We will be holding Good Friday and Easter Sunday services! Find out more here

Essentials of Discipleship: Seminar 9 - The Bible

Dear church,

This past Sunday, Elder Thiem Heng taught on the topic of the Bible. The Bible is central to the Christian faith: we believe that it is the divine Word of God, and the eternal source of truth that we live by. The Bible is God’s message of salvation to mankind.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 states: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

It is important that Christians are confident of the accuracy of the Bible. The Bible consists of 66 different books separately recorded in thousands of manuscripts, which display remarkable consistency between each other, without any significant errors. The consistency between the many different manuscripts in which the Bible is recorded allows us to be very certain that the message of the Bible is recorded accurately. In fact, the Bible, in particular the New Testament, is considered to be more accurate than any historical text of equivalent age.

Archeological and historical evidence also supports the truth of the Bible. Certainly, archeology cannot prove that the Bible is the Word of God, but in numerous instances, the Bible has been shown to be consistent with archeological and historical evidence.

The Bible is divinely inspired by God and originates from Him. Yet, God moved different human authors to write down the sixty-six books of the Bible. Thus, while each book of the Bible is part of a coherent whole, each book still exhibits linguistic or stylistic characteristics unique to each author. Hence, even though it was divinely inspired, the Bible is also a very human book.

The Bible reveals to mankind God’s will as to how they should relate with Him and how they should live their lives. Yet, the Bible is far more than just a collection of rules: through the Bible, God gives to sinful man a message of salvation. The salvation plan God has instituted is the only means by which mankind may escape the punishment they deserve and be reconciled to Him. Further, the Bible also encourages and motivates us, and assures us that God will give us the strength and the ability to obey God’s commands.

Question 42 of the New City Catechism asks: “How is the Word of God to be read and heard?” The answer to this is: “With diligence, preparation, and prayer; so that we may accept it with faith, store it in our hearts and practice it in our lives.”

Do join us next week, which will be the last DS session in our old church venue. Chan Kong Wah and Matthew Koh will be teaching on The Lord’s Prayer. As there will be combined English services next Sunday, there will only be one session at 11:15 am.

Ahead of our church’s move to our temporary venue (at The Chapel of the Holy Spirit), please join us in praying that the church will continue to desire to learn more about God’s Word and to worship Him in community in the study of His Word. After the church move, we will have our first DS session on 11 October 2015. DS sessions will be at 5:00 pm after the English service. Senior Pastor Arnold Wong will be teaching on the topic "The Ordinances".

Please feel free to contact any member of the DS Committee if you have any questions or feedback concerning the changes in DS following from the church move.

Blessings,
The Discipleship Seminars Committee