Continued: Articles of Faith - 4

Articles of Faith #4



IV. The Holy Scripture

4. We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.

(Luke 24:44-47; John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

Articles of Faith - 1, 2 and 3

Articles of Faith – 1, 2, and 3

Here is the representation of the first 3 articles of faith of the Church of the Nazarene as mentioned in my previous post, using the pictures produced by an African pastor to help describe them (scripture references at the end of each article are not part of the text of the article, but are there to support it):



I. The Triune God
1. We believe in one eternally existent, infinite God, Sovereign of the universe; that He only is God, creative and administrative, holy in nature, attributes, and purpose; that He, as God, is Triune in essential being, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Genesis 1; Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Isaiah 5:16; 6:1-7; 40:18, 31; Matthew3:16-17, 28:19-20; John 14:6-27; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2
Corinthians 13:14; Galations 4:4-6; Ephesians 2:13-18)

II. Jesus Christ
2. We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person very God, and very man, the God-man.

We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.

(Matthew 1:20-25; 16:15-16; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1-18; Acts 2:22-36; Romans 8:3; 32-34; Galatians4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:12-22; 1 Timothy 6:14-16; Hebrews 1:1-5; 7:22-28; 9:24-28; 1John 1:1-3; 4:2-3, 15)

III. The Holy Spirit

3. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, that He is ever present and efficiently active in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the world of sin, regenerating those who repent and believe, sanctifying believers, and guiding into all truth as it is in Jesus.

(John 7:39, 14:15-16; 16:7-15; Acts 2:33; 15:8-9; Romans 8:1-27; Galations 3:1-14; 4:6; Ephesians 3:14-21; 1Thessalonians 4:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:24; 4:13)

Busy Time

This seems to be quite a busy time of year. I’ve been working in the yard when I get a chance. I haven’t done a lot of that in the past several years, but I seem to have gained quite a bit of strength since I quit taking cholesterol medicine. Seems like the cure was worse than the disease.

A number of activities have been taking place. Of course, earlier this month was Easter.

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Then Monday evening, we had a missionary speaker at our church. She is stationed in South Africa. I’d like to go into some detail about some of the things she told us about. She was talking about how in the Africa Region (she works in the regional office), she sees much evidence of the African Church being much like the church of the Book of Acts. One thing she mentioned specifically was the amount of time they spend in prayer. She told of one pastor who will often walk four miles to get to his “special” place of prayer up on a mountain. Sometimes he will spend the night in prayer. Once, after one of those nights spent in prayer, he felt the urging of the Lord to go to an area that was very unfriendly to Christians. There was a factory there, and he was led to go to that factory. At the gate of the factory, the guard challenged him. I can’t remember the exact words the pastor spoke when responding with his reason for being there, but essentially that he was there to bring the message of Christ to the people. The guard asked him what the book was that he was carrying, and he told him it was the Bible.

There was, right next to the gate, a sort of furnace/oven type thing that was used in the manufacturing process (I don’t remember what that was), and the guard told him to throw his Bible in there. The pastor hugged the Bible to himself and said, “Oh, no, I can’t do that! This is the words of my God!” The guard said, “OK, then, put your arm in there.” The pastor agreed, and put his arm in the furnace. When he pulled it back out, it appeared not to have any effect at all from the fire – not even a hair was singed – like the Hebrew children in the book of Daniel. The guard said, “You didn’t keep it in long enough! Put it back in, and keep it in longer!” The pastor did so, with the same results. The guard said again, that it wasn’t long enough; that he should put it back in and keep it there until he (the guard) told him it was long enough. This time, it was longer, but the pastor’s arm was still intact when he withdrew it.

About this time, a senior guard came by, and seeing the pastor with the Bible, he told the other guard to take the Bible & throw it in the furnace. The first guard refused, recounting what had happened with the pastor’s arm. The senior guard grabbed the Bible and threw it in.

Some time after, that senior guard took a stray bullet in the head, from some kind of a gang fight, I think. The people of that area, who, as I mentioned above, were quite unfriendly to Christians, did an about face, and welcomed the pastor to their area.

I think it was this same pastor who did a pictorial presentation of the 16 articles of faith of the Nazarene Church. When I get a copy of it, I will post it here.

