But don't let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother's milk! There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth
The Best Self Help Book Ever Written..it contains All the subjects in ONE Book!
The Bible is our Instruction Manual for living here on earth. It helps you live to the fullest. When you live your life by using the instructions God left for us, you will experience Peace, Joy and Love like you have never felt. Your life will have meaning and will have direction if you will listen to the wisdom that is given.
We have a human tendency to want to do things our way. What we think is right is right. It's my way or the highway. Unfortunately doing things our way usually drives us down dirt roads and back alleys. We get into messes and conflicts. We can always learn from those mistakes but at some point in life you come to the point where things just don't work out anymore.
This is your wake up call. God is saying to you; please do yourself a favor and get in the passenger seat and let me take the wheel. I wrote the book on how to get where we need to go, so let me show you the way. Unfortunately many people never give up the wheel. They have to be in control. Life dishes out events and diseases that can be used to gain our attention. The whole purpose of these hard times are to get us to wake up and to call upon the one who created us. God is constantly trying to get our attention. It is our choice to listen or to disobey just as a spoiled child does.
Wise people listen to wise advise. The Bible is the Book of Wisdom. Many people do not understand it or think it no longer applies because it was written 2000 years ago. A GOOD book never renders itself useless. It's principals can still apply today just like they did then. People are still people. There were thieves and backstabbers back then just like there are today. There are people who try to do right but do wrong as well. If you seek him he will open the door and let you come in. You can learn things that you never knew before.
Perhaps your parents didn't teach you from the proper instruction book? It doesn't mean you can't learn on your own and teach your children from it. The children of today desperately need the sage advice given in the Bible. With all of the immoral activity going on today we are in desperate need of the advice. Don't ignore the fact that you and your life need new directions. Today is a new day! Today is the day The Lord has Made, Let us Rejoice and Be Glad in It! Start today and your life can be transformed. God wants to speak to you, he wants to help you...seek him with all of your heart and you will find him!
Luke 6:48
"If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss."
"It has been my custom for many years to read the Bible in its entirety once a year" (John Quincy Adams).
"A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education" (Theodore Roosevelt).
"Belief in the Bible, the fruit of deep meditation, has served me as the guide of my moral and literary life. I have found it a capital safely invested, and richly productive of interest" (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
"If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible, our country will go on prospering" (Daniel Webster).
"I believe the Bible is the best gift that God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book. I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go" (Abraham Lincoln).
"The majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the Gospel has its influence on my heart. Pursue the works of our philosophers with all their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible are they, compared with the Scriptures" (Jean Jacques Rousseau).
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible" (George Washington).
"The Bible is the rock on which our republic rests" (Andrew Jackson).
"It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people" (Horace Greeley).
"The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country" (Calvin Coolidge).
"We reject with scorn all these learned and labored myths that Moses was but a legendary figure. We believe that the most scientific view, the most up-to-date and rationalistic conception, will find its fullest satisfaction in taking the Bible story literally" (Winston Churchill).
Why Should we read the Bible?
Simply stated, we should read and study the Bible because it is God's word to us.
2 Timothy 3:16 states that the Bible is "God-breathed." In other words, it is God's Word to us. There are so many questions that philosophers and people have asked that God answers for us in Scripture: What is the purpose to life? Where did I come from? Is there life after death? What happens after death? How do I get to heaven? Why is the world full of evil? Why do I struggle to do good? In addition to these "big" questions, it gives a ton of practical advice in areas such as: What do I look for in a mate? How can I have a successful marriage? How can I be a good friend? How can I be a good parent? What is success and how do I achieve it? How can I change? What really matters in life? How can I live so that I do not look back with regret? How can I please God? How can I gain forgiveness? How can I handle the unfair circumstances and bad events of life victoriously?
We should read and study the Bible because it is totally reliable, without error. The Bible is unique among so-called "holy" books in that it does not merely give moral teaching and say, "trust me." Rather, it gives us the ability to test it by checking the hundreds of detailed prophecies that it makes, by checking the historical accounts it records, and by checking the scientific facts it relates. Those who say the Bible has errors have their ears closed to the truth. Jesus once asked which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or "Rise, take up your bed and walk." Then He proved He had the ability to forgive sins (something we cannot see with our eyes) by healing the paralytic (something those around Him could test with their eyes). Similarly, we are given assurance that God's Word is true when it discusses spiritual areas that we cannot test with our senses, by showing itself true in those areas that we can test (historical accuracy, scientific accuracy, and prophetic accuracy).
