1. What do people think of the Bible?
- If you ask the average person in the street what they think of the Bible, what kind of responses do you think you would get?
- antiquated irrelevant old book?
- wise sayings mixed with myths?
- stories for children?
- What if you searched for the word “Bible” on youtube ?
- aliens and UFO’s
- Muslims trying to disprove it
- Atheists ridiculing it (e.g. 101 contradictions in the Bible)
- Christians responding (e.g. 101 contradictions refuted)
- People re-enacting the stories with Lego
- Here is what I found
- However, you also get some amazing stories of people’s lives being changed
- The Bible does have a supernatural power
- That is why we quote from it frequently in “The True Seeker”
- That is why we have free N.T.s to give away to people who are interested
- But not “magical” —you can’t keep a copy in your bag for good luck
- needs to be understood correctly
2. Is there Truth?
Question marks
- how terrible it is to have no answers
- is everything relative, true for me but maybe not true for you?
- what is right and wrong?
- dignity of human life?
Basic Human Rights
- (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
- No scientific reason for this.
- In the animal kingdom, the weak are quickly weeded out by predators.
- There is no scientific reason for us being different to the animals.
- What we need is a solid rock of truth that we can trust
- We can build our lives on its foundation
- The Bible is that foundation
3. Food and Direction
- There are some amazing promises in the Bible for us if we value it
- The very first sermon I ever preached
- note that the only Bible Joshua had was the first five books, called “the Law”—not just laws, that was it’s name.
- One of the most well-knows verses in the New Testament about the Bible is 2 Timothy 3:16,17
- This says that the Scriptures are “breathed out” by God
- That does not mean it was not written by people, in their own writing style, using their own language and idioms
- But it does mean that God worked behind the scenes through them to ensure that whatever they wrote
- communicated what he had revealed to them
- Has no errors (what we mean by “no errors”)
- original manuscripts
- understood in context
- Our authority in everything it addresses
- Which cell phone plan?
- Principles to follow
- Which cell phone plan?
- Are the words of life
- So what is the value in the Bible?
- First of all it has the teaching that brings life
- Here are some more examples:
- But the teaching is also what makes us grow as Christians
- Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up. (1 Pet 2:2)
- Jesus said that people who heard his teachings and followed them were like a man who build a house on the rock
- those who didn’t follow them were building a house on the sand, which one day would collapse
- So what are you building?
- You cannot be building on the rock of Jesus’s teachings if you are not reading them
- But of course it is not enough simply to read them—you have to obey them as well
- “Reproof, correction and training in righteousness”
- This sums up what it can do in our lives
- Reproof is when we get things wrong
- Correction is about guidance and steering
- When you are at the rudder of a big ship, you have to correct its course from time to time
- training in righteousness is about “spiritual food” to make us grow and mature
- This sums up what it can do in our lives
- Word and Spirit?
- The Word is written by the Spirit, you can’t say “Word and Spirit” as if they were different
- Like saying Canada and Ontario
- Newlife church is built on these three things: Truth, power and love
—quoted from The Fight by John White (IVP)
- This is the way that I read...
- Some little things are important to me and help me be regular in reading:
- I have a Bible I like—it is nice and pleasant to read
- I have one or two spots that I like to be when reading it that are private and get me into the right frame of mind
- I have a pen, just for marking it with
- When I think back about the things that have changed me in my life
- It is when I have understood something in the Scriptures
- It is when I have come to see some truth in the Scriptures, that my life has fundamentally changed (through the Spirit of course)
- It is not inspirational speakers
- or motivational poster on the wall
- or people shouting at me and telling me to change
Reading Plan
- Response time: hand out Bible reading plans