Recently a friend of mine wrote a post on his blog concerning Bible Reading. It is an area that many Christians struggle with including myself. His post brought it to the forefront of my mind once again and challenged me. One thing that he said is a key to the importance of daily Bible reading; that is that through daily Bible reading we are able to get the “big picture” of scripture.

Let us discuss this subject a bit. God gave us His word so that we could learn about Him, so that we could have a relationship with God. A thought comes to mind when I think about the importance of Bible reading: Often when we buy a new electronic or some type of equipment we receive a user’s manual with it. Some people will read the manual before they even turn on their new possession, some will read it when they can’t figure something out, and other will never read it just hoping that they can figure everything out on their own. I think that I can say that I have taken my turn in each of those scenarios. Have you ever been in either of the second two, you think that you are getting along fine, then someone comes along and says “hey did you know that that can do this?!?!” I’ve been there, and I have asked the question “how did you know that” to which they reply “I read the manual!” This is often how we treat God, though the Bible is not a “manual” on God, is does allow us to get to know and begin to understand things about God. Yet often times we find ourselves in the place where we don’t know much about God, we see other Christians who seem to be getting everything and are super happy, yet we don’t understand how they do it. My friend the answer is simple; they have read and are reading the “manual”.

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

If we want to have a right relationship with God we must read the Bible. If we want to have a right relationship with others we must read the Bible. If we want to have a right relationship with our family we must read the Bible. If we want to have a proper outlook on life we must read the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

There are different ways to read through the Bible, Jeremy has a couple ideas on his blog and there are many that you can find by searching the web, or asking your pastor. A few interesting ones that I have run across are: Reading Chronologically, Some have it arranged so that you can read every day from the OT, NT, Proverbs, and Psalms, and there are some that will read from the different divisions as well. If you have read through the Bible many times and are looking for a way to change things up for awhile there are some other methods as well; there are some reading plans that may have you read all the words of Christ. Others may deal with specific doctrines, and others focus on certain books. One of my favorites is not designed to get you through the Bible in a year, but to get founded strongly on scripture: Read a small book every day for a month, you will be surprised what you learn and how well you know the book by the end of the month, this can also be adapted for longer books.

I hope this has been encouraging and will motivate us to a stronger Bible reading life. I also recommend going and reading Jeremy’s post.

~ Nate

Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

So, I drive school bus for Pensacola Christian Academy and thoroughly love my job! This is my fourth year driving. My first year I was a sub driver, and got to learn a lot about the surrounding area in which we live, and many things about the buses. Then, for the last two years I drove a full-time route, which I truly enjoyed, especially the kids. This year I’m back to sub driving in order to help my Transportation Director. It seems that I have a knack for picking up routes rather quickly which makes me useful for sub driving. All this background is what brings us to our topic today.

First, I’ll start with the smaller areas. I think that often times as Christians we know that God takes care of us and does things for us, yet we only seem to notice the big things that he does in our lives, often we overlook the small everyday occurrences of God’s goodness. This is a lesson that I learn/learned almost daily while driving bus. Bus routes have schedules that are setup for when to pick up and drop off the kids, this is for the purpose of consistency and getting the kids to school on time. Often this entire schedule can be skewed by a red light, green light, slow car, etc. Many times as I was driving along it was amazing how the light would just “happen” to be the color I needed to keep me on schedule. Or I’d be coming to a light and be praying it would stay green, and it seemed that the light was green for a long time and I made it. It was through many little things like this God showed me that even in the little day to day matters like the color of a stop light, he was there watching out for me and caring for me. There are many more stories of this type, small things that God did, but I will not share them all here. The point is, that God is Good All the Time, and we need to recognize this, even the small things, and praise God for them!

Another area that God has taught me a lesson through is the area of sub driving again this year. As I mentioned before, I loved my route over the last two year, and I was really looking forward to it again this year. So it came as quite a shock and bummer when I was informed that not only was I not driving the route at all, but I also was not driving full-time either. At first I just smiled and nodded, you know how it is, but slowly God started showing me how he was taking care of me. My wife recently graduated from seminary and has become a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant selling their products. Because of this she often has parties at night. Now if you think about the fact that I would have to go to bed rather early to get up at 5:10 in the morning to drive the bus, and she is having parties till 9 or so at night, we would not get to see each other very much at night. But because of the change most nights we will get to spend some time together after her parties! God is Good All the Time.

