Your Bible and You
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
1. This collection of books is our written authority for life. (II Timothy 3:16-17)
2. We must use it rightly in order to gain accurate insights
-using quotes from the guys in Job as though God said it, is just wrong. It can lead you astray.
-Do you want theology from the book of Job? Quote God himself in the final chapters. Then you are getting truth.
-There are other good examples of this very important Bible interpretation principle.
3. The Bible is daily bread for your spirit. Eat it and gain strength for our race to do God’s will and defeat sin. (Psalms 119:11,89 and 105) I am taking advantage of the daily guide to reading the whole Bible in one year. The reading for that day is listed on each day’s devotional article in the Daily Bread booklet. I hope that many of you are doing the same.
4. God’s moral code is eternally settled. You must deeply know this in order to withstand our culture’s assault on godly living. Some are even attempting to use the Bible to excuse particular sexual sins. However, from Genesis to Revelation, God’s sexual design for people is clear. (II Timothy 3:1-5, Romans 1:24-27, Leviticus 20:13) Our culture will try to seduce you into sex sin and many other popular sins today.
5. The Bible tells us how to be soldiers in God’s army. We learn how to wear God’s spiritual armor. We learn how to be deeply woven into God’s family. We learn how to deal with our flesh, and walk in the Lord’s own strength. We learn of Judgment to come. We learn of eternal rewards and punishment. We learn from the triumphs and tragedies of men and women who came before us. We learn the history of God’s covenants with people. Only the Bible can so equip us.
6. The Bible is under attack as never before in Western culture today. We must learn why it is reasonable to believe that it is trustworthy. There are great tools available to believers today, to assure you that you can trust the Bible’s authenticity and authority. Three of the Gospel writers recorded Jesus’ words when He said “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, by my words shall not pass away. The Roman Emperor before Constantine once boasted that He had eradicated the Bible once and for all. A few years after this man’s death, Constantine proclaimed liberty for all Christians in the Empire, and 50 complete copies of the Bible were quickly brought out of hiding. Tyrants can not eradicate this book, because it is God’s Book.
