Rev. David Holwick P Grow Your Faith, #3
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 18, 2014
Acts 17:11
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I. How much do you value a Bible?
A. This man made an effort.
William McPherson was severely injured when a charge of
dynamite exploded in front of his face.
Although he survived the blast, he lost both hands, both eyes,
and the feeling in parts of his face.
He was a new Christian and he realized how much the Bible
meant to him.
He needed its strength now more than ever, but he couldn't
read it.
William heard that a woman in Britain had learned to read
Braille with her lips, so he ordered portions of the Bible
in Braille.
When it arrived, he was dismayed to discover that the explosion
had deadened the nerves in his lips so that no sense of
touch remained.
But then he found his tongue was able to feel the raised dots.
Although the metal left his lips and tongue bleeding and very
sore, he prayed to God to help him continue to learn just
one letter of the alphabet.
A teacher was able to help him learn the Moon Type system of
Braille, which uses simplified figures instead of dots.
In the 65 years that followed, this Kansas City man read the
Bible through four times with his tongue.
How much effort do you put into reading God's Word?
#63058
B. Confidence in the Bible is falling off.
A survey released this year shows that 39% of Americans who
are under the age of 29 have never read the Bible.
In just three years, the number of Americans who are apathetic
about the Bible grew 10%.
This is not a good trend.
#64420
C. If you want to grow spiritually, you must be in the Bible.
1) Most Christians know this in their heart.
2) So why are so many of us tuned out?
II. What inhibits us.
A. We don't read much of anything anymore.
1) Consider this piece of Christian doggerel:
They lie on the table side by side,
The Holy Bible and the TV Guide.
One is well worn and cherished with pride,
Not the Bible . . . but the TV Guide.
The Word of God is seldom read,
Maybe a verse as they fall into bed.
Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,
Not from reading the Bible . . . from watching TV.
#16608
2) I used this in a sermon 13 years ago.
a) An update - nowadays people don't read the Bible -OR-
the TV Guide. They use a button on their remote.
b) Newspapers are dying, publishers are going bankrupt,
everything is going electronic.
B. Daily habits of any kind can be difficult to establish.
1) Our lives are very hectic.
2) We no longer have a "Sweet Hour of Prayer," as the old
gospel hymn put it. Maybe we can do 15 minutes. Or 10.
3) To see how minutia has taken over our lives instead of
substance, just watch a room full of 20-year-olds.
a) All of them will be staring at little screens, their
thumbs tweeting out short little messages.
b) Reading a book like the Bible takes effort and
discipline, which is in short supply these days.
C. The Bible is a hard book.
1) It covers difficult themes.
Many people have been brought up to have a misty-eyed
appreciation for the Bible but have never actually gotten
around to reading it.
In her 90s Grace Longino decided to do something she'd never
done before -- read the Bible cover to cover.
She began with the Old Testament, and she didn't get far
before she threw it down.
"This is a terrible book!" she said.
The Old Testament stories of warfare, atrocities and a
harsh-sounding God trip up a lot of people.
#32698
Penn Jillette, a famous magician and outspoken atheist,
was asked to list his favorite books.
The final one on his list was the Bible.
He said, "If you're considering becoming an atheist, read
the Bible from cover to cover.
No study guides, no spins, just read it.
Sometime between when God tells Abraham to kill his son and
when Jesus tells everyone to put him before their
families, you will be an atheist."
#63815
a) Christians shouldn't minimize this issue.
1> Our Thursday afternoon Bible study just finished
going through I and II Kings.
2> All the bad stuff is in there.
3> They then told me, "Let's do a nice New Testament
book now!"
b) The badness has its reasons.
1> Life is not all peaches and cream, even for those
who believe in God.
2> God is holy and won't tolerate sin.
3> Which is another reason people have a hard time
reading the Bible...
2) It can make you feel guilty.
a) If there is something in your life that you know God
is against, you won't want to read his book and
get reminded of it over and over again.
b) Exposure to the Bible, and knowledge of the Bible, is
not enough -- you have to do what it says.
c) If you immerse yourself in God's Word and try to live
it, you will be transformed.
III. How to get into God's Word in a personal way.
A. Establish a routine.
1) Pick a regular time and a regular place.
