We are giving an entire year to studying the Bible at Living Hope. I preach from the Bible every Sunday and throughout the week every week of my life. I have spent over a decade getting a formal education to understand the Bible. Men and women have given their lives to make the Bible available to others.But why? What is it about the Bible that makes it so important? Why is it worth so much time? Why would a person die to enable others to read it?
When I was in college, I had a professor that was a good friend and mentor to me. I had one fatal flaw in his opinion. It drove him crazy that I would only consider an idea true or of value if it aligned with the truth of the Bible.
My professor said to me one day, “Jason, my prayer is that one day you will live your life on a broader foundation than just the Bible.” We then spent some time talking about what that would look like and I listened to what he had to say. Our conversation ended with me saying to him, “If I could find something that was a firm foundation like the Bible I would consider it. But there is no other foundation that I can stand on in life and death.” That is my conviction and my belief.
The Bible is worth reading. Preaching the truth of the Bible is worth my life. It is my life’s wok. It is worth the lives of God’s people to spread it throughout the world.
I listened to a sermon by one of my heroes Pastor Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Community Church. Last week I challenged you to listen to Andy Stanley from Northpoint Community Church. Take some time and go to http://www.northlandchurch.net/Sermons and listen to the sermon from 1/7/07 entitled “Introducing the Bible (True Stories)”. He does a wonderful job explaining the value and importance of God’s Word in our lives.
If you can, post why God’s word is valuable to you and why you read it and sit under the preaching of those who preach it.
3 comments:
I have spent most of my adult life reading, thinking about, and talking about literature--poetry, novels, plays, essays, short stories. Stating the obvious, I know no book as profound as our Bible. Personally, the Bible is my compass, my guide, and my direct line to the Father:
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." (Heb. 4:12-13)
As a teenager, I was that kid "most likely to be a preacher." However, I fell away, to the point of being agnostic really. In a very real sense, I feel like, as Paul says, I was "handed over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and [my] spirit saved on the day of the Lord" (1 Cor. 5:5). In the depths of my depravity and despair, in a place where I (and others) questioned whether I had ever been "saved" to begin, God's Word seemed to lift from the page and spoke to me: "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6) and "It is I; don't be afraid" (John 6:20). In the years since, my understanding of God's love, mercy, patience, peace, and grace has continued to reflect back upon that time in my life. Truly, as I tried to understand what I must do, I gained great assurance from Christ's words, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29).
I have read a lot of books from fiction to non-fiction,etc...The bible is the most powerful book that I know! It is my owner's manual. It instructs me on how I am to live to fulfill my purpose on this earth.I can relate to a lot of the characters in the bible because they were far from perfect, but God's grace and mercy covered them,just as it does us.I stand on Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path". Without the word of God, my path gets very dark and dreary. There is life in the word of God!I have a bible in every room of my house and in my car so that I can always access it for strength, encouragement, correction and instruction in righteous and to be ready to share it whenever the need arises.( I am not bragging about this, because I could always access it more than I do!) My hope,faith and trust is in God and his Word because it is truth.Also, Pastor Jason, I read the chapters in Nehemiah.I cheered Nehemiah on because he didn't come down from the rebuilding to answer his critics ( Sanballat and Tobiah).From this chapter, I learned that it doesn't matter what people say (who are against you), it matters to stay focused on the task that God has for you to do.Everyone have a blessed week and let's continue to walk in the Word.
The answer to the question, "Why is God's word valuable to me, why do I read it, and sit under the preaching of those who preach it?" The Bible is God's book, not Man's book. That is, God wrote it, it is true, and we can depend upon its statements. If it was like all other books, a collection of the writings of men, without any divine guidance from God, then it would not be reliable. It is clear that the Bible is not the work of man, for man could not have written it if he would, and would not have written it if he could. "All scripture is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD."--2nd Timothy 3:16. It is, "God Breathed". God himself or through the Holy Spirit told them just what to write. The Bible, then IS the Word of God. I could list the endless topics that I use the Bible for, but if I had to sum it all up into one sentence I would have to say---- I receive endless Healing in everyway--(spiritually, emotionally, physically, and eternally) from the Bible than I ever could from any man, book, or medical doctor.---- To sit under the preaching of those who preach it encourages me to see God at work. It makes me smile, and laugh that there is no "Book Club" on earth meeting that could ever come within any measurable distant to worshiping in a church where the preaching of the Bible and the Spirit of God continues to be the number #1 Best seller and the number #1 Best author--God himself!
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