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I am still trying to get the “check engine” light in my car to go out. The mechanic has tried numerous things; after replacing all the plumbing connecting with the charcoal cannister, a smoke test showed everything secure, but the light still came back on. He tried something else yesterday. He said that on more modern cars, the computer test is more specific, but on mine (a ’98) it’s almost as vague as “check engine”!

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The first Sunday in May, we will be having our Faith Promise for missions service. Our speakers are retired missionaries, whose son-in-law pastors a church of another denomination in our community. This couple – with their daughter – went to Chile (the field of their missonary work) in October, for the celebration of the denomination’s 100th anniversary. They will be showing slides of their trip.

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I had an indirect message from my great-niece Meghan about two April birthdays that I missed – hers, and her step-sister Taryn’s – both on April 1. Meghan, you should have just commented on the blog!

Another month, another blog

No matter what, I can’t seem to get into writing a blog more than once a month these days. Last month, with the nice weather, and the improvement in my health, I was able to get out and do a lot of yard work. There is still a lot to be done. Some of it, of course, is seasonal, and is here to be done every year, but I’m also doing some “one-time” stuff that will be finished for “time & eternity” when I get it done. I am thankful for the health to be able to do this work.

Last week, my brother’s mother-in-law passed away. I had read that she was in the hospital & not likely to live almost a week earlier. I had read about it on my niece’s (and her husband’s) blog. See “Bob and Suzanne” in my links. It was great to read that she had found the Lord a little over a week before her passing. God is good.

Did you participate in “Red Envelope” day? Three red envelopes went out from our home. Among the many free addresses labels I have received, I found the perfect return address label. It pictured a child sleeping with an angel guarding it.

For the “regular” features:
The “Magnaclam” calendar image:
Magnacalendar images: April

April birthdays:
April 11: My sister Mildred
April 19: My great-nephew Paul Burton (III)

I also have a very good friend whose birthday is April 8. I just sent her a birthday card using a Magnclam bearing a cake as the front. Mike posts this picture regularly on RO when wishing someone a happy birthday.

March!

The past month has been relatively hectic. I am a township auditor, and we finally got that completed. We were also able to persuade the commissioners to take some steps that will make for a cleaner and easier audit in the future. We still have a county-related audit to do, but that job will be passed to another township next year.

There have been a few small changes in my life that have had significant effects. 1 – Mike took down my old double bed that had a mattress that was about done for, and put up my twin bed that I had bought and been using when I was working in Ohio, spending weekdays there, coming home weekends. The mattress on that is relatively new, and more inducive to comfortable sleeping. 2 – the doctor agreed to let me stop using my cholesterol medicine. The result of this was that I was able to cut my arthritis medicine in half, and still feel a lot better. 3 – the doctor also noted on my blood work that I had an extremely low level of vitamin D. This was probably what was causing me to feel weaker and weaker as time went by. So now I’m on a very high dosage of vitamin D. I no longer feel quite so weak; I’m not nearly as strong as I would like to be, but the change has been significant.

Now for the regular monthly features. First, the March Magnaclam image:
Magnacalendar images: March

March birthdays:
March 16 – my ex-son-in-law, Marlin
March 23 – my nephew David
March 30 – My nephew Rick (David’s older brother)
March – exact date unknown – My niece Amy
My half-sister Mary was born to my father & his first wife in March of 1907. She died in October of that same year.


Here is an old hymn that you don’t often hear anymore – in fact, I only know it because about 47 years or so ago I was working with a children’s group in our church, and this song was supposed to be learned by the children, according to literature from denominational headquarters for the group. I had to learn it myself first, and then teach it to them. I don’t think I’ve ever heard in any other circumstances, before or since. It was written by Haldor Lillenas, who was also the writer of the great hymn “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.”

The Bible Stands

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
‘Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.

Chorus:
The Bible stands tho’ the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.

The Bible stands like a mountain tow’ring
Far above the works of men;
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can.

(Chorus)

The Bible stands and it will forever,
When the world has passed away;
By inspiration it has been given,
All its precepts I will obey.

(Chorus)

The Bible stands ev’ry test we give it,
For its Author is divine,
By grace alone I expect to live it,
And to prove it and make it mine.

(Chorus)