You will find in everything that comes into your life, that though sometimes it may not be clear right away, God has something good in everything for us to see and learn from. So we must learn and take to heart the saying: “God is Good All the Time, All the Time God is Good!”

~ Nate

BIBLIOLOGY

Summary Statement: I believe that all sixty-six books of the Bible are God’s Word, and that they are verbally and plenarily inspired, equally by Him. God used human writers as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to pen His sacred book. The Bible is inerrant, there are no errors in the Bible scribble or factual, it is infallible, there could be no errors in the Bible because it is God’s Word. God’s Word is not incomprehensible, but it is illumined to the believer by the Holy Spirit. God’s Word is complete in the form of the accepted Canon, and God has preserved His Word for all generations. Through sound hermeneutics, God’s Word should be the believer’s sole authority for faith and practice. Concerning translations, a translation will derive these attributes of God’s Word, as long as it is translated accurately and with the right method.

1. God’s Word – The Bible is the recorded communication of God in words to mankind. In 2 Peter 1:12-21 Peter’s death is approaching and he wants the Christians to know the truths of God. He states that these truths are not cunning fables, but they were eye witness accounts. He then states that the prophecies (Scripture) are more sure than eyewitness accounts, even eye witness accounts of the voice of God, because these prophesies (Scripture) are the very words of God and not of men.

2. Verbally and plenarily inspired, equally - Bible is the inspired, “God-breathed,” a book that finds its very source in God. (2 Tim 3:16) This verse not only states that the Bible is inspired, but it clearly states that “All Scripture” is inspired, no part being left out of this statement. Inspiration includes not only all of scripture, but it is detailed all the way down the very words the authors penned. God completely inspired every word, not just thoughts for the writers to put in their own words; this is plenary verbal inspiration, full word-by-word inspiration. As a result of the complete inspiration of God, no part of Scripture is more or less inspired than the rest, they are equally inspired.

3. Human Writers – God used human men to write His divine book. 2 Peter 1:21 states the “holy men of God spake,” this gives the scripture a very unique quality in that God allowed each writer’s natural characteristics, vocabulary, and knowledge to show. Yet, because of the moving of the Holy Spirit these books are verbally and plenarily inspired, which is demonstrated by these books exceeding these men’s characteristics, vocabulary, knowledge, and also having a unity of the entire Bible that can only come from its one, common Author, God.

4. Moved by the Spirit – Inspiration was not the forceful over powering of God, but it was the guiding staff of the Shepherd moving His sheep to His desired destination for them. (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Sam 23:1-2)

5. Inerrant – The Bible is accurate and correct in all that it states. The Bible tells the truth. Inerrancy goes beyond just religious matters, but in all matters that the Bible addresses, including science, history, etc., it is accurate and without error. Also, there were no scribal errors on the part of the writers, nor by the moving of the Holy Spirit. Every word was penned exactly as God intended it without mistake. The Scriptures do not error.

6. Infallible – Where as inerrant refers the accuracy of Scripture, infallibility refers to the ability of the Bible to error. Peter says in 2 Peter 1:18-19 that the scripture is more sure than his very own eyewitness account of God’s voice that he heard on the mount. The Word of God will derive its nature from God himself, (1 Peter 1:15,16) God is holy, He cannot sin (error), therefore Scripture, which derives its nature from its Author, cannot error. The Scriptures cannot error.

7. Illuminated – The Bible is written beyond the comprehension of the natural man, but not beyond the Holy Spirit aided believer. It was written so that God could communicate directly with His people. In John 14:26 it is stated that the Holy Spirit will teach the believer all things that God has given him to be able to learn.

8. Canon — The Canon of scripture is that which the inspired Word of God is. God has revealed this canon to His believers by statements in the Bible itself confirming other scriptures, as well as evidences in the books themselves that His Spirit lead His children to see and discern them to be His Word. (2 Peter 3:16)

9. Preservation – The Bible states that God’s truth will be available for every generation, Psalm 100:5. It is also stated in Psalm 119:89 that the Word of God is settled in heaven forever. It goes without question then that God has preserved His Word for all mankind and must be available today. Matthew 5:18 tells us that not only was it preserved, but that is will continue to be preserved until all has been fulfilled.

