Monday, October 07, 2013

40 Days In The Word

Today we started 40 Days In The Word at Chilliwack EM Church. After dedicated preparation by our leadership team, we began the journey today. Here are some exerpts from my sermon notes this morning on the subject: "How Can I Trust The Bible"

The Bible is the most read book in history. The Bestselling book in history and the most translated book in history.

2 Timothy 3, says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching and rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

The Bible may claim it is God's Word, but how can I trust the Bible to be God's inspired Word to us?

I can truat the Bible becuase...
1. It is Historically Accurate
It is made up of primarily eye witness accounts. Those who copied the text took great pains to make absolutely certain that copies were exactly as the original. Archeology has proven over and over that Biblical places are real and not some fabrication.

2. It is Prophetically Accurate
There are literally thousands of prophecies made in the scriptures that have been fulfilled. More than 300 prophecies made concerning the coming Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus. No prophecy was wrong. The only conclusion for these prophecies and subsequent fulfillment is that God was the one who inspired the prophets.

3. It is Thematically Unified
The Bible was written over the span of more than 1600 years by 40 authors in 3 different continents and 3 different languages. It was written by an incredibly diverse collection of authors. Yet, it has one unified theme - the story of God redepmtion of mankind.

4. It is Confirmed by Jesus
Jesus spoke of the Scritures as completely trustworthy and historically true. If we can trust Jesus, we can trust the Bible.

5. It has Survived all Attacks
This Bible has been under attack for century after century after century by everything you can imagine. Yet it is still the most read, the most published, the bestselling book in the world and is still making a difference in people's lives

6. It has Transforming Power
John 8:31-32 “If you continue in my Word, then you are my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!”

The Bible is God's trustworthy Word to us. Will we listen to it as our authoritative in our lives or will we listen to the lies of the world?

If you would like to listen to the sermon from you can go to :http://www.chwkemc.org/audio-sermons/ and click on "Why Can I Trust The Bible."

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Inner Conflict

What do you do when you have to decide between two obligations? When both choices are both right and kind of wrong at the same time?

I was reading Joshua 9 this morning. The people of Israel had crossed the Jordan River into the land that was promised to them by God. After conquering a couple of cities, the Hivites who were Israel's new neighbors tricked the Israelites into making a treaty with them. The Israelites were to spare them from destruction.

The problem was that God had instructed the Israelites to destroy all the people living in the land they were to conquer. Yet now they had sworn an oath before God to spare the Hivites. What were they to do? If they renege on their oath, they would have broken an oath made before God himself. If they spared the Hivites they would be disobeying the command of God.

Sometimes we face decisions in our lives where we have to make choices. Choices are rarely black and white and simple.

As we read deeper into the story, we discover that the Israelites were in their situation because they had made the oath with the Hivites without enquiring of the Lord first. I find that often when we find ourselves in conflicting situations, we are there because of choices we have made without consulting God first. Then we wonder how God could allow us into the difficult situation.

May we increasingly consult God on everything we do - and follow his instructions when we do consult him!

Friday, June 07, 2013

Back in BC

We have moved! Again!

After serving as Transitional Lead Pastor at Bethel EM Church in Three Hills for a little over a year and a half, we have moved to Chilliwack, BC where I will be serving at Lead Pastor of Chilliwack Evangelical Missionary Church. We will certainly miss the dear friends we have made (or drawn cloeser to) in Didsbury and Three Hills, but we are excited to be back in BC.

We had wonderful help loading the moving truck in Didsbury and even more help unloading here in Chilliwack where we are living in a house which is 710 meters from where Debbie lived when I first met her. We love our new community.

We look forward to what God is going to do in our new Church Family and in our community in the days/months/years to come.