Taking Next Steps with Jesus

Hello this is Eric again.  A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question and to do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blogs here ) We are taking the time to find out if the Bible is true.  We are specifically looking at God’s promises, in particular, prophecies—where God tells us what will happen in the future.  Up to this point we have looked at 5 prophecies and how God fulfilled them—but what do we do with this information? If we just read the Bible, and hear it, but don’t do anything with it, we aren’t really listening.  The Hebrew concept of listening means that I hear God's word, which are true.  God's word changes the way I think so that I now think like God.  This truth then flows to my heart—where my emotions, my gut, my decisions, my attitudes, my values--are addressed and God changes my heart to respond like His hea

Hello this is Eric again.  A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question and to do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blogs here ) The Bible is full of stories of people who God gave promises too, through prophecy, and then we are given a front row seat to see what it was like to step out in faith and take next steps with God, Together.  Abraham is one of those people. The Bible says,  “For Abraham is the father of all who believe.” —Romans 4:16b.  Let’s talk about faith for a moment.  Faith is the currency within which our relationship with God takes place.  Faith means trust.  Faith in God means trusting Him more than our eyes can see—believing God.  And, oh boy, did Abraham have to believe God. Abraham was 75 years old and God called him and told Abram to get up and move to a new home.  When Abram asked where they were going, Go

Hello this is Eric again.  A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question and to do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blogs here ) Well, since we have stepped into the “really blow my mind” section of the prophecies about Christmas with “The Virgin will be with Child”; let’s up the ante a bit.  The prophecies that we are looking at give us clues as to who this Rescuer, the Messiah,  the Christ—is.  So, up to this point we have learned that the Messiah is someone God has planned to send even before He created everything.  The Messiah is someone who is going to rescue us from Satan, sin, death, God’s judgement, and Hell.  The Messiah will be someone who is born of a Virgin.  (This is where we need to put on our sandals and stop for a moment and imagine ourselves in their day and age…’that’s just not possible, how would that be?’)  And

Hello this is Eric again.  A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question and to do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blog here ) Prophecy is like Ogre’s is like Onion’s is like Parfait.  OK, I like the movie ‘Shrek’.  In one scene the sidekick, Donkey, is talking with the Ogre, Shrek, about Shrek's personality.  Shrek says that Ogre’s are like onion’s—they have layers.  Donkey, being the chiding snarky friend he is, says that he likes parfait—and it has layers.  Their discussion is comical, but helps to describe prophecy, because it has layers too.  Sometimes a prophetic word from God is for the near future.  Sometimes for a far away time, and sometimes the prophecy is for the end of time; and sometimes it may be more than just one.  I like to think about prophecy as God speaking in His native language.  God isn’t bound by time.

Hello this is Eric again.  A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question.   To do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blog here .) Christmas is a wonderful season. Do you agree or not?  Why is that?  What is it about Christmas that engages people in such a visceral fashion?  Everyone is emotional during the Christmas season.  Whether you are the bubbly effervescent fountain of Christmas spirit, or the gloomy-gus of Scrooge’s past, or somewhere in-between, Christmas is a time of year that grabs our hearts, whether we like it or not and won’t let go.  Why?  I believe that Christmas engages us like this because of the Hope that is woven throughout the fabric of the season.  Too often life is painful, and disappointing; leading to moments where we are confused and don’t know what to do next, and even if we did know what to do, the means to do

Hi, it’s Eric again, and I am taking some time to answer my friends question, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  To do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.  (Read the previous blog here: http://takingnextstepswithjesus.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-2018-how-can-i-know-that.html ) It’s time to look at our first prophecy, and so we are going to go to the very beginning…well, sort of. If you don’t know the story of the Bible as a whole, let me give you a quick, broad, overview.  The Bible tells us the story of how God chose to, and then did create everything.  The pinnacle of His creation was humans, yup, you and I.  In Genesis 1: 26, 27 the Bible says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’  So God created human beings in his o

Hello this is Eric again.  I am taking some time to answer my friends question, “How can I know that the Bible is true?”  To do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy. (Read the previous blog here: http://takingnextstepswithjesus.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-2018-how-can-i-know-that.html) What is Prophecy?   Prophecy is when God tells someone what is going to happen in the future, and it does.  Why would this matter?  Think about it.  If someone were able to tell you what would happen tomorrow, what would you think?  What questions would you ask?   Something about stocks, or the lottery maybe?  Who wins the game?  What the weather will ‘Really’ be like?  At some point wouldn’t you ask if they were able to see farther than tomorrow?   Or, how in the world did you get this ability?  Isn’t it more realistic to think that we would consider this person a fraud, and look for the trick, or how they are manipulating us?  Wouldn’t you s

Hello this is Eric, and this week I was asked this question, “How do I know that the Bible is true?”  Great question.  Truth is by definition, is logically consistent, and objectively verifiable.  Simply, that means, 2+2=4.   Logically, if I have 2 and add 2 more, I now have 4; and I can verify this by evidence—taking 2 apples, and adding 2 more apples, and now I count them, wallah, I have 4 apples. In Isaiah 42:9 God gives a powerful way that we can know that what He says is true, “‘I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.  Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.’” God tells us the future; And, if it comes to pass like He said it would, it was from Him.  The Bible calls this prophecy.  Because God is not bound by time, and He knows all things, He is able to tell us what will happen in the future.  By watching this we can learn to trust that God&#

A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” —Psalm 50:23a There’s something contagious, and good, and life transforming about being thankful.  I was sitting around a table with a group of my friends (most of these friends have more life under their belts than you and I, and one of our friends put together collectively) and I asked them if any of them didn’t like Thanksgiving; or, if they knew anyone who didn’t like Thanksgiving.  They all said that everyone they knew loved Thanksgiving. I find that interesting.  Holidays are emotionally rich, and sometimes those settings are difficult to wrestle through, but Thanksgiving seems a bit different than the others.  Yes, I know that dealing with the occasional crazy family member presents much fodder for stories, but there is something about Thanksgiving that is, well, different. I think that Psalm 50 will help us understand this.  Psalm 50:23 says, “The one who offers thanksgiving