10. Hermeneutics – The Bible makes it clear that the Christian is to be studying God’s Word. (2 Tim 2:15) To know God better and have a deeper relationship with Him one must spend quality time in God’s Word learning about Him and His workings. In the modern day, many people shun the word “hermeneutics”, a methodology to Bible study, saying that Bible study in not a science. Though some advocators of modern hermeneutics over emphasis the method of Bible study to the Spirit’s, one must not allow this to hinder them from doing everything decently and in order, with a method. (1 Cor 14:40) It is good to have a plan and organization to ones study, a science if you will, so that it can be of the most benefit to those studying.

11. Sole authority for faith and practice – God’s Word is to be the leading authority in a believer’s life. The believer is not to subjugate the Bible to fit his beliefs, but the Bible is to subjugate the believer’s beliefs and actions to be in accordance with the Bible. In 2 Peter 1:16-19 Peter states that they are not following “cunningly devised fables”, but the very voice of God, he then states, as is mentioned earlier, that the Bible is even more sure. From this verse it is clear that the believer is to appeal to the authority of Scripture alone for his faith and practice. (2 Tim 3:16-17) Scripture is sufficient to instruct the believer in all matters, and to mature that believer to spiritual adulthood.

12. Translations – Today there are a plethora of translations available to the believer. This may seem like a good thing, yet when one compares the different translations and see that there are many variances, it can become a confusing mine field. Without going into great detail, there are a few things that must be considered when one decides which translation should be used by believers of God: one must consider the textual base of the translation, is it the preserved texts, or the texts “compiled” by man; also to be considered it the method of translation, did the translators translate the Scripture in a word-for-word sense, or only try to capture the ideas of Scripture; and lastly, but not least, is it an accurate translation, as all of the above stated beliefs are only as true for a translation as that translation is accurate.

John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

I think that often times we have a wrong focus when it comes to the purpose of salvation. Quite often people get saved and think the reason they got saved was so that they did not have to go to Hell, but rather that they could go to Heaven. Though this is a true result, going to Heaven and not to Hell, this is not the primary purpose of salvation. At the fall when Adam sinned, death was the punishment for his sin, and what is death? Death is separation, separation of the soul from the physical body, and separation of the spirit from God. Even more than the eventual loss of life, was the loss of communication/fellowship with God.

Focusing on the soul’s eternal destination may convince someone to receive Jesus as Savior, but often it causes them to miss the point of being saved. When one views salvation only in light of eternal destination, they only view salvation as a “fire escape.” They are not receiving Christ for any more reason than to not have to spend an eternity in Hell! As I said above, though this is a positive product of salvation, it is not the primary goal. By focusing on eternal destination, instead of the true purpose of salvation, we are raising generations of weak and unprofitable Christians.

Instead of focusing on the eternal destination we should be focusing on the purpose of salvation, which is Life! Now some may say, “Is not going to heaven, life?” It is, but life is so much more than that. Paul says in Eph 2:1, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” he is not saying that we were physically dead, as it is clear that salvation does not raise the physical body from the dead, instead he is talking about the spirit of man. At the fall our souls died and lost all fellowship with God, and as John 17:3 states the purpose of eternal life, which comes from salvation, is to know God and Jesus Christ, it is to have fellowship again. Salvation is not supposed to only be a “fire escape,” but more rather it is to change the life of the one receiving life! It is to restore us to fellowship with God!

If we really saw the importance of this in the Christian life, we would see many more Christians acting like Christians should act. The meaning of the word “Christian” is to be “Christ like”. This would mean a change in all Christian’s lives from following the world and doing as the world does, to doing the works of Christ and doing as He does! Salvation is to change our lives. Has it changed yours?

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly“

~ Nate

(There is much more that could be covered about the subject of salvation. Hopefully we will get the chance to cover more in the future, but I think this is a vital part that must be understood in order to start a journey toward practical Christian living!)

ANGELOLOGY

Summary Statement: I believe angels were created by God during the creation week. That that they are a static race, and therefore individually responsible for their actions. After their creation, one of the most powerful angels, Satan, sinned and drew one third of the other angels with him. The purpose of angels is to serve God, and to worship him.

