How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 7)

After three Sundays of missing this (because we were on vacation) I am back on this series, and I am now on the last part of this series, "How did God made the Holy Bible?". I apologize for having you wait for the continuation. I hope that I made you happy with this series.

OTHER SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT OF THE HOLY BIBLE

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* Its Indestructibility- In A.D. 303, Emperor Diocletian thought he had destroyed every hated Bible. After many tireless years of ruthless slaughter and destruction, he erected a column of victory over the embers of a burned Bible. Twenty years later, the new Emperor Constantine offered a reward for any remaining Bibles. Within twenty-four hours no less than fifty copies were brought out of hiding and presented to the king.

* Its Historical Accuracy- Less than a century ago, the agnostic took great glee in sneeringly referring to the "hundreds of historical mistakes" in the Bible. But then came the science of archaeology and with each shove full of dirt the sneers have become less visible, until today they scarcely can be seen.

* Its Scientific Accuracy- It has previously been discussed in this study that although the Bible is primarily a spiritual message from God and not specifically a scientific textbook, all scientific statements found in the Scriptures must nevertheless be taken literally and at face value. Actually the Bible contains far more specific scientific statements than one might realize.

* Its Prophetical Accuracy- One of the acid tests of any religion is its ability to predict the future. In this ares (as in all other areas) the Bible reigns supreme. One searches in vain through the pages of other sacred writings to find even a single line of accurate prophecy.

* Its Care And Copy- No book in history has been copied as many times with as much care as has been the Word of God.

* Its Absolute Honesty- Perhaps no other single statement so completely summarizes the Bible as does the following: "The Bible is not a book that man could write if he would, or would write if he could."

* Its Life Transforming Power- According to an ancient proverb, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." So it is. Undoubtedly, the greatest proof of all that the Bible is indeed God's Word is its amazing ability to change corrupt humanity.

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 6)

Have a blessed Sunday to everybody. This series is now down to second to the last part. I hope and pray that somehow you learned something very helpful through this post.

PROOFS THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD

I. The first supernatural elements is its amazing unity. That the Bible is a unity is a fact that no honest reader can deny.

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.....A. This unity is achieved in spite of the long period of time involved in it's writing.

..........1. More than 15 centuries elapsed between the writing of Genesis and Revelation.

..........2. Nearly 400 years elapsed between the writing of Malachi and Matthew.

.....B. This unity is achieved in spite of the many author and their various occupations.

.........."The Lord gave the Word: great was the company of those who published it." (Psalm 68:11)

.....Moses was an egyptian priest

.....Joshua was a soldier

.....Samuel was a priest

.....David was a king

.....Esther was a queen

.....Job was a rich farmer

.....Amos was a poor farmer

.....Ezra was a scribe

.....Isaiah was a prophet

.....Daniel was a prime minister

.....Nehemiah was a cup bearer

.....Matthew was a tax collector

.....Mark was an evangelist

.....Luke was a physician

.....John was a wealthy fisherman

.....Peter was a poor fisherman

.....Jude and James were carpenters

.....Paul was a tent-maker

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.....C. This unity is achieved in spite of the different geographical places where the Bible was written.
.....In the desert (Exodus 17)

.....On Mount Sinai (Exodus 20)

.....In Palestine (most)

.....In Egypt (Jeremiah)

.....On the isle of Patmos (Revelation)

.....In Babylon (Daniel)

.....In Persia (Esther)

.....In Corinth (1 and 2 Thessalonians)

.....In Ephesus (Galatians)

.....In Caesarea (Luke)

.....Rome (2 Timothy)

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.....D. This unity is achieved in spite of the many different authors of writing.

.....As history

.....As prophecy

.....As biography

.....As autobiography

.....As poetry

.....As law

.....In letter form

.....In symbolic form

.....In proverb form

.....In doctrinal form

(This series is to be continued on the last part.)

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 5)

Have a blessed Sunday to everybody. This series is now down to the last three part. I hope and pray that somehow you learned something very helpful through this post.

THE FINALIZATION OF THE BIBLE

I. The Old Testament. By the year 300 B.C. (at the latest) all Old Testament books had been written, collected, revered, and recognized as official, canonical books. Many believe Ezra, the prophet led the first recognition council.

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II. The New Testament. During the Third Council of Carthage, held in A.D. 397, the 27 New Testament books were declared to be canonical. The twenty-seven New Testament books were not inspired because the Carthage Council proclained them to be, but rather the Council proclaimed them to be such because they were already inspired.

