Discovery 101 Session 1: January 8 th, 2012 What We re Going To Do Accomplish 3 Basic Objectives 1) Establish Community 2) Learn Mission 3) Intentional Application 1
What We re Going To Cover 1) God & The Bible 2) Lutheranism 3) Law 4) Gospel 5) Sacraments 6) Church Roots & Purpose 7) The Next Step Our New Life Establish Community De elop fello ship that is more Develop fellowship that is more than Sharing the Peace more than a passing by 2
Christian Community More than 1 or 2 hours on a Sunday morning Ecclesiastes 4:7 12 3
Our Goal: Deeper Community With God and with each other 4
Establishing Community Who are you?! Who am I? Where do we begin? Proverbs 1:7 Who is God? 5
God & His Word: Foundation of Community a) Who God is: Job 10:8 12 Romans 1:18 23 Job 38:8 9, 19 20 Genesis 1 3 Who is God? Genesis 1:26 (Trinitarian NOT polytheistic) John 4:24 (Spirit) Isaiah 44:6 (only One God) 6
Luke 3:21 22 best visual/explanation of the Trinity Who is God? Who is God? Matthew 28:16 20 (Three Persons in the One Godhead and and HEY! He has a mission for us) Psalm 139:1 4 (All Knowing) Matthew 19:26 (Almighty) 1 Corinthians 8:6 (the One we live for) 7
Psalm 86:15 (Patient) Who is God? Ezekiel 18:30 32 (God s value of man & all creation) Isaiah 49:4 6 & John 3:15 21 (Hope, Salvation & Meaning for every life) The Bible: What is it? The word theology means word of God 2 Timothy 3:16 God breathed 2 Peter 1:21 Spoken & given by God to man 8
The Bible: What is it for? John 20:31 believe it LOVE & OBEY Deuteronomy 6:4 9 teach it EQUIP Col. 3:16 17 & Mt. 28:16 20 live IN it SHARE The Bible: Reliable? God s Infallible Word: Infallible absolutely trustworthy; t th exempt from liability to error (courtesy of dictionary.com) Does NOT contradict itself Trustworthy, Reliable & Accurate 9
The Bible: Reliable How do we know the copies we have were accurately tl & reliably passed down over time? The Bible: Reliable Reliability of Old Testament Manuscripts based on3 factors abundance, accuracy & dating 1) abundance Works of antiquity: Plato (7), Thucydides (8), Ceasar s Gallic Wars (10), Tacitus (20), Homer (643 for Illiad) Old Testament: 10,000+ manuscripts 10
The Bible: Reliable Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts: number, accuracy & dating 1) number Homer s Illiad (643) NT manuscripts: Greek (5,664); Latin Vulgate (8,000 to 10,000); Ethiopic, Slavic & Armenian (8,000) = 24,000 NT manuscripts in existence The Bible: Accurate OT Accuracy 95% accurate after 1,000 years of copying (3 rd Century B.C. to 2 nd Century B.C. to 1 st Century A.D.), no change in meaning & almost no changes in wording p. 468 Apologetics Study Bible NT Accuracy not only survived in more manuscripts than any other book from antiquity, but it has survived in a purer form than any other great book a form that is 99.5 percent pure p. 65 Strobel s Case for Christ 11
The Bible: Dating Manuscript Evidence for Ancient Writings Author Witt Written Earliest tcopy Time Span #Mss. 1) Caesar 100 44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,000 yrs 10 2) Plato 427 347 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,200 yrs 7 3) Thucydides 460 400 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,300 yrs 8 4) Tacitus 100 A.D. 1100 A.D. 1,000 yrs 20 5) Suetonius 75 160 A.D. 950 A.D. 800 yrs 8 6) Homer 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs 643 7) N.T 40 100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25 50 yrs 24,000 Establishing Community: Creeds Apostles Nicene Athanasian They are Biblical! Clear! Cultish!* 12
Creeds They are NOT Secretive, man made or cultish What we re saying through them: We believe that Jesus reigns! Summary of our faith like Deuteronomy 6:5 & Matthew 22:34 40 Proverbs 1:7 Fear = Understanding We can t share when we don t understand We can t understand what we don t know We can t know when we don t listen 13
Closing Challenge John 20:31 believe it LOVE & OBEY Deuteronomy 6:4 9 teach it EQUIP Col. 3:16 17 & Mt. 28:16 20 live IN it SHARE Closing Challenge Get in God s Word with other believers!!! This is how we LOVE & OBEY 14
Closing Challenge Love & Obey = first step to becoming A World Changer 15