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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 6, NUMBER 46, NOVEMBER 19, 2006 HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO US TODAY? If we need God so much, how do we seek His guidance? How do we learn about Him? God speaks to us today through His revealed revelation, the Bible. In order for us to know what we must do to be pleasing to our God, we must turn to the Scriptures to see what He has instructed. The very first place we need to go is to a statement made by the inspired apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Paul says that, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Paul is saying that all Scripture originated with God or came from God. We often hear the men who wrote the Bible referred to as “inspired.” What does that mean? “Inspired” means, “Aroused, animated, imbued with the spirit to do something by, or as if by, supernatural or divine influence.” That is what happened to those who wrote the Scriptures. They were basically God’s pencil. He wrote His Word through men inspired by the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 1:21,”…but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Secondly, Paul says, “…That the man of God may be perfect…” “Perfect” indicates that the man of God has been made complete. One is made complete when he uses the Word of God to study and apply what God has instructed him to do. The necessary conclusion drawn from this passage is that without reading, studying, and applying God’s Word, one will be left imperfect and incomplete. The last point that Paul makes in this passage is that the word of God will leave the man of God, “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Paul makes it clear that no good work exists for which the word of God cannot equip an individual. How important is it for us to know and understand what it is that He has spoken? Did you know that God’s Word judges each of us? Jesus Himself says in John 12:48, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” My friend, God’s Word and God’s Word only will be our judge on the last day. The various works and creeds that men have written over the years have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on our salvation. What a wonderful thought it is to know that our God loves us enough to give us instructions so that one day we will have the opportunity to be with Him in heaven. One of the most encouraging passages in the Bible is in 2 Peter 3:9, where Peter states, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God is most assuredly speaking to us today. In fact, as we can see from 2 Peter 3:9, He is pleading with us. Everything that our God wants from us is written plainly and simply in the Bible, so that the believer can read and understand what it is that He would have them to do.
Mark McCrary (The Evendale Evangelist)
“Who is the God Who Will Deliver You?” It did not take King Nebuchadnezzar very long at all to have his incredibly arrogant question answered definitively. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego had defied the king by refusing to bow to the image that he had constructed. The question is asked at the very end of Daniel 3:15 in which the king warned them once more that if they failed to bow to his idol they would immediately be cast into the fiery furnace. He asked them, “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hand?” The answer was quick to come – The God! Initially Nebuchadnezzar was filled with awe as he witnessed the fourth individual, whose appearance “is like a son of the gods.” In fact, the king would make a decree that anyone in all the nations who spake out against the God of Shadrach, Meshack, Abednego should be “torn limb from limb, and their house laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue this way” (Daniel 3:29). Nebuchadnezzar was humbled at first – yet how quickly he would forget. In Daniel 4:30 he says, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” The king had been warned in a dream previously in which Daniel, by the help of God, had interpreted informing him that he would be forced out from among men and made to eat grass as a beast of the field. Daniel told the king to “break off” from his sins and practice righteousness. By so doing perhaps his prosperity would be lengthened. From his arrogant statement in Daniel 4:30 it is apparent that he had not overcome his pride. God did exactly what he told the king in his dreams that He would do. That is the God that you and I worship. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and absolutely trustworthy. God is going to do exactly what He says He will do. He kept His promises with Nebuchadnezzar and He will keep them with us. Adam Litmer The Evendale Evangelist
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