Vox Scriptura
Vox Dei
The Voice of
Scripture is the Voice of God
Peace Youth Group
Spring Break 2002
Written by Nate Archer
“If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be
to stop folk from digging into the Bible.”
-J.I. Packer
Sunday,
March 31
The
Devil vs. God’s Word
Individual
study: On your own, look up each of these verses and fill in the blanks. (These
are all from the New International Version of the Bible.) Take time to think
about each of these passages and what they mean. If you finish before everyone
else is done, take time to write notes about the importance of these passages,
or start to answer the "group discussion" questions on your own. (Do
this for the "individual study" section every night.)
–2 Peter 1:19-21
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and
you will do _______ to _______ ______________ to it, as to a light shining in a
dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no
____________ of _____________ came about by the _______________ own
interpretation. For prophecy _________
had it’s ___________ in the will of _______, but men spoke from God as they
were___________ __________ by the _________ _______________.
·
Why
would we “do well to pay attention to” God’s Word?
Group discussion:
“If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop
folk from digging into the Bible.
Knowing that it is the Word of God, teaching men to know and love and
serve the God of the Word, I should do all that I could to surround it with the
spiritual equivalent of pits, thorn hedges and man traps, to frighten people
off.” -J.I. Packer
·
J.I.
Packer has said that if he were the devil, he would do everything in his power
to keep people from studying the Bible.
Do you think that’s true? List
as many reasons as possible why Satan would want to do that.
“The devil has ever shown a mortal spite and hatred towards that holy book, the Bible: he has done all in his power to extinguish that light. He is engaged against the Bible and hates every word in it” -Jonathan Edwards
·
What
strategies do you think the devil uses to keep you from reading and/or
absorbing the Bible? As a group, list
as many as you possibly can.
“The
Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” –D.L. Moody
·
Do
you agree with the quote by D.L. Moody?
How so?
·
Have
you found that to be true in your life?
Can you give an example?
·
Which
one of these strategies has the devil been the most successful in using to keep
you out of the Word?
·
Now
that you have realized one of Satan’s best strategies to keep you out of God’s
Word, what are you going to do about it?
“How [would I keep
people from digging into the Bible]?
Well, I should try to distract all clergy from preaching and teaching
the Bible, and spread the feeling that to study this ancient book directly is a
burdensome extra which modern Christians can forgo without loss. I should broadcast doubts about the truth
and relevance and good sense and straightforwardness of the Bible, and if any
still insisted on reading it I should lure them into assuming that the benefit
of the practice lies in the noble and tranquil feelings evoked by it rather
than in noting what Scripture actually says.
At all costs I should want to keep them from using their minds in a
disciplined way to get the measure of its message.”
-J.I. Packer
Ø Close in prayer, asking God to help
you to stay armed with the sword of the Spirit. Ask him to help you do what it takes to make the Word of God a
part of you so that you can use it to fight against the devil’s schemes.
“Here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” –R.C. Sproul
Monday,
April 1
What If God Had
Never Spoken?
Individual Study:
-1
Thessalonians 2:13
And
we also thank God continually because, when you _____________ the Word of God,
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of _____, but as it
_____________ ______, the Word of ________, which is at work in you who
believe.
-2 Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have
become ________________ of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for ______________ through ________ in _________ ________. _____ Scripture is ______-_____________, and
is useful for _____________, _____________, ______________, and _______________
in righteousness, so that the man of God may be ______________ ________________
for every good work.
Group discussion:
- What would be more terrifying?
(A) To know for sure that there was no God. Or,
(B) To know for sure that
there IS a God, but you have absolutely no idea what He is like. Why?
- If no one knew anything about God, what do you think are some of
the most important things to find out about Him?
- If God had never spoken or revealed Himself, what do you think this
world would be like?
Imagine that, somehow, you have lived your entire life in a small box. Inside the box, it is completely dark. The box is sound proof, and you have never heard any sound from anything outside of the box. Nothing has ever entered the box and nothing has ever left the box. If you grew up like this your entire life, what questions would you have?
- How would you react if you suddenly got a message from outside of
the box?
- What are some things that you know about God from the Bible that
you are very glad to know?
·
What
difference does it make knowing that the Bible is the Word of God rather than
just the words of men? (1 Thes. 2:13)
Your respect for God can be measured by your respect for the Bible. The Bible is not God, of course, so we do not worship a book. But we regard its message as God’s letter to us. When the Bible is open, God is speaking; when it is closed, He stops speaking. –Erwin Lutzer
·
What
difference does it make knowing that ALL Scripture is God-breathed and useful?
(2 Tim. 3:16)
“This great book… is the best gift God has given to man… But for it we could not know right from wrong.”
–Abraham Lincoln
“Man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world
who has deprived himself of this: a knowledge of the Bible… This book is the
one supreme source of revelation, the revelation of the meaning of life, the
nature of God, and the spiritual nature and need of men. It is a book which reveals every man to
himself as a distinct moral agent, responsible not to men, but responsible
through his own conscience to his Lord and Maker. Whenever a man sees this vision, he stands up a free man whatever
may be the circumstances of his life.”
–Woodrow Wilson
Ø Close in prayer, thanking God that
He has spoken to us! As Him to help you
to realize how important and special it is that we have a message from God and
to commit to stop treating the Bible so lightly.
