Receiving God's Words today

At Glen Waverley Anglican Church last Sunday, we commenced a sermon series helping us as a church focus on reading, listening and applying God's Word in our lives today. We have encourgaed people to purchase and read the book by Rev'd Dr Peter Adam, "WRITTEN FOR US - God's words written for his people by his Spirit about his Son" I was pleased to be able to launch the series with a talk on the importance of "Receiving God's Words" My starting point was a review of the words God has spoken to his people in the past, recoginising (as developed within P Adams book) the the words of God are (1) Relational, (2) Powerful and (3) Life-shaping. As I explored the theme of this weeks address, I realised that a key question for us is "How might we receive God's words today, other than through the Holy Scriptures (Bible) ? At the outset, I want to state for the record that I hold to the orthodox starting (and concluding) point that the Holy Scriptures (the Bible) are the ultimate authority in all matters of life and conduct, because God, through his Spirit has inspired such writtings. This is why we acknowledge that the Bible is "The Word of God"

The question arises however, in what way might God speak his words to us today? First and formost, God does speak his words to us through the Bible. He also can and does speak to us directly other than through the Bible. This is not to say that every word that someone believes God has spoken to them, actually stems from God however. In 1 Corinthians 14:29, Paul exhorts the Church to "weigh" what the prophet may say, in order to be sure that it is in keeping with sound (biblical) teaching.

Some argue that the prophetic gift ceased at the time of the close of the canon, the time when the inspired scriptures, encompassing the Hebrew scriptures and the recognised God inspired writings of the New Testament Scriptures. It appears to me that such an arguement is made on the basis of scripture and experience, which is in itself an interesting starting point for evangelical theologians. So.... what is a biblically justifiable conclusion? More later !