Not Reading? Then you are lost! 8-7-31 Kelly Durant
Psalm 119:105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
2. You have often heard it said that the Bible is like a map, and if you use it, you will know from where you started, and to where you need to go to navigate in life. In life all people must study from the books of their professions. For example, how would you feel if a flight attendant said, “I never studied the flight attendant manual, I just know how to wing it?!” People who do not read and get the information needed are in danger and they also can put others in danger! Reading the right things, the things of God, is what matters!
Most of us are lazy to read! For example, we will buy a new desk from IKEA that has 50 screws and 2 dozen boards and we start putting it together like we have done it before but then we get lost, so what do we do then? We go dig the instructions out of the trash! For any sort of guide in life you must have the patience to read, absorb, and then practice because if not, nothing will fit together!
3. The first book in life to read and study and restudy is the Bible! The Bible has proven to educate in abstract thinking and make wiser any reader on all matters concerning most everything! Psalm 19:7 ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.’ Most importantly, it is God’s truth given to us documenting His communications through his chosen ones and it educates us on how to live, what to believe and follow. The written Word confirms to the reader that eternal life can be obtained through Jesus! Eternal life we would never have known about had we not read it and seen it in practice by other Christians!
How many of you here read the Bible daily? You could read just 20 minutes a day and read the entire Bible in one year! We can get one of those reading plans if you want one. Actually, the Bible is like the meat and bread but you also need a salad and dessert. I know I was lost in many parts of the Bible until I got a historical contextual commentary: my first one was Halley’s Handbook. That really helped me mentally organize what happened when and where, and opened my eyes to the reasons why certain events happened as they did with God’s intervention. Who has a concordance or commentary of some kind for your study?
4. Take note on becoming wise from reading God’s law: how many of you are a bit worried about the Zika pandemic? The Lord protects us just as in Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Consider this, did you know in the Dark Ages when the Bubonic Plague spread that the Jews were accused of spreading it? Why? Because few of them died from it so people thought they had secret knowledge to send curses and control it!? But why did they not get sick as others? Anyone have a guess? It was because of something simple, they washed their hands and the regular people did not!
Exodus 30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
5. With science today we can affirm Kosher mandates from the Pentateuch are practices that protects everyone’s health, wealth, and spirit from outside attacks. So reading the Bible will enrich the reader with practical applications, apart from it being the inspired God breathed truth which divinely works wonders.
Touching on reading the Bible as the inspired Word of God (not just for information), how do we explain that millions have read from it and millions of people have been inexplicably touched and they even cry when reading it? Have you ever cried reading it? I have! How do words from a book totally change a person’s appetites, goals, and passions in life? The only explanation is it is divine! There is no book like this one!
Nehemiah 8:9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, “This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.” What is the context here? The people had been living many years without hearing God’s word and when it was read it touched them so much they wept! I long for that day, to see people come to God with total sincerity, to read and hear the Word, and react profoundly to it!
6. Now that you are convinced of your need to read the Bible, let’s discuss what else we need to read. What would you suggest? I suggest the daily news, history, computer media, and publications of Christians and especially of your church! How many of you read these, The War Cry, The southern Spirit, and others? If you do not read these articles then I know you will look at me like I am crazy when I tell you we may be working with new immigrants, or…
It bothers me somewhat that we pay money for 200 magazines a month and most of them sit there unread. It means that many of our own Soldiers are in ignorance of all the anti-trafficking programs, and new ideas and ways of serving others that many Corps worldwide are pioneering. Who wants one of these now?
Also, a bit discouraging is how most people, even many here, could care less what I say or write. I put up a blog of my sermons and how many have ever visited there? For example, one person left our Corps a few months ago after I preached comparing 5 common points of great men, comparing St. Francis and William Booth, and I was accused of heresy for praising the Catholic Church? What ignorance! St. Francis love, deeds, and compassion for the poor was a rebuke to the Catholic church! Hum, my conclusion is some people in life are destined to never learn much because they do not stop their own brains to listen and read and absorb and mature!
7. Hosea 4:6a My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.
Referring to what you read for knowledge of God and the world, you must filter it taking out impurities like these Brita water filters as in 1 Peter 3:11 ‘Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.’ Billy Graham said we need the Bible in one hand, and the daily news in the other. I read many articles and opinions on world events. Please, seek alternative medias!
Most news outlets today are discredited and not-so-popular anymore such as news groups such as MSNBC & CNN that report misinformation for their owners globalists agendas. They make one feel stupid because you and I can discern that they think you are so ignorant to believe their misconstructions and distortions! This spirit is affecting people in the general public and today most people go with any half-truth or outright lie and repeat it as truth! This practice is wreaking havoc in our institutions and churches! I have always been angry with Univision for their shallow reporting and usual silly programs with girls in bikinis dancing for mariachis. The idea is to distract and corrupt with a barrage of low class passions so in your ignorance you are manipulated by what is hidden.
8. Look how not reading is costing us! The non-discerning non-Christian masses get fooled and side tracked because most people are ignorant of the history that shapes our world today and this ignorance of many things in general is scary because many of these people are in power! When certain political people control the big news groups, as they do now here, then the people obey as sheep to the slaughter.
Christians must seek out alternative news groups but sadly one day all the internet will be controlled to eliminate this freedom as it is in China. In China the government blocks all sites contrary to their agendas and it is slowly happening here. Ignorance is not bliss, it is slavery!
The ignorance of correct information in early Castro’s Cuba caused people to turn in their guns and 3 days later Castro declared he actually was Communist! Just 30 years earlier everyone turned over their guns to Hitler for his total despotic murderous agenda! Always filter, what is their political party, agenda, and deeds. Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
9. I am so glad my daughter likes to read but I observe many young people do not read anything anymore and they only watch YOUTUBE video clips.
Electronically you should visit the Salvation Army USA site, or the Youth Down South site, who has ever been there? Well, younger folks, mentor these ones who need help, okay? The media may have a lot of evil but we use it for good, amen? I got use to tuning into the daily news because in Bolivia, for example, the radio or newspaper might read, ‘Oil companies declare a strike’, interpretation: With no bus service I am going to walk everywhere so I need to get out early! We need the news to know who to pray for.
There are Christian web sites that show dozens of thousands living in tents displaced from the ISIS invasions, and the main stream news does not consider that this is important. How sad!
In the world, Satan will always be deceiving us with lies. We must be diligent to not be ignorant of anything! It is up to each one of us to do our homework and study God’s word! 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