Tuesday,
April 2
The
Convicting Power of God’s Word
Individual Study:
-Hebrews 4:12-13
For the Word of God is _________ and _________. Sharper than any double edged _________, it
_______________ even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
_________ the _____________ and _____________ of the ________. ______________ in all creation is hidden
from ______ ___________. ______________
is ____________ and laid ______ before the eyes of him to whom we _______ give
_____________.
Group discussion:
“It isn’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
–Mark Twain
·
What
are the thoughts of the heart?
·
What
are the attitudes of the heart?
“I have read many books, but the Bible reads me.”
–Anonymous
We all have secrets that we would be terrified to think that
anyone would know. There are things we
have done that we would never tell anyone.
Imagine if your found out that your life had been video taped… every
moment of it. Every moment you were
alone was recorded. Now, what if we
played that tape for everyone to see… everyone in youth group, all your
friends, all your relatives. Every
moment of time was recorded… when you were alone, everything you have ever
said, every word you have ever used, every time you were on the computer, every
time you were with your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Now what if even your thoughts were recorded… everything you
have ever though, every evil plot you have schemed, everything you have ever
imagined, everything you have ever fantasized.
Now how would you feel? What if
even the attitude of your heart was recorded and played back? Every hateful impulse. Every feeling of jealousy. Every selfish
motive. Would that bother you?
Now realize that everything is laid bare. Every action. Every thought. Every
attitude. Everything about you is laid
bare. Also consider WHO it is laid bare
to. It isn’t even people in youth
group, or your friends, or your parents.
Everything about you is recorded by God and known by Him.
We can fool our friends.
We can fool our parents. We can
fool people at church and youth group.
We can even fool ourselves. But
we can’t fool God.
We fool ourselves all the time. We compare ourselves to people who are worse than us so that we
can think that we are pretty good. We
water down God’s rules and try to numb our heart. But when we compare ourselves to God’s Word, we start to see what
we are really like. We see the flaws
and the sin in our life. When we look
more, we see things even deeper in our lives.
We may look good on the outside, but what about the inside? What about your thoughts? What about the attitudes of your heart? We need the Word of God to show us the
sinfulness on the inside so that, with God’s help, we can be transformed from
the inside out.
This is the real reason why many people stay away from the
Bible. It is also the reason some
people end up running from church, or youth group, or Christian friends. They are unwilling to face the sin in their
life. They are unwilling to let the Word
of God cut into them to show them their sin.
They are unwilling to let God use the Sword, the Word of God like a
scalpel to remove the tumors of sin from our life.
Surgery hurts.
But with out surgery…
·
What
does it mean when the Holy Spirit and His Word convict you in your heart? Describe a time when you were seriously
convicted?
“You and I are basically dishonest. We all have a carefully monitored defense system that prevents us from seeing ourselves as we really are. We project an image that we want others to believe, and we want to believe it ourselves.
Consider what
the Word of God has to overcome if we are willing to see ourselves in a true
light. Our problem is that we hide our
true self from our real self; we make sure that no one knows who we really
are. We live in a secret world that is
carefully shielded from every prying eye.
Surely not a one of us would want to have our private musings, desires,
and intentions made public. It has
often been said that if our thoughts were strung out for others to see, we
would all flee to a desert island.
This defense system is
maintained by a thousand rationalizations, a hundred different excuses for why
we do what we do and think what we think.
In this way, we make our life bearable; we can silence the voice of
conscience by following a carefully crafted script. And we are secretly satisfied when people believe us to be better
than we know we really are.
The Word of
God penetrates past our psychic radar system and breaks up our defense mechanisms. It separates the good thoughts from the
tainted ones; it discerns the motivations of heart and mind. It lays everything bare…What we cannot do
for ourselves, God’s Word does for us.
We cannot properly evaluate our lives without a divine standard that can
set the record straight. Only the Bible
can show us who we really are, rather than the person we perceive ourselves to
be.”
–Erwin Lutzer
·
What
things have God been convicting you about this week? What actions? What
thoughts? What attitudes?
Ø Close in prayer, asking God to
soften your heart to His conviction.
Tell Him that you will stop resisting the convicting work of the Word
and the Holy Spirit and you will let God do the surgery that He needs to do.
Wednesday,
April 3
Walking
Away From the Mirror
Individual Study:
–James 1:22-25
Do ____ merely listen to the Word, and so ___________
yourselves. ____ what it _______. Anyone who listens to the Word _____ _______
_____ _____ what it says is like a man who ________ at his face in a __________
and after looking at himself, ________ _________ and _________________
______________ what he looks like. But
the man who looks ___________ into the perfect law that gives freedom, and
continues to do this, not forgetting what he had heard, but _________ it, he
will be ____________ in what he does.
·
How
much time do you spend getting ready in the morning? What things do you do before you’re ready to let people see you?
Group discussion:
Imagine someone on this trip getting up tomorrow morning and
looking in the mirror. When she looked
in the mirror she saw that her hair was greasy and ratted, her eyes were
bloodshot and full of gunk, her face was greasy, zitty, and nasty. She thinks to herself, “I look
terrible!” And then leaves the room and
goes to the first session a half hour early.
·
What
would you think about that?
·
What
should she have done?
·
What
is the purpose of looking in the mirror?
“What is the rule of obedience? The written Word. That is
proper obedience which the Word requires; our obedience must correspond with
the Word… To seem to be all zealous, if it be not according to the Word, is not
obedience, but will worship.” –Thomas
Watson
We don’t just look into a mirror to find out how we
look. We look into a mirror to find out
how we look and then to do something about it!
Unless looking into the mirror is followed up with action, there was no
point in looking in the mirror.
