So what are we doing here?

I’ve been here in Tampa, Florida for almost two weeks now and we have met a vast array of different people with all kinds of personalities and backgrounds. One thing that remains the same though is that they are all very intelligent. In fact, most of the people we talk through the Aletheia ministry are smart young adults. Anyone who can study and understand subjects like chemistry, civil engineering, psychology, biology, and any other numerous studies ending in “–ology” is way smarter than me. What we want to do at Aletheia is get people to apply that aptitude towards finding out who God is and what He has to say for Himself in the Bible. The trend for so many churches today, especially ones trying to appeal to our generation, has been to serve watered-down teaching, full of loose theology and dumbed-down messages. Somehow along the lines we were led to believe that we couldn’t possibly know and understand the truths of the Bible and God’s promises and plans for us. The Bible was written is three languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic which are all still spoken today. We have the capability to go back to the original languages and text of the Scriptures and study out exactly what is meant by what we read. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us that, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” We are not left in the dark as to God’s desires and promises for our life. Instead He has, “granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” He attaches that divine power to all that He has given us. The word used for power has the origin of our word “dynamite” it’s from the Greek word dunamis. This is some explosive power that God has attached to everything that He has given us. When Jesus gives His last command in the Great Commission, He told us we were to be out amongst all nations and people “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” He wouldn’t make that command unless He was providing us the power and understanding of the matter as well as the instruction on what we are to be teaching. Likewise, a university wouldn’t hire me to teach organic chemistry and just send me in to instruct a class unless I had the ability to understand the material and had received instruction on the material myself. Let’s stop making excuses and concessions to understanding God’s Truth. God has granted us a pretty amazing opportunity to not just believe but to study why we believe what we believe. God has given us everything we need to know to get connected with Him and a pretty solid Handbook. On top of that, thanks to technology we have easy access to study tools that were only available to Bible scholars with extensive libraries. It’s all right at our fingertips.

If anyone has questions, they are free to come out to our small group and ask. We might not be able to answer right off-hand but we know where to look to get that guidance and will definitely make the effort to find the answers to those questions. I’m really excited to help lead this first small group in getting beyond the surface of the “dumbed-down” messages we hear today and finding the true depth of the Scriptures.

Till next time,
J.R. - Aletheia Tampa