John 6:63, 68; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 1 John 1:1-2]

a.      The living dead. [Genesis 2:17; Luke 9:60; 1 Timothy 5:6]

b.      The Word of Life.  [Matthew 4:4; John 10:10]

4.         It declares life-changing powers. [Isaiah 55:10,11]

1.   The Word of God produces and develops spiritual life. [1 Peter 1:23; 2:1-2]

2.   The Word of God will produce growth if your kidneys function properly.

3.   The Word of God is transforming. [Romans 12:1-2]

Take Home Exercise

1. What are some of the characteristics of God's Word?  Read Isaiah 55:11.  What truths does it give us about the power of God's Word?  Read Job 42:2 and Isaiah 14:27.

 

2.   Discuss Ezekiel 37 and then describe what was necessary in the restoration of the dry and dead bones.

 

3.   Why should we have confidence that God's Word is transforming?

 

4.   Based on Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15-17 why are you assured of your salvation [Philippians 1:6]. 

 

5.   Read Romans 8:29.  What is God's purpose for using the Word to work in believers?  Discuss how we can realize this purpose in our lives. Use the Win Statement.

 Pastor Fred Campbell

Our Faith Stands on the Bible

Matthew 4:1-11

1.   The Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God.

2.   The Bible claims to be the revelatory Word of God.

3.   The Bible claims to be the authoritative Word of God.

Introduction: 

The authority of Scripture presupposes that it originated from the mind and mouth of God.  It is authoritative because the invisible God is made known through its pages in the person of Jesus Christ.

1.   The Bible is authoritative in that it is intrusive.

2.   The Bible is authoritative in that it calls for conformity. 

3.   The Bible is authoritative in that it is essential to spiritual life and growth.

Take Home Exercise

2.   Read 2 Timothy 3:16 and then discuss reasons for Scripture.

3.   How do we know Jesus believed in the authority of Scripture?

4.   What is the difference between the objective authority of the Bible and the subjective authority of the Bible?

5.   In what sense is the Bible the constitution of humanity?

6.   Describe how the Bible has ordered your steps in life [Psalm 119:105].

7.   The Bible fundamentally is authoritative in the ______________________ realm.  Discuss the importance of your answer.  Discuss how your answer should impact the mission of the Church.

8.   How do we prove our love for God? John 14:23

9.   How can we best respect the authority of God in Scripture?  Read James 1:22-25; Matthew 7:21-28

 Pastor Fred Campbell

The Importance of Where

Hebrews 1:1-4

Introduction: 

The word "where" can serve as an adverb, a conjunction, a pronoun or a noun.  As an interrogative adverb it can ask, where are you going?  As a conjunction it can say, go where you like; as a pronoun it can ask where you come from.  As a noun it can simply declare the place.  Where you are and where you are not can be very important.  Another way of saying it is the power of presence and non presence. Parental presence is important to the healthy development of children; especially if the parent or parents are healthy.  Where, the environment of upbringing matters.  Where you come from, where you are, and where you are going are of importance.  Where we are does matter, but not as much as where Jesus is and is not. [1 Corinthians 15:22]

Job's friend, Elihu intercedes for mankind "where is God my maker who gives songs in the night?"  If there is a God where is he in the affairs and afflictions of man?  It seems that God is never where we expect and want Him to be.  Whether in a womb, a manger, eating with sinners, on a cross between two thrives or an empty tomb He is unpredictable.

Let us look at the "whereness" of God; it is important to the Christian faith and hope.  Where is God?

I.       In Jesus revealing Himself in the world.

1.      As prophet Jesus doesn't receive a revelation from God He is the revelation of God.

2.      As prophet Jesus is the visible revelation and not the mere verbal revelation of God.  [Matthew 1:18-21]

3.         A prophet spoke God's words, but Jesus the Prophet was the Word.  [John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1-4]

II.       In Jesus reconciling the world to Himself.

1.    In order for plants and fish to live they must return to the soil and the sea; so it is with man he must return to God.

a.  He has not abandoned the world; in Christ Jesus He invades the world.

b.  He is not one with the world, he is above it, he is before it, but chooses to enter it through the incarnation.

c.  He comes to redeem and reconcile man to Himself. 

