Reasoning and Proving From the Scriptures - #522

Hello!

I hope you had a great weekend.

A special thanks goes to our first donator toward our book publishing. Today, we received $100 to help us print our next book, "10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings." We need $650 more for our initial print run, so please prayerfully consider helping us get this amazing book published. Click here for how you can help and click here for our new web site for the book.

My July 29, 2007 debate has been confirmed. I'll be debating Unitarian Dan Mages (Director of Hunger Truth) on the trinity. Since we live about 2-3 hours apart, this debate will be conducted on the telephone. He will argue against the trinity and I will argue for it. This debate will be recorded on Sunday and will be available on Monday. Please pray that it goes well and that God is glorified!

Lately, there has been a big push to help the environment. Many people are arguing for or against global warming and global climate change. Regardless of what you think about it, I challenge you to be a good steward of what God has given you. We all can probably do a little more to reduce, reuse, and recycle, so we can keep the Earth cleaner.

I've been reading a great book called, "Always Ready" by Greg Bahnsen. It is a very good book, as it talks about defending the faith from a pre-suppositional perspective. If you're looking for a book like this, I recommend it.

Welcome to the new readers of this message! Here is your Devotion, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week. Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

JCSM

JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!)

"Reasoning and Proving From the Scriptures"

Acts 9:22 "But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ."

Acts 17:2-5 "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.' And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people."

Acts 17:17-19 "Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, 'What does this babbler want to say?' Others said, 'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,' because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?'"

Acts 18:4 "And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks."

Acts 19:8-10 "And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."

Acts 26:22-28 "Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, 'Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!' But he said, 'I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.' Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'"

Insight: Each Christian must know how to defend the faith. We need to be ready to give an answer in season and out of season, to those who ask why we believe. Prepare now to know and defend the Word of God and your beliefs because God will give you opportunities when you're ready.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us and give us opportunities to be a light in the darkness. Thank you for loving us so much and thank you for your faithfulness. Remind us that You are near and that You want us to boldly do your will. Forgive our sins and forgive us for being timid or fearful. Give us great boldness and courage and remove our worries and fears. We love You, Lord. Please increase our faith in You and our love for You and others. In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Andre Marie Ampere (1775 - 1836), was a French electrician and scientific writer who discovered the relationship between magnetism and electricity and defined a unit measuring the strength of an electric current. (Amperes equals volts divided by ohms.) Ampere had written on a piece of paper before his death:

Believe in God, in His providence, in a future life, in the recompense of the good; in the punishment of the wicked; in the sublimity and truth of the doctrines of Christ, in a revelation of this doctrine by a special divine inspiration for the salvation of the human race.

If you'd like to have the citations for the footnotes above, please email us. If you'd like to see more quotes from those who framed and founded America, please click here: http://jcsm.org/AmericasFounders/.

A Moment of Introspection

We need God's influence in every area of life.

JCSM's Challenge

Prepare now to defend the faith. Study apologetics and know the scriptures inside and out. Discover and be able to articulate exactly why you believe. God will give you ways to defend the faith, so be prepared.

(Note: I've written a book in apologetics that gives over 4,000 answers to the tough questions about the Bible and I highly recommend it to any who are studying apologetics. Click here for more details.)

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

Word of the Week

sofrosoonay (Greek, see Acts 26:25): soundness of mind, that is (literally) sanity or (figuratively) self control: soberness, sobriety, reason

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Exodus 22:21-22 - Be kind to strangers, widows, and fatherless children. Good advice. It's a shame that the bible doesn't teach this consistently. See Numbers (1:51, 3:10, 3:38, 18:7), where God orders the Israelites to kill strangers; Num.31:14-18, where Moses orders the murder of all non-virgin woman (I guess that'd include most widows); and 1 Sam.15:2-3, where God commands Saul to kill every "man and woman, infant and suckling" -- which would include fatherless children.

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:

Numbers 1:51 includes instructions about the tabernacle. Only the High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies and this was only once a year. There isn't much surprise that "strangers" weren't allowed in the tabernacle and were given harsh punishment if they trespassed.

God is a holy God and this is the place where He chose to dwell. He gave strict laws to His own people regarding purity and the tabernacle. Therefore, the strangers (pagans) who would be approaching the tabernacle with evil intentions would be punished severely.

Numbers 3:10, 3:38, and 18:7 closely resembles Number 1:51.

1 Samuel 15:2 and 3 read, "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." This clearly reminds us how Amalek ambushed Israel as they left Egypt. Their punishment was to be utter destruction.

Whenever Israel did not completely destroy a pagan people, they ended up mixing with them and injuring themselves. Sometimes, they would take pagan wives, pagan idols, etc. These things always led to sin and destruction. Therefore, the command to utterly destroy the Amalekites was not unfounded.

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained". This book is on CD and gives over 4,000 answers to alleged Bible errors, regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org. There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)

Quotes of the Week

God's Holy Spirit comes to us in our storms.

If the ancients had more holiness in their lives, then they must have lived with more joy, too.

The Holy Spirit helps us understand the Word of God.

If you leave church wiser, it's because of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.

It's not up to us to convict people of sin.

The Holy Spirit confirms to us that we are believers.

When unbelievers see us and want the qualities we have, we can share the gospel with them.

We are born again; not because of a feeling, but because of a fact.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

The Holy Spirit gives us power to live our lives.

These quotes came from me, Jim Hesterly, and the Holy Spirit. If you'd like to read more quotes, you'll want a copy of "10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings"! It's the largest collection of Bible-based quotations in the world.

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