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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:38:29 GMT -5
God Wrote a Book. By Dr. James MacDonald
A Supernatural Book The Bible is a supernatural book. People who have never read it think that it is old and outdated and irrelevant, like a car repair manual from the 1920’s. But the only people who think that are those who have never read the Bible with an open heart. Those who do find at least three things:
The Bible is gripping. Hebrews 4:12 says “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit . . . to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It has a way of grabbing your attention.
John MacArthur tells the story of an abortionist who came to see him. The man said, “I kill babies for a living. I am so filled with guilt, and it won’t go away.” MacArthur gave him a Bible and said, “Here, read this. Why don’t you start with the Gospel of John and ask yourself as you read, ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’” When the man left, some of those standing by wondered if their pastor had done the right thing. Given the man’s background, wouldn’t the Bible just confuse him? A week later the man returned, saying, “I know who Jesus is! He is the Son of God! He died for our sins and rose again. And if we repent of our sins and believe in Him, we can be forgiven!” MacArthur said, “That’s not the Gospel of John.” The man replied, “I know. I was so excited I read the Book of Romans, too!”
Have you been gripped like that? Have you opened your heart and allowed the truths of God’s Word to penetrate your life and change you? Once you get a hold of the Bible, it gets a hold of you.
The Bible is comforting. When you are hurting, when you are discouraged, you can turn to the Bible to find the comfort you need. As a pastor, I have prayed with many people who were going through some hard times. Despite the fact they faced an uncertain future, reading the Bible brought them such comfort. Do you know what I am talking about? When you’re down or discouraged and you pick up God’s Word, it comforts and strengthens you. It is able to do that because it wasn’t just written by men; God wrote it.
The Bible is convicting. Even when someone who is not especially smart (like me) opens the Bible and begins to tell the things that are in it, it penetrates deep within. Sometimes when I preach, I see people under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. With tears streaming down their cheeks, they can hardly even look up because God has taken His Word and convicted their hearts. The Bible is convicting because it is God’s book. He uses the message in it to get into people’s hearts.
If you have your Bible, pick it up and ponder this: God wrote the book you are holding in your hand. You had better be thinking of what it says. You had better be studying it. I challenge you to read through it this coming year. Read three chapters a day and let its truths transform your life. It will be a great adventure, because it is a supernatural book.
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:39:00 GMT -5
The Greatest Book Ever Written Do you like to read a good book? I do, but finding one can be a challenge. Solomon said in his day, “The writing of many books is endless” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). Imagine what he’d say about our bookstores and libraries! You walk in and there are so many titles to choose from. Where do you start? How do you find a good one?
Many readers rely on the recommendations of others. They ask friends or find out what’s on the New York Times Bestseller List. If a book comes highly recommended, it’s more likely to be a good book.
What if I told you about a book that’s been recommended by not one or two people, but by millions? What if this book has sold enough copies to be first on the List every week for the past several centuries? There is one book like that. Do you know what it is? It’s the Bible.
The Bible has been read by more people in more languages than any other book in human history. The entire Bible has been translated into 400 different languages, and portions of it into nearly 2500 languages. Many of these tongues would not even have a written language if Bible translators had not gone in to learn them.
The British Foreign Bible Society once reported that it had to publish 32,876 copies of the Bible every day in order to meet the demand. That’s more than one copy every three seconds, day and night. Every year Gideon’s International places and distributes more than 56 million copies of Scripture worldwide. That’s more than one million copies of God’s Word every week. With a total circulation well into the billions, the Bible is by far the preeminent book in the world.
That’s not all. The Bible’s influence on other books has been incalculable. More books have been written about the Bible than any other subject, and more authors quote the Bible than any other source. Bernard Ramm says, “From the Apostolic Fathers dating from a.d. 95 to modern times there is one great literary river inspired by the Bible—Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, Bible lexicons, Bible atlases, and Bible geographies. These may be taken as a starter. Then at random we may mention the vast bibliographies around theology, religious education, hymnology, missions, the biblical languages, church history, religious biography, devotional works, commentaries, philosophy of religion, evidences, apologetics, and on and on.” There is an endless river of books streaming from the greatest book ever written.
You say, “Hang on a for a minute. The Bible may be a great religious book, but what about the Koran? What about the book of Mormon? What about books on Eastern religions?” Professor M. Montiero Williams (not to be confused with Montel Williams!) spent forty-two years studying Eastern religious books. Comparing them with the Bible, he said, “Pile them, if you will, on the left side of your study table; but place your own Holy Bible on the right side—all by itself, all alone—and with a wide gap between them. For there is a gulf between it and the so-called sacred books of the East, which severs the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever . . . a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science or religious thought.”
