Last Friday, I attended Secret Church 2017. It's hosted by David Platt of Radical, and it's basically six straight hours of teaching of God's Word. Now I know what you're thinking. "SIX HOURS?? How am I supposed to pay attention for that long?" Well, it's a lot easier than you think. Platt goes through the material VERY quickly, and everything he has to say is interesting! Six hours is a long time for me, a guy who has trouble focusing on things sometimes, but Secret Church is amazing.
This was my second year attending, and for the second time it was amazing! The title of this year's program was "Scripture and Authority in an Age of Skepticism." In it, we answered five basic questions to decide whether the Bible is something we should trust in for everything. They were as follows: "Is the Bible divine? Is the Bible true? Is the Bible clear? Is the Bible sufficient? And finally, is the Bible good?"
Obviously, I am not going to be able to replicate six hours of teaching here, but I want to just quickly summarize the points, and encourage you to go next year to experience this all for yourself!
Also, he has HUNDREDS of verses to back up all the points that he makes. I won't be typing them up here just for the sake of length, but if you have any questions, definitely ask me and I would be glad to send you the verses and talk about it more!
Is the Bible Divine?
The Bible absolutely claims it is divine. And if we believe in the Bible, great! Then we believe it's divine. But for those who don't believe that it is, we need something more. Well, we have more! The Bible is full of prophecies that we have actual proof of existence. We know for a fact that they were correct! And each prophecy was written well before the fulfillment of it. The Bible is FILLED with prophecies. In fact, it has over 300 prophecies just about Jesus! ALL other books that claim divine inspiration (Qur'an, Book of Mormon, the Vedas, etc) contain ZERO prophecies, while the Bible has hundreds or thousands, all of which have been proven correct. No man could have done that. Therefore, the Bible was written by man, through the divine inspiration of God.
Is the Bible True?
Well, this one is pretty simple. We just decided that the Bible is divine. The Bible says that God is truth, and he cannot lie. Therefore, the Bible is true. Also, historians have found that all the historical and scientific details that are written in the Bible are accurate. There is easily enough evidence to prove the Bible is true. The question is, will we choose to believe it?
Is the Bible Clear?
The Bible was written by over 40 different authors over the course of 1500 years. It has to be difficult to understand, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because the Bible has have a clear timeline it follows, with one central theme: God redeeming his people for His kingdom. And no, because some of the writings in the Bible definitely are hard for our human minds to process and understand! Now, we do have different ways of understanding. The biggest one is studying the Word. This is how God can use his Holy Spirit to give us divine revelation, once we show we want to truly understand what he's saying to us. We can ask other people, or use outside resources.
But we do need to understand that there are some things that we as humans are just not going to understand. Our human minds were not made to be able to understand the greatness of our Lord's creation. But while there are some things we can't understand, there are plenty more things we can. We just need to be sure that we are praying for correct understanding of the Word, so we don't take anything out of context or understand it incorrectly and lead ourselves and others astray. And we need to remember if there is a disagreement between people about what the Word says, the error is in us. Not the Bible.
Is the Bible Sufficient?
The Bible contains all we need in order to know and walk with God. It will not teach us every single thing that we need to know about anything ever. The Bible is not intended to teach us how to do just anything. The Bible is intended to make us more like Christ. It instructs, convicts, disciplines, trains, and equips us. It aligns us with the heart, mind, and will of our Savior. THIS is the purpose of the Bible. And that is all we need!
Is the Bible Good?
Well, we already determined that the Bible is true. The Bible says that God is good. The Bible is God's Word. So therefore, the Bible is good! But what does this mean for us? We need to read the Bible prayerfully. Humbly. Carefully. Joyfully. Confidently. Diligently. And we must read the Bible completely! When we do these things, we will fall in love with the Author of the book, and we will understand what life looks like under the authority of God. God's word has authority. And since we know the Bible is good, we need to live the way the Bible commands us.