·
As
you see yourself in the mirror of God’s Word, what do you see? What do you need to do?
Take the rest of the devotional time to read Colossians
3:1-17 and to think about it as much as possible. If you don’t have enough time, I encourage you to use some of
your free moments to meditate on this passage.
·
As
you look at yourself in this part of God’s mirror, what do you see?
·
What
do you need to do about it?
Ø Close in prayer, asking God to help
you see yourself more clearly in His mirror.
Promise Him that you will do the things the mirror shows you that you
need to do. Also, pray silently,
listing some of those things and promising to take action about them
immediately.
Thursday,
April 4
The
Power of God’s Word
Individual study:
-Jeremiah 23:29
Is not My
Word like ________?” declares the Lord, “and like a ______________ that breaks
a _________ in pieces?”
-Isaiah 55:8-11
For my
_____________ are not your _______________, neither are your ________ my
_________. As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways ___________ than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts. As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven, and _____ ______ ____________ without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread
for the eater, so is ____ ________ that goes out from my mouth: It will ______
___________ to me ______________, but will ___________________ what I ___________
and _____________ the ______________ for which I sent it,
·
What
do these passages say about the power of God’s Word?
·
How
has the power of God’s Word been shown to you this week?
·
Look
back through the notes you have taken from the electives and from the large
group messages. Spend the rest of this devotional time
sharing with each other and discussion some of the things that you have
learned, or things that really hit you hard.
(Each person in the group must share at least one or two things, different
from what anyone else has mentioned.)
Ø Close in prayer, thanking God for
His powerful Word and praying that it will accomplish it’s purpose in your
life.
Friday,
April 5
The
Authority of God’s Word
Individual study:
-Psalm 1
____________ is the man who does not ________ in the
_____________ of the ___________, or __________ in the ________ of
____________, or _____ in the ________ of ____________. But his _____________ is in the _______ of
the _________, and on His law he ________________ ______ and _________. He is like a tree planted by streams of
water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not ___________. Whatever he does prospers. No so the wicked! They are like _________, that the wind __________
__________. Therefore the wicked will
not __________ in the __________________, nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous. For the Lord watches over
the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will ___________.
–Psalm 119:89
Your Word, O Lord, is
_____________; it stands __________in the heavens.
·
What
is the counsel of the wicked? What are
some examples?
·
What
would it mean to walk in the counsel of the wicked?
Notice that first someone walks in the counsel of the
wicked, then they stand in the way of sinners, then they sit in
the seat of mockers. When we let
ourselves be affected by the thoughts of the world, we go from bad to worse
until sin has us completely immobilized and we become someone who is not only a
wicked sinner, but someone who mocks God’s truth.
The devil is a liar and the world is under his
influence. So many things that are
popular opinions run directly contrary to God’s truth. People have these thoughts and attitudes so
ingrained in them by the media and by the people around them that they don’t
even stop and consider whether they are true or not.
·
What
are some of the common lies that large amounts of people in our society have
swallowed? As a group, brainstorm as
many as possible.
“The
truly wise man is he who believes the Bible against the opinions of any
man. If the Bible says one thing, and
any body of men says another, the wise man will decide, ‘This book is the Word
of Him who cannot lie.’”
-R.A.
Torrey
One example of unbiblical thinking that is infiltrating
society more and more each day is society’s attitude and assumptions toward
homosexuality. This is very relevant
now that Rosie O’Donnell has come out of the closet and made this into a big
issue. Through the media, we have been
taught that homosexuality is something genetic and that gay people have no
choice over their sexual orientation.[1] We also have been taught that it is hateful
and prejudiced to even suggest that homosexual acts are sinful. Have you ever seen a network television show
that didn’t take a sympathetic view towards homosexuality? Some TV executives have publicly stated that
one of their goals is to soften people to the idea of homosexuality. This is clearly seen on many shows. If there is someone who is against
homosexuality, they are always depicted as being either ignorant or hateful.
·
So,
what do we do? What do we do when the
“politically correct” view of society is putting pressure on everyone to hold
to their view?
In Washington D.C., in the Bureau of Standards there is a
platinum bar which is used as the standard meter of all measurements in the
United States. It is approximately
39.37 inches long. It is kept in a high
vacuum and kept at a standard temperature.
It is EXACTLY one meter long.
When I say that it is exactly one meter long, I mean that it is accurate
in measurement even beyond the subatomic level. How can it be that accurate?
It is because this bar IS the meter.
All other meters in the United States are measured against this
meter. If you have a meter stick, it is
only as good as it compares to this platinum bar. This bar cannot possibly be off, because however long this bar
is, that is how long a meter is.
·
How
is this platinum meter like the Bible?
The Bible does not merely match up with truth, the Bible IS
truth. The Bible is the Word of God and
God IS Truth! Anything else, public
opinion, your opinion, your feelings, your family’s traditions, your church’s
traditions, EVERYTHING, is only as true as it measures against God’s truth.
So, how would this apply to Rosie O’Donnell and the debate
over homosexuality? The answer is that
we need to look to the Bible as our standard.
Does the Bible say that homosexuality is an acceptable option for people
that God created that way? Does it say
that it is okay if they love each other?
