Not much to tell this week. Covid 19 and protests are everywhere. Please pray for our country!!
Psalms 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
Truly blessed is the man, the woman, the people – the nation whose God is the LORD. He is our peace, and hope and love and joy and He is our Comforter, Defender, our Saviour and Friend.
Thank You Lord!!!!
Prayer request:
Robin Bruce's neighbor’s granddaughter lives in Michigan and is 7 weeks preg. She passed out husband had call 911 both her an baby okay she has a 5 yr old same thing happened with him thank you so much.
Kenny Works will be having a procedure/ treatment soon that has to do with his thyroid. It's kinda complicated and individualized. Pray for him and Sissy as time gets closer and that all goes well and according to plan. I will let you know when it gets closer.
Bill Marksberry has one radiation treatment tomorrow on a tiny spot on his brain.
Pat Marksberry is home now but drove home from down south and Terri and Bill found her at home on the floor where she had fell. They took her to the hospital and found she was dehydrated. Continue praying.
Deedee Brown's father, Lawrence Cochran, is now living at Ripley Crossing. He is under hospice care, but pretty stable. Please keep him and the family in your prayers.
Joyce Bailey (Steve Bailey’s mom) goes to the surgeon tomorrow to see what will be done about 2 spots on her lung that has appeared and grown in 6 months time. Doctors are very optimistic but want to be sure. Please pray for them to get a plan together and act on it soon .
Bible study: Mike Stahl
Lesson 4, Part 1 – How We Got the Bible Theme / Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (New American Standard version)
Lesson:
This lesson’s verse reflects that the Bible we have today is from God Himself. It teaches us, trains us, and corrects us when needed, if we will just listen to it. God wants us to know his Word so that we are ready to do His will, so that we will be ready with an answer when needed.
As mentioned in the first lesson, the Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by many men, inspired by God (as in our theme verse). It’s God’s Word, and we can trust it. It is truth. It shows us the way to live and ultimately how to be saved. It is everything we need.
So why is it important to understand how we got the Bible?
John 1:1-5 – In the beginning was the (1) ________, and the (2) ________ was with God, and the (3) ________ was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Bible is the story of (4) __________. It is important to know how we got it so we can be (5) __________________ in its Source, how it has been (6) ____________ ________ to us through nearly 2,000 years, how we know it is (7) ________________ (why can we (8) __________ it), how we know it is complete, and why we should (9) ________ it.
Lesson 4 will have 4 parts. This lesson (Part 1) will be a bit of an overview of how God has revealed Himself throughout time down to us today. This process is called His Revelation – not to be confused with the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament. There are 4 steps in God’s Revelation to us which include:
1. Revelation 2. Inspiration 3. Manuscripts 4. Translations
Firstly, there is Revelation. This is God’s (10) ________-____________________. There are actually two forms in which God has revealed Himself to us:
· (11) ______________ Revelation: God revealing Himself to us through events and creation. Through general revelation, even those who do not believe in God know deep inside themselves that God exists, although they may choose to deny it. This is described in the book of Romans.
Romans 1:18-25 – For the wrath of God is revealed from (12) ____________ against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is (13) ______________ within them; for God made it (14) ______________ to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been (15) ________, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
· Special Revelation: (16) ____________, (17) ________________ ways that God reveals Himself
Special revelation was different in Old / New Testament times and in the early Church than it is today. During the Old / New Testament and early Church times, God sometimes spoke directly to man – sometimes through visions or dreams and probably other ways we cannot comprehend. God came to earth as a man – Jesus. Miracles validated that the messenger – Jesus – was from God.
Today God’s special revelation to us is His (18) ________. His Word is (19) ________________. God has given us all we need to know Him and to receive His forgiveness and salvation in His Word. We need nothing more. We need nothing less.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
God has consistently warned His people (today it’s Christians) not to change His Word. We need to heed those warnings.
Revelation 22:18-19 – I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone (20) ________ to them, God will (21) ______ to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone (22) __________ ________ from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will (23) ________ ________ his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
Deuteronomy 4:2 – Do not (24) ______ to what I command you and do not (25) ________________ from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.
The second part of God’s Revelation is Inspiration. This is the process that God used to (26) __________ the writers of the books of the Bible and at the same time to ensure its (27) ________________. The words in our Bible were written by (28) ______, but the message was from (29) ______. This hasn’t happened in nearly 2,000 years now. It is hard to imagine how this could have even worked, but it is exciting to think how someday we can get an explanation of it in heaven! But we do know that the inspiration came through the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20-21 – But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own (30) ____________________________, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of (31) __________ will, but men moved by the (32) ________ ____________ spoke from God.
The third part of God’s Revelation is Manuscripts – at least if we think of it as how God has revealed Himself all the way down to us today. After the original copies of the books of the Bible were written down, they had to be shared and preserved. Manuscripts are (33) ____________ of the original documents that make up the Scriptures. Made on (34) __________________ or (35) ______________ so the Word could be spread to other Christians. Imagine if there were no manuscripts – only a select few would have ever even seen the Scriptures and they would have worn out centuries ago. In the next lesson, we will delve more deeply into how the manuscripts were made and how we know they are accurate.
The fourth part of God’s Revelation is Translation – again, if we think of it as how God has revealed Himself all the way down to us today. The original text of the Scriptures was written in (36) ____________ and (37) __________, plus a little (38) ______________. These wouldn’t mean too much to most of us today. Thankfully, there have been Biblical scholars over the centuries since the Bible was first written down that have translated it into English and many other languages.
As you are aware, there are many different English translations available today. They range from “literal” word-for-word translations to paraphrase. My personal preference is word- for-word, and I use the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Many people use the New International Version (NIV) – a thought-for-thought translation. I generally do not recommend the paraphrase “translations”. I prefer to read the words myself, as close to the original as possible but in the English language. And then use context and comparison to other sections of Scripture, commentaries, and trusted authors (such as Cottrell) to help me understand more difficult passages. Paraphrasing is somewhat like someone re-telling you what they read.
Care should be taken when choosing a translation to ensure we understand the true (39) ______________ and (40) ____________ of God’s revelation to us. We will spend a lesson discussing some of the various translations that have been made (even long before King James) and some that are available today in another lesson:
Answers :
(1) Word
2) Word
3) Word
4) Jesus
5) confident
6) handed down
7) reliable
8) trust
9) obey
10) self-disclosure
11) General
12) heaven
13) evident
14) evident
15) made
16) Unique
17) specific
18) Word
19) complete
20) adds
21) add
22) takes away
23) take away
24) add
25) subtract
26) guide
27) accuracy
28) men
29) God
30) interpretation
31) human
32) Holy Spirit
33) copies
34) parchment
35) papyrus
36) Hebrew
37) Greek
38) Aramaic
39) meaning
40) intent
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