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Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000105S
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00:01 - If God were to actually speak to you,
00:02 how would you know for sure you're hearing from God? 00:05 I mean, how would you know that what you're sensing is real? 00:09 That's what we're gonna talk about 00:10 on today's edition of "Authentic." 00:13 [country-style music] 00:23 [country-style music continues] 00:34 You've probably heard people say 00:35 that Christianity is different from other world religions. 00:38 And after more than 30 years as a practicing Christian, 00:42 I'd have to agree with that. 00:44 Maybe you've heard some people say that most religions 00:47 have the human race trying to reach out to God. 00:49 But in Christianity, 00:51 the reaching actually goes in the opposite direction, 00:53 God's the one reaching out to us. 00:56 But there are some other key differences. 00:58 You've probably heard some people complain 01:00 that Christianity makes some rather exclusive claims, 01:03 because it rejects the popular idea that all spiritual paths 01:07 lead to the top of the very same mountain. 01:10 Now of course, on the one hand, 01:12 I'm actually sympathetic to that kind of thinking, 01:14 because a lot of damage has been done by religious tyrants 01:18 who want to impose cookie-cutter uniformity on everybody. 01:22 And I mean absolutely everybody. 01:24 And the Bible does not suggest 01:26 that you and I are required to stop being 01:29 our individual selves. 01:31 I mean, yeah, we are required to submit ourselves to God, 01:35 but there is nothing to suggest that we all get absorbed 01:38 into some kind of cosmic collective mind. 01:40 That's actually an Eastern concept. 01:44 Maybe you've noticed that in the Holy City 01:46 over in the Book of Revelation, there are 12 gates, 01:49 three on each side of the city, 01:51 and each of those gates is labeled with the name 01:53 of an individual tribe of Israel, 01:56 implying that there are as many as 12 different paths 01:59 in that particular scenario, that lead to the throne of God. 02:03 If you go back to the 49th chapter of Genesis 02:07 and compare it, you'll find Jacob or Israel 02:09 describing each of his 12 sons as very unique individuals. 02:14 And what you'll notice 02:15 is that they clearly have their own personalities, 02:17 their own strengths and their own flaws. 02:21 But none of them were required to be 02:23 exactly the same as their siblings. 02:25 Instead, they were provided with blessings 02:28 and warnings by their father 02:30 according to their own unique situation. 02:32 So when you find 12 different gates 02:34 that lead to the presence of God, 02:36 there is at least the implication 02:39 that each of us can approach God 02:41 from the perspective of who we are as ourselves, 02:45 and you don't have to give up 02:46 your sense of personal identity. 02:49 Your personality has to be sanctified by God 02:53 because you're a sinner, 02:55 but your personality doesn't have to disappear. 02:57 At the end of the day, you're allowed to be you. 03:01 So in that very narrow sense, 03:04 there really are different paths 03:05 that lead to the top of the sacred mountain, 03:08 but every single one of those paths has to go through Christ 03:12 because as Jesus Himself said, 03:15 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 03:19 No one comes to the Father except through me." 03:23 Now, that's the concept 03:25 that gets some people wound a little bit tightly, 03:28 because to a 21st century mindset, that sounds elitist. 03:34 "What do you mean only Jesus can get me to heaven? 03:36 What about the Buddhists, and the Taoists, and the Hindus, 03:39 and all those other world religions? 03:40 How are they supposed to reach God?" 03:43 And the biblical answer is, still through Christ. 03:47 They might not actually know His name 03:49 and they might not have access to the scriptures, 03:52 but they are still reliant on Christ 03:55 to enter the presence of God, whether they know it or not. 03:59 The opening chapter of the Book of Romans 04:01 makes it abundantly clear 04:02 that God only holds people accountable 04:06 for the information they actually have access to. 04:09 And then it says the Gentiles, 04:11 some of them are living up to the light that they have. 04:15 But why? 04:16 Why does it all come down to the person of Christ? 04:20 Well, that's where the Bible comes in. 04:22 The Bible is the story of God 04:23 interacting with us all through history, 04:27 and the absolute peak of that interaction 04:29 happens with the incarnation, 04:31 the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. 04:35 The Bible reveals Jesus as God in human flesh, 04:39 not part-human part-God, 04:41 but fully God and fully human at the very same time. 04:48 Virtually all of the world's religious beliefs 04:49 recognize that there's a problematic gap 04:52 between the human race and God. 04:54 We all seem to realize 04:56 that something has gone terribly wrong. 