28 Nov Book it! (Because a Bible that is falling apart indicates a life that isn’t!) Part 14
Remember our goal for you in this series which is three-fold:
- To love the Word
- To learn the Word
- To live the Word
Over the last number of months we have shared with you two “Bible beholdings”:
- If you want to know God you must know the Bible.
- Prayer is talking to God. The Bible is God talking to us.
We then began to share with you “Four Awesome Assignments to Assist you with the Word”:
- Activate the Word
Three ways to activate God’s Word:
1) Faith activates the Word (Heb. 4:2)
2) Revelation activates faith (Eph. 1:18)
3) Meditation activates revelation (Joshua 1:8).
2. Accept the Word (Matt. 7:24-27).
3. Assimilate the Word (II Tim. 3:16-17).
4. Apply the Word (James 1:22).
Last week we began with…
To truly love, learn and live the Word of God…you must trust the Word of God!
The Bible tells us, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Over the next number of months I am going to share with you some fascinating truths that will help you defend the Word of God to an antagonistic culture. This is called “apologetics”. Now I know this is a fancy theological term, but it is derived from the Greek New Testament.
The Bible tells us in II Timothy 4:16, “At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” The Greek word translated “defense” is “apologia”. This is a Greek compound word “apo” which means ‘‘from” and “logia” which means “words”. Put these two words together and it means “a well thought out reasoning from the word.” With this in mind, please allow me to share with you:
7 Truths to Trust the Word of God:
- The Bible is historically accurate (Ps. 33:4).
This week let’a continue with…
2. The Bible was recorded and copied with extra care.
Many people question the validity of copies but God entrusted the Jews…the most meticulous scribes ever, to copy His Word. You see the scribes would not just copy the Bible word for word, but letter by letter. For example, when copying the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), the scribes would determine the middle letter of the entire Pentateuch. They would then count backwards and forwards from the middle letter and if it did not come out perfectly, they would throw the whole copy away. Even the Dead Sea scrolls discovered in the 1940 and 1950’s (the latest copies found) were perfect to the letter!
3. Archaeological confirmation.
The Bible talks about a group of people called the Hittites. In archaeological digs, all the other people groups of the Bible were discovered…but not the Hittites. 1900 years after Jesus, they still could find no archaeological evidence of the people group called the Hittites. However in the early 1900’s, they discovered what the Bible taught all along…the Hittites really did exist.
Now I know this is not something that’s going to make you run around your house. However, this culture is attacking the Word of God. Therefore I want you to love, learn, live and trust the Word of God!
Next month we will continue our series!