KNOWING GOD

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.         2 Tim. 3

Just what “Scripture” was the apostle talking about? No question that Paul was actually writing what we understand to be the New Testament Scriptures at that very moment.  So we are only left with the Old Testament Scriptures to use as the “all Scripture” that Jesus, Luke, Paul, Peter, John, Jude and the author of Hebrews used as the authoritative Word of God when teaching, rebuking, correcting and training the servants of God for every good work.

God Almighty the Creator of Heaven and Earth has chosen to reveal Himself in High Definiton in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. It is in the Old Testament that we are privileged to “see God” reveal His Power, Intelligence, Pity, Anger, Jealousy, Wrath, Patience, Sorrow, Joy, Grief, Mercy and Faithfulness. Please feel free to add to the list.

It is in the OT that we find God as the “hands on” Creator, Destroyer, Friend, Enemy, Husband, Peace Maker, Warrior, Healer, Judge and only Sovereign of the world we know and of the eternal world we have yet to experience.  In the histories of His personal dealings with The Children of Abraham, the only “people group” that He chose to set His love upon among the nations of the earth, we discover what makes God Jealous, Angry, Aggrieved, Wrathful and  unrelenting in His Justice, and yet Longsuffering and Merciful,.  It is in His Covenants, Promises and Benefits to them, as well as the very intimate intercourse that HE maintained with the Israelites, that God demonstrated His faithfulness. The response of the children of Abraham to the God of Abraham and His reactions to them is the template for the New Testament authors in speaking to the “people of God” in the New Covenant.     Rom. 13, 1 Cor. 10    

Read every single word of the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. Take a good hard look at the God that you worship as your God.  The World around you hates “this god”.  Proof? Reprints of The Ten Commandments, written with His own hand, have been removed from “The Public Square” in the United States of America!

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Eph. 5

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist and discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Tim. 4