2.  In Christ Jesus, God has acted to bring man back to Himself. [1 Corinthians 5:17-21; Hebrews 1:3]

a.  Hide and seek:  the sinner hides and the Savior seeks [Luke 19:10].  Since the Garden of Eden man has been hiding from God. And God has been seeking him for him. [Genesis 3:8].

b.      The truth behind atheism is unaccountability.  The atheist wish there is no God.  If there is a God man must be accountable to Him; if there is no God then man is only accountable to himself.  If there is a God man is answerable to Him for their sins.

c.      Then there are those religionists who have designed a God without the moral attitudes of holiness, righteousness, and justice.  The Old Testament God is rejected for the God of the New Testament.  These notions and prejudices make it necessary for God's self disclosure of Himself.

d.      In Jesus Christ God's righteousness is revealed [Romans 3:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21] as well as His love, mercy and grace.

3.    The Place of Grace, so Amazing.

a.   Calvary was the designated place.

b.            Christ was the designate person.

c.          There He purged our sins:  we bear the stain no more, we bear the burden no more, we bear the guilt no more, forgiven, no condemnation, clean, clean, free, free, lifted, lifted.  None of it stands before me.  None of it stands against me.  The ugly is gone, the darkness lifted, the shame removed, the emptiness filled, the loneliness satisfied, the pride broken, the sadness replaced with joy, fear replaced with faith, doubt replaced with destiny, worry replaced with contentment, the past replaced with a future, hell replaced with heaven, defeat replaced with victory, apprehension replaced with assurance, hate replaced with love, hopelessness replaced with hope, confusion replaced with peace, and the temporal replaced with the eternal.

III. In Jesus reigning, ruling, resting and representing

1.      Where Jesus is in heaven at God's right hand says He reigns and rules as King of kings, and Lord of lords. [Philippians 2:11]

2.      Where Jesus is in heaven at God's right hand seated says He is resting from His finished work of Calvary. [Hebrews 10:12]

3.      Where Jesus is in heaven at God's right hand says He is representing us before the Father. [Romans 8:34]

IV. In Jesus rescued from the wrath of God.

1.      One facet of salvation is Christ in you the hope of glory, that is, His presence in us is the certainty of the reality of returning to our oughtness.

2.      Another facet of salvation, we are in Christ making us safe from the wrath of God.  We are in Him and He is in us. [2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1]

3.      Salvation is who we are and who we are becoming in Christ and also where we are in Christ.  Christianity is all about "where".  It isn't mere what we believe and what we do, but where is God, where is Christ and where is the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Fred Campbell

February 14, 2010

Our Faith Stands on the Bible

Introduction

The reliability of the Bible is crucial to what we believe. Doubts about its trustworthiness greatly impair the foundation on which we stand.  Removing the Bible as the source of faith and practice is like removing the skeletal structure of the body. What we understand about God in Christ operating in the power of the Holy Spirit through His Church is revaled in the Bible.  Although God isn't a prisoner of the Bible, vaguely revealing Himself through nature, he has chosen to vividly reveal Himself through the Christ of scripture.  It is the mission of God.  As real as our Christian experiences are, they are not reliable as the source of faith and practice. What we believe and how we behave must be skeletonized scriptually.

Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised that the Bible as the Word of God is under attack.  Destroy our confidence in the Bible as the Word of God and you undermine our faith.  What we believe about God, creation, man, sin, salvation and eternity are found in the Bible.  Our faith stands on the Bible as objective truth.  We believe the Bible is the Word of God.  We don't merely believe the Bible contains the Word of God, but is the Word of God.  There is a difference in the two expressions.  It isn't left up to us to determine what part of the Bible is the Word of God.  It is all His Word.  This doesn't mean every word spoken in the Bible is the uttered by God but what it means is that God is the author. The words in Scripture come from the breath of God.  The Bible is the results of the mind and mouth of God.  The inspiration of the Word of God is as  mysterious as the incarnation of the Word ofo God. In the incarnation the Word became flesh and inspiration is theh Word of God in literary form.

As the prophet's words had to be authenticated so must the Bible.  "Thus says the Lord" is too serious of an utterance to go unchallenged.  Has God spoken definitively?  I s the Bible the very Word of God?  If so how can we be sure it is His voice and not man's?  What proff is there that the Bible is the Word of God?  If we are goingn to step out in deep waters and proclaim that the Bible is our foundation of faith and practice, we must be sure that it is His voice that bids us come and walk on these waters.  [Psalms 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-25; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; 2 Timothy 3:14-17].