Another fantastic Sunday with our church family.
Am grateful to God for the gazillion little opportunities to meet and greet folks who've been away for a while.
Am grateful too for how welcome we feel every time we step into HXUCA. Beth is so comfortable that she opted to sit by herself in the front pew close to the band (possibly to observe the drummer, as drums are her favourite instrument). When the Hillsong video clip for the song "Royalty" came on, she started dancing! She's really come a long way in shedding her natural inhibition.
During "Time With The Kids", Pastor explained to the children what Heb. 12:2 means for them: being living sacrifices and not conforming to the world means being the best you can be, doing those things that God has made it natural and enjoyable for you to do, and glorifying God in the process.
This afternoon, the youths from the Synod of VIC and TAS will be gathering at our church for a time of understanding of the Prison Ministry followed by celebration and worship at 7 pm. CA did the sound check just now and came away overwhelmed by the decibel level.
The sermon was about the Bible, its origins, and how we ought to treat it.
2 Tim. 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed.
Pastor branched into a discussion of how the Jewish people so revered God that they dared not name Him, so the pronunciation of His name, Yahweh, sounds like a "Whoosh", i.e. a breath/gust of wind!
The Bible is infallible.
What does this mean? For instance, can the account of Creation in the Bible be taken literally in a discussion about evolution and carbon dating? Some might say: does it matter? What's more important is - in the beginning, God. Others take the view that it matters, because if you can't trust the Creation account, how can you trust the rest of the Bible? Something to ruminate on.
According to Pastor, the 2 days on the Christian calendar that many ministers find confronting are - surprise! - Easter and Christmas. Many of them simply cannot accept the literal Word of God about the virgin birth of Jesus and his physical resurrection at Easter.
We are to examine Scripture daily for ourselves, just as the Bereans did when Paul preached to them (Acts 17:11).
We are reminded that instead of imposing our personal preferences on the Bible, we should allow it to speak to us, correct us and rebuke us. Not "What do I think?" but "What does God say?"
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