04:59 And most of the world's religions have us as humans, 05:02 trying to solve the problem ourselves, reaching out to God 05:06 and looking for yet another path up the mountain 05:08 every time the one we're presently on starts to fail. 05:13 But in the Bible, we discover God telling us 05:16 that you and I are ultimately powerless to fix the problem, 05:20 and so God takes charge of the situation Himself. 05:24 And how does He do that? 05:26 By becoming one of us and taking His place as the new head 05:31 of the human race. 05:32 Now we have a perfect human representative, 05:36 which means that Jesus' claim to be the only way back 05:39 makes really good sense. 05:41 I mean, where else among the world's beliefs 05:43 do you find God actually becoming one of us? 05:47 And by that, 05:48 I don't mean a God who looks like one of us, 05:51 because there are apparitions in other religious beliefs 05:56 that kind of look human, but they're not the real thing. 06:00 What we have in Christ is this all important bridge 06:03 between humanity and God. 06:06 We have one individual 06:08 who represents both sides of that equation. 06:11 And somehow that, along with His death on the cross 06:15 and His resurrection, becomes the key to redemption. 06:21 But, you know, there is a third way 06:23 that Christianity kind of stands alone, 06:25 and it's with regard to the nature of our scriptures. 06:29 As you know, other religious groups also have holy books. 06:32 But just like the case of Jesus Himself, 06:35 there's something very unique about this book. 06:38 Let me show you what the earliest Christians believed, 06:41 and you're gonna find this written 06:43 in the Bible's Book of Hebrews. 06:45 It's a powerful explanation of how Jesus 06:47 is the fulfillment of the Old Testament right and rituals 06:51 that took place in Israel. 06:53 One of the biggest themes in the Book of Hebrews 06:56 is the idea of better. 06:58 The priests in the temple were symbolic of Christ, 07:01 but Christ is better than the priests. 07:03 The sacrificial animals 07:05 pointed forward to the cross symbolically, 07:08 but the cross is better than those sacrifices. 07:11 And when the book of Hebrews opens, the author tells us 07:14 that God has been very busy trying to communicate His plans 07:17 to the human race for a very long time, 07:20 using a number of different methods. 07:23 Listen to what it says in Hebrews 1. 07:25 "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, 07:29 God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 07:32 but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, 07:35 whom He appointed the heir of all things, 07:37 through whom also He created the world." 07:41 So what are these many ways of communication? 07:44 Well, for starters, we have a mention of prophets. 07:47 And when you study the historical record of the Bible, 07:50 you'll find a couple of different ways 07:51 that God used the prophets. 07:54 Some of them actually wrote entire books of the Bible. 07:57 And even though they were often addressing 07:59 a specific situation 08:00 that was actually unfolding at their time, 08:03 like say the impending invasion of Jerusalem, 08:06 the content of their message had an evergreen quality. 08:09 It still has something to say 08:11 to everybody who reads it today. 08:13 You and I might not be facing the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, 08:17 or we might not be desecrating a literal temple, 08:20 but that doesn't mean that a book like Jeremiah 08:23 doesn't apply to us. 08:24 2,600 years later, 08:26 we can still look at the moral failures of God's people 08:29 that led to the Babylonian conquest, 08:31 and we can learn something 08:33 about what it means to live an authentic human life, 08:36 a life in harmony with the will of God. 08:40 But then we have another kind of prophet 08:42 that appears in the Bible, 08:43 an individual who doesn't actually write 08:45 a book of the Bible, 08:47 but God still uses them to address a specific situation. 08:50 So for example, we've got Nathan, 08:53 the prophet who had to confront David. 08:56 The reason we know that story 08:58 is because it's recorded in the Bible. 08:59 So in that sense, some of Nathan's words are also evergreen 09:03 and apply to us today. 09:05 But Nathan didn't actually sit down 09:07 and write a part of the Bible. 09:10 I guess you could summarize it 09:11 by saying we have canonical prophets, 09:13 the ones who wrote some of the Bible, 09:16 and non-canonical prophets who did not. 09:18 And we have no record 09:20 of what some of those non-canonical prophets actually said. 09:24 But there's more, 09:25 and after I take a really quick break, 09:26 I'll come back and show you what I'm talking about. 