Who are We? The Bible

Good morning and welcome to CCC. So very glad to have you here with us in person and online

I spoke with Pastor Ian yesterday and he sends his regards as well as his prayers and the prayers of his congregation in Kenya

They are preparing for an evangelistic event to end the year and are asking for our prayers as they prepare to share the Gospel with the entire community there in Kenya

Next week we will have Juliette Hardy from Guiding exists to minister to the broken hearts of abused women by shining a light into the darkness and transforming their lives. and by renewing their minds and restoring their spirits. We are a faith-based program that believes in knowing the Word of God and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe the power of prayer can transform lives.

She also has a ministry in Kenya where they go over and help teach women and girls to sew in hopes of giving them an opportunity to support themselves the entire time sharing the gospel with them as well

Juliette will share with us during church next Sunday morning

Let’s pray

So far in the IT sermon series we have looked at IT which are the two most important things on earth salvation and discipleship

we have looked at who am I a foundation for our personal lives built upon Jesus and nothing else

this week we will being to look at Who are We? The foundational beliefs that we here at CCC have

Again without a foundation it is impossible to build something that will last

Many of you are new to CCC, which is awesome, praise the Lord for that

many of you are newly delivered and newly redeemed AMEN PRAISE GOD

others have been saved for quite some time but have never moved form milk to meat…maturing in Christ

Others are moving as we speak from milk to meat…growing and maturing every day

still others have already moved off of the milk to a diet of meat each and every day

What is cool is God is guiding

God is bringing people to our family and I felt God telling me to bring to you what we believe and why we believe it based on scripture so that is what we are going to start doing this week

satan realizes that as well and he will stop at nothing to sow dissent and confusion and destroy our unity

We have....are....and will continue to see and feel that as we continue to commit to and in fact chase hard after Jesus and live from Him

satan hates that and will always attack!

A firm foundation in Christ

A true relationship with Holy Spirit

and a deep, passionate love for God is our only chance to survive

I pray as we dive into our foundational beliefs here at CCC that you are drawn closer to Jesus and each other

I pray questions are answered or created whichever you need

I pray you either begin to move from milk to meat or are encouraged to continue moving and in fact move more towards a full diet of meat daily

The first foundational belief we are going to look at is the Bible

The Bible is infallible

Perfect

living

powerful

translation make mistakes…sure…why they are done by humans....but translations don’t stop God

If someone is truly seeking God the Holy Spirit will move regardless of the translation

Here are two foundational scriptures and truths about the Bible that must form our foundation when thinking about God’s Word

John 1:1

__________________________________________

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In the beginning was the Word....complete from the beginning

Finished before it was written

The Word was with God....the Word was God

That is why the Bible is so powerful…it is God

you don’t have to guess who God is....you have His Word that will teach you everything about Him

2 Timothy 3:16

__________________________________________

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

All scripture

old testament

new testament

All scripture is given by inspiration of God

All

every bit of it

Some prophecies have been fulfilled

some still await fulfillment

Jesus changed many things but again Word from the beginning.....it was all part of God’s plan

God’s Word

the Bible

goes beyond showing you who He is and how much He loves you

That is all there of course and very important but there is so much more

That is what I want to look at this morning

The first thing I want to look at is

1. The Bible has power to convict and change lives for eternity

__________________________________________

Hebrews 4:12

__________________________________________

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Quick.....comes from Greek verb meaning to live…life

God’s Word gives life

everlasting life

eternal life

as one dives into the Bible they are quickened…they find life

It is powerful comes from Greek adjective meaning active…operative…effectual…powerful…alive

God’s word is active

as you commit to truly study....God is active…He begins to operate in your life…you are changed by His Truth

It is sharper comes from Greek adjective meaning as it by a single stroke…more keen

A sharp two edged sword is lethal

You can cut…kill…dismember on the initial swing and on the back swing

God’s Word gets you coming and going

from all sides

sharp

effective

it begins to separate you

your flesh from your Spirit

it cuts away you

your sin

your desires

your lusts

you die to those things because God cuts them away with His Word!

It is also a discerner of thoughts

discerner comes from Greek adjective meaning discriminative

of the thoughts comes from Greek noun meaning deliberation....device…thought

The Bible begins to bring to light your thoughts and the intents of your heart

you can appear on the outside to be a good faithful Christian

You can even begin to fool yourself

God’s Word discerns

shows

brings to light your thoughts

brings to light your true intents

Actions must be the result of pure intentions

actions that look like spiritual fruit but have unrighteous intentions are sinful resulting in hearing away from Me I never knew you when you meet Jesus face to face

Matthew 15:3–9

__________________________________________

“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

You can look the part but your heart is on you and ment not God

If that is the case you will be rejected!

Does your heart match the Word of God

The Bible convicts and has the power to change you

2. The Bible is everlasting

__________________________________________

God’s Word the Bible is everlasting

not only because Jesus is the Word but because it is of God

The Bible points to the Word being everlasting in many scriptures but God laid a few on my heart to bring to you this morning

Isaiah 40:8

__________________________________________

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: But the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

stand for ever…pretty clear

Matthew 24:35

__________________________________________

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Again pretty clear and straight forward pointing to forever

Now this next scripture is a series in and of its own but I felt God leading me to use it.

