{"id":4197,"date":"2013-02-16T11:53:24","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T16:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=4197"},"modified":"2014-07-21T10:09:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T14:09:40","slug":"the-word-on-which-we-build-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Word On Which We Build"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Our Foundation Presented<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTherefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. \u201cAnd the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. \u201cEveryone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. \u201cThe rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell\u2014and great was its fall\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 7:24-27).<\/p>\n

Why Do I Believe in This Word?<\/h2>\n

Belief in the written word of God has come, for me, in fits and starts.\u00a0It wasn\u2019t at all that I realized, after a gripping encounter with Christ, that the Book must be true.\u00a0 While I did experience a profound conversion (as all repentant sinners must acknowledge of their own forgiveness and newness), I didn\u2019t immediately associate the written word of God with a manifestation of truth.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t opposed to such an idea, but the ramifications of such a proclamation never dawned on me.\u00a0 As one lamenting the dark, watching the stars to the west as the sun rises to the east, I wasn\u2019t quite in tune with the landscape in which I found myself.<\/p>\n

As my view of the depth and the richness of absolute Truth was quickened, I realized that if I were questioned as to the extent of my belief, I\u2019d be pleased to say that I\u2019d bought the whole Book; hook, line, and sinker.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t read the whole thing, but there was, very early on, a depth and richness of faith that precluded disbelief.\u00a0 I understood that if any portions of Scripture were to be discounted, the whole lot of it must be discounted.\u00a0 If God, through eternity, was unable to maintain the integrity of His word through a few thousand years, it seems we may rightly worship whomever we choose because the God of the Bible would have shown Himself less than omnipotent.\u00a0 Faith told me that God is nothing less than omnipotent and able to preserve His word. \u00a0On this we may build.<\/p>\n

With time, I moved through the Law, and the Prophets, and the Histories and found the depth and the richness of the gracious faith that God had given to me much as the starved man finds the flavor of the banquet feast of life.\u00a0 It’s something to savor and to hold and to grow.<\/p>\n

I believe because I was granted, and am continually granted, belief.\u00a0 I believe because I sought truth and my God began pouring.\u00a0\u00a0Though this belief and this\u00a0faith won\u2019t be perfected this side of eternity, the foundation thickens daily.<\/p>\n

The Spirit\u2019s Revelation of This Foundation<\/h2>\n

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. \u00a0He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you”<\/em> (John 16:13,14).<\/p>\n

As\u00a0I grew, and grow, in faith – as we<\/em> grow, the Holy Spirit perpetually makes known the truth of Christ through the Scriptures and our intake of them.\u00a0 This is the mode of the Spirit\u2019s teaching.\u00a0 He opens our eyes to the truth and the teachings of God as revealed in the Bible \u2013 He glorifies God; makes Him known to us in accordance with our resolve to know Him.\u00a0 More and more, we acknowledge the existence of the rising sun, as we resolve to turn\u00a0and see it,\u00a0and our lamentation of the darkness dissipates. Truth is not revealed in gut feelings or Tarot cards.\u00a0 It is revealed to us by the workings of the Spirit through the written word of God.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Indeed, this is our primary means of sanctification: Bible intake.<\/p>\n

Sanctify them in the truth,<\/em> Christ says in John 17:17, Your word is truth.\u00a0 <\/em>It is not only that we find revelation in these words, we also find sanctification.\u00a0 Again, the Spirit quickens truth from the word of God to our soul and so our spiritual growth progresses.\u00a0 Our sanctification, it should be noted, can be measured in some relation to our Bible intake<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 If our intake is impoverished, so will be our growth.\u00a0 When, on the other hand, we faithfully commit to knowing God more and more so long as we breathe, He will be known.\u00a0 When we turn to see the sun, we can’t help but to see it.<\/p>\n

