Bible

I remember the days before there was GPS. I would order road maps from AAA, or purchase a Thompson Map. I would study the map to get a clear idea of how to reach my destination. In every situation, the road map got me to where I needed to be.

We know that God’s Word is profitable in every area of life and ministry (2 Timothy 3:16). But how often do we purposefully give it entrance into our lives?

I remember well the first Bible word study I ever did. It was an easy word. I already knew what it meant…or at least I thought I did. On that day one word opened up one of the greatest principles in Scripture to me. The word is found in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I love my Bible! The more I consider it, the more I realize God loved me enough to give me a letter of love–filled with power, correction, guidance, and grace. It is a wonderful book, echoing the words of David when he spoke about the sword of Goliath, “There is none like it, give it me.” Truly there is none like it!

Have you ever been to a nursery? Not the one with screaming children, but one with thousands of plants? We have a nursery right in front of our house and it is huge! I often wonder how much water and plant food they go through each week.

The Christmas season is always a time of challenge and wonder in the area of preaching. One of my favorite texts comes from Luke chapter two where Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the temple.

The Bible perseveres throughout the course of history. Everything else comes and goes. People, cultures, and nations are like grass and flowers—slowly dying and eventually withering away; but God’s Word abides forever.

Every week, I have the exciting opportunity to sit across the table from a young Christian and study God’s Word during our church’s discipleship time. At the end of each lesson, I usually ask the lady I’m studying with what stood out to her the most and if she has any questions we didn’t already answer.

Have you ever felt so bombarded with choices that you didn’t have the clarity to even think? A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel with my husband to New Jersey. Some dear friends picked us up from the airport, and we had an enjoyable dinner together followed by dessert at their home.

The Bible is the most powerful book ever written. It is the very voice of God for us to hear; the very words of God for us to learn. Consider the magnificent description of the Bible in Hebrews 4:12.

If you were to ask the average Christian which book means the most to him out of every book he has ever read or owned, I believe most would say the Bible. But I wonder how many Christians are actually benefiting from it in a real and practical way on a regular basis. We don’t get the benefits of God’s Word by setting a Bible on the coffee table or carrying a Bible to church.

We live in a culture that openly rejects and rebels against proper authority. The latest manifestation of this trend was the “occupy” demonstrations. Some of the protesters did not like the fact that they are expected to pay back money loaned to them for their college education, so they rebelled against taxpayers who funded the program that loaned them the money.

There is a book that has divided families, devastated philosophies, and destroyed the following of some of the world’s best-known religions. It proclaims itself to be superior to science, more honest than historians, and the only firm foundation on which to build our lives. People have been derided for believing it, attacked for possessing it, jailed for disseminating it, and martyred for refusing to deny it. Liberals loathe it, courts outlaw it, politicians run from it, the media scorns and fears it simultaneously.

In my article 5 Reasons to Use the King James Version, I said that some of the features most criticized in the King James Bible are among the best reasons to keep it! For example, consider the thee’s and thou’s. The King James Version was not written in the everyday language of people on the street in 1611.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, members of Lancaster Baptist Church and students of West Coast Baptist College passed out over 10,000 copies of the New Testament. The blessings from this effort were great. Many more people were saved during this effort than during the same time last year.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized a new translation of the Bible into the English Language. That Authorized Version was released in May of 1611.

Whereas Peter spoke of something more sure, today’s believer is constantly bombarded with a newer and better translation that does not generate more trust. Rather, it generates confusion, doubt, dissension, and unending debate.

The multiplication of “modern language” English Bibles is one of the most important religious phenomena of recent years. The abandonment of the King James Bible by churches has not been a good thing.

I recently shared these 15 nuggets of wisdom from D.L. Moody with our church staff. They were obviously mined from a consistent walk with the Lord and great experience in ministry.