One of the cool things that God is doing here at CCC is He is bringing people from all kinds of faith backgrounds to the Truth taught and preached here at CCC

many believe they are saved but have no foundation in the Word of God and therefore will be rejected

we at CCC believe everything must be in agreement with the Word of God and it is the only thing that should be taught and preached

Matthew 5:17–18

__________________________________________

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

As I said probably a sermon series on its own but I felt lead to touch on it here

The old testament scriptures.....not the mans 600 plus laws and traditions trying to keep God’s Law

The old testament..the law…the torah which is just part of the old testament....can be broken down into 3 categories

ceremonial law…which was how Israel was to worship God....all pointed to Jesus and Jesus fulfilled

civil law…how Israel was to live with each other…times have changed but the heart and principles of God’s civil law have not

Moral law....10 commandments…any other moral law given directly by God requires complete obedience

Jesus is a fulfillment of the old covenant....Israel rejected that covenant by the way but God kept His part and sealed 144,000 of Israel to keep His covenant with them

All of the old testament points to Jesus

if one gets so hung up on the old testament.....you should study it

you should through the Holy Spirit apply it

It is God’s Word therefore important but if you miss Jesus you miss the point

all of God’s original laws with Israel were there to teach them to worship Him and point them to Jesus

Jesus is here and now the Holy Spirit teaches so most of these laws are fulfilled…we still honor the heart of the law and obey the principles but are not bound by the fulfilled law

3. The Bible must be your top priority

__________________________________________

Matthew 4:4

__________________________________________

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 here

For man to live spiritually after salvation he must desire meat

God’s Word is meat

How many can go a day or two or 3 or more without dining on the meat of scripture and just go on about your life....justifying it away…I will get to it tomorrow.....I needed rest…i needed this…i needed that…>I I I I I

the truth is you are starving yourself spiritually and then when things happen you get mad at God because you refused to eat!!!!!!

Shame on us

God’s Word must be Top priority....if you starve yourself physically you will die a slow, painful, miserable death

if you starve yourself spiritually you will die a slow, painful, miserable death as well

2 Timothy 2:15

__________________________________________

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

You are called by God…here through Paul to study to show thyself approved by God

You do this all the time by the way…study to show thyself approved

you have a chance for a promotion at work and it requires a test.....you study…why to pass the test....to show thyself approved to man

Driver’s license…same thing…study for the test…then study for the driving portion…why to show thyself approved by man

You do this almost daily but how many days do you truly study God’s Word to show yourself approved by God!!!!!!

Beyond that do you truly study to be able to rightly divide the Word of Truth?

rightly dividing comes from Greek verb meaning to make a straight cut, rightly divide

how do you rightly divide

how do you make a straight cut

in the physical world you measure twice and cut once…you plan and prepare to rightly divide…to make a straight cut

Spiritually you do that through God’s Word

truly study it not just casually read it

One thing you have hopefully noticed and come to love about CCC is our teachers model this.....the Holy Spirit is who actually teaches and when He teaches you through our teachers here you turn your Bible to lots of scriptures

why

not to distract you

not to confuse you

not to dictate the narrative or learning

no to rightly divide because scripture teaches scriptures

this cant happen for you without studying and being in the scriptures

God expects and will judge you for how you study

Acts 17:11

__________________________________________

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

The Christians at Berea were more noble…why....they searched…studied the scriptures daily

it was their top priority

they were checking what was taught against the Word of God

That is one of the reasons I take the time to make sermon notes for each of you....I want you searching the scriptures to see if those things are so

The last aspect of God’s Word…what He does through His Word that we are going to look at this morning is

4. God guides and directs through His Word

__________________________________________

Psalm 119:105

__________________________________________

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.”

God’s Word

not my sermon

not your sunday school teacher’s lesson

not your monday or wednesday night or friday teaching

God’s Word is a lamp unto your feet

a light unto your path

Those things should be based on and include many scriptures but it is God’s Word that matters

He guides you through His Word

Colossians 3:16

__________________________________________

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Word of Christ dwell in you richly

study and apply through Holy Spirit

As God’s Word guides you…you are to guide others with His Word!

If it is not in His Word leave it alone

If it is in His Word stand on it and teach it to others

1 Thessalonians 2:13

__________________________________________

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

God’s Word quickens you

awakens you

brings you to life by its Truth

Guides you through its Truth

God’s Word effectually works in you

shows you who you are and where you are to Go

God’s Word is to be more important to you than anything else on earth

not to be a righteous Christian

not to check a box

not to fool the world and yourself

Not God’s Word is to be the most important thing in your life because it is through God’s Word we discover Him

His character

His love

His Son Jesus

The Holy Spirit

God’s Word is powerful

God’s Word is convicting

God’s Word is eternity changing

God’s Word is everlasting

God’s Word is eternal

God’s Word must be your only priority and God’s Word must guide and direct your every thought and move

Where are you in relation to God’s Word this morning?

God has spoken

We are going to give you some time to reflect on what God said to you this morning

The altar is open if you need to come to Him and pray…lay something at His feet I will pray over you and if you want me to pray with you just let me know

this time is for you and God to get one on one and for you to get real with yourself and God

Following the invitation time we want to also give you a time to worship what God said and or did for you this morning followed by a song preparing you to leave this place and be Christ’s ambassadors in the World!

Invitation

Firm Foundation