Does it say that we should attack homosexuals and beat them? Does it say that God hates gays? Does it say that homosexuality is
unforgivable? For the real answer, we
must look to the Bible:
Leviticus 18:22, "Do not lie with a
man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
This verse is very important
because it is so clear. It actually
describes what homosexuality is. This is important because some people try to
say that the Bible only says that homosexuality is wrong when it is homosexual
rape or when it isn't done in a loving way. However this verse describes what
we're talking about. If a man has sex with a man in the way that he would have
sex with a woman, that is sin. This verse is also important because it shows
that it is the ACT of homosexuality that is wrong, not homosexual temptation. (Homosexual lust would be sinful also in the same way that
heterosexual lust is sinful. Temptation
and lust are not the same thing.)
Some people will say, "But
there are a lot of things in the Old Testament that were wrong then but are not
wrong today." [2] Well, let's
see what the New Testament says...
Romans 1:24-27, "Therefore God gave
them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the
degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for
a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is
praised forever amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same
way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with
lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received
in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
So, as you can see, it is still sin
now. This verse also specifically mentions female homosexuality as well.
Another verse is 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, not homosexual offenders,
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
This verse shows that homosexuality
is something "wicked." It also shows that there are LOTS of other
sins too! That doesn't make any of them "okay." It also shows that
cleansing and deliverance is possible through Christ!
This is just one example of how we
need to use the Bible as our standard.
The Bible is the platinum bar against which we measure everything
else. Popular or not, we need to be
willing to take our stand on the Word of God.
All
men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows upon them. Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands
forever.
–Isaiah 6b-8
Ø Close in prayer, asking God to give you the faith and boldness to follow His Word even when it goes against the whole world.
Saturday,
April 6
God’s
Light For Our Path
Individual study:
-Psalm 119:9-16
How can a young man keep his _______ __________? By __________ ________________ to ________
__________. I seek You with all my
heart; do not let me _________ from your commands. I have ___________your Word in my __________that I might not sin
against You. Praise be to You, O Lord;
_________ me Your decrees. With my lips
I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in _________________ your statutes, as one rejoices in
great _________. I meditate on your
precepts and consider your ways. I
delight in your decrees; ____ ________ _______ ________________ ___________
_____________.
–Psalm 119:105
Your Word
is a ________ to my _______, and a ________for my _________.
We face many decisions in life that we need guidance
for. God’s Word is a light for our
feet, and a light for our path. A
lantern, it isn’t going to shine its light ten miles down the road, but it will
show you the next few steps that you need to take.
“The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you
from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to
reach it without running on rocks and bars.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
The Bible is our map for life and it is our compass, but it
is not our crystal ball or our fortune cookie.
Many don’t let the Bible help them when they make decisions. Many other people misuse the Bible and don’t
get its benefit either.
·
What
are some mistakes you think people make when they are trying to “find the will
of God?”
“I will sometimes hear people say that there’s a chapter and a verse for every situation in life. There isn’t! I’ve been looking for some of them for years. What then do you have in the Word of God? You have principles and concepts and parameters- dynamic, living truth. And the Spirit of God will direct His powerful light onto those portions of the Bible that directly apply to your life situation.”
–David Jeremiah
For some things in life, the Bible is going to tell you
exactly what to do. If you’re
wondering, “Should I kill my friend?”
The answer is no. If you are
asking, “Should I have sex with the person I am dating?” The answer is no. God has clearly revealed His moral will about these things. However, there are lots of situations in
life that aren’t like that. Who should
you marry? The Bible makes it clear
that it needs to be a Christian, but it doesn’t tell you exactly which one! What should you do after high school? Should you try out for the school
musical? You’re not going to find a
verse in the Bible to neatly answer these questions. Waiting for some sort of inner feeling doesn’t work well
either. How do you know that the inner
feeling is really from God? How do you
know that it isn’t just your own feelings or just some bad milk that you drank?
“Sometimes people
tell me, ‘Well, you know, the Spirit told me thus and so last night.’ Do you know what I answer? ‘Really?
What chapter is that in? What’s
the verse? What’s the reference? If the Spirit has told you that, where is it
in the Bible?’ I say that because the
ministry of the Holy Spirit is to take the Word of God and apply it to our
hearts, and teach us what we need to know.”
–David Jeremiah
What we need to do is change the question from “How do I
find God’s will?” to “How do I make wise decisions?”
·
So,
how do we use the Bible to make wise decisions?
Romans 12:1-2: "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may
prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and
perfect."
Our minds are like a
computer full of bad programming. This verse is saying that we need to be
changed by the reprogramming of our minds. Our minds are full of bad
programming, and every day the world tries to give us more bad programming. If
you've ever worked on computer programming, you know that one bad line of code
can mess up the whole thing. The same is true with us. Even one lie that we
believe can mess up all of our thinking. Here's a common one, "Money is
the key to happiness." Many people REALLY believe that! They believe that
and that "line of bad code" messes up the decisions they make.
"I want to be happy. Money is the key to happiness. Therefore, I need to
do everything I can to get money."
When we find a
bit of bad programming, we need to rewrite that line of code with a line of
code that is true in God's eyes. For example, 1 Timothy 6:6-10 would tell us
that we need to replace, "Money is the key to happiness" with code
like, "Contentment is better than greed." Or, "Wanting to get
rich will mess up my life."
We need to:
(A)
Search for bad code,
(B) Erase that
bad code,
(C) Replace that bad code with God’s code from His codebook, the Bible.