We should read and study the Bible because God does not change and because mankind's nature does not change - it is as relevant for us as it was when it was written. While technology changes around us, mankind's desires and nature do not change. You find, as you read the pages of biblical history, that whether you are talking about one-on-one relationships or societies, "there is nothing new under the sun." And while mankind as a whole continues to seek love and satisfaction in all of the wrong places, God, our good and gracious Creator, tells us what will bring us LASTING joy. His revealed Word, the Scriptures, are so important that Jesus said of them, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). In other words, if you want to live life to the fullest as God intended, listen and heed God's written word...it is even more important than eating!
We should read and study the Bible because there is so much false teaching. The Bible gives us the measuring stick by which we can determine truth from error. It tells us what God is like. To have a wrong impression of God is worship of an "idol" or "false god." We are worshiping something that He is not! The Bible tells us how one truly gets to heaven...and it is not by being good or by being baptized, or by anything else we DO (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:1-10; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10f., 5:8; 6:23; 10:9-13). Along this line, God's Word shows us just how much God loves us (Romans 5:6-8; Isaiah 53:1f.). And it is in learning this that we are drawn to love Him in return (1 John 4:19).
The Bible will equip you for serving God (2 Timothy 3:17; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). It will help you know how to be saved from your sin and its ultimate consequence (2 Timothy 3:15). Meditating on it and obeying its teachings will bring success in life (Joshua 1:8; James 1:25). God’s Word will help you see sin in your life and help you get rid of it (Psalm 119:9,11). It will give you guidance in life, making you wiser than your teachers (Psalm 32:8; 119:99; Proverbs 1:6).
The Bible will keep you from wasting years of your life on that which will not last and does not matter (Matthew 7:24-27).
Reading and studying the Bible will help you to see beyond the attractive "bait" to the painful "hook" in sinful temptations, so that you can learn from others' mistakes rather than making them yourself. Experience is a great teacher, but when it comes to learning from sin, it is a terribly hard teacher. It is so much better to learn from others' mistakes. There are so many Bible characters to learn from, both positive and negative role models, both often coming from the same person's life at different points. For example, David, in his defeat of the giant, Goliath, teaches us that God is greater than anything He asks us to face (1 Samuel 17). David, in his giving in to the temptation to commit adultery with Bathsheba, reveals just how long-lasting and terrible the consequences of a "moment's pleasure" can be (2 Samuel 11f.). Knowing the Bible gives us a real hope and peace when everything around us seems to be falling apart (Romans 15:4; Psalm 112:7; Habakkuk 3:17-19).
The Bible is a book that is not for mere reading. It is a book for studying so that it can be applied. Otherwise, it is like swallowing food down without chewing and then spitting it back out again...no nutritional value is gained by it. The Bible is God's Word. As such, it is as binding as the laws of nature. You can ignore it, but you do so to your own hurt, just as you would do so to ignore the law of gravity. It cannot be emphasized strongly enough just how important the Bible is to our lives. Studying the Bible can be compared to mining for gold. If you make little effort and merely "sift through the pebbles in a stream," you will only find a little gold dust. But the more you make an effort to really "dig into it," the more reward you will gain for your effort.
The Purpose of the Bible – 2 Samuel 23:1-2
The Bible is the most powerful book in all of history. Divinely inspired, God’s Word helps us successfully navigate the Christian life. But how is the Bible beneficial? Second Timothy 3:16 explains that “all Scripture is profitable for...”
1. Teaching. When we read God’s Word, we learn more about Him. The Bible teaches how His grace and His justice intersect, and also how He placed His Son Jesus on this earth as a sacrifice.
2. Reproof. The more we read Scripture, the better we will understand it. The Holy Spirit may then bring to mind areas of our lives that cloud our relationship with God.
3. Correction. God’s Spirit wants to do more than simply convict us; He desires to correct sinful areas in our lives.
4. Training in righteousness. Every time we read the Scriptures, God can reveal new truths to us. As we read, pray, and meditate on His Word, we slowly absorb the wisdom and knowledge of God.
What’s more, the Bible makes us adequate (v. 17). No matter what circumstance, trial, or tribulation arises, the truth in Scripture will help us face it effectively. And the same verse says that the Word equips us for good work. The Lord doesn’t save us simply to fill a pew in church; His desire is that we spread His truth to others. Digging into God’s Word enables us to proclaim the gospel of Christ with confidence.
As you read Scripture today, consider which of these ways God is working in you.
