Opening Scriptures before the Message
Isaiah 55:11 Jerusalem Reader's for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and
teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.
The value of Prophesy
2 Peter 1:19-21 So we have confirmation of what was said in prophecies; and you will be right to depend on prophesy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star in your minds.
At the same time, we must be most careful to remember that the interpretation of scriptural prophesy is never a matter for the individual.
Why? Because no prophesy ever came from man's initiative. When men spoke for God it was the Holy Soirit that moved them.
How to hear and understand the Gospel
IV. The Speeches of Yahweh
First Speech
Job must bow to the Creator's Wisdom
Job 38:1-3 Then from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gave Job his answer. He said:
Who is this obscuring my designs with his empty-headed words?
Brace yourself like a fighter; now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me.
Second Speech
God is master of the forces of evil
Job 40:6-7 Yahweh gave Job his answer from the heart of the tempest. He said:
Brace yourself like a fighter, now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me.
Job 42:4-8 (Listen, I have more to say, now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me."
I knew you then only by hearsay; but now, having seen you with my own eyes,
I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent.
V. Epilogue
Yahweh rebukes the three Sages
When Yahweh had said all this to Job, he turned to Eliphaz of Teman. 'I burn with anger against you and your two friends' he said 'for not speaking
truthfully about me as my servant Job has done. So now find seven bullocks and seven rams, and take them back with you to my servant Job and offer a holocaust for yourselves, while Job, my servant, offers prayers for you. I will listen to him with favour and excuse your folly in not speaking of me properly
Israel has no Excuse
Romans 10:14-17 But they will not ask his help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless
they get a preacher, and they will never have a preacher unless one is sent, but as scriptures says; The footsteps of those who bring good news is a welcome sound.
Not everyone, of course, listens to the Good News. As Isaiah says: Lord, how many
believed what we proclaimed? So faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of Christ.
Acts 26:17-18 have seen me, and of others in which I shall appear to you. I shall deliver you
from the people and from the pagans, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, and receive, through faith in me, forgiveness of their sins and a share in the inheritance of the sanctified."
Romans 15:4-8 of scripture--the insults of those who insult you fall on me--apply to him. And indeed everything that was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to teach us something about hope from the examples scriptures gives of how people who
did not give up were helped by God. And may he who helps us when we refuse to give up, help you all to be tolerant with each other, following the example
of Christ Jesus, so that united in mind and voice you may give glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
An Appeal for unity
It can only be to God's glory, then, for you to treat each other in the same
friendly way as Christ treated you. The reason Christ became the servant of circumcised Jews was not only so that God could faithfully carry out the promises