Page 39 person . . . it was Christ. The Scriptures are a witness to the moral will of God. The Old Testament reveals the will of God as it finds its fulfillment in Christ. The Gospels contain a record of how the indwelling life of God was lived out in Jesus of Nazareth. The book of Acts contains a record of how the indwelling life of God was lived out by the apostles and the early church. And the New Testament epistles reveal the Person of Christ to churches and individuals who are in crises. All are inspired by the same Spirit who indwells every Christian today. This is why Paul’s letters are called ,Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15-16). It is by the ministry of the Word of God that we are educated objectively in God’s moral will, which is embodied in Jesus Christ. For this reason, Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is alive, active, and can discern thoughts and intents. It also judges between what comes from our renewed inner man versus what comes from our fallen nature (,piercing even to the division of soul and spirit). The ministry of the Word is essential to discovering the will of God for this one reason: It renews the mind and heightens our sensitivity to our indwelling Lord. It is also spirit and life . . . or food . . . to our inward man (John 6:63). The Word gets us familiar with the way in which our Lord operates. For His indwelling in us is no different from His living on earth and in the heavenlies. For it is the same life and the same Person. Put another way, the life of the Lord in you–the subjective
It is best to get a lot of people from within the congregation involved in the planning and building process in order to help build consensus and unity. People who are not involved in the process are much more likely to be unduly critical than those who had a part in the process. Said another way, people tend to throw water on other people’s ideas, but not their own. People in the church need to have ownership of the solution, and the best way to make this happen is to make them part of the process.
Stephen Anderson