The Bible is preeminent among all the books ever published in the history of the world, religious or otherwise. There is nothing that even comes close. So the next time you walk into your local bookstore or library, and you’re looking for a great book to sink your teeth into, remember that the greatest book is already waiting for you—maybe back home. You’ll never find one better, or one more deserving of a careful reading, than the Bible.
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:39:27 GMT -5
Under Attack! In case you haven’t noticed, the Bible is under attack.
The ACLU is applying continual pressure to have the Ten Commandments removed from courtrooms across the nation. Teenagers in some public high schools are being told they can’t bring their Bibles to school because of the “separation of church and state.” One Florida school is being sued because it dared to teach the Bible as history, not as religious myth. It goes without saying that the Bible is ever and always under attack. No other book has been so burned and banned and outlawed. From Roman emperors to communist leaders to college professors, everyone seems to take it upon themselves to attack God’s book.
Why this book? Why not the Koran? Why not the Book of Mormon? Why not the books of the various Eastern religions? Go to a university and try to find someone attacking them. No, they are lifted up. Why? Because all those who do not belong to God can tolerate all manner of falsehood and yet hate the one book that calls them to the only source of hope—Jesus Christ.
Despite all of the attacks over the centuries, the Bible has been supernaturally preserved. Just one illustration of this will suffice. You may have heard of Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778. He was quoted as saying that one hundred years from his lifetime Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes. In fact, Voltaire’s house was purchased by the Geneva Bible Society about fifty years after his death. The house of the man who gave his life to wiping out the influence of the Bible became a printing press where thousands of Bibles were produced and distributed. Now that is an irony of history!
The fact that the Bible has survived centuries of attack is irrefutable evidence that it is a supernatural book. The Bible has been uniquely preserved because Almighty God wrote it and is taking care of it. Anyone who sets out to destroy the Bible is not going against man; he’s going against God, and that is why such attacks will always fail. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend my life trying to get God’s book out of circulation. Would you?
Since the Bible is God’s book, let me encourage you to be bold with it. Don’t just bring it to church with you on Sunday morning; take it to work, school, restaurants, or wherever you go. Then, when you find a quiet moment, you can open it up and read a Psalm or memorize a verse or share its contents with a friend. Don’t be afraid of what others will think. The Bible has survived innumerable attacks. It will be able handle anything else that comes its way.
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:40:00 GMT -5
Don’t Mess with God’s Book It is a serious thing to tamper with the Word of God. Revelation 22:19 says: if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city. Note that the emphasis is not on the concepts or the thoughts, but on the very words. God doesn’t want people messing with His book; He doesn’t want people changing it; He doesn’t want people adjusting it. Yet there are some very troubling trends in the church today. Let me mention three.
First, the emphasis on study notes over the sacred text. It really bothers me to turn through the pages of a Bible and find that the notes are written in the same font right alongside God’s Word. Some people spend more time reading the notes than what God actually wrote, or else they give them the same authority as the verses. Now I am not saying, “Lose your study Bible.” I’m saying that when you pick up God’s Word, make sure you’re learning it—that you’re a student yourself and not so reliant on others that you can’t come up with your own insights. People have been understanding God’s Word without notes for thousands of years. Are we to suppose that the most educated group of people who ever lived must be treated like a bunch of morons who can’t understand anything? That they need someone’s interpretation of every single word?
Here’s a second trend that concerns me: marketing the package instead of the content of the Bible. Years ago all you needed to say was: “Hey. I’ve got a book that will change your life.” But that’s not enough anymore. Now we’ve got to package the Bible for each demographic segment of society: the High School Bible, the College Bible, the Worship Bible, the Seeker Bible, the Revival Bible, the Senior’s Bible, the Little Kid’s Bible. It’s out of control! Where did this idea come from? Did it come from people who want to get God’s life-changing truth into the hands of people, or from those who want to profit from the Word of God? Next we’re going to have the Farmer’s Bible, but then we’ll need a Crop Farmer’s Bible because the crop farmer is a lot different than a livestock farmer! Is this where we’re headed?
Here’s the third trend: the emphasis on readability over accuracy in translation theory today. For two thousand years people translated the New Testament with one primary agenda: accuracy. They tolerated translations that were awkward at times because they believed that the Holy Spirit chose the words; they wanted to know what God really said. But nowadays people are like, “Just make it readable. People will never understand that; smooth it over.” So they are dumbing down the Bible. It’s getting scary. If you pick up some of the modern translations, they’re really nothing more than paraphrases.
I thought it would be kind of fun to produce a Gen-X Bible. So I worked on Luke 15:14 from the story of the Prodigal Son: “So the dude looks in his bag for a bit more green and it’s like bone-dry. To make it worse, there’s was like no food anywhere—not even a can of bean dip or something. You know how bad you can get the munchies if you’ve been partying. So this guy is completely bent over with a hunger problem and his formerly full pockets are way empty.”
