 You Can Trust the Bible
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My church is providing me a special opportunity to teach what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ to recent high school and college graduates this summer.
A foundational aspect of this teaching is to further establish these young adults in personally hearing and relating to God through His Word the Bible. They are definitely going to encounter many skeptics of the Bible as they step out into the world on their own.
This past Sunday I shared the following miraculous aspects of the Bible with these special young people.
MIRACULOUS PENMANSHIP
The word inspired in the phrase All Scripture is inspired by God (1 Timothy 3:16) actually means expired or God-breathed. God literally breathed into men the exact words He wanted to pen through them! All Scripture, every word, was penned in this manner.
MIRACULOUS PARTNERSHIP
The Bible was penned through 38 men from widely various backgrounds and countries, and over a period of over 1,500 years. And yet the Bible is one amazing unified story - the greatest story ever told! An affirmation the Bible is God-breathed.
MIRACULOUS PRESERVATION
The manuscripts of the Bible were written by men who were eyewitnesses to the truths about which they wrote. And there are 1,000s of copies of original manuscripts of Bible books, more than any other ancient literature.
The Bible has been banned and burned over all of history. The enemy seeks to distort and destroy God's Word just like he did in the Garden of Eden. But God ensures His Word to stand through all of history, and indeed through all of eternity!
MIRACULOUS POPULARITY
The Bible has been translated into 2,000+ languages. And although you won't see the Bible atop best seller lists, over 100 million Bibles are sold year in and year out, dwarfing the sales of all other books combined.
MIRACULOUS PROPHECIES
The Bible documents the fulfillment of over 300 precise prophecies of Christ. The probability that Jesus fulfilled just 8 of these prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000. This number of zeroes is not practically appreciated. The following example makes it practical.
100,000,000,000,000 silver dollars would cover the entire State of Texas two feet deep! Imagine only one of those silver dollars having a red check mark. Now imagine a man parachuting out of a plane over Texas anytime he chooses to jump. And imagine him closing his eyes as he lands and then reaching down to pick up that one specifically marked silver dollar on the first try!
That's the probability that just 8 of the 300 Bible prophecies would be fulfilled!
MIRACULOUS PURITY
Adrian Rogers has said it so well:
The Word of God is absolutely, totally without error.
As a matter of fact, the purity of the Bible and the purity of Jesus Christ,
rise and fall together.
Revelation 19:13 and John 1:14 tell us that Jesus is
the "Word of God." God gave the same
name to His Son that He gave to the Bible.
Jesus believed the Bible and said,
"Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are
they which testify of Me" (John 5:39).
Jesus
said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18).
Jots
and tittles were the smallest markings of the Hebrew alphabet, so Jesus was making a statement that even the smallest, seemingly superfluous, elements
of God's Word were eternally infallible and significant.
MIRACULOUS PROVISION
After Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days without food, the devil came to tempt Him to provide for His own bread without relying on His Father. Jesus responded, It is written [in Deuteronomy 8:3], "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:2-4).
Jesus placed His faith in what His Father said instead of in what the devil tempted Him to think and do. Through the Holy Spirit, we have this same miraculous spiritual bread from God's Word through the Bible to spiritually strengthen us as we are tempted in this fallen world.
MIRACULOUS POWER
The cross of Christ is the focal point of the entire Bible. All roads of history lead to the cross of Christ! God's eternal purposes are fulfilled through the cross. The cross is the intersection of time and eternity!
The cross as revealed in the Bible represents both what Christ did for me by His sacrificial death AND what God did in me by uniting with me with Christ on the cross!
1 Corinthians 1:18 reveals that proclaiming this message of the cross as the focal point of Scripture is not just powerful, but is the very power of God!
CLOSING
Before His resurrection, Jesus promised the New Testament through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
The first thing Jesus did with the disciples after His resurrection was to hold a Bible study, when He proclaimed that all of the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to Him (Luke 24:44)!
People who do not believe the Bible is God's Word do so not because they can't, but because they won't at this time. These are the people to whom God's gives us the privilege of ministering His miraculous Word in miraculous ways through our union with Christ.
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PS
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RESTING ON GOD'S MIRACULOUS WORD!
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About 
Discipleship through
Counseling
Teaching
Training
Gregg Gibbons
Pastoral Director
Michael Chalmers
Training Director
Kellie Boggs
Fellowship Director
Joy Gibbons
Ministry Assistant and women's ministry coordinator
Carole Blyth
Board member and women's ministry coordinator
Paul Crews
Board member and Pastor Mountain Creek Baptist Church
Carolyn Kennedy
Staff in training
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Partnership
I believe with all my heart that ministry is through relationships.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you for your partnership in the gospel (Philippians 1:3, 5).
 
YouTube link below of my ministry commissioning service that included testimonies from several partners, including Bobby Richardson, former 2nd baseman for the NY Yankees.
Please contact me to learn more about partnering with me. I'd love to hear from you!
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Ministry News
Gregg is mentoring people in an office donated by Holly Ridge Church in Simpsonville SC.
Michael is mentoring people in offices donated by three churches Greenville SC.
Gregg teaches freedom in Christ at The Haven of Rest mission in Anderson SC Mondays 6:00-6:45 pm. Gregg welcomes partners to go with him.
Our next 8-month advanced discipleship class will be meeting July 18-20. Four students are currently enrolled.
Michael will be teaching our 9-hour foundational heart-of-the-gospel conference August 1-2 in Greenville SC. Contact me for more details.
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Archives
Link for Rest Stops
since August 2010:
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Contact Info
JOURNEY IN CHRIST, INC.
655 Fairview Road
Suite H-188
Simpsonville SC 29680
(864) 483-3201 (Gregg cell)
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