“Most of the time when I suddenly find myself faced with a crisis in my life, I don’t have the opportunity to [study the Bible for weeks before I make a decision.] How do you prepare yourself for those moments? I don’t know of any better answer I could give you than this: put the Word of God in your heart. Expose yourself to truth. Turn off the TV. Listen to tapes. Read God’s Book. Read books that help you to understand God’s Book. Fill your spiritual computer with truth and in the moment when you need it, the Holy Spirit will cause you to remember the things you’ve learned. In computer terms, He is the “search engine” who locates exactly what you need… The problem with many of us, however, is that we don’t give the Spirit of God anything to work with. The Holy Spirit is doing a search in the computer and there’s nothing in the files!”
-David Jeremiah
The
more we have our thinking reprogrammed by God's Word, the more we will think
like Jesus. Also, part of learning to think biblically is to see more of
the big picture of the situation. Life isn't just about you. Life isn't just
about you and your family. Life isn't just about everyone in this world now. Life
isn't just about everyone who has ever lives and who ever will live. Life is
more than just this world. Life includes eternity. Life includes heaven, hell
and an all-powerful, holy, just, yet loving God.
We need to fully
absorb the values and principles that the Bible teaches and then put them into
practice in our lives. To do this, you
need to be learning the total teaching of the Bible as well as possible.
That may sound like hard work. It is. Who said it would
be easy? But the more we learn God’s
values and wisdom and put them in our heart, the easier it gets. Also, God has given you a great gift to help
you… other Christians! You may have not
had your whole life to learn God’s wisdom yet, but there are people who
have! Don’t neglect the wisdom of godly
Christians who are further down the road than you! Mature Christians, like the sponsors, are a valuable tool to help
you navigate this life. But, you have
to listen to them, even when they might be telling you something that you don’t
want to hear. Don’t just jump around
looking for someone to back up what you have already pre-decided you want!
Also, remember that the wisdom of other Christians is only
as good as it matches with the full and correct teachings of God’s Word. Just being older doesn’t mean that you have
treasured God’s wisdom and values.
Unfortunately, lots of people have spent their whole life ignoring God’s
truth. Also, many people don’t know the
difference between God’s Wisdom and values and their own ideas and values. That is why it is important for you to learn
the wisdom and values of the Bible for yourself, although other Christians can
help you out a lot.
“Perhaps someone approaches you and says, ‘This is what God says.’ All you have to do is open the Bible and see if that is what God said. The authority for life and practice today is the Word of God.”
–David Jeremiah
Another thing that other Christians can help you do is to
help you see yourself and your situation better. When you see those things better too, it helps you to know how to
apply the Bible to those situations.
Here is another great help!
If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. One of His jobs
is called "illumination." The Holy Spirit has finished writing the
Bible (that job was called "revelation") so He doesn't give more
"revelation" BUT He "illuminates” His writing by shedding light
on it for you. Understanding the Bible doesn't come automatically, but the Holy
Spirit wants to help you understand what it means and how you can apply it to
your circumstances.
Prayer is the key ingredient to having the Holy Spirit help
us. James 1:5 says, "But if any of
you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously without
reproach, and it will be given to him." (Remember, I'm NOT saying that we should just depend
on "feelings." Yes, we do have feelings caused by the Holy Spirit,
but they are based on what He has written in His Word. We should pray that He
would make us alert and sensitive to the message He is trying to communicate to
us through Scripture. We should also be sensitive when He is convicting us of
something wrong. If you "don't feel right about something," it might
be because the Holy Spirit is telling you it's a sinful or foolish choice. But
again, remember to base it on God's Word. A lot of feelings are simply our own.
On their own, you can never be sure that a feeling is from God, but you can
ALWAYS be sure that the Bible is from God.)
“Prayer is the ‘open sesame’ of the Bible. Always begin your Bible reading with prayer
for divine guidance. All of us in
reading some current book have wished the author were present to answer and
explain some things, but this is rarely possible. Amazing as it seems, this is possible when reading the
Bible.” –George Sweeting
To truly find
what God wants us to do, we need to use godly wisdom. Here's how to do that:
Examine (1) The Bible's full teaching, and (2) the whole situation as best as
you can. Then, with these two things in mind, make a choice that God will be pleased
with. God may not have ONLY ONE specific thing he needs you to do. Instead, He
may give you a variety of options. It's our responsibility to look at those
options and figure out what is sin, what is okay, what is good, what is better
and what is best. (God will be "okay" with an okay decision, but He
will be happier with a better decision. How much do you want to please God?)
The more
important the decision, the more time and prayer you invest. Some decisions
(like who you're going to marry) are huge. The bigger the decision, the more
time, energy and prayer you need to spend. On the other hand, some decisions
need to be made quickly, without stalling.
Start storing Scripture now so that you can start making the best
decisions now! Your circumstances later
on in life will be determined by the decisions you make today and every day.
·
Discuss any questions
you have about this lesson. What are
ways that you can put this into practice?
·
Are there any decisions
in life that you would like some godly counsel on?
Ø
Close in prayer,
committing to God that you will work hard, depending on Him to teach you His
values and wisdom from His Word. Thank
God for the guidance He provides through the Scriptures!
Getting More Out Of
Reading Your Bible
“I never saw a useful
Christian who was not a student of the Bible.”
–D.L. Moody
What
Are "Devotions?"
Having devotions is a catch phrase that Christians use. It means
spending quality time with God through prayer and Bible reading. This
article is geared to specifically help you with the Bible reading side. The
advice here is geared for someone just getting started, although there's good
stuff in here for anyone.
What's So Special About the Bible?