09:29 [melodious music] 09:32 - [Announcer] Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 09:34 we're committed to creating top quality programming 09:36 for the whole family, 09:37 like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 09:41 Discovery Mountain is a Bible-based program 09:43 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 09:46 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 09:48 from this small mountain summer camp, Penn Town. 09:51 With 24 seasonal episodes every year, 09:54 and fresh content every week, 09:56 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 10:02 - At the very top of the Book of Romans, 10:04 there's this passage 10:05 that might just be one of Paul's most clever arguments. 10:08 It begins by pointing out the errors of the Gentiles, 10:12 and it's structured in such a way 10:13 that it's easy to imagine an eager Jewish audience 10:16 nodding its head in agreement and saying, 10:18 "That's right, that's what's wrong 10:20 with those filthy heathens." 10:22 And then when the trap is set, 10:24 Paul suddenly turns the tables, 10:26 and here's what he tells them. 10:28 "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, 10:31 every one of you who judges. 10:33 For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself 10:36 because you, the judge, practice the very same things." 10:41 What Paul's doing is baiting his audience 10:43 into agreeing with him. 10:44 He suddenly pulls out this full length mirror then, 10:47 so that the readers can see that they are doing 10:49 exactly what the Gentiles do. 10:52 It's a little like somebody complaining about your snoring, 10:55 so you secretly film them 10:56 to prove that their snoring is worse than yours. 11:00 But now let's back up just a little bit 11:02 and look at Paul's description of the Gentiles, 11:04 because it has an important idea 11:06 about the way that God actually communicates with us. 11:09 Here's what it says in chapter 1, verse 19. 11:12 "For what can be known about God is plain to them, 11:15 because God has shown it to them." 11:17 Well, how exactly did God do that, when the Gentile nations 11:21 didn't exactly have a copy of the scriptures? 11:23 I mean, I'm assuming some of them did, 11:25 because the wise men who came to visit Mary 11:28 had obviously been reading the Torah. 11:30 And of course, you'd have to think 11:31 that influential Jews like Daniel 11:34 would've left some kind of informational footprint 11:36 on the Babylonian and Persian empires. 11:39 And of course, by this point in history, the Septuagint, 11:43 that famous translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, 11:46 well, that was already in circulation. 11:48 But still, the vast majority of Gentile kingdoms 11:52 didn't have access to the written word of God, 11:55 so how could they be held morally responsible? 11:58 Well, here's what it says. 12:00 "For His..." that's God. 12:02 "For His invisible attributes, 12:03 namely His eternal power and divine nature, 12:06 have been clearly perceived, 12:08 ever since the creation of the world, 12:10 in the things that have been made. 12:11 So they are without excuse." 12:14 Now, according to this, you can learn a lot about God 12:18 just by studying the creation. 12:20 So now we have God communicating verbally 12:24 through the prophets, 12:25 we have Him communicating through writing in the scriptures, 12:28 and we also have a revelation of God 12:30 right outdoors in the natural world. 12:34 But then, if you remember that statement 12:35 from the book of Hebrews, we have a fourth way, 12:38 a method of communication that is found 12:40 in the incarnation of Christ. 12:42 Again, here's what that said: 12:44 "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, 12:47 God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 12:50 but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son." 12:54 What we have in Christ is God in human flesh, 12:57 fully God and fully man. 13:00 And of course, the pagans told stories of people 13:02 who were part-God and part-human, 13:05 but the Jesus of the New Testament is fully both 13:08 at the same time, which means that we can study 13:11 the life and teachings of Christ 13:13 in order to better understand the character of God. 13:16 According to Ephesians 1:9, 13:19 God has revealed what the Bible calls 13:21 the mystery of his will in the person of Christ. 13:26 So now we can see the written principles of scripture 13:29 lived out perfectly in an authentic human lifetime. 13:34 Now, of course, 13:35 you and I are living two millennia after Christ, 13:37 and so we have to study the life and teachings of Christ 13:40 through the pages of the Bible, 13:42 which, again, is the written work of inspired prophets. 13:46 And so, really, the scriptures are the very core 13:49 of how God talks to us. 13:53 Now, I wanna talk about one more way 13:54 that God sometimes communicates, 13:56 and that's through direct contact with an individual, 14:00 either through circumstances, or a dream, 14:03 or maybe just an impression. 14:06 You might remember from the Book of Daniel, 14:07 that God sent word to the Babylonian King 14:10 through a highly symbolic dream. 14:13 But there's a problem with that kind of communication. 