14 tips for successful Bible reading (Part 2)

In a continuation of last week’s article – I want to finish up my series of 14 tips for successful Bible reading:

8. Read the whole Bible.

Go through the Bible from cover to cover. By reading every section of the Bible, you give yourself a broad familiarity and perspective that will help you shed preconceived ideas about doctrinal subjects.

9. Take notes.

Jot down notes and explanatory comments in your Bible or a notebook. This will help you remember key ideas or related scriptures. Some people use a marking system, with colors or symbols, to keep track of key verses by categories (doctrine, correction, prophecy, etc.). This can help you save time when looking for a particular section of Scripture.

10. Use Bible study aids.

Many Bible study aids are useful. They can provide valuable historical background or point you to other scriptures that add clarity to what you are reading. Aids include concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, maps and commentaries. However, always keep in mind that such resources are not Scripture and can be wrong.

11. Review and meditate.

Take time to ponder what you have been learning during your Bible Study. If something seems hard to understand, take some time to consider its meaning, using what you have already learned as the starting point. Reflect on what the Bible is saying and on how you can apply the verses in everyday life (Psalm 1:1-3; Psalm 119:97-99; Psalm 139:17-18).

12. Seek guidance.

It is always best to seek help from qualified people in any field of study. God has commissioned His servants to guide people into a fuller understanding of His Word. If you have questions, feel free to contact us. We have literature available on a wide variety of biblical subjects (Proverbs 11:14

; Nehemiah 8:8; Acts 8:30-31; Acts 18:26; Romans 10:14-15).

13. Prove God right.

Put God's Word to the test by practicing the things you are learning. Acknowledge how His ways bring positive change in your life. The best way to determine that God's commands and teachings bring true peace and blessings is by living them (1 John 3:22; John 10:10; John 8:31-32; Malachi 3:10).

14. Hold fast.

Once you have proven something to be true, don't allow yourself to be lightly convinced out of it. While new evidence may overturn your previous conclusion, this must be the product of serious study in God's Word. And always beware, because false teachers can lead you astray. Ask God to help you remain true to His teachings (1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Timothy 3:13-15; Colossians 1:22-23; Psalm 119:10-16).

May we endeavor to encounter God daily in His Word!

-          - Bro. Dave

14 Tips for Successful Bible Reading (part 1)

I want to thank Mike Riley and the Brotherhood for a great weekend! The men’s conference was a smashing success and everyone involved could sense the work of the Holy Spirit. I rejoice in the wonderful testimonies we heard Sunday and I am thankful that God is at work in our midst!

I have been asked to write about how to have a successful time studying the Bible. I would like to spend two weeks sharing 14 tips for successful Bible reading. :

1. Recognize that the Bible is inspired.

The entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God. During your Bible study, keep in mind that He inspired the words you are reading; God is directly speaking to you through them (2 Peter 1:21; Philippians 2:5; John 6:63).

2. Plan time for Bible study.

It's easy to let everyday concerns interfere, so schedule Bible study time and try to maintain it. Over time you will look forward to this daily experience (Ephesians 5:15-17).

3. Pray for understanding.

Before you even begin, ask God to guide and show you His will. Remember that it is the Creator who gives true understanding through His Word. You cannot gain it on your own (Psalm 119:33-40; Proverbs 3:5-8; Jeremiah 9:23-24).

4. Keep an open mind.

Be willing to admit when you are wrong and change, even if it means letting go of a long-held belief or tradition. If you can successfully apply this one principle, you will be far ahead in the race for spiritual truth (Acts 17:11; Isaiah 8:20).

5. Seek instruction and correction.

Approach the Bible study with a teachable, humble attitude. The Word of God judges our innermost thoughts. It can show us who we really are. It can reveal every flaw in our character. So be ready to heed its correction (Jeremiah 10:23-24; Isaiah 66:1-2; Isaiah 66:5; Romans 8:6-9; Matthew 5:48).

6. Let the Bible interpret itself.

If something seems confusing or even contradictory, let clear biblical passages shed light on those you find difficult to understand. Scriptures do not contradict each another; they complement each other. Also, to properly understand a verse in the Bible, don't force your personal point of view into it. Instead use the context and other relevant scriptures to find the correct meaning (2 Peter 1:20; John 10:35; John 17:17; Isaiah 28:9-10).

7. Bible Study topics.

Concentrate, at various times, on one subject, doctrine or book. Use a concordance or other Bible study aid to put together all the scriptures relevant to a subject. This will allow you to see all that God has to say about a particular topic (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).

May we spend quality time this week with Jesus as we encounter Him in His Word!

-          Bro. Dave

The Blessing of Christian Funerals

We observed a funeral for one of our greatest servants over the weekend, Juanita Gaines. Bro. Don Reed and I were sharing together about how beautiful it is to reflect on the life of a dear Christian. Bro. Mike Lee, a pastor friend of mine from Tennessee, writes about why he likes Christian funerals. I believe he expresses well our feelings about those who die in the Lord:

Psalm 116:15 (ESV)

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

While there is a sense that death isn’t the way things are supposed to be, there is also a preciousness to the death of a saint of our Lord Jesus Christ.  One of the occupational requirements of a pastor is to be acquainted with sickness and death.  From hospital visits to funeral home visits, pastors know sickness and death up close and personal.

Every time I have the privilege of preaching a funeral for a man or woman who has lived for the Savior, I feel incredibly close to the Lord.  There are 

several reasons I like Christian funerals:

1. Christian funerals make much of Jesus.  While I want to comfort the family and remember the one who has died, I get the joy of focusing on the Savior for whom he/she lived.

2. Christian funerals share the gospel.  What has Jesus accomplished that allows us to be comforted even in the face of death?  He has taken away death’s sting and victory!  How?  Through His atoning death and victorious resurrection!

3. Christian funerals give feet to the expression “grieving with hope.”  I’ve officiated funerals for those who were probably unsaved.  I’ve seen the unsaved friends and family.  They either sit with blank faces, make a mockery of death, or weep uncontrollably.  These people have no hope.

Christian funerals show the beauty of hope in the midst of sadness.  Are Christians sad at funerals? Yes they are.  Are they hopeless?  No they aren’t!  At every Christian funeral I focus on the hope of the resurrection by saying, “For Christians we never have to say ‘good-bye,’ we just say see you later!”

4. Christian funerals remind us that should the Lord tarry, we will face death.  How will we die? My great hope is that if I die suddenly, the previous 24 hours, days, and weeks will show that Jesus was my treasure.  If I should die after an extended illness, my hope is that those around me will see and hear of my love for the Savior.  I want my death to bring glory to God.

5. Selfishly, Christian funerals make my job easier.  From time to time I say