It is "God-breathed"
The Bible is special because unlike any other book because it was
inspired by God. We can know this from reading 2 Timothy 3:16, "All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and
training in righteousness." The Bible is the Word of God. Yes, the Bible
was written by human authors using their own personalities and their own
writing styles, but God oversaw everything to make sure that even the very
words written were the ones He wanted written. This is what Peter meant when he
wrote 2 Peter 1:21, "For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man,
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." The
Greek word for "carried along" is also used for the wind carrying
along a sailboat.
It is without error
Everything that the Bible teaches is true. Think about it, the Bible
says that it is God's Word and God can't lie (Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, the
Bible can't lie. And if God knows everything, the Bible can't make mistakes
either. Now, this doesn't mean that you can rip something out of context and
say it's true. You can't read Genesis 12:2 which says, "I will make you a
great nation" and then call God a liar because He didn't make you a great
nation. This is a quote of God talking to Abraham, not you. You also need to
remember that the Bible uses everyday language and figurative speech. If it
says that "the sun set," it isn't wrong because it should have said
"the earth turned on its axis."
It's useful to us
2 Timothy 3:16-17 also tells us that ALL Scripture is useful for (1)
teaching, (2) reproof, (3) correction and (4) training in righteousness. That
is, the Bible is useful for (1) teaching us what we should believe, (2)
teaching us what we shouldn't believe, (3) teaching us how we shouldn't live,
and (4) teaching us how we should live. Many people have opinions on what is
true and what people should do, but God's Word is the only true authority on
what we should believe and how we should live. Therefore, it's important that
we study it to see what it has to say! Even though the Bible was written a long
time ago, God had it written in such a way that it is relevant to our lives
today. Every word in the Bible is there for a reason. With practice, effort and
help from God, we can unfold the meaning of the Bible to see what He is telling
us.
Some
Basics
Who wrote it and when
The Bible was written over a period of about 1,500 years by about 40
different human authors. The first book of Genesis was written about 1,400
BC. The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi was written about 400
BC. (BC means before Christ.) In the New Testament, Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John (called the Gospels) record the life of Christ. Most
scholars think that the letter of James was the first New Testament book
written (in about 45 AD.) The last book of the New Testament is Revelation,
which was written by John near the end of the first century AD.
How the Bible is divided up
The Bible is divided into two halves, the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The Old Testament is the 39 books that were written before Jesus was
born, and the New Testament is the 27 books that were written after Jesus was
born. Even though the Bible is one big book, it is actually composed of 66
smaller books. To make parts of the Bible easier to find, each of the books was
divided into chapters. To make things even easier to look up, someone
then divided each of the chapters into verses. So when you hear a Bible
passage referred to such as John 3:16, John is the name of the book, 3
is the chapter and 16 is the verse. If we didn't do this, it would be
pretty tough to find the part of the Bible that someone was talking about. (If
you have trouble finding where the specific book is, there should be a table of
contents in the front of your Bible.)
The
Big Picture
The Bible is not just a collection of different works that don't relate
to each other. From the first book, Genesis to the last book, Revelation, the
Bible has a unifying theme running through it.
The Bible starts out telling us that God created the world and that He
created mankind. The world and everything in it were perfect when He made it.
However, we went bad. The first people, Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying
Him and this introduced sin into mankind. Sin is rebellion against God. Ever
since Adam and Eve first sinned, sin has spread like a virus to every one of
their descendents (that's everyone.) Now, the really bad part is that
unless sin is taken care of, anyone who is a sinner (again, that's all of us)
has to go to hell forever. This is because God is so holy and just that He
cannot tolerate to have sin in His presence.
But right from the beginning God lets us know that He has a plan to
take care of this sin problem. He's going to send a Savior into the world. God
chooses the Hebrew people as the nation that the Savior is going to come from.
So the Old Testament give us the history of the people of Israel (the Hebrews,
or Jews) and the message that the Savior (or Messiah, or Christ)
is going to come from them.
The Savior finally came. When Jesus Christ was born, he was 100% human,
yet He existed even before He was born because He was also 100% God! This was
very important because He needed to be both to do what He came to do... to fix
the sin problem. The Gospels tell us about Jesus' life on earth. They tell us
what He was like, how He proved who He was and the things that He taught. They
also tell us about how the people turned on Him and had Him put to death by
being hung on a cross. Although the people meant this for evil, it was all a
part of God's big plan. What Jesus did on the cross was to absorb all the
punishment for the sins of everyone who would trust in Him for their salvation.
He was like a lightning rod that took God's wrath so we wouldn't have to.
Although Jesus was completely innocent, he took the rap for our guilt.
After He died, He didn't stay dead. On the third day, He rose from the
dead. This showed His victory over sin and death, and proved all the more who
He really was. He appeared to people for 40 days and then left and went to
heaven to be with God the Father.
After this, His followers were still on earth. Jesus had left it up to
them to spread the message about Him. People needed to know that He was God and
that He had died in their place so that they could be forgiven of all their
sins if they would believe in Him as their personal savior. The book of Acts
tells how the disciples spread this message. The Gospel (which means good
news) spread from Jerusalem (where this all started) and by the end of Acts
reached the city of Rome, which was the capitol of the world at that time.
