God makes himself known – look at his Word!

The clearest way to know God is to listen to what he says!

One of the first things that we learn about God in the opening Chapter of the Bible is that he talks. ‘In the beginning God created’ and how did he do that? By his word ‘And God said: ‘Let there be light’…., and then God said: ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters…, and then God said: ‘let there be sky’… and so it goes on for seven days (Genesis 1:1-2:3).

Each of the special acts of creation come about by the word of God. What he creates is new and wonderful and he does that by uttering his words.

If the significance of that is lost on you, give it a go! Test the power of your words. Create something by your words and only your words – ‘Let there be a ham sandwich’! How did you go? I think I can guess!

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God makes himself known – look at ourselves!

Looking around, at the world we live in tells us something about God. Are there other ways that God makes himself known?

Another way you can learn something about God – is to look at ourselves. How he made us!

If he can make a Brad Pitt or a Meryl Streep or a Roger Federer or a Serena Williams or even a person who is you – then there has to be something amazing about him.

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God makes himself known – look around!

If ‘God’ is truly Almighty, the creator, the reason for existence, the first cause of all things – as would be the nature of anyone who would claim to be ‘god’, then how do we know that? How does he make himself known?

One way to ‘see’ God is to look around –  examine what you see.  The world around has to be a source of information about God if he is the source of all life.

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Grounded in the Word

Christians are people of the Word – the written and spoken word. I am not saying that Christians are just bookworms, but I am saying that at ground zero, a Christian is shaped by God’s Word. It informs, it motivates, it comforts, it rebukes, it sharpens, it directs and does so all by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you have just become a Christian you are faced with this big volume of 2 testaments, 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,103 verses and you may think – is it worth it, how do I read it, where do I start?

And if you have been Christian for a while, then you may recognise the struggle it often is to read the Bible regularly and well – to let the Bible work on your heart and change your mind and apply to your behaviour. In short, to shape your life.

They are good concerns.

Yet, without the Bible, a person will struggle to grasp the fundamental Christian truth that while they were still a sinner, Christ died for them (Romans 5:8). Without the Bible it is impossible to understand what it really means to be Christian.

Don’t run away from the Bible – ground yourself with it!

 

For more in this Series:

Listening to the Word

Grounded in the Word

God makes himself known – look around!

God makes himself known – look at ourselves!

God makes himself known – look his Word!

How can the Bible be from men but also from God?

What does a Christian do with the Bible?

How can I trust that what was written down in the Bible is reliable?

 

Listening to the Word

I had never read anything like it! It was amazing, it was as if the words were leaping off the page and calling out to me – these words were for me!

Those chariot journeys were a good time to read and reflect. Work was so busy and so much was asked of me. My day job is Head Official overseeing the Royal Treasury. I like the responsibility and I feel honoured to be working for the Ethiopian Queen making sure my people are provided for well. Not all eunuchs are given much respect so I know I am in a fortunate position.

I can’t tell you how I came across the scroll but I have to say it blew my mind.

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What must I do to be saved? (Part 3 of 4)

Why is salvation by grace so hard to accept?

This doctrine is one of the many points where the Bible is totally out of step with our society!

Romans 5 helps us:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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What must I do to be saved? (Part 2 of 4)

Salvation by Grace

According to Acts 16, the Philippian Jailer and his whole family listened to the Word of the Lord as spoken by the Apostle Paul, accepted it, and were baptised as a sign that they had been saved (Acts 16:16-40).

Christians are people who believe in the Lord Jesus. They are saved, not by what they have done, but by what he has done. Jesus’ greatest gift is his salvation – which is why Christians can clearer and confidently say that they are ‘saved by grace’.

This is a fundamental starting point.

Let me explain.

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