The Bible still amazes me...

     So I am working on my sermon for Sunday, the first half of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5.  It amazes me how the Bible works together from beginning to end.  In the Old Testament we have the 10 commandments and it is divided, 4 dealing with our relationship with God and 6 dealing with our relationship with others.  In the New Testament we have the 8 beatitudes and it is divided, 4 dealing with our relationship with God and 4 dealing with our relationship with others.  When Jesus is asked to sum it all up, He tells us to love God (there is the relationship with God stuff) and to love others (there is the relationship with others stuff).  Another great thing about the Bible is to add the culture of the day in which it was written.  As you get to know more about it then you see when Jesus sat down it wasn't just because He was tired and when He opened His mouth, it wasn't just to be feed but rather to feed others.  Even before you get to the first beatitude you get a sense of how important it was what was going to be spoken.  One more thing about this passage, actually the 3 chapters that make up the Sermon on the Mount, is that Jesus just reinforces what is already in the Scripture.  He helps us to understand it better but nothing is new and He is showing how applying the Scripture to life is so important. 


     I have been given the opportunity to start to write down the journey that Stephanie and I have taken to plant the church here in Gaylord.  It has been good to go back step by step and evaluate what we did and how we were directed.  Each article is going to be put on our regional conference paper with the possibility of sharing it in a seminar form with potential new church planters.  I am trying to take this very slowly so that I don't jump into the "how to's" before I cover the "why's" and "when's".  The confirmation from God is so crucial in anything that we do that would be deem for His kingdom.  What are people confirming in your life by actual observation?  I think this is a much better way of discovering your spiritual gift than just taking a course on time, learning the definitions of the gifts and answering a questionaire with 156 questions.  


God bless.


Adam 


     
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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