1. Created – According to 1 Timothy 6:16 only God is immortal, this then leads to the conclusion that angels are created beings. (Ps 148:2,5) John 1 tells us that all things were created by God. Therefore angels are not only created, but they are created by the only Immortal. They were created during the creation week, as seen in Exodus chapter twenty verse eleven while God is speaking about the Sabbath day. There creation was not only during the week of creation, but was also before the earth was formed, putting their creation on day one. (Job 38:6-7)

2. Static – The creation of angels was a onetime act by God. They are not a race that increases or decreases, but rather they have an eternal state. (Luke 20:34-36) Because there is no federal headship to the angels, they are each individually responsible for their own actions, this is important when considering the fall of the angels.

3. Satan – Satan was one of the chief angels of God as seen in Ezekiel 28. Yet, with all that he was and had, it was not enough for him and he wanted more. This lust of Satan was the sin of his fall, that verse fifteen demonstrates. With this sin he also drew one third of the rest of the angels (Rev 12:14) this was their own decision as seen above that they are individually responsible for.

4. Serve and Worship God – As seen from their lack of free will, the angels sole responsibility is to serve and worship. They cannot do anything outside the will of God, as seen in Job 1, in their now affirmed state, whether fallen or not. (Isaiah 6:3, Heb 1:6)

Well, it seems as if we are just about all the way back up and running! After being down for a few days, and going through a great amount of learning, I think the site will be much better. I went from a site that was setup for me, to setting up my own. There were kinks here and there that required lots of learning and hair pulling. I must give many thanks to http://www.theadclass.com/education/blogging-101, this site is a great walk through for starting a blog, and I would have been completely lost without them, even if you have got your own blog running there is some information on there (especially videos) that can help you improve. Also the 1and1 customer support has been amazing. From the beginning when I was using a pre-made site, through the whole process of me setting up this one they have answered many questions of mine (around 20 questions).

God has taught me patience and to love to learn and I thank him for the experience! I hope to start getting some regular posts up now.

~ Nate

These pages include some doctrinal statements of my beliefs. I believes that every Christian should have beliefs that they hold to, and should know them. Too often we do not know why we believe what we believe, that is something that I hope this blog will change for some people. Since I will be dealing with things slowly over time, I thought it would be good to give you an overview of some of my beliefs. These doctrinal Statements were completed as part of a project for a doctrines class that I took in seminary. They will still be in their original format. Also they had to fit within certain parameters, such as number of pages, as well as most were the first time I had put my beliefs down on paper. This means that they may not be as thorough as I would like, they may not always be clear, or I might have revised the way I would state things. I’m posting them as they are now, and over time intend to refine and work them out a bit.

On the note of putting my beliefs down on paper, I would encourage all Christians to create doctrinal statements of their own. Even if they are only for yourself, it will help you see what you believe and help you know where you really don’t know what you believe and need to do some more study.

~ Nate

Angelology

Anthropology

Bibliology

Christology

Ecclesiology

This post is introducing a new page to the site. I hope that it will benefit all, as stated in the following introduction to those pages, some of the doctrinal statements may still need some work and I will being doing so in the near future, but I wanted to put them up now so they could start being useful. The Statements will work their way on over the next couple weeks. They will be released alphabetically.

(Page Intro, on new page)

These pages include some doctrinal statements of my beliefs. I believes that every Christian should have beliefs that they hold to, and should know them. Too often we do not know why we believe what we believe, that is something that I hope this blog will change for some people. Since I will be dealing with things slowly over time, I thought it would be good to give you an overview of some of my beliefs. These doctrinal Statements were completed as part of a project for a doctrines class that I took in seminary. They will still be in their original format. Also they had to fit within certain parameters, such as number of pages, as well as most were the first time I had put my beliefs down on paper. This means that they may not be as thorough as I would like, they may not always be clear, or I might have revised the way I would state things. I’m posting them as they are now, and over time intend to refine and work them out a bit.

On the note of putting my beliefs down on paper, I would encourage all Christians to create doctrinal statements of their own. Even if they are only for yourself, it will help you see what you believe and help you know where you really don’t know what you believe and need to do some more study.

~ Nate