This week I thought it would be nice to take another Sunday before our upcoming series in Genesis to preach something from our church statement of faith. Over the next year I want to take a week here and there (especially between series") to sprinkle in one sermon from each category in our statement of faith. Someone once said that "the purpose of an open mind is the same as an open mouth. It's meant to close on something solid." A statement of faith is just that. It's our attempt at simply expressing what is settled about our faith, what we believe is solid. "Something Solid" seemed like a good title for a "Doctrine" series of sermons. This week we'll be considering what our church believes about Scripture. We'll look carefully at exactly what we believe, how it connects to our lives and then consider some practical "helps" in growing more familiar with God's word.
A couple of passages to meditate on as you prepare for Sunday would be 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Psalm 19. Here's what our statement of faith says about Scripture:
"The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21."
