Topic

Encounters, Truth and the Word

Key Scripture

Acts of the Apostles 26:13,22
[13]About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.
[22]But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen

Digest

“Encounter”, that’s one experience a lot of believers hope to have…an encounter with the Lord. Encounters are amazing, and those experiences could go a long way to changing a believers life, but we need to bridge the gap between an encounter, it’s purpose, and how we are to relate it to the truth.

First off, as believers, our authority is God’s word. Nothing more, and nothing less than the word, anything outside of the word (the bible) should be discarded when dealing with Christian matters, most especially when it comes to the gospel. I’ve heard a lot of people preach their supposed encounters with God claiming that it is a message from God to the people, however, we need to understand that every information that God would have wanted to pass across to the people, He placed it in the word.

Our key scripture, highlights something really amazing. Apostle Paul had had an encounter with Jesus, and He was narrating the experience, to explain His growth in Christianity, however, he sighted something key in the twenty second verse, and it’s that he preached nothing other than what was in scripture (“what Moses and the prophets testified would happen”). His encounter was not his message, his message was Jesus, as Jesus was who the scripture spoke about.

John 5:39 – “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

You need to learn to stick with scriptures. Encounters are not the message we’ve been called to preach. They are personal, and are used by God to point you or drive you to carry out an action, but the encounter does not and should not become the message. For those who are seeking encounters, it’s great and you should keep on hoping for an encounter, however, do not let it consume you, so much so that it becomes your focus. Faith in Jesus is not based on encounters, but on His finished work on the cross, and what it affords us today. If you are seeking an encounter to fully trust God, then maybe you don’t really believe.

John 20:29 – Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Blessed are those, that’s talking about us, those who have not seen Jesus, but we trust Him for salvation, we are blessed folk. Focus more on the word, it’s the best place to be as a believer.