Faith Bible Blog

Information and Reflections for the FBC Family

October 12, 2005
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Posts: 303

On the Knowledge of God

In the second session of "The Character of God" class I’m teaching, we covered 5 key aspects/truths regarding the Knowledge of God (His Omniscience).  For your consideration and meditation, here’s a brief recap:

1)    God is infinite in knowledge.  There is nothing in the past, present, or future that He doesn’t know, whether things actual or merely possible.

  • From before the creation of man, God knew of the fall; He knew your parents; He knew the day on which you would be conceived and exactly which egg within your mother would be fertilized to result in you.  He knew of the scar you would get in your twenties and what would cause it.  He knew the person you’d marry and how you’d meet.  He ordained the day which you would repent & turn to Him.  He knows every one of the days of your life, and the quality of health you’ll enjoy in each of them. (Eph 1:4-5, Ps 139:13-16)
  • Do you realize that if your great-great-great-grandparents had not each been created exactly as they were, when they were, they would never have met each other, fallen in love, had children and continued the family line with you as the result?
  • God knew that the atrocities of the Holocaust, the Crusades, Mao Zedong, the Stalin era of Russia, the slave trade, and the World Wars.  He knew every man, woman & child who would die, and He knows perfectly all the theoretical ‘what ifs’ both pro & con that might have prevented, hastened or lengthened each of these tragedies. (Mt 10:29-31)
  • He knows whether a cure for cancer will ever be discovered.  He knows whether global warming is truly a threat and whether mankind will be around long enough to see its effects.  He knows the future and all its probabilities. (Is 46:9-10)
  • He is infinite in knowledge.  There is nothing He does not know.  He knows things that we will never know. (Ps 139:6, Is 55:8-9)
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    October 8, 2005
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    Posts: 303

    Archaeological Study Bible

    {mosimage}I also read this week that another new study bible will be published this week.  Originally slated to be published in the NASB, the Archaeological Study Bible will use the NIV due to its broad popularity.  (C’mon, Zondervan, at least use the ESV!)  Oh well, apart from that minor flaw, this new study bible will be quite unique.

    • Despite the potentially misleading title, the Bible will cover archaeology, history and geography.
    • The Bible will be printed in full color, including 500 photographs and 520 articles.
    • The entire content of the Bible, including photos, maps, charts & articles, will be included on a CD with the Bible.

     

    Estimated retail price is around $50 in hardcover, $80 for leather.  A great sample of Genesis 17-20 is available for inspection as a PDF document (358 kb).

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    October 6, 2005
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    Posts: 303

    NASB MacArthur Study Bible


    {mosimage}Heard today that the MacArthur Study Bible will be released in the New American Standard Bible (NASB) translation after all.  Spring 2006 is the likely publication date!  Wahoo!!

    (Now if only they could keep all the notes, but make it about half as thick!)

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    October 3, 2005
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    Posts: 303

    Feminine Appeal & Modesty

    Though you might be surprised, I’ve been reading Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney.  It is truly an excellent book on the character of a godly woman, focused on the seven character qualities revealed in Titus 2.  It ranks right up there with The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.  It is written with humility, candor, humor and is filled with guidance from Scripture.  This is also a great book to go through alongside another woman and is a prettty easy read at the same time. Smiley  Oh, I should also mention that Carolyn Mahaney (and her three daughters) also have a blog entitled Girl Talk.

    For younger, unmarried women and for mothers with daughters, it remains difficult to find books appropriate for women who are not yet married.  Feminine Appeal is written with sensitivity to the unmarried, but is still geared towards the married.  Probably the best book out that I know of for single women is Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley.  The book is a challenge to women to view their singleness as a gift from God, rather than as a burden, punishment or trial.  McCulley makes her case from Scripture and speaks from personal experience (McCulley, an feminist pre-Christ, is in her early 40s, still single and running a great blog entitled Solo Femininity.)

    One final resource to mention is the Modesty Heart Check (pdf) by Sovereign Grace Ministries.  It’s also found within the book, Girl Talk, by Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Whitacre.  A corresponding message by CJ Mahaney entitled "The Soul of Modesty" can be also be heard/read in audio ($6) or article (free, but abbreviated) form.

     


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    October 1, 2005
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    Posts: 303

    Visible Marks of Sanctification

    {mosimage}One more thing from JC Ryle‘s book on Holiness that I’ve been meaning to post…

    In chapter 2, Ryle deals particularly with what sanctification is, as compared to justification, the corresponding evidences of sanctification, and what is the true nature of sanctification.  In his second major point, he discusses the visible evidence of genuine sanctification.  Here’s the short version…

    1. True sanctification then does not consist in talk about religion.
    2. True sanctification does not consist in temporary religious feelings.
    3. True sanctification does not consist in outward formalism and external devoutness.
    4. Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place in life, and the renunciation of our social duties.
    5. Sanctification does not consist in the occasional performance of right actions.
    6. Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual respect to God’s law, and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as the rule of life.
    7. Genuine sanctification will show itself in a habitual endeavour to do Christ’s will, and to live by His practical precepts.
    8. Genuine sanctification will show itself in an habitual desire to live up to the standard which St. Paul sets before the Churches in his writings.
    9. Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual attention to the active graces which our Lord so beautifully exemplified, and especially to the grace of charity.
    10. Genuine sanctification, in the last place, will show itself in habitual attention to the passive graces of Christianity.

    If you’d like to read the whole chapter and get all the explanations of these headings, it’s available as a PDF for download.


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