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 4)

May everybody have a blessed Sunday and may the name of Jesus Christ be glorified always. It is Sunday once again and we are now on the fourth part of this series. And I would like to take this space to thank you for following this series.

THE TEST OF THE HOLY BIBLE

Various books of the Holy Bible especially those of the New Testament, were submitted to certain rigid tests by the early church. These tests included:

1. AUTHORSHIP- who wrote the book or the epistle?

2. LOCAL CHURCH ACCEPTANCE- had it been read by the various churches? What was their opinion?

3. CHURCH FATHER'S RECOGNITION- had the pupils of the disciples quoted from a book? As an example, a man named Polycarp was a disciple of John the apostle. Therefore one test of a book might be, "What did Polycarp think of it?"

4. BOOK SUBJECT MATTER (content)- what did the book teach? Did it contradict other recognized books?

5. PERSONAL EDIFICATION- did the book have the ability to inspire, convict, and edify local congregations and individual believers?

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NOTE: It should be stated that it was a combination of these five steps, which helped determine whether a book was inspired or not.

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 3)

A blessed Sunday to all. It is Sunday once again. I apologize to those who are following this Sermon Series Sunday, that I missed to post this third part last Sunday.

The Original Language Of The Bible

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A. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, with the following exceptions appearing in Aramaic:
*Ezra 4:8 - 6:18, 7:12-26

*Jeremiah 10:11

*Daniel 2:4 - 7:28

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B. The entire New Testament was written in Greek. The New Testament was written over a period of about fifty years (approximately A.D. 50-100), by eight separate human authors.

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EXTRA: There are 40 authors in the entire Bible. (32 in the O.T. and 8 in the N.T.)

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 2)

A blessed Sunday to all. It is Sunday once again and I am excited to post the second part of this Sermon Series Sunday;

The Supreme Authority of the Holy Bible

Perhaps the grandest and the most conclusive description of the Holy Bible was penned by the Apostle Paul in a letter to a young pastor, Timothy. He wrote:

"And that from a child thou hast known they holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

In this remarkable passage Paul claimed that the Holy Bible is profitable-

1. For teaching- that is, it may be used as the perfect textbook to present the systematic of the great truths relating to God himself.

2. For reproof- that is, the Holy Bible is to be used to convict us of the wrongs in our lives.

3. For correcting- that is, it will then show us the right way.

4. For instruction in righteousness- that is, God's word provides all the necessary details, which will allow a Christian to become fully equipped for every good works.

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The Position of Orthodoxy- This view holds that the Holy Bible alone is the illuminated, inspired revelation of God and is therefore the sole ground of authority for believers. According to this view, whenever there is a clear contradiction between the Holy Bible and any assumed "fact" of history or science, it is that "fact" which must give way to the Holy Bible, and not the reverse.
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The Position of Cults- In general it may be said that the major cults and sects of Christianity give lip service to the Holy Bible; nevertheless they look upon the writings of their various founders as equal if not superior to the scriptures.

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The Position of Romanism- Rome believes that the church is the divinely appointed custodian of the Holy Bible and has the final word on what is meant in any specific passage.
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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.

How Did God Made The Holy Bible? (part 1)

Here is the question a lot of unbelieving people wants to have an answer: "Who made the Bible?". But I rather title this Sermon Series Sunday as;

How Did God Made The Holy Bible?

The whole Bible is a compilation of 66 books. God uses three wonderful methods as he carefully carved out that most blessed of all books, the Bible. These three "tools" are referred to as:

*Revelation- From God to man (man hears that which God wants written).

.............................Around 1400 B.C. God began to quitely call some 40 men and women into His presence. He didn't call them in all at once. It took Him nearly 15 centuries to complete the job. He spoke the burden of His great heart in simple but sublime language to those chosen forty. "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:11-12 NIV)

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*Inspiration- From man to paper (man writes that which God wants written).

...............................God carefully guides each chosen human vessels in his assigned writing task. Each of the forty is dealt with individually. The term "inspiration" is found but once in the New Testament. This occurs in 2 Timothy 3:16. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"

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*Illumination- From darkness to light (man receives the light of that which God has written).

..................................Without illumination, no sinner ever would have been save! Illumination, then, is that method used by the Holy Spirit to shed light upon all seeking men as they look into the Word of God.

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This series is from my hand-out notes during our six months Church Membership Class in LWCM , Banilad, Cebu, Philippines. The class was conducted by our Senior Pastor Mel Caparros.