DOES THE CHURCH SUFFER BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MY BIBLE READING AND STUDY?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Matthew 22:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, YE DO ERR, NOT KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES, NOR THE POWER OF GOD.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are the light in the Lord, walk as children of the light.
I Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow there by.
II PETER 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old times by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
I. Does the church suffer because we do not read and study the word?
A. Does the work of the Lord find hard spots because we don’t know His Word?
Matthew 22:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, YE DO ERR, NOT KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES, NOR THE POWER OF GOD.
B. If we are so busy we don’t discipline our self in the word, we are too busy.
C. You will find time for what you love.
D. Is the giant of the TV stealing God’s study time?
Is the giant of sports killing us?
There is nothing wrong with TV, nor sports, --- it is the wrongful priority, by not being focused on the Bible.
E. I once read a survey that 80% of pastors did not read one chapter a day out of their Bible.
F. I heard a church leader say that he often heard complaints that the pastor would preach and never have his Bible and never read or quote one verse. This is very dangerous?
G. We must start young Christians on the lesson that Bible reading and study is life and death.
II. THE WORD OF GOD WILL KEEP US FROM SIN, AND SIN WILL KEEP US FROM THE WORD OF GOD!
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
A. We know the Word of God does the work of God!
B. Being anemic in the word means an anemic life,
faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
C. The Bible is more than a good book, the Bible is more than history,
the Bible is more than philosophy, the Bible is the word of God.
D. The Bible was given by God to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit moved on man to pen the words of God as a gift of God to man!
E. How do my friends know me? By my words and actions.
How can we know God? By His words and actions.
F. The Bible reveals God and His nature, it reveals Jesus -- God’s only son, it reveals the acts of the Holy Spirit.
G. The Bible is more than a good book, it is the inspired word of the Most High God.
All the canonized 66 books of the Bible are given by the man but through the inspiration of the Creator of the Universe.
H. The Bible does not just contain the word of God, the Bible is the only means that carry the word of God! It is holy and infallible.
II PETER 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old times by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
I. The Bible is more than a man’s pen releasing some smart lessons, we accept that while God used the man’s hand and his style of writing, the words are not of the penman, but God speaking through the man while he was being moved by the Holy Spirit.
J. While God used men and their pens, the sum total of their works result in the infallible word of God, in the original.
K. Thus we believe man can absolutely trust the word of God through the Bible.
We hear the word by reading it, by messages, and by media sources.
The tape/CD is a good way to take in the glory of God.
Traveling down the road is a good time to listen,
I call it eyes and hands time, but not all brains time.
If you miss something you can rewind, but have the word of God in reserve is a blessed thing.
L. I read every morning and then every evening in addition to my study time.
I recently read Billy Graham read 5 Psalms a day and one Proverbs.
In a month you will read Psalms and Proverbs, I am currently doing that.
I have enjoyed this. I read 4 Psalms in the morning, and one Psalms and the Proverbs chapter at night, and this has been a joy, also knowing that Doctor Billy did this.
III. WE ARE FAILING GOD WHEN WE DON’T INVEST IN HIS WORD.
A. I know the average USA Christian is not a daily Bible reader.
B. We have a great misconception today that the Bible is so-in-so beget so-in-so.
C. We have also drawn an invalid conclusion that the Bible is very hard to understand, and we need others to explain it to us. Let them read and study
and tell us.
This is good if you have a good teacher, but this is dangerous, I call this hand me down rose, second hand clothes syndrome.
D. Always drink water up stream from the herd. You can understand the word of God if you want to?
E. To read and study the word correctly requires effort and discipline.
THE BIBLE IS NOT BIRTHDAY CAKE, IT IS DAILY BREAD!
F. The Bible is more than a Readers Digest or a Harlequin Romance Novel.
It is more than reading, if you really understand the Word of God, you have to DO THE WORD OF GOD.
G. THE BIBLE IS SPIRITUAL, RAMA, THE LIVING WORD OF GOD.
The Bible is more than fleshly, carnal words of black and red on pages of white.
IV. THE BIBLE IS PERSONAL TO YOU!
A. Many years ago I saved my love letters from my girlfriend.
I hid them in the back of my big amp in the front of the church.
One day I came to church and another young man was reading my love notes to several standing around.
They were all laughing? It was not funny to me? Why?
The love notes were personal, to me, not to him or them.
B. Well, we must take the Bible serious and we must take it personal.
The Bible is God’s book to man, but it is God’s Book to me.
C. It is an owners manual with suggestions that will effect/affect the life of the vehicle.
D. The Bible cannot be fully understood by an atheist reading it?
The Bible is God’s words to believers! Those that will accept and DO!
We have a teacher, our personal teacher is the Holy Spirit.
E. We should pray before we read and let the Holy Spirit open our understanding.
IF THE BIBLE IS HARD AND DIFFICULT YOU WILL AVOID IT?
V. TODAY MANY SUBSTITUTE READING GOOD BOOKS BY CURRENT AUTHORS INSTEAD OF READING THEIR BIBLE.
A. We tend to read commentaries and the last hits and bypass the word for me?
B. Seems others say, Well, I read the Bible and it does me NO GOOD?
C. I refer to a story and old man Joe Arnett told me 24 years ago.
There was a mountain family that burned coal to heat the house.
They had several baskets that they would carry the coal from the pile where the truck dumped it into the house to burn.
The baskets were very dirty from coal dust.
The little lad said, Paw, I am reading the Bible, I can’t remember what I read last night.
The Paw demanded the boy to get the dirty coal basket and run to the river and get a basket of water. The boy did as his Paw demanded.
