Jesus_Bible_Church

Jesus & The Bible
The bible is a book recording all the historical truths of God & His people at that time. The events which took place were the truths of God and we rely on these truths to help us understand the nature and principles of our Heavenly Father and the moral expectations of us as His children.

The bible also serves as a guide book in our Christian living and understanding how to go about to fulfill our duty and responsibilities as a child of God. It is like when we migrate to another country, we need to understand the laws, culture and the history of the new country. In the like-manner, the bible also serves this purpose.

However, we must not be so focused on the bible that the Saviour of our lives, Lord Jesus, is being forgotten or displaced by it. The purpose of the bible is to lead us to Jesus and not to replace Him. Furthermore, it was Jesus who breathed life into the bible and not the other round. What good is the bible if the Holy Spirit of God is not in us to reveal the truths in it? The body without the Spirit is dead.

Jesus said :
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except thro' me." (John 14:6) "I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Jesus clearly stamped His authority over us and told us that there is no other way except through Him. "...apart from Me you can do nothing." reveals His supremacy over the bible! For those who have put Him less important than the bible, He did not hesitate to chide them as in the case of the Jews at that time. "You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life." (John 5:39-40)

Jesus is clearly teaching us that the bible must not be first focus in our lives but the Lord Himself. Knowing all that is written in the bible but without having the Holy Spirit in us does not help us in any way in our Christian walk. Take a look at Satan, he knows the Word of God well and infact he also knows who God is and yet he is of the darkness, why? It is because Satan does not have the Spirit in him and he is disobedient to God.

Understanding God's grace in Jesus is the One & Only way to build up and strengthen our faith. We will then grow in Christian maturity to live a life in freedom, joy and peace in Christ Jesus.
How to?

The way to it is to devote as much time to our Lord Jesus as possible. I would even suggest that you devote all of your time to Him by sharing everything in your life with Him; be it when you are happy or sad. Learn to talk to Jesus whenever you can, share a joke with Him or even tell Him how much you are enjoying you food today (eg)...etc. The Lord loves to listen to you and He wants to listen!

Go to Him in prayers too. Pray about anything and in everything give thanks to Him. If you are not sure of what to do or how you should go about with anything in life, seek the Lord first and He will be there to answer, help and deliver you through.

The Lord wants you to give your complete life to Him, not just parts of your life. This is one area where the bible cannot do. The bible only holds the truths about God but the Lord Jesus is not only the Truth but also holds all the answers we are searching for.

Let us remember that the Lord Jesus is very much alive today. He is still wanting to help us in coping with our present lives if we seek Him. Jesus told us in John 14:1 "Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in Me." So, trust Him in whichever and whatever way we can.

God may be speaking to us directly through our hearts(conscience), through anyone or even guide us with the bible. The point to note is the fact that God is behind these actions and that the Holy Spirit in us prompts us with God's answers. In other words, these are God's Words given to us in present times to help us with our present situations.

Illustrations:
1. When you met someone who is critically injured, do you look to the bible for help or say a quick prayer to the Lord?
2. When you are unsure of your next step in life, do you look to the bible for help or come to the Lord in prayer?
I believe we will pray to the Lord than to search the bible for an answer, why? Because we firmly believe that Jesus is alive and he listens to our prayers and most of all, He will answer us (in any way He deems fit).

The message is not written to tell you to discard or ignore the bible but rather for us to know where the bible should be placed in our lives. The bible can only come after Jesus in all circumstances.. Do bear in mind that it is NOT how much time you spend reading the bible that determines your growth and maturity in Christ but how devoted you are to Christ Himself. With the Lord and the bible in the right perspective, it will be much easier to live our lives around our Lord (it is more difficult to try and put our Lord around our lives). We can then look forward to a more meaningful Christian life which bears spiritual fruits as the Lord has promises.

To God be the glory.

Jesus and the Church
The church is a place where God's children gather to sing praises, worship and glorified God. It is also a place where God's children can keep up their fellowships, hear messages to maintain their faith, seek understanding of God Word and participate in godly activities.

As one church defers from another in their doctrines and beliefs, due mainly to the denominational factor, the members in the church must learn to discern what they have heard or learnt from their church with that of another. Most importantly, the ability to respect another church's doctrines, whatever the differences there may be, is the way expected out of all children of God. We must not go into foolish and stupid arguments because they produce quarrels. (2 Timothy 2:23) Rather let us all learn from one another.

As mentioned above, every church has its own doctrines and beliefs where certain issues or the teachings of Christ may have been their anchor or central focus. For example:

To one church, it may be the emphasis on the ability to speak in tongue as a sign of having had the Holy Spirit. To another, it may be that of having to go through water baptism in order to be recognised as their church members...and the list goes on. What is of utmost importance is that the teachings of Christ must not be ignored to give way to the doctrines of a church. What do I mean here?