14:16 I mean, how do you know you're actually hearing from God? 14:22 I've had all kinds of people reach out to me over the years, 14:24 hoping I can help them understand some vivid dream they had, 14:27 and I can't help them. 14:30 I mean, you may have noticed 14:31 that the bulk of dream interpretation books 14:33 are not sold in the Christian section of the bookstore. 14:37 Now, that doesn't mean 14:39 that God won't try to tell you something through a dream, 14:41 but it does mean 14:43 that you're gonna have to step very carefully 14:46 when you're trying to figure that out. 14:48 I mean, let's just think about this logically. 14:51 I've never actually met someone 14:53 who thinks that every single dream they had 14:55 is always a message from God. 14:57 There's just no basis to believe that. 14:59 And you and I both know that the vast majority of dreams 15:03 can hardly be described as the inspired word of God. 15:08 So now what you're going to have to do, 15:10 if you think that God 15:11 really might be trying to tell you something, 15:14 you're going to have to find a reliable external source 15:17 to confirm it, which means that it still comes down 15:21 to the written word of God. 15:22 Impressions come and go, 15:24 but the teachings of the Bible do not. 15:27 I really like the way the prophet Isaiah describes this, 15:30 "The grass withers," he writes, "the flower fades, 15:33 but the word of our God will stand forever." 15:37 Maybe we should take a look at something Jesus said 15:39 about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, 15:43 which is a massive part 15:44 of how God continues to communicate with us. 15:48 This passage is found in John 16, 15:51 and we're gonna read quite a bit of this because, 15:53 well, it's that important. 15:55 It says, "And when he comes," the spirit, 15:58 "he will convict the world concerning sin, 16:00 and righteousness, and judgment: 16:02 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 16:06 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father 16:08 and you will see me no longer; 16:10 concerning judgment, 16:12 because the ruler of this world is judged. 16:15 I still have many things to say to you, 16:16 but you cannot bear them now. 16:19 When the Spirit of truth comes, 16:20 he will guide you into all the truth, 16:23 for he will not speak on his own authority. 16:26 But whatever he hears, he will speak, 16:28 and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 16:31 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine 16:34 and declare it to you. 16:36 All that the Father has is mine; 16:38 therefore, I said that he will take what is mine 16:41 and declare it to you." 16:43 So here's what it says in a nutshell: 16:46 After Jesus' earthly ministry came to an end, 16:49 He continued to guide the church 16:51 through the work of the Holy Spirit, 16:53 who is the third person of the Godhead. 16:56 The spirit's primary role is to lead people to Christ, 17:00 and he does that by revealing the truth to us. 17:04 So it's entirely possible 17:06 when you get a very strong impression 17:08 or you have a very powerful dream, 17:10 that God really is trying to tell you something. 17:13 But again, how in the world 17:15 are you gonna know that for sure? 17:18 What you have to do is compare your impressions 17:20 to something you know is reliable, 17:23 something else authored by that same Holy Spirit, 17:27 which, again, is the scriptures. 17:29 Never forget what it tells us in Peter's second letter. 17:32 "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, 17:36 but men spoke from God as they were carried along 17:38 by the Holy Spirit." 17:41 All right, on that note, it's time for another quick break, 17:43 but don't go away because I'm about to show you 17:46 a rock solid guide for discovering God's will for your life. 17:50 I'll be right back after this. 17:53 [melodious music] 17:57 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot at us, 17:59 sometimes we don't have all the answers, 18:03 but that's where the Bible comes in. 18:05 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 18:08 Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 18:10 we've created the "Discover" Bible guides 18:12 to be your guide to the Bible. 18:14 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 18:16 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 18:19 and they're absolutely free. 18:21 So jump online now, or give us a call 18:23 and start your journey of discovery. 18:26 - All right, just before the break, 18:28 we read that statement from Peter 18:30 that describes the process of inspiration 18:33 that created the various books of the Bible. 18:36 He told us that "...men spoke from God 18:39 as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 18:41 So in other words, 18:43 the scriptures really are the work of the Spirit. 18:47 If you wanna be sure that your impressions are from God, 18:50 you have an infallible standard you can check them against, 18:53 because if they are from God, 18:55 they cannot disagree with what God has already said. 18:59 You know, I remember years ago 19:01 when a really strange movement suddenly began to take root, 19:04 the Holy Laughter Movement back in the early nineties. 