Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I Believe the Bible

For the Record, I believe:


The Holy bible containing 66 books called New Testament and Old Testament are "given by inspiration(breathed out) of God, and are profitable for doctrine(teaching), for reproof, for correction and for instruction (training) in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

I also believe that "no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced for the will of man, but spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:20,21)

I further believe that the writers of the New Testament were valid writers. I believe Paul the Apostle was struck down with the personal presence of Jesus Christ as he states in Acts several times; and that what he wrote confirms and supports and agrees with Old Testament writings preserved with meticulous care through the centuries. Therefore, I have confidence that Paul was chosen, called, and saved by the power of Almighty God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and filled with the Holy Spirit of God as he testifies he was. There were many witnesses to his conversion and miracles as there were Peter's. If Paul wrote Romans, (affectionately called the 'little Bible' by some) and it is true, then we must conclude that all of what he wrote is true.

To doubt the Bible at any point and believe opposite of what God preserved for us through many proofs and witnesses is to doubt that there is a Holy God at all and to doubt that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ died to save us. The Bible is the primary record that all other records rely upon and refer to, and compare for a constant unchanging standard of truth.

And if Paul's writings are not true, then ALL the New Testament is a lie and he was a horrible counterfeit, and had a huge cohort of liars do miraculous tricks; and he suffered at the hands of the Romans and Jews needlessly.

I choose to believe the Bible is true, for it was the Bible that God used to convict me of sin, show me His wonderful grace, and has guided my life, answered my prayers. I KNOW HE filled me with His Holy Spirit, equipped me for service, and has called me by His Spirit to full-time service within the boundaries of His instruction for a woman. I have seen not only my own life changed from hopelessness to confident hope in the love of God and His presence for eternity, but also many others over the years. I have witnessed God do miraculous things when people put their faith in Him based on what the Word says He is. I know that the Word of God is quick (alive) and powerful. (Hebrews 4:12)

And if I chose to believe that the Bible is not true, I could not deny all its proofs and power for 44 years; and I would have to deny not only my heart, but also all that is sensible and real that I know that I know in order to deny it. To deny God's Word in its Truth is to deny my Lord. And this I cannot do. He is continuously Real and alive as is His precious Word.

This is my testimony in brief. To continue for eternity will be my joy; but for here and now, continuing is not expedient. Amen.

Mrs. Judikay Abigail Humes August 30, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Character and Attributes of God

Sovereign- "The assertion of God's absolute sovereignty in creation, providence, and grace is basic to biblical belief and biblical praise." by J.I. Packer from his book, Concise Theology, (Tyndale Publishers)


"God's sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation; and to be sovereign, God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free. . . Were there even one datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all creation, He must possess all knowledge."
A definition by A.W. Tozer from Knowledge of the Holy

Exodus15:18; Job 38:1-42:6; Psalms 47& 93; Prov. 16:33; 21:1; Daniel 4:34-35; Matt 10:29-31; Revelation 1:4-8; ch. 18-22


                      ***********
Omnipotent- He is all powerful, having power and dominion over everything seen and unseen. He is able to do all His holy will.

Gen. 17:1; Rev. 4:8; 19:6; Psalm 24:8; 61:3; Isa. 9:6; 10:21

                          ******************
Omnipresent- He is everywhere at once in the same way, and at all times in all His fullness.

Psalm 139:7-10; Jer. 23:23,24; Acts 17:24-28; Matt. 8:20; 18:20

                                  ***************
Omniscient- He is all knowing. God knows all things perfectly, even the thought and intents of our hearts. He know all things past, present, and future perfectly. He is never surprised.

Daniel 2:20-22; Job 37:16; Psalm 147:4,5; Isa 44:6-8; 46:9,10
2 Chron. 16:9; Matt 6:7-8, 31,32; Prov. 5:21; Hebrews 4:13



"Our hearts cannot be inflamed about something we know not of. Unless we know God deeply, we cannot love Him deeply. A faint understanding of God is enough to begin the heart to stir. Emotions may be kindled by the slightest acquaintance with the majesty of Christ. But for that spark to rise into a consuming and lasting fire, our knowledge of Him must increase."

from The Soul's Quest for God by R. C. Sproul
Tyndale House publishers 1992

This will be continued.

