The Grove Church » sin http://grovechurch.com Connecting people to God, to Others, and to Service. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:09:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The Bible – God’s Word To Us http://grovechurch.com/2011/08/the-bible-gods-word-to-us/ http://grovechurch.com/2011/08/the-bible-gods-word-to-us/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:30:48 +0000 Britt http://grovechurch.com/?p=1237 I once had a guy tell me the Bible was “an idol of a dead book”.  The very next sentence that came from his mouth contained a verse of Scripture from the Bible.  These days, I am finding more and more people only want to believe select parts of the Bible. Why do people only seek to believe select parts?  Well, when one leaves out a certain part, it allows them to live however they please (in their life of sin).  The Bible is NOT “an idol of a dead book”, and we must NOT choose to believe only select parts else we run close danger to living apart from Christ.

Another person once told me that the Bible contains errors and flaws.  This person said they believed the Biblical text had been altered.  From over 24,000 original manuscripts of the books of the Bible we have, we know that the original (Greek and Hebrew) text have NOT been altered.  If someone, somewhere along the line altered the translation of the original text, I believe that one of the thousands of scholarly translators would have caught an altercation in texts by now.  We have more manuscripts of books of the Bible than any other book on this planet.  The books of the Bible have been translated more than any text in the history of this world.  So, the Bible being flawed or containing errors is NOT a valid argument.

Both of these people told me they believe God speaks to them in prayer, visions, and etc.  That’s great, and I believe God speaks to us in more ways that just the Bible.  However, we must not throw the Bible out, for we are easily deceived.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Obadiah 1:3 says, “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you”.  God gave us His word (the Bible) so we can have instructions to follow.  When we become so arrogant to say that God’s word is “an idol of a dead book” or “God’s word to us contains errors or flaws”, we have been deceived by our own heart!  Man’s heart is evil all the time!  Genesis 6:5 states, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”.  If our hearts are continually evil and easily deceived, why would we trust only our hearts?  God has given us HIS WORD (the Bible) as a guide to help us understand and know Him and what He desires for us!  God’s word (the Bible) is infallible and inerrant!  Our hearts are continually evil!  Do not be deceived, God gave us His word (the Bible) to teach us how to live our life, and to know Jesus is the Savior of the world.  Read the Bible, believe the Bible, and live by the Bible.

James 1:22 – “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

]]> http://grovechurch.com/2011/08/the-bible-gods-word-to-us/feed/ 1 Overtaking http://grovechurch.com/2010/01/overtaking/ http://grovechurch.com/2010/01/overtaking/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:50:42 +0000 Britt http://brittatgrovechurch.wordpress.com/?p=27 About a year ago I noticed a place on my  back where my skin color was different from the color of the rest of my skin.  The spot was small so I didn’t think much about it.  As time went on the spot began to get larger.  Eventually the spot came to be about the size of my hand.  It wasn’t noticable except when I would get hot or get out of the shower.  Therefore, I began to think this spot was a heat rash or something to that effect.  A few months after noticing this spot, I noticed that after I would shower my neck and chest were splotchy.   Once again, I shrugged this off as a heat rash and didn’t think much about it.  It did not take long for these spots to begin to overtake my upper torso.  Finally, I decided to see a dermatologist about these spots that were overtaking my body.  Upon meeting with the doctor, he determined it was a fungus I caught in the summer air.  He prescribed me 4 pills and some cream and the fungus was completely gone within one week.

Sin affects our life in the same manner the fungus affected my skin.  It enters in very subtle and begins to grow.  If sin goes undiagnosed, it can overtake your life in a short matter of time!  It begins to wrap itself all throughout your life until you are completely covered with sin to the point that you see nothing else.  Once sin enters in it only wants to stick around.  Remember, sin will ALWAYS take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you’re willing to stay, and cost you more than you’re willing to pay.  There is only one way to get rid of the sin that covers our life.  The cure is through the blood of Jesus.  By Him dying on the cross for our sin, His blood covers us if we accept His grace! 

Romans 6:22-23 (New International Version)

22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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