The apostles were followers of Jesus who He had personally given a
special authority. Some of the apostles wrote letters to groups of believers
explaining to them the meaning of what Jesus had done and telling them how they
should now live for God. Thus while the Old Testament is about the Hebrews and
said that the Savior was coming, the New Testament is about the Church (all
true Christians everywhere) and said that the Savior had come. The New
Testament ends with the book of Revelation which tells us that not only did
Jesus come, but He's coming back one day and then things will be made
perfect again like they originally were when God created the world in the book
of Genesis
God is the main character in the Bible. Mankind is the supporting
actor. In short, the story is the fall and restoration of humanity. Act One:
Mankind starts out created perfect in the Garden of Eden. Act Two:
Mankind falls into sin. Act Three: God provides salvation through Jesus
Christ. Act Four: Mankind is restored to perfect harmony with God in the
New Heaven and Earth.
Picking a Bible
Picking a good translation
The Bible was not originally written in English. The Old Testament was
written in Hebrew (except for a few small portions written in Aramaic.) The New
Testament was written in Greek. Now, unless you're really good at reading
ancient foreign languages, you're going to want to read a translation. There
are plenty of people who are really good at reading these ancient
languages and they have done a very cool thing for us by rewriting the Bible in
English.
Some translations are better for some people than others. For example,
if you lived in England in 1611 the King James Version would probably be
the best translation for you to use. However, we don't use English today the
same way that they did then. Also, scholars have found more super-ancient
copies of Scripture since the KJV was written which have helped them to do an
even better job. Overall you're probably not going to want to use the KJV.
Some translations stick closer to the original language than others.
Some, like the New American Standard Bible try their best to translate
everything word for word. This is good because it makes a very accurate
translation for detailed study. The more you mess with stuff, the more likely
you are to change the meaning. The down side is that some people find the NASB
a bit "choppy" to read. (Sure, maybe the words flow well in Greek,
but not as well in English.) On the other hand, some versions like the Contemporary
English Version and the Living Bible make things very easy to
read. The down side is that they can actually be a paraphrase rather than a
translation. A paraphrase tries to rephrase the Bible in its own words. The
danger is that you don't really have the Bible, you have what the people who
wrote that paraphrase think the Bible means. (The Living Bible admits
that it is a paraphrase, not a translation. However the New Living
Translation is an updated version of the Living Bible that is much more
accurate.) Probably the best middle ground is the New International Version.
It does a good job of being readable, but still stays as close as it can to the
original thoughts. Try the NIV for starters. If you're really having trouble
with it, you might want to consider the NLT or the CEV, but don't use it as
your primary Bible if you don't have to. If you're a good reader you might want
to consider the NASB. It's the best if you're wanting to go into detail about
what a passage means. Personally, I study out of the NASB, do a lot of reading
out of the NIV, and sometimes take a look at the more loose versions to get a
fresh perspective.
"Study Bibles"
Study Bibles are Bibles that give a lot of help to the reader by giving
notes for tough verses, maps, introductions to the books, a concordance and
other tools to help you out in your Bible study. Some examples of study Bibles
include The Quest Study Bible, The Life Application Bible (get
the regular version, not the student edition), The Ryrie Study Bible or The
NIV Study Bible. Notes can really help you out when you're stuck. (Just
don't get lazy and let them do all the thinking for you! The Bible means more
to us when we discover things for ourselves. Also remember that these notes are
not a part of the actual Bible and are not inspired by God. Don't
trust them without question! They can be wrong!) Introductions to each
book are valuable because they help you to learn the background of what's
happening, who wrote it, when, where and why. A concordance tells you different
places in the Bible where a certain word is used.
Three Important Steps
When we read the Bible, there are three steps that we need to go
through in order to keep from screwing up the message. They are observation,
interpretation and application. If you slack off in any of these
three areas, you run the risk of making the Bible say anything you want it to
say. (That's bad.)
1. Observation
The first thing you need to do is to observe the text. Take a close
look at it! Read it carefully! Analyze it. (Actually, you might want to skim it
once for the big picture and then go back and read it slowly for the details.)
Sometimes a single word can make a huge difference, so be careful! Look for
things that are emphasized, or repeated, or related. The object is simply to
notice everything you need to. Sometimes we mess things up because we weren't
careful. For example, have you ever heard someone say that money is the root of
all evil? Well, if you observed 1 Timothy 6:10 more carefully, you would see
that it actually says, "The love of money is at the root of all
kinds of evil."
2. Interpretation
The second step is figuring out what the author meant when he
originally wrote it. This isn't application quite yet. Application is figuring
out how the passage impacts your life. If you jump to application
without doing interpretation, you'll just be making something up. What was the
author's main point? A very good way to practice doing interpretation is to
make your own paraphrase of the passage. Rewrite the passage putting it into
your own words. Don't change or update the meaning! Just update how it's said.
Also, don't look for any mystical "secret meanings." For the
most part, the Bible is pretty straight forward. There's so much that God is
telling us straight up that we don't need any secret meanings. Also
don't take everything as "symbolic." If the Bible says that Jesus fed
5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two small fish, it means it.
It doesn't mean that He really just inspired the crowd to share their food that
they had hidden. Read the Bible like an ordinary book. Take the normal
meaning.
Sometimes people say that we need to take the Bible literally. That's
true. However, when they say that they don't mean that absolutely nothing
in the Bible is a figure of speech. For example, if Jesus says, "I am
the door" He isn't saying that He actually is a physical wooden door. He
is using a metaphor. He's saying, "I am like a door." Metaphors are a
normal part of speech. Here's the quick rule: Allow for some figurative
language, but if the normal sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.
3. Application
Application is the icing on the cake. Without application, observation
and interpretation are like getting to third base but not scoring a run.
