You wouldn’t have to know my dear friend Brother Glen Rossing for long; before he would ask you thequestion; “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is, “One bite at a time!” The Holy Bible may seem like an elephant of a meal to eat and digest. Most people are overwhelmed by its volume of books, chapters and verses. A typical King James Bible is more than 1152 pages.
Kathy started attending Sunday school at age two in a denominational church, and continued through grade school and high school. Becoming a Sunday school teacher herself, at age eighteen, she continued serving in the Sunday school on into her fifties. She had become the church secretary and had typed the pastor’s notes for his Bible based, scripture intense sermons; for over eighteen years when we met.
One day in a conversation, she was shocked to find out that Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ did not all live at the same time. More than shocked, she was dumbfounded and quite frustrated that after a lifetime of being seriously connected to a church, she knew literally nothing about the Bible! But why is the Bible so important?
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
The Bible is the instruction manual for life. Most people (at least most men) do not like to read the instructions that come with “some assembly required.” But if you want to know the answers to questions like, “Why were you born?”… “What is the purpose of human life?”… “Is there life after death?” The Bible is the only sure authority with the truth! But where do you start? A basic guide to the Bible was outlined in a small book by Gary Ball-Kilbourne, Getting Acquainted with your Bible. Modifying the last two chapter titles/points to reflect Apostolic teaching; I have used this basic guide to give people a sense of confidence that the Bible indeed is digestible and can be easily assimilated into daily life; the truth that leads us to salvation.
God yearns for a people
Creation – Garden of Eden – Adam & Eve
God chooses a people
Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel)
God delivers the people
Through Moses
God judges and restore the people
Through the prophets
God comes to the people
Through Jesus Christ/Emmanuel (God with us)
God saves the people
Through the cross at Calvary
God sends forth the people
Through the Apostolic Church/Ecclesia (Called out ones)
There are some great audio versions of the Bible available in MP3 and Video formats. The website, www.biblegateway.com allows you to listen to the entire Bible online. If you read along in your own Bible with these audio versions, you can read the entire Bible in only 70 hours. Reading along with a professional narrator not only keeps your reading speed up, your mind will be focused and less apt to slow down. The narrator brings life to the printed word.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Last April, I set out to read the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation in 70 days, reading along with an audio MP3 version. I completed it in 28 days, basically 2.5 hours a day.
The Bible is not just another religious book. It is the WORD of God. In the beginning; before there was anything else or anyone else; there was the WORD and the WORD was God. God became flesh and lived among us; Jesus is the living WORD of God who is God. The Bible is essential to us finding out who we really are, why we are her and was is our future after dead.
A pastor friend from different denomination admitted to me that, “We don’t want the laity to learn too much about the Bible, because then they would not need pastors. It’s our job security. We paid our dues through a seminary education. We are not going to share our pulpits.” This kind of attitude has kept many Christians in the dark; blindly following out of generational loyalty and tradition. My generation, the “Baby Boomers,” have broke the traditions by asking questions. We want to know why we do what we do. We are less apt to follow blindly.
The Bible has always been the No. 1 best selling book of all times. It is always excluded from best selling book list because is is so far out in front of any other book; with an all time total of upwards to 6 billion sold; and annual worldwide sales of over100,000 million. It is the most widely distributed; yet least read book. It is vital to your salvation, and you need to know what it says; prove you religious beliefs, customs and traditions. Are you following what God Himself said about your life?
In the days ahead, we are going to use the outline mentioned earlier to help you break the barrier to understanding the Bible and put it into a less overwhelming perspective.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, your WORD is supreme and it holds the keys to blessings now and the hope of an eternal reward in a life that is beyond human imaginations and comprehensions. Yet you have given your WORD to illuminate the fullness of life; now and for eternity. Bless my reading of the WORD. Help me to internalize your precious truth and to be ready always to give a reason of the hope that lives within me, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
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