HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH CHURCH
Where Church is Family
Ephesians 4:12-16
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
First and foremost thank you for your kindness in celebrating my birthday. It is truly a joy to serve you all and your love and service for the Lord encourages me and my family.
I have uploaded the link on our church webpage/blog so that you can easily access it it is a link on the right side of HOUSEHOLDCHURCH.ORG
I trust that that you have completed the Spiritual Growth Assessment tool . This is simply a tool to help you diagnose the areas of spiritual discipline that you will want to focus on. There may be areas where you are stronger and thus, your passion and giftedness and callings will be identified. It is my hope and prayer that through these studies that you will emerge more equipped for the work of ministry. Growth is an ongoing process and we may be all at different stages and we all have something to offer. Through this series, some may emerge to be teachers, some to be manifesting their gifts in other areas. It is my hope and prayer that you will be encouraged to first share your faith, and secondly teach others what Scripture has for us to live Godly lives. I hope you are ready for this journey. It is my hope that this series becomes a permanent part of our church and we will continually be adding to your learning and spiritual formation and the months and years go by. I can envision other Foundations of the faith groups going on in homes throughout the week. Saturday, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon. I envision robust gatherings that are devoted to teaching, fellowship and prayer.
I am thanking God for every remembrance of you all and am excited at what God will do as we give our lives away to Him
Please be sure to complete Lesson 1 of the Fundamentals of the Faith Series. We will be discussing the material there.
If you missed our service on November 8, please be sure to catch up with one of our church members and they can help you get back on track.
Today we covered the meaning of General Revelation, Specific Revelation and Inspiration.
REVELATION: The act of God whereby He discloses to man what would otherwise be unknown
GENERAL REVELATION:God revealing Himself to man through creation and conscience
* Through Creation Romans 1:18-20
Rom. 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
The wrath of God refers to his personal anger against sin. God’s anger is not selfish or arbitrary but represents his holy and loving response to human wickedness. Some have understood God’s wrath in impersonal cause-effect terms, but this betrays a deistic worldview rather than a biblical one. God’s wrath is expressed for good reason since his power and divine nature are clearly revealed through the world he has made, and yet he is rejected by all people. These verses show that salvation does not come through “general revelation” (what is known about God through the natural world) since Paul emphasizes the universality of sin and concludes that “no one seeks for God” (3:11). things that have been made. The entire natural world bears witness to God through its beauty, complexity, design, and usefulness. without excuse. No one should complain that God has left insufficient evidence of his existence and character; the fault is with those who reject the evidence.
*Through conscience Romans 2:14-15
Rom. 2:14For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,
Rom. 2:15in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,Paul explains here why Gentiles who do not have the law will face judgment apart from the law (see v. 12). The reason it is fair for God to judge them for their evil is that God’s law is written on their hearts, so that their consciences attest to what is right and what is wrong in their behavior. Paul does not imply that the testimony of human conscience is always a perfect moral guide (for people have conflicting thoughts about their moral behavior, sometimes excusing themselves from wrongdoing), but the very existence of this testimony is sufficient to render people accountable to God. (Elsewhere Paul indicates that people’s consciences can be distorted by sin; see 1 Cor. 8:7, 10; 10:29; 1 Tim. 4:2; Titus 1:15.)
SPECIAL REVELATION:God Revealing Himself to man through miracles, signs dreams and visions, theophanies (appearances of God in tangible form), through the prophets and the greatest prophet Jesus Christ and through the written word of God in the Bible.
The writer of Hebrews declared, “God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). As this statement suggests, special revelation has included a variety of methods, climaxing in the coming of the Son of God.
Heb. 1:1¶ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
Heb. 1:2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
1:1 Long ago contrasts here with “these last days” in v. 2. Two similar Greek words emphasize the many times and many ways in which God has spoken. This speaking was through prophets, which in Jewish thought included the authors of both the prophetic and the historical books of the OT (even Moses and David; cf. Deut. 18:15; Acts 1:16; 3:22; 4:25; 7:37; 26:22). Our fathers are the OT patriarchs (cf. Heb. 3:9; 8:9), whom the author considers his audience’s spiritual forebears.
1:2 Four points of contrast occur between 1 and 2: time of revelation (“long ago” vs. these last days); agent of revelation (“prophets” vs. Son); recipients of revelation (“fathers” vs. us); and, implicitly, the unity of the final revelation in the Son (cf. the “many times and in many ways” in v. 1, implying, by contrast, that this last revelation came at one time, in one way, in and through God’s Son). Since God has spoken finally and fully in the Son, and since the NT fully reports and interprets this supreme revelation once the NT is written, the canon of Scripture is complete. No new books are needed to explain what God has done through his Son. Now believers await his second coming (9:28) and the city to come (13:14). Jesus is heir of all things (i.e., what he “inherits” from his Father is all creation) by virtue of his dignity as Son (1:4). The preexistence, authority, power, and full deity of the Son are evident in his role in creating the world; cf. John 1:3, 10; Col. 1:16.
INSPIRATION: A process by which God, as the instigator moved men by the Holy Spirit to write the Words of God.
Next Week we will be looking at General Information about the Bible, including it’s origin, titles and translations. Bible Survey, Old Testament and New Testament
He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, Eph. 4:12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Eph. 4:13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Eph. 4:14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; Eph. 4:15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, Eph. 4:16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
in Hawaiaan Ohana means family and with family nobody gets left behind,
Till next week remember.
The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psa. 19:8
Pastor Mark