With great effort the boy ran to the river, grabbed a basket of water and returned to the house. The basket was empty!
The Paw made him do it again and again.
Finally the boy said, Paw, ain’t no use, I can’t get a basket of water to the house!
Paw said, Look at the basket, what do you see?
The lad looked hard at the basket, the basket was now clean, the water and the effort had cleaned the basket.
May I suggest to you, that the word of God does the work of God, and our baskets will grow cleaner the more we carry the word of God.
D. Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
David said: I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against God.
The only real programs that will make a difference in our churches is pouring in the word of God on a daily basis.
E. To own a Bible is a great responsibility, God has entrusted us, most of us own more than one Bible.
F. Just in my eye sight without moving I can count 14 different Bibles.
I love to read my Bible and write in the margins.
I read my notes from years ago and I am amazed.
G. I love to leave a trail through the Bible showing I have been there.
I was blessed to receive my Grandfather on my Mother’s side Bible, he left a trail. He was uneducated, but I can see where he has been. He died 52 years ago.
H. May my trail and love be passed down.
I have taken a New Testament for both of my sons and made notes for them, I gave it to them when they were 5 and started school.
I have done the same for my 3 grandsons and gave it to their Mom’s on their first birthday.
The last grandson I was finished and gave it to him on his dedication day, 9 months I worked everyday.
Every page has something written to him.
My Dad always said he was giving a Bible to each of his five children that he preached out of, my Dad still pastors, he is 74.
Well, when my oldest son left home, he took a Bible I had written in and studied from many years, he said, I am not waiting until Dad dies.
I had a loot of precious things written, and I knew I would miss that Bible, but he made me happy to take it. Now, using it makes me happy.
VI. WE SHOULD ALL BE BIBLE STUDENTS.
A. I love the word, in my opinion there are no Bible scholars, just all Bible students. Know the word, speak the word, teach the word, grow the word, and you will have much fruit.
B. The Bible is much like going to the good doctor when you are real sick.
The doctor will give you a prescription. You then go to the drugstore and pay good money to get your medicine. You go home and put that medicine in the
medicine cabinet with your other collection of medicines. You have 66 bottles of medicine in your cabinet but you never take one pill?
Why bother the doctor if you are not going to follow his directions?
C. Well, you have the word of God written to you, it is fresh to you today, but you must receive it, love it and do it. See, what you love you will find time to do!
VII. THE BIBLE IS A GREAT BOOK OF GREAT UNITY OF PURPOSE, THE BIBLE IS GOD’S PLAN FOR MAN. NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU CHOOSE.
A. The canonized Bible is compilation of 66 books with at least 35 different writers.
B. These 35 writers cover around 1,500 years. Many of the writers did not know of the others’ writings. Yet there is a gold thread of unity that draws together
each word. The gold thread of the Holy Spirit’s revelations bring the writers and their works together in harmony and purpose.
C. Some of the writers were educated, some had no formal education at all.
Some were Kings of great wealth and wisdom, others were poor, ordinary men.
D. A few doctors, a few governmental authorities, a few religious leaders, a few farmers, a few fishermen, all pool their words together in a great compilation
of composition and progression and great accord.
E. Each of the 66 books and 35 authors interweave differing accounts in a single, systematic arrangement of God’s purpose and in harmony of a singleness of plan.
F. Some of the books are history, some are biographical in nature, some are prophecy
making predictions hundreds of years in advance.
G. Some are great literary successes in poetry and have been viewed as masterpieces in educated studies.
H. There is no way 35 authors over 1500 years could pull together a compilation
of interweaving unless God’s Holy Spirit was directing and orchestrating
with a Divine Plan.
VIII. FAILURE TO THRIVE.
A. Once as a hospital chaplain I was called in to a little child that was not growing and was very weak. There was not medical disease as such. On my chaplain’s
card was simply written, FAILURE TO THRIVE.
The little child was half the weight he should have been and lay lifeless on the bed.
There was nothing wrong, just the child had no interest in school, TV, the family, games, or anything. Through much one on one love and devotion of a team of people the child started eating and growing.
B. As a pastor I see many FAILURES TO THRIVE within the realm of dealing with people.
I also know those that love junk food and have poor spiritual diets.
I know there is a direct correlation between how much Bible we read and study and what we accomplish in the church.
Matthew 22:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, YE DO ERR, NOT KNOWING
THE SCRIPTURES, NOR THE POWER OF GOD.
IX. THERE IS GREAT POWER IN THE BIBLE’S WORDS.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
A. There is great hidden power in the Word of God. As we invest time, talent, and energy into the Bible reading and study we receive a return on our investment.
B. IF WE USE THE BIBLE WISELY IT WILL BE LIKE A SPIRITUAL MIRROR!
The Bible will reveal us as we really are, just sinners, and if we accept the word for us today it will show: we are sinners saved by grace.
The Bible will cleanse us.
The Bible will bring harmony to the camp.
The Bible will bring Divine health and Divine healing to us.
The Bible is great seed, we plant, we water and God gives the increase.
May we begin thriving on God’s Word!
I get this call from time to time. I answer the phone, and there is a request on the other end: DO YOU HAVE A WORD OF GOD FOR ME?
I always answer the same, YES! I have 66 books of words for you, claim it.
The Bible is a gold mine, stake it, claim it, dig it, for therein are the words of life.
John 6:63 IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH; THE FLESH PROFIITETH NOTHING:
THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK ARE UNTO YOU, THEY ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE.
68 Then Simon Peter answered unto Him, Lord , to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life.
Please focus attention on Bible reading and Bible study, we need God’s word
known and practiced in our society.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Help me, pass this on and teach it to others.
