This week we were taken back to the basics of our faith and came to understand that without a solid foundation whatever we build is destined to fail and fall apart. If our foundation is rooted in traditions and religious rituals that have been passed down by mankind throughout the different ages. We will place our faith in our own personal activities instead of the genuine development of a relationship with God.
As believers, our objective is to look like Christ so that the same mission He was on can be fulfilled through us in our time. While Christ was here, His every move was made based on what His Father spoke to Him. Therefore the foundation of our faith is God’s word. His word is all He spoke in times past and is still speaking today by way of the Holy Spirit.
God has given us scripture as the foundation of His general will for humanity. Through men within different periods of time, He has revealed truths that were meant to establish our belief systems while showing us what He does and does not approve of. He has declared the things that need correcting within humanity and given us instructions that if followed would make those corrections.
However, as humans, we have become very prideful assuming to be able to understand these scriptures without His help. In doing so these scriptures have been twisted and have become an academic study pointing to external behaviors instead of universal principles designed to transform the human heart through application. This is why it is imperative that we are careful when receiving teaching that is not in accordance with the heart and purposes of God. We learned that we can misinterpret the things we read if the one who inspired them is not involved in our reading. How else would we know His heart or purposes?
This is what helped us understand that the scripture’s primary purpose is to point us towards the savior of mankind, the Christ, the entrance into the presence of a living God. It is through our faith in Christ Jesus that a relationship with the Creator of all things is initiated. Through that relationship, the reception of the promise is received. The promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is only when we receive the Spirit that we are able to receive revelation and come to understand the truth behind the text within scripture.
Therefore, these God-given scriptures are a necessity in laying the foundation of our faith. Yet it is by faith and within an authentic relationship with God that these scriptures are made alive and truly understood. When made alive these scriptures become used by God to speak directly to us as His children. So the bottom line is we see the scriptures are necessary but equally necessary is the reception of the Holy Spirit. The reason being is without the Holy Spirit the truth within scripture cannot be uncovered or revealed. During Jesus’s time on earth, He consistently spoke about a Kingdom that could not be seen by the human eye. For that reason, all carnal and worldly understanding is empty, vain, and useless.
**Audio for this recap can be listened to here
https://open.spotify.com/episode/39WBcDydn4cIgahxns9bNY
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/laying-a-foundation/id1740279389?i=1000658371176
Scriptures for this week
Hebrews 5:12-14
2 Timothy 3:16-17
1 Corinthians 2:16-17
Romans 15:1-6
2 Peter 3:14-18
Matthew 22:23-33
Matthew 16:13-23
John 5:38-40
John 17:1-3
John 7:37-39
Hebrews 4:12-13
Deuteronomy 18:15-19
John 5:41-47
Luke 24:44-49
2 Corinthians 3:12-17
1 Corinthians 10:1-12
John 6:60-63
Isaiah 31:1-3
