Holiday greetings to each of you and may God bless your year of 2008. I'm excited about this coming year in many ways, one of which is I get the opportunity to write to you. It's going to be one of my goals this year to communicate to you periodically of the character and attributes of God and also be able to dig into some of the deeper biblical concepts that are potentially confusing and easily distorted.
I will endeavor also to, in a diplomatic way, contrast certain aspects of the Protestant faith with other religions and in doing so, demonstrate how truly blessed we are to have the glorious and loving God revealed in the Bible for us to receive and believe.
One of the interesting things that the Bible tells us about itself is that "the natural man" cannot understand nor comprehend the message or intended purpose of the Bible.
1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Very interesting huh?
I love what this is telling us. It means that only the Holy Spirit of God can reveal God's true message to us. It's not the perceived super intelligent, or the intellectual, or the super religious that will be able to, in and of themselves, rightfully interpret scripture, but it is the individual that is right with God, and is in fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God. Thus, being right with God is paramount, and being in fellowship with His Holy Spirit, which will enable an individual to know the depths of God's greatness. The concept of being in fellowship with God is very possibly one of the most critical things to clearly understand.
Since God knows all things, is not limited in any way by time and space as we know it, and is infinite in His love for us, why would we not want to be right with Him and know His will and purpose for us? If you would have any questions about this, give me a call at 782-5513, leave a message and we can discuss these things in further detail. Blessings.
-- Pastor Adam Barkley of First Baptist Church of Minden-Gardnerville is a member of Carson Valley Ministers' Association.