Is that where we want to go with the Bible? I’m telling you, that’s where we’re headed. We need a group of people who will stand up for verbal inspiration. The Holy Spirit chose the words, and the words matter! If it’s awkward to understand them sometimes, then stretch yourself! Remember: God wrote a book; the Holy Spirit chose the words. Some people say, “But Lord, we’re helping people understand Your Word.” God’s like, “Whew! I couldn’t have done it without you.”
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:40:24 GMT -5
What is the Bible Good For? The big question in the day and age in which we live is: What is something good for? People aren’t interested so much in what it is or how it got here; they want to know if it has any practical value. Does it work? Will it help?
Some people ask, “What is the Bible good for?” That’s a fair question, and I believe very strongly that God’s Word is up to the challenge. God doesn’t shrink back in any way and go, “Oh boy. I hope you can find some useful things in My Word.” Not at all. The Bible is sufficient. It is 100% accurate in all that it asserts, and it contains all truth essential for human happiness.
You might be saying, “Hang on for a second. Is the Bible a book about science? Does the Bible supercede studies on anthropology and psychology and sociology? I mean, what kind of book is this exactly? It’s not a cook book, right? It’s not a car repair manual. What do you mean when you say the Bible has all of the information that we really need? What do you mean when you say that the Bible is sufficient?”
First, the Bible is accurate. If it speaks to an issue, you can be certain that what it says is true. So when someone is out studying or digging or experimenting and sees some things that make him think he’s discovered a “truth” that contradicts the Bible, he’s wrong. He’d better go back and study some more. Many times people have thought, “We’ve figured it out! Here’s something in the Bible that we can prove false.” Then years later they’re like, “Oops!” So I’m standing by the truth: The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it asserts.
Second, the Bible contains all truth essential for human happiness. Now I’m not saying that all truth is in the Bible. I often hear people say things like,
“The Bible has all the answers.” “The Bible is sufficient for every problem a person faces.” “The Bible has all the information that we need.” That sounds right. I mean, I certainly don’t want to be guilty of downplaying the impact of God’s Word. But 2 + 2 = 4 is not anywhere in the Bible. There are lots of true things that are not in the Bible.
We believe (I hope you believe) that the Bible contains all the truth essential for human happiness. Man has never discovered a single piece of information that is essential for human happiness apart from God’s Word. Oh, some helpful things maybe—if you plant your tulips this way, they’ll grow bigger. Very helpful, thank you, but not essential. Every piece of essential information is in God’s Word, because He loves us. He doesn’t want us to be without anything that we need to experience life to its fullest.
So if you’re still wondering what the Bible is good for, read what David wrote in Psalm 19:7-9:
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
Would you like your soul restored? Do you need wisdom? How would you like to have a deep, abiding joy in your heart? All of these things are found in God’s Word. It is sufficient; it is accurate; it has everything you need to be truly happy.
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:40:57 GMT -5
Pick It Up If you want to benefit from the Bible, you’ve got to pick it up. It’s not doing any good on your desk. It’s not doing any good on your shelf. It doesn’t matter if you have a nice one on the coffee table, or a great one in the glove compartment of your car. The Bible is not some magical book that does something for you if you just keep it close to your heart. The Bible does nothing for you unless you pick it up.
We surveyed a hundred people with this question: Name a reason people give for not reading the Bible. Here’s the top four answers:
Number four: “It’s not interesting.” I know some people feel this way, but it’s because they don’t know how to study it for themselves. The Bible is incredibly interesting if you know how to dig out what’s in there.
Number three: “I forget to read it.” These people leave church fired up about the Bible, but by the time Monday comes around they are occupied with other things. The Bible gets lost in the shuffle.
Number two: “I don’t understand it.” People say this because they pick the wrong place to start. They think, “Well, I’ve heard of the book of Revelation, so maybe I’ll start there.” Let me tell you, picking up the Bible and starting in Revelation asking a first-grader to begin with algebra or calculus! Until you’ve done 2 + 2 = 4, you can’t do calculus. And until you’ve read the Gospel of John and some other basic passages, you cannot do the book of Revelation. Apart from that, the Bible is not as difficult as you might think.
And now, the number one reason people give for not reading the Bible: “I’m too busy.” We think we just don’t have the time. But that is so lame; we have to make time. What food is to the body, the Bible is to the spirit. We’re often starving our spirits because we’re not feeding on God’s Word.
I was talking with one of my elders, and he told me about a business trip where he went to the back of the plane to spend some time feeding his soul from God’s Word. He said, “As I walked off the plane, I couldn’t help but notice that littering the seats were all kinds of papers and magazines: USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune,New York Times. They had been read and thrown down, and that was the end of it. But under my arm—and in my heart—was the eternal Word of God.” As Isaiah said, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8).