19:08 It was led by the likes of Rodney Howard Brown. 19:11 The city of Toronto was one of the key centers 19:13 where this phenomenon showed up. 19:15 In fact, some people actually started to call it 19:18 the Toronto Blessing. 19:20 And I remember a woman who approached me 19:22 to talk about her experience with that movement, 19:24 and she was pretty excited. 19:27 "Listen," she said, "God has been speaking directly to me 19:31 and through me." 19:32 And then she started to tell me 19:34 what God was supposedly saying. 19:36 Now, I'm really not the sharpest knife in the drawer, 19:39 but some of what she said 19:42 was obviously a direct contradiction 19:44 to the clear teachings of the Bible. 19:46 And so when she was finished describing it, 19:49 I said, "Well, that sounds pretty exciting, 19:52 but do you mind if I ask some questions 19:54 so I can understand this just a little bit better?" 19:58 She said, "Yeah, go ahead." 20:00 So as gently as I know how, 20:02 and I'm not always all that gentle, 20:04 but gently, I started to read some clear biblical passages 20:08 that said the opposite of what she told me, 20:11 and I did it without any commentary. 20:13 I just let the Bible speak for itself, 20:15 and it made her angry. 20:17 "You can't tell me this isn't real," she said, 20:19 "because it means the world to me." 20:21 She wanted it to be true. 20:24 And obviously, she had some kind of a real experience. 20:27 There really was something going on. 20:29 But the big question will always be 20:31 whether or not an experience 20:34 is actually a communication from God. 20:37 In this case, it failed the biblical sniff test, 20:41 and I knew it wasn't from God. 20:44 You know, that can be one of the hardest challenges we face, 20:47 learning to examine our experiences, 20:50 our passions, and our emotions, 20:52 to figure out whether or not they're objectively true. 20:56 You could think of it as an optical illusion, 20:59 like one of those gravity or magnetic hills 21:01 where your car appears to roll uphill against all odds. 21:06 When I was back in college, 21:07 we actually had one of those near the construction site 21:10 where I was working for the summer, 21:11 and it really did look like things would roll uphill 21:15 when you put them on the road. 21:17 It was such a convincing illusion, 21:19 that the locals started telling ghost stories. 21:22 They said, "There's a terrible bus accident on this road, 21:24 and it's the spirits of dead children 21:26 pushing your car up the hill. 21:28 Make sure you go to the back and look for hand prints." 21:31 But then my boss decided to test that road 21:34 by using his transit level. 21:36 He actually did a land survey. 21:38 And wouldn't you know it, 21:40 it was nothing but an optical illusion. 21:42 The math was undeniable. 21:44 The stuff that looked like it was rolling uphill, 21:47 was actually rolling downhill. 21:51 So maybe think of the Bible as a transit level, 21:54 a way to objectively check the validity of your impressions. 21:58 I mean, never forget, there really are people in this world 22:01 who do awful things and then insist, 22:04 in a court of law, under oath, 22:06 that they've done nothing wrong. 22:08 They can't see it. Their moral compass is broken. 22:11 I mean, we've even had serial killers 22:14 who insist that God told them to do it. 22:17 So now let's look at something that Paul said, 22:21 found in 2 Timothy, Chapter 3. 22:24 "All scripture," he tells us, "is breathed out by God 22:28 and profitable for teaching, 22:30 for reproof, for correction, 22:32 and for training in righteousness, 22:33 that the man of God may be complete, 22:35 equipped for every good work." 22:39 For the Christian, the written word of God 22:42 becomes a critical reference point 22:44 for just about everything. 22:45 Your philosophical assumptions, your moral assumptions, 22:49 your spiritual assumptions, even your emotional assumptions. 22:54 I mean, emotions are often valid, but not always. 22:58 If you want to know for sure 22:59 if God has been trying to communicate with you, 23:01 you've got to check your impressions 23:04 against what He's already said. 23:07 Now, I know that some of you don't actually believe 23:10 that the Bible was inspired by God, 23:12 but here's the challenge I want to give you. 23:15 Maybe try reading it again, 23:17 and ask yourself why some of the content in this book 23:20 makes you squirm. 23:21 Why is it that we feel so offended 23:24 when we find something in the Bible 23:25 that cuts across our personal belief system, 23:28 or contradicts the validity 23:30 of the choices we've made in life? 23:33 Why does that bother us? 23:34 I mean, I can get any other book 23:37 from somebody I disagree with, 23:38 and I'll shake my head in disbelief as I read it, 23:42 but I don't feel threatened 23:44 because it's just another human opinion. 