2) Follow a plan of reading.
a) Don't "pray and poke."
b) Even worse - starting in Genesis and plowing through.
c) Better - divide up Bible into major sections (2 to 5)
and read one chapter out of each section.
1> This way you are not stuck in mildew regulations
for a week.
2> It gives a balance between Old and New Testaments.
3) Focus on a significant portion of the Bible.
A number of years ago, David Jeremiah attended a men's
retreat where the speaker challenged them to begin a
practice he said would change our lives dramatically.
He was ready to write down a complex spiritual formula,
and he says was disappointed at what he heard:
"There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs.
I challenge you to read a chapter a day each month for
the next year.
If you do that faithfully for a year, you will have read
the book of Proverbs 12 times and your life will never
be the same."
David decided to accept the challenge.
He was amazed at how many times he found himself in a
situation during the day for which he had insight (or
direction or a warning) taken directly from that
day's reading in Proverbs.
He came to the conclusion during that period of his
spiritual life that Proverbs offers the simplest, yet
most profound, daily spiritual "pick-me-ups" to be
found in all the Bible.
#34970
B. Enlist wisdom from others.
1) Pick a translation you can understand.
2) Get a good study Bible with notes at the bottom of the
page.
a) The Life Application Bible is used by many in this
church.
3) Get a condensed commentary that you can go to when you have
deeper questions.
4) Write down your questions and ask others, like your pastor.
5) Jot down questions and insights in the margins of your
Bible.
6) Join a Bible study so you can expand your knowledge.
C. Pick a partner.
1) Have a buddy who follows the same devotional routine, and
report to each other on what you discover.
IV. How to experience God when you read your Bible.
A. The Bible is not a textbook or self-help guide.
1) It contains practical knowledge but much more.
2) It is a book given to us by God.
a) As Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16, the Bible is
God-breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness.
b) Much of it relates the life journeys of people who
tried to follow God.
c) We need to read it carefully, just like the Bereans did.
B. To see God clearly in each passage, put on your S.P.E.C.S.
1) S - Sin to confess.
2) P - Promise to claim.
3) E - Example to follow. (Hebrews 11)
4) C - Command to obey.
5) S - Stumbling block to avoid. Sermon #21485
V. Jesus is the key.
A. Christ himself claimed that the whole Bible pointed to him.
1) In a dispute with some of his opponents Jesus said:
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think
that by them you possess eternal life.
These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
John 5:39-40
2) If you don't know Jesus, the Bible won't make sense.
a) I received my first Bible in the third-grade.
I got it for memorizing the Lord's Prayer.
I leafed through it to look at the pictures;
I never read a word of it.
b) Eight years later I read the Bible as a seeker.
It was hard, but started to make sense.
I discovered Jesus within its covers.
B. Have you discovered him yet?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Sermon #21485 “How To Get the Most Out Of Your Bible Reading,” Rev. Jerry
Shirley, www.SermonCentral.com.
#16608 “Two Books Side By Side,” author unknown, Submitted by Sgt. Ross
Corbett, Ledgewood Baptist Church Member, in an email on
August 7, 2000.
#32698 “Is It A Terrible Book?” Donna Trussell, Munnie Longino's
granddaughter, May 8, 2010.
<http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/08/mothers-day-a-texas-magnolia-who-finally-faded/>
#34970 “How To Gain Wisdom,” David Jeremiah, Baptist Press,
http://www.baptistpress.org, January 25, 2008.
#63058 “He Reads His Bible With His Lips,” R. Robert L. Sumner,
The Biblical Evangelist, Volume 42, Number 2, March/April 2011,
<http://www.biblicalevangelist.org/index.php?id=1128>.
Originally from the book The Wonder of the Word of God (1969)
by Dr. Robert L. Sumner.
#63815 “Will the Bible Make You An Atheist?” Penn Jillette, The Week
Magazine, November 23, 2012.
#64420 “Has America Lost Its Passion For The Bible?” Corine Gatti,
<http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Articles/Has-America-Lost-its-Passion-for-the-Bible.aspx>.
More details can be found at <http://www.americanbible.org/features/state-of-the-bible-research-2014>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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