Please direct questions and comments to our email.
sharethegospel@windstream.net

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Introducing God

In this section, it is important that you, yourself believe, know, and can relate first-hand to something about God. You are indeed made in His image. You have God, the Holy spirit dwelling inside your body, His temple, if you have received Jesus Christ as Savior. The person to whom you are witnessing must see something good in you, something loving in you, to believe you know God. When you witness, you communicate as much by who you are, as you do by words.


As you study to show yourself approved to God, learning God's character is a blessing, and helps equip you to introduce others to Him. In the list below, some of the attributes of God are listed with definitions and references to help equip you for this:

Attributes of God

Holy- separated, set apart, other, not common;
God is separate from and high above His creation, and He
 is separate from and high above his creation's corruption.
God is incomparable! He dwells in unapproachable light.

Isa. 6:1-3; 57:15; Psalm 111:9; John 1:5; Habakkuk. 1:13a



One, yet Trinity- One God, existing in three persons,
equal in power, substance and glory.
(Not three gods or three functions)

Deut 6:4; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 1:1:Matt. 28:19; Eph 4:4-6



Eternal, Self-existent, Immutable- Without beginning,
without end, timeless and ageless, always existing,
has no needs, depends on nothing, and will never change.

Exodus 3:14 "I am that I am"; Daniel 7:9; Isa 40:28;

Psalm 90:2; Jeremiah 10:10; P36:9; Acts 17:22-31;

Mal.3:6; Psalm 102:25-27; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17



This will be continued.

Please direct Questions and Comments to:   sharethegospel@windstream.net

Monday, August 15, 2011

The Bible Is Reliable


Before many people will listen to a Christian, they make a lot of objections. One of these objections is that the Bible isn't the Words of God. They may say it is a collection of many people's writings, and no one can be sure where it came from. In this current world culture, unbelievers are justified in their skepticism. It is our job, then, not to argue, but to present proofs as much as we are able that are irrefutable.


This book does not only contain the words of God, it is the very WORD of Almighty God; inerrant, complete, alive, and powerful.

A few years ago, I had questions about which translation was most reliable, and how I should prove the Bible is real to a lost person. I was ignorant of the historical development of the Scriptures into the form we have today. I did not know how to defend what I believed about the authenticity of the Bible. In my quest, I asked my husband, my pastor and theologians I trusted; and I got book recommendations from them. My husband graciously allowed me to purchase several of these and others I won't include here, to satisfy my yearning to know. He calls me a "high maintenance woman" at least in this regard. This was not to be my last quest, either; but this is a subject for another place. Yes, I read them all cover-to cover, except Josephus, objectively comparing, and getting guidance from my husband as I went.

Following is a list of the books I recommend out of those, that we judged to be true and objective to honestly communicate the facts, and helpful to answer my questions. No one book completely "did it all," thus more were added, one-by-one till our library and budget cried out, "enough already!"

I hope you are able to get at least a couple of these if you deal with skeptics. Even as a parent or teacher, you may want to have and read one or two.



                         Books I recommend



The Signature of God by Grant R. Jeffery 1996
Frontier Research Publications, Inc.



The New Testament Documents by F.F. Bruce 2nd printing 1972
Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.



Essential Guide to Bible Versions by Philip W. Comfort 2000
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.



The Bible in Translation by Bruce M. Metzger 2001
Baker Academic, A Division of Baker Book House Co.



How We Got the Bible by Neil R. Lightfoot 2nd edition 1988
Baker Book House



The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Davies, Brooke, & Callaway 2002 Thames & Hudson Ltd., London



The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus (Joseph ben Matthias) A.D. 37- 100 He was a secular historian fascinated with Jewish history. This work serves to show that people regarded history of God's people as a worthy subject, and respected this historian as reliable.



The Reformation Study Bible R.C. Sproul, Editor; Keith Mathison, Assoc. Editor. Ligonier Ministries, Publishers

At the beginning of every book, there is a helpful discussion of the Author, The Date and Occasion, Characteristics and Themes; and certain books have Historical Background and a discussion Interpretive difficulties as needed. These helps have given me information that is helpful to show how each particular book has a niche in history, and reality. These people really existed. This writing really is documented. God really did these things.