Application is asking, "How does this impact MY life?" Remember,
it's important to do interpretation before doing application so
we're not just making stuff up. There is only one correct interpretation. (The
correct interpretation is what the author meant when he wrote it. Anything else
is an incorrect interpretation.) However, there are many applications.
(Notice I said many, not any.) Here is an example of the
difference between interpretation and application: Ephesians 5:18 includes,
"Don't get drunk on wine." I can interpret this passage to
mean that Paul was writing to believers telling them, "It is sinful to
drink to the point of becoming intoxicated." However, I could apply that
to my life by realizing that I shouldn't smoke crack either. Both wine and
crack are drugs which would affect my mind and not allow me to make sober
judgements. This is an application, not an interpretation. When Paul wrote the
book of Ephesians, he had no idea what crack was. He wasn't writing about
crack; he was writing about wine and anything like it at the time. But I can apply
it to modern life by taking the original message and seeing how it would
fit in my life today.
So... if you read a passage and then say, "This is what it
means to me" you are either saying one of three things... If you are
really saying, "This is how I apply this passage to my life"
that's great. If you're saying, "this is what I think the author
is saying" that's fine too, but remember that you may be incorrect.
But if you're really saying, "This is my private view of what this
passage is saying and it is correct for me even if this isn't what the author
had in mind when he wrote it" then you are very very wrong. You can
have your own private opinion about what you think the passage is
saying, but you can't have your own private truth as to what it actually
says.
The
Importance of Reading the Bible in Context
Context is the "bigger picture." The word "context"
literally means "with the text." There are two types of context, the words
around the text, and the world around the text. (PS. "text"
means written words.)
The words around the text
For example, if you just had the Scripture, "You surely shall not
die" you might come up with some weird ideas. But if you look at the
context where this is written, (in Genesis 3) you'll see that this was said by
Satan who was lying to Eve in order to get her to disobey God. (Avoid the open-the-Bible-to-a-random-page-and-read-a-verse
method of Bible study, unless you want to rip a passage out of context bleeding
and screaming!)
The world around the text
Another aspect of context is the time, place, culture and situation in
which the author was writing. A 21st century American is going to
have a different point of view than a Hebrew living in 1,000 BC. For example,
if I say that someone is like a dog, I might mean that they are faithful and
loyal. However, when Paul tells people to watch out for "those dogs"
in Philippians 3:2, he doesn't mean loyal people. In his culture, dogs were
dirty, filthy, diseased, wild animals that roamed cities like rats. A study
Bible, a Bible dictionary or a commentary can sometimes be a great help with
background information like that. (And you now, finally, have a good reason to
pay attention in World History class.)
Making a Plan and Getting Started
Try reading through a book at a time
No, you don't have to read straight through the Bible or straight
through a Testament, but I would recommend usually trying to read straight
through a book. (When I say that, I don't mean that you have to do that all in
one day. Read a little and then pick up where you left off the next time.)
Individual books of the Bible were meant to be read as a complete unit. Usually
the book will have a main theme and you'll be able to see how everything fits
together. This is a very good thing. Seeing how things fit together is part of
reading the Bible in context. Reading a little bit of the Bible here and a
little bit of the Bible there can sometimes raise the danger of ripping a
passage out of context.
Quality is more important than quantity
It's better to read a small portion of Scripture well, than to
speed through six chapters and not absorb it. Find out what's a good size for
you. Some people like to read a chapter at a time. There is nothing sacred
about the chapter divisions though. Sometimes it's good to focus on just one
paragraph at a time. (Because of context, I would suggest not to go less than
that.)
Focus on paragraphs
Paragraphs are a unit of thought. Don't study half a paragraph without
looking at the other half. Sure, you might want to do more than one paragraph a
day, but focus on the meaning of each one.
Some suggestions on where to start
As we read in 2 Timothy 3:16, ALL Scripture is useful. In fact
everything that is included in the Bible is there for a reason. However, some
parts of the Bible make a better place for people just getting started. Too
many times people try to read straight through the Bible but don't make
it. Genesis and Exodus may seem pretty interesting, but once you get halfway
through Exodus it starts to get pretty boring to most people and they give up.
ALL Scripture is important, but some parts are going to hit you more directly
than others.
I would recommend starting in the New Testament. Forgive me for using a
Star Wars illustration, but it's kind of like how George Lucas decided to give
us episodes 4, 5 and 6 first and now he's giving us episodes 1,2 and 3. There
is a lot in the Old Testament that is important, but some of it is not as directly
important for you as most of the stuff in the New Testament. (Although it is a
good idea to read Genesis, especially chapters 1, 2 and 3. It's good to know
how things got started.)
If
you're going to read straight through the New Testament, you might get bored
because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all give the story of Christ, but from
different perspectives. By the time you get to Luke, you might be thinking,
"I've read this twice already." (Although John doesn't repeat as much
as the other three.) Some of the letters of the Apostles are a great place to
start reading. They can really hit you where you live. Some are tougher than
others. Ephesians is great because it has a lot that is easy to apply to your
life. It also has some deep stuff about God. Philippians is another good one.
If you want to read a Gospel, maybe try reading Matthew or John. Some of the
Psalms in the Old Testament can also make great reading even when you're just
getting started. (The Psalms are a collection of poems. For them, you can just
read one Psalm. You don't have to read the whole collection. Feel free to skip
around.)
Here is an order for reading through the New Testament that might work well
for you. (Basically, this is the order
the New Testament is in, with the Gospels spread out.)