Let me ask you: How many times this past week did you touch a newspaper? How many times did you touch a magazine? How many times did you touch the remote control? (I can never find the stinking thing!) How many times did you touch the keys of your computer? Now, how many times did you pick up God’s Word? How many times did you pick up the book that God wrote? It’s sad that we make all kinds of time for the words of men, and yet we’re “too busy” to pick up and read the Word of God. So, what are you waiting for? Pick it up!
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Post by JasonPensa on Oct 14, 2003 0:45:03 GMT -5
Eat It Up God’s Word is food for our souls. Scripture says: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). These Scriptures teach that we have to eat up God’s Word if we want to grow in our faith. Now some people are hungry for God’s Word, but they want someone else to feed them all the time. They wait for the Sunday sermon or listen to radio preachers or rely on their small group leader to teach them; they never crack open the Bible and feed themselves. Then they wonder why they’re not becoming spiritually mature. They wonder why they’re not getting victory over sin in their lives. Do you want to grow in your faith? Do you want to become spiritually mature? If so, you’ve got to learn how to feed yourself on God’s Word. You say, “Well how do I do that?” I’m so glad you asked. Here are five things: First, you need to read it. If you haven’t read the Bible for awhile, start in the gospel of John. Underline every time you see the word believe. Then go to 1, 2, and 3 John. Then look at Acts. That’ll keep you busy for awhile. I suggest that you read two or three chapters at a time. Give yourself at least fifteen minutes. If you read the Bible before you go to bed, don’t do that “lay-on-the-couch” thing. Sit at a table, lean forward, get a pen in your hand, and pay attention. If you’ll adopt a serious posture, you’ll get a serious result. Second, question it. You say, “Well what questions should I ask?” Here are seven questions to ask when feeding on God’s Word. “What portion stands out to me?” You read two or three chapters, and find yourself drawn back to one passage. “Why does this have my attention?” “Is there an example for me to follow?” I can’t tell you how many times God’s Word has penetrated my heart just by saying those simple words. It jumps right off the page: “You should be more like that!” “Is there an error for me to avoid?” God’s Word warns us about wrong beliefs or behaviors we need to give up. “Is there a duty for me to perform?” Is God’s Word saying, “Do this!”? “Is there a promise for me to claim?” God’s Word brings comfort and encouragement. It causes me to say, “Yes God! You are like this, and You’ve promised to be this way for me!” Lastly, “Is there a sin for me to confess?” Ask these seven questions and you will get more out of God’s Word than you would simply reading it. Third, plan it. This is where most people blow it. Make a plan for what you’re going to do with what God’s been teaching you. Keep a journal. Write some notes in your Bible. You cannot download the benefit of the truth of God’s Word unless you make a plan—a plan of action that is bothspecific and measurable. Fourth, pray it. Pray the words of Scripture back to God with confidence. If it’s in God’s Word, you can be sure that God is committed to it. As you begin to pray His Word back to Him, something phenomenal happens. There is an incredible power when you open a passage and say, “God, You’re like this, and You’ve promised to do this.” Fifth, share it. When you’ve learned something from God’s Word, you have to share it with somebody else. You have to tell it to your spouse or your roommate or to a friend at school or to a Christian co-worker or somebody at your church. Then you’re sharing with other people and not relying on others to feed you all the time; you’re becoming mature in your faith. God’s Word is food for your soul. The more you read it, question it, plan it, pray it and share it, the more you will grow in your faith and become a mature believer. Are you doing this? Or are you still being sthingy-fed by your pastor? If you are ever going to grow up into all that God wants you to be, you’ve got to start feeding yourself on His Word. So open your Bible and eat it up! The above articles can all be found at the Walk in the Word website. Click here for the archive listing of articles by my pastor, Dr. James MacDonald.His Servant, Jason
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Post by RaceWright on Dec 4, 2003 22:32:18 GMT -5
Praise the Lord that Jason holds the Bible in high regard!! Stay firm in the faith, run the race to the end and fight the good fight. I find that Answers in Genesis is a good organization which seeks to reaffirm the Bible status in society today. They seek to be Biblical and have great answers to many of the questions raised on the Bible's fundamentals, especially creation issues. I would strongly recommend visiting the site, especially if you have nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon. answersingenesis.org/ Blessings in Christ
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Post by wowposter on Sept 17, 2008 5:11:53 GMT -5
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Post by wowposter on Sept 17, 2008 23:39:51 GMT -5
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Post by wowposter on Oct 30, 2008 5:32:39 GMT -5
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Post by wowposter on Nov 14, 2008 1:07:36 GMT -5
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