Extracurricular Testimony<\/h2>\n

While it\u2019s certainly true that it is the Holy Spirit who finally moves the scales from our eyes, it should be of some small and additional comfort to\u00a0us to recall that the Book from which we proclaim truth is testified to by a number of other sources.\u00a0 While many suggest that the Bible\u2019s only claim to credibility comes from itself \u2013 circular reasoning is charged \u2013 it should be noted that this foundation has three other witnesses which aren\u2019t easily discarded.<\/p>\n

As my interest with these is only in presenting the three as further testimony, I\u2019d urge the reader to dig a little deeper and to learn and discern the topics from a variety of viewpoints.<\/p>\n

1) Historicity as Witness<\/h2>\n

Though it isn\u2019t often heralded as the deal-sealer of Scripture, the historicity of the teachings of the Bible bring testimony to its authenticity.\u00a0 Many of the geographical locations that we read of in the Bible have been located. Evidence has been found which testifies to many of the characters and kings that are described therein.\u00a0 Battles and facts are frequently uncovered and what the Bible says happened so long ago, it says in truth.\u00a0 What we have found through archaeological studies bears testimony to the authenticity of the Bible<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Our foundation is reliable.<\/p>\n

2) Fulfilled Prophecy<\/h2>\n

The Scriptures that were found in the caves at Qumran, among others, present further witness to the authenticity of the Truth that we proclaim.\u00a0 Included in these codices is a complete volume of the book of Isaiah, which, as we know, includes a great deal of prophecy regarding the Christ.\u00a0 The beauty of such a discovery is two-fold: 1) It assures us that the book of Isaiah that we read and trust today is the same book that was read and trusted 2300 years ago, and 2) The prophecies within the book of Isaiah regarding the Christ were written long before Jesus was born \u2013 these codices are dated to at least 300 B.C. \u2013 which makes them true prophecy.<\/p>\n

When we observe the prophecies in relation to the dates that they were written<\/em><\/strong> – knowing that they were written long prior to the prophesied events – we find a remarkable and comforting encouragement; good footing on which to build.<\/p>\n

3) Manuscript Evidence<\/h2>\n

It is customary, in some circles, to mock and to ridicule the authenticity of the Bible by means of calling the numerous manuscripts into question.\u00a0 The argument is usually presented that the Christian could never and, indeed, should never maintain faith in the integrity of the Bible because there are so many manuscripts \u2013 who\u2019s to know which one to believe; how could one know what the autographic text may have said in relation to all of the copies that have come afterward, etc., etc.<\/p>\n

While it is true that the church has something in the vicinity of 6000 ancient manuscripts to wade through in seeking evidence of the original text, it is not true that this is a problem.\u00a0 The glorious truth of the matter of these 6000 manuscripts is this:\u00a0 They all say the same thing!\u00a0 That which is so frequently heralded as ruinous to the integrity of the Scriptures over the millennia is actually a wonderful testimony to their reliability.\u00a0 We have 6000 ancient manuscripts written over hundreds of years, by hundreds or thousands of scribes from different geographical locations and they all say the same thing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Not one doctrine of the faith is changed.\u00a0 What is the likelihood of that happening?\u00a0 I can\u2019t possibly imagine.\u00a0 What I do find, though, is a fine foundation on which to build.<\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us <\/em>(Hebrews 12:1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Foundation Presented \u201cTherefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. \u201cAnd the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":4212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4242,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Word On Which We Build - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Word On Which We Build - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Foundation Presented \u201cTherefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. \u201cAnd the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-21T14:09:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133557\/lighthouse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Word On Which We Build - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-21T14:09:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d62c8612fd4a9c58c0fcde45e8add8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-word-on-which-we-build-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Word On Which We Build\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d62c8612fd4a9c58c0fcde45e8add8\",\"name\":\"Andrew King\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20180131123309\/avatar1517419987.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20180131123309\/avatar1517419987.png\",\"caption\":\"Andrew King\"},\"description\":\"Andrew and his wife, Jill, joined Faith in 2007. 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