Simply put. Do not enlarge and insist that the doctrines of your church is the only accepted way in the Christian faith. It is God's teachings that we must focus upon and be understood and accepted. There is no other way to it accept this.

Let me give you an example:

Recently, the Pentacostal Church in America is going around sopreading and insisting that the only way to Christ is through believing in their teachings; that of believing in what their preachers has to say whom they claimed were God appointed. They insisted that only Pentacostal's pastors whom they called as 'sent-preachers' are the only who are teachings the Word of God and that all other pastors or ministers or teachers are not 'qualified' to do so.

Now this is not only wrong but dangerous. Wrong mainly because no where in the Bible does it say this, but rather that everyone of us should live by faith in Christ and not by the works of man. Dangerous because this will lead to disagreement and argument by other churches.

Likewise, to those churches who stress and enlarge upon certain gifts of God or teachings and insist upon their ways, will not be accepted by God as His teachings.

The church must not just take out certain parts of God's teachings and insist that that should be the way to Christ. They just cannot simply take out a piece or two and thus discarding the rest to insist that that is the complete picture of God's grace. Consider this: Are we able to see the complete picture of a jig-saw puzzle if we only have a few parts in our hands?

Therefore what matter most is that we must be able to see the complete work of God's grace for us in Christ. In so doing, we will be able to understand the purpose of God's salvation.

How do we understand the complete work of God's grace?

As mentioned in Jesus and the Bible above, the way to it is through Christ Jesus our Lord. I will not elaborate on this as I have already mentioned it. Just read it up again above.

The teachings of a church must be in line with that of God's. It should not be edited at all just to suit the church and its members. We must remember that God is greater than the church, so is His teachings. Any forms of teachings other than that of Christ is just not the complete work of God's grace.

Although each individual church(denominational) has a role to fulfil in God's plan, the church must be very careful not to be so engrossed in their teachings and beliefs that they overlooked the teachings of God. Do not over emphasize or enlarge out of porportion its doctrines and beliefs that God's teachings is being completely overshadowed. There is one Body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all. (Ephesians 4:4 - 6)

As leaders of a church, he must teach in accordance to God's grace and this grace alone.

As member of a church, he must learn to differentiate the teachings of his church to that of God's. Any discrepencies should not lead to quarrel but by the gentle exchanging of understanding, work it out with the help of the Spirit. The yardstick to use is that of God's teachings. In this manner, everyone will be able to find freedom, peace and joy in Christ!

To end it off, let us all learn to 'enjoy the meat and throw away the bones' which simply means:

Be it that you use fork and spoon; chopsticks and spoon; or even your hands to consume the Food, what matters is that the Food is being enjoyed and digested. This is to say that be it your church's teachings or beliefs or that of another, that may differ from yours, most importantly is that Christ is preached and in the right manner that it should, so that everyone will grow to bear fruit as Jesus has promised.

Jesus and us
"Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." - Matthew 10:32 - 33

We know that we belong to the lOrd if we acknowledged Him as He has promised in Matt 10:32-33. Infact when Jesus acknowledges us, we not only become His brothers but we too become children to God and have a share in God's inheritance. Hallelujah! This is possible because of God's mercy and grace for us through His Son, Jesus.

Jesus died for us once and for all and through Him we are being transformed and given a new life in Christ; you no longer live but Christ lives in you (Gal 2:20) Let us not forget this. Since we are now His, let us learn to live our lives as one who is eager to fulfil our duty and responsibility in Him. How do we go about it?

First & foremost, do not let yourself be blinded from Christ and lose sight of Him. Jesus must be the cornerstone of our lives. We have to live and do everthing through Him building up our spiritual faith and growth. There is no other way to it. There is but one God from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all thing came and through Him we live. (1 Cor 8:6)
(For more details, refer to above - Jesus & the Bible)

Secondly, through the Bible, we will be able to understand what our duty and responsibility are. As we learn to fulfil these responsibilities, we must not be too engrossed ver them that Jesus is forgotten. For everything has been placed under Him by God and all things have to be done through Him. (Eph 1:22-23 & 1 Cor 15:27-28)

Next, we will have to constantly "keep in touch" with Jesus through prayers and communion. It is though prayers and communion (talking) with the Lord that He hears us and helps us in our lives.

In Matt 7:7, Jesus said : (those in brackets are my interpretations)
"Ask and it will be given" (Ask and the Lord will reply)
"Seek and you will find" (Seek the Lord and you will find the answers to your prayers)
"Knock and the door will be opened to you" (Call on the Lord and you will find Him there to help you)

Therefore, we can have the assurance that each time we seek the Lord, He will definitely be there to help us. As such, you can see the importance of prayers and communion here.

If you continue to do these more and more, you will be able to feel the freedom that Christ has promised and in the process, you will be able to enjoy the peace and joy that is of Christ and also bear fruits, fruits that will last. (John Chapter 15).

To God be the glory!