Mrs. Judikay Abigail Humes, August 15, 2011

Monday, August 1, 2011

Introduction and Overview of Evangelism Method

Evangelism is simply telling the message of salvation. Effective evangelism is telling the message of salvation with knowledge, love, and wisdom, so that the hearer understands the message. If you have no love for lost souls, be quiet, go home, get on your knees and repent of your hard heart. Ask God for His love with which to love sinners. Boldness is not to be confused with arrogance; nor is aggressive love to be confused with rudeness. People who are lost are helpless and hopeless without Christ in their hearts; and they need our compassion, and best God-honoring efforts. Love deeply and unselfishly with the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. Consider the recipient of your message, and use wisdom in how, when, and where you present these precious truths to make your message as clear and as desirable as possible. Pray that God will open their understanding and draw the ones you evangelize to Himself. You are just the messenger, God's Holy Spirit is the only person who can change hearts.



The method we will show here is presented considering that the order in which Biblical facts are presented sometimes makes a difference in the person's ability to understand them. For example, a person must know he is a sinner before he can repent of sin. Another example: without knowing about God's law or understanding that God is perfectly good, a person cannot appreciate the grace of God to make him clean.


Many people have the ability to persuade, coerce, frighten, or manipulate people, especially children, to make a public display of some kind of a "decision." Many people know how to get people to make an intellectual decision to believe almost anything. But only the Holy Spirit of our holy God can change a heart from an unbelieving one to a heart that believes by faith. I encourage you to not trust in this or any other method as a formula or mantra by which a person can say the words and be duped into thinking they have satisfied our holy God's requirement to believe with the heart. I urge you, if you use this method, not to trust the method, but declare the message as a responsible messenger, who will trust God to use His Word, and work in people's hearts.


Following is a method of evangelism categorizing the truths of Scripture into six main categories of truth. Similar categorizing for the whole body of Scripture is called apologetics, or statement of faith, or body of divinity or Biblical dogmatics or systematic theology. This pattern is similar to the Wordless Book promoted by Child Evangelism Fellowship, and first shown in mid 1800's by C. H. Spurgeon by using colors to represent each category. I call it "A Child's Statement of Faith."


After we list this overview, we will afterward begin to take one category of doctrine at a time and give suggestions for sharing this with the lost by filling out each category with verses, statements, etc. We will keep it simple, logical, and centered in Scripture. A note about our symbols: they are helpful for many as tabs for marking our Bibles or lessons for quick recognition.


"Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." (John 4:35)

                      The Method by Categories:



 Belief in the Bible as God's holy and inerrant Word.




Belief that God is eternal, holy, perfect, good, merciful, and that He is the Creator of all things, and that He loves this world that He made including the people in it.





Belief that man's condition before God is completely sinful and deserving of punishment, and that man cannot ever be good enough to make atonement for his own sin.





Belief that Jesus Christ, is God the Son, with all the attributes and character of His Father, God; that He existed with God in eternity past, and that He created the world and all things; that He is the One promised since the Garden of Eden to be atoning and propitiatory sacrifice for our sin; and that He perfectly and completely accomplished all that God required and all that we need for salvation; and that He not only literally died, but that He rose again the third day from the dead, and lives in Heaven with God, the Father, sitting at His right hand. ( !! I could go on and on ! -my most favorite subject in all the world!!)



Belief that God does receive sinners, forgives them, and makes them new when they believe in Him, that His Holy Spirit indwells every believer, helps, intercedes for them, and preserves their souls eternally, and that all believers will live forever in the presence of God Himself when this life is over.





Belief that a true believer will have a changed life from the inside out.
What Christian growth is and why it is important.
How a person can grow in their faith.




Belief that there is an eternal home as Jesus promised, and all believers will literally go there after they are done with this life.


[Please know this is not complete, but a brief statement of categories of doctrine for the purpose of evangelism.]



Your own Testimony - Priceless!
Knowing how to simply give your own testimony often is enough for a person to believe in Jesus. We will show you how to develop your own testimony.

------------------------------------

We welcome your questions and suggestions through our dedicated email account for this blog. Our mission is to help as many Christians as possible to win as many souls to Jesus Christ as possible.   sharethegospel@windstream.net