Final Points
This, in a tiny nutshell, is what Secret Church was about. I really wish you all could have been there to hear it, because he explains it so well, and clearly backs up everything he says with Scripture. It was amazing, and I encourage you all to go next year!
And of course, if you have any questions about any of this, feel free to talk to me about it! I'd love to share more of what I've learned from the experience.
Have a great week!
Obviously, I am not going to be able to replicate six hours of teaching here, but I want to just quickly summarize the points, and encourage you to go next year to experience this all for yourself!
Also, he has HUNDREDS of verses to back up all the points that he makes. I won't be typing them up here just for the sake of length, but if you have any questions, definitely ask me and I would be glad to send you the verses and talk about it more!
Is the Bible Divine?
The Bible absolutely claims it is divine. And if we believe in the Bible, great! Then we believe it's divine. But for those who don't believe that it is, we need something more. Well, we have more! The Bible is full of prophecies that we have actual proof of existence. We know for a fact that they were correct! And each prophecy was written well before the fulfillment of it. The Bible is FILLED with prophecies. In fact, it has over 300 prophecies just about Jesus! ALL other books that claim divine inspiration (Qur'an, Book of Mormon, the Vedas, etc) contain ZERO prophecies, while the Bible has hundreds or thousands, all of which have been proven correct. No man could have done that. Therefore, the Bible was written by man, through the divine inspiration of God.
Is the Bible True?
Well, this one is pretty simple. We just decided that the Bible is divine. The Bible says that God is truth, and he cannot lie. Therefore, the Bible is true. Also, historians have found that all the historical and scientific details that are written in the Bible are accurate. There is easily enough evidence to prove the Bible is true. The question is, will we choose to believe it?
Is the Bible Clear?
The Bible was written by over 40 different authors over the course of 1500 years. It has to be difficult to understand, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because the Bible has have a clear timeline it follows, with one central theme: God redeeming his people for His kingdom. And no, because some of the writings in the Bible definitely are hard for our human minds to process and understand! Now, we do have different ways of understanding. The biggest one is studying the Word. This is how God can use his Holy Spirit to give us divine revelation, once we show we want to truly understand what he's saying to us. We can ask other people, or use outside resources.
But we do need to understand that there are some things that we as humans are just not going to understand. Our human minds were not made to be able to understand the greatness of our Lord's creation. But while there are some things we can't understand, there are plenty more things we can. We just need to be sure that we are praying for correct understanding of the Word, so we don't take anything out of context or understand it incorrectly and lead ourselves and others astray. And we need to remember if there is a disagreement between people about what the Word says, the error is in us. Not the Bible.
Is the Bible Sufficient?
The Bible contains all we need in order to know and walk with God. It will not teach us every single thing that we need to know about anything ever. The Bible is not intended to teach us how to do just anything. The Bible is intended to make us more like Christ. It instructs, convicts, disciplines, trains, and equips us. It aligns us with the heart, mind, and will of our Savior. THIS is the purpose of the Bible. And that is all we need!
Is the Bible Good?
Well, we already determined that the Bible is true. The Bible says that God is good. The Bible is God's Word. So therefore, the Bible is good! But what does this mean for us? We need to read the Bible prayerfully. Humbly. Carefully. Joyfully. Confidently. Diligently. And we must read the Bible completely! When we do these things, we will fall in love with the Author of the book, and we will understand what life looks like under the authority of God. God's word has authority. And since we know the Bible is good, we need to live the way the Bible commands us.
Final Points
- Let's revere this Word humbly.
- Let's receive this Word continually.
- Let's believe this Word completely.
- Let's obey this Word confidently.
- Let's proclaim this Word urgently.
This, in a tiny nutshell, is what Secret Church was about. I really wish you all could have been there to hear it, because he explains it so well, and clearly backs up everything he says with Scripture. It was amazing, and I encourage you all to go next year!
And of course, if you have any questions about any of this, feel free to talk to me about it! I'd love to share more of what I've learned from the experience.
Have a great week!