NEWSLETTER 049 MESSAGE

Message: Approved by God

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15

Why is Bible study so important? Why should we invest time in knowing the Word of God? Are we not simply “led by the Spirit?”

The Bible is the Word of God to us. It is the only objective standard we have to live by. Being “led by the Spirit” is important, but in many ways it is subjective. It is easy to get our own thoughts and desires mixed in with it. Everything must be tested by the objective Word of God taken in context.

Bible reading and memorization are important but they are not study. Bible study is the analyzing and comparing of Scripture with Scripture. It is examining the context. It is discovering and applying what God teaches on any given subject. One Bible scholar has said, “The more I study one verse, the more I discover that I need the whole Bible to explain it.” The Bible is one unit and it all fits together [we discover this in the Covenants study].

As we study Scripture we “input” knowledge that the Holy Spirit can then take and turn into wisdom. The Holy Spirit takes what we have, not what we don’t have, and uses it.

Studying Scripture exposes areas in our lives in which we have been living Satan’s lies. We are all born into the world and have been trained in Satan’s way of doing things. When we come to Christ we accept His Lordship. However, in many things we have become so used of doing things Satan’s way that we don’t even realize that they are wrong. It is as we study the Scripture that Satan’s lies in our lives are revealed and we can then abandoned them for the Truth. We all have blind spots. The conflict comes in when we see God’s Truth but prefer the way we have been trained. Then what are we going to do? Obey God or continue on the way we always done it before?

God wants to know how serious we are. He does not give His pearls to swine. It is the honour of kings to search out a matter. God gives us that honour. He wants us to show our seriousness by studying His Word to understand Who He is and what He wants done on this planet. The way of salvation is simple so that anyone can understand it, but to have the riches of God takes work. As God sees us working at understanding His ways, He blesses us with revelation. In other words, when we put in the sweat God opens our eyes to many glorious Truths.

Satan and his workers can quote Scripture, too. We see this at the temptation of Christ. Because Jesus had studied Scripture, He knew the context and the issues involved and could answer with Scripture. As we study Scripture we will be able to recognize when it is abused or misused. We will not be deceived by every wind of doctrine or sensational theories. Our feet will be firmly planted by the River of Life.

Announcements

A new report is on site - The Bible As Hate Literature. There is also a prayer request page for you. You can enter your prayer requests for our visitors to see and pray for and you can view and pray for the prayer requests of others. This is a service for you and it will only be as effective as the people who use it.

I highly recommend that everyone take the Life Line course [free] to understand how Law and Grace work in our society and invest the time and money to take the Covenants course. Covenants will show you the unity of Scripture as you see the wonderful, eternal plan of God unfolding before your eyes.

Don’t forget to check out the Bookstore for carefully selected books to help you in your Christian walk.

God bless you,
Glenn Davis
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