The Bible is the indestructible book; people and governments have tried, but to no avail. We know that it is timeless. It applies in every age and any culture. It is always relevant. As Luther said “the Bible is not old, or new, it is eternal”. One of the great blessings of moving from chapter to chapter or passage to passage is experiencing the prophetic nature of the scriptures. By prophetic, I don’t mean it’s always “thus saith the Lord”, or futuristic in nature, but it is “God breathed” in the present and God is speaking when we are covering it. We love to see how it hits the mark in an individual life. Countless times, people in the Church have realized this when the Holy Spirit has already been speaking to them through the scriptures (in another passage) on a certain subject. Then when we gather corporately the Holy Spirit repeats Himself only in a different passage, then they know, they’ve heard from the Lord. I love their enthusiasm when this happens! There is another level in which we all realize that the Good Shepherd is leading us as a whole group as well that is so fascinating. On Wednesday nights we are moving through one book and on Sunday morning we are moving through another. We don’t really plan in advance where we will be, it’s just a week at a time. One of the great things we experience together is when both sections of scripture end up being completely in sync and it’s as if the Shepherd really wants to impress something on us all in a special way. I remember this happened with Daniel 1 & Mark 9. In both the Lord was impressing fasting and it coincided with our Church fast. Amazing! It’s happening again with us as we are in Hebrews 13 & John 15. This time the Shepherd is emphasizing the outside pressure and persecution in the world towards the Church and so he’s telling us “love one another”. It is really incredible when He does this with us and I love it when the flock notices it. He brings us together when He does that and we think less of ourselves as individuals and more of ourselves as one. One heart, one mind, one flock. He’s a Great Shepherd.
Maranatha!
Pastor Scott