23:47 But when the Bible seems to interfere with my life choices, 23:50 that produces an entirely different set of emotions. 23:53 It makes me angry, or defensive, or heartbroken, 23:57 but it seldom leaves me feeling apathetic, 24:00 because somehow, I know that it matters. 24:04 Now, I wanna be careful because again, 24:06 you can't let your emotions always become 24:08 the judge of what's true or false, 24:10 because as you know, sometimes emotions can be irrational. 24:14 I'm reminded of the day when two young missionaries 24:16 from a well-known sect came to my house 24:18 and gave me a little presentation 24:20 using a tabletop flip chart. 24:22 A lot of what they said was biblically false, and I knew it. 24:26 But you know what I found really interesting? 24:29 You're gonna have to wait until after the break to find out. 24:32 [melodious music] 24:36 - [Announcer] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 24:40 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 24:45 If you've ever read "Daniel: A Revelation" 24:47 and come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 24:50 Our free "Focus on Prophecy" guides 24:52 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 24:55 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 24:57 for you and our world. 24:59 Study online or request them by mail 25:02 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 25:05 - So these missionaries were sitting in my home 25:07 turning the pages on their flip chart, 25:09 and a lot of what they were saying 25:11 just wasn't biblically true. 25:14 But then, what they did at the end of the presentation 25:16 was kind of fascinating. 25:17 They turned to a picture of Jesus and they said, 25:19 "How does Jesus make you feel?" 25:22 Well, by that point, I was already a Christian, 25:24 so I had nothing but positive feelings about Christ 25:26 and I told them so, "He makes me feel pretty good." 25:29 And that's when they said, "Look, that positive feeling? 25:33 That's God telling you, we're telling you the truth." 25:36 And they described it as a burning in your bosom. 25:40 But that's not how it works. 25:41 I mean, yeah, the Bible talks about 25:43 a figurative burning in your heart 25:44 when it comes to the work of the Spirit, 25:46 like you find in the story of the disciples 25:48 on the road to Emmaus. 25:50 You'll remember after Jesus talked to them, they said, 25:52 "Did not our hearts burn within us?" 25:56 But is that undeniable proof? It's not. 25:59 Which becomes really obvious when you read the whole story. 26:02 Here's what it actually says, starting in verse 31. 26:05 "And their eyes were open and they recognized Him. 26:08 And He vanished from their sight. 26:10 They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us 26:12 while He talked to us on the road, 26:14 while He opened to us the scriptures?'" 26:18 You see, they didn't recognize Jesus, 26:19 and He had just finished giving them a Bible study, 26:22 showing them the messianic promises of the Old Testament. 26:26 And while He was doing that, 26:27 the cognitive lights were turning on for these guys, 26:30 and they eventually recognized Him. 26:32 It was the scriptures that caused their hearts to burn. 26:36 I mean, think about it, 26:37 Jesus could have just wowed them with a miracle, 26:39 but He didn't. 26:41 Instead, He dispensed with the spectacular 26:43 and anchored those guys in the Bible. 26:47 Their emotions were valid, 26:48 but only because they could be biblically confirmed. 26:52 And that's really the pattern 26:53 you find all the way through the New Testament. 26:55 Over and over and over, 26:57 you find the apostles confirming their inspired thoughts 27:00 by appealing to the Old Testament. 27:03 Today, God intends for you and I to do the same. 27:05 Our God-given capacity for logic is impressive. 27:09 Our emotional intelligence 27:10 allows us to function in beautiful ways. 27:13 But if you want to figure out 27:14 the authenticity of your reason and your feelings, 27:17 you still have to go back to the revealed word of God, 27:20 and not just a few cherry-picked verses 27:22 that seem to prove what you want to believe. 27:24 I'm talking about the whole book. 27:27 Jesus himself used the scriptures to prove His identity, 27:30 and I'm convinced He did that to set an example. 27:33 And again, I get it, 27:34 some of you don't believe that the Bible is inspired 27:37 or even trustworthy, 27:38 but then do yourself a favor, actually read it for yourself 27:42 and make sure you know what you're talking about. 27:45 I think you might be surprised at what's in here. 27:48 And if you want a little help getting started, 27:49 go on over to BibleStudies.com, 27:52 where you'll find some amazing free resources 27:54 brought to you by the good people at the Voice of Prophecy. 27:58 Thanks for joining me. 27:59 I'm Shawn Boonstra, 28:00 and this has been another episode of "Authentic." 28:04 [country-style music] 28:15 [country-style music continues] 28:23 [country-style music continues] |
Revised 2024-06-13