We Know God’s Truth through Careful Consideration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our God Does Not Grow on Trees
by Jon Walker

 

He burns part of the tree to roast his meat …

Then he takes what’s left and makes his god.

Isaiah 44:16-17

 

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

Mark 8:36

 

The prophet Isaiah spoke about men who used wood to fashion a god – one unable to deliver them

– and so, by their own hands, they doomed themselves.

Our objective-in-Jesus is to rid ourselves of any gods we’ve fashioned from our own hands

and to serve the one true God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There Is a River
by Jon Walker

 

Such a one is like a tree planted near streams;

it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither, and every project succeeds.

Psalm 1:3

 

There is a river that flows from the throne of God,

down the celestial main street and into the hearts of those who believe in the Lamb (Revelation 22);

the river then flows like streams of living water through those who are one with Jesus (John 7).

We hear the river whisper,

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

We feel its moisture hanging cool in the air, and we stretch and then we stretch again to reach the river’s edge.

It woos us to dwell within it, to dig deep with determined roots,

gnarled fingers inching, bit by bit, toward the source of life.

 

Rooted at the river, we stand firm against the storms and we sip sweetly in times of drought,

even as others burn up or blow away when faced with the dry and dusty, now-and-now of life.

 

Nourished by the river of life, the fruit we produce is

“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Galatians 5:22-23

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Know God’s Truth through Conscience
by Rick Warren

 

Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law

when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

Romans 2:14

God leads us to discover his truth, not only through creation, but also through our conscience.

Some things are hardwired in us by God;

we know they are always right or always wrong, no matter what anybody else says.

Our conscience tells us this.

 

Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law

when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

Romans 2:14

 

They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for

"their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”

Romans 2:14-15

Say we take a random sample of one million people from around the planet and put them on a corner in New York City. We say: “Here’s a 92-year-old blind lady with a walker. She needs to cross the street.

Tell me which of these three options is morally right.

One, you can let her try to cross on her own.

Two, you can help her cross the street.

Three, you can push her into oncoming traffic.”

 

You don’t have to be a Christian or Jew or Muslim or even a spiritual person; inside you know the right thing to do.

 

“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that

they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

 

They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for

"their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”

Romans 2:14-15

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Know God’s Truth through Careful Consideration
by Rick Warren

 

Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.

Proverbs 4:26

When you tell God, “I want the truth more than anything else,”

he will reveal his truth to you in a variety of ways,

such as through creation or your conscience and also through careful consideration.

In other words, truth is knowable. You can test it; you can experiment with it; you can prove it.

 

If I want to go to San Francisco and I follow a map that takes me to San Francisco,

and the next week I follow the same map to San Francisco again, eventually I figure out that the map is true.

 

The same is true of the Bible: If you follow its map again and again, you’ll find it to be true.

It always takes you where it says it’s going to take you.

You may not always like where it takes you, but it always takes you where it says it’s going to take you.

 

Often people say, “Why won’t God just write it in the sky?”

Why would God do that? He gave you a brain.

But most people never slow down long enough for such careful consideration.

Most people just drift through life.

 

The Bible tells us,

“Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.”

Proverbs 4:26

Spend some time in careful consideration, in thoughtful observation, and ask yourself:

“Am I on a true path?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Know God’s Truth through God’s Commandments
by Rick Warren

 

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us

what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16

If I discover truth from the Bible, how do I know the Bible is true?

There’s a world of objective evidence, both external and internal, that says the Bible is true.

 

External evidence proves the Bible is a historical book that you can rely on.

There are 5,366 copies of the Bible dating from the time it was written to just 70 years afterwards.

That fact dispels the urban legend that the Bible was changed as it passed through generations and languages.

 

External evidence also includes many archeological discoveries.

For example, historians used to say that Solomon couldn’t have had the horses the Bible says he had

because no one had horses at that time.

But then thousands of horse stables were found in an archeological dig.

 

There’s also the internal evidence of the Bible itself.

In a court of law, a prosecutor with two or three eyewitness accounts has a good chance of making his case.

The Bible is filled with eyewitness accounts.

Moses was there when the Red Sea split;

Joshua was there to watch Jericho fall;

the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus.

 

The internal evidence of the Bible also includes the fact that it tells one story with consistency

– though it was written over 1,500 years on three different continents by 40 different authors from every walk of life.

No human being could account for that.

It’s an amazing example of God’s abilities.

 

The Bible says,

“There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus.

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another

— showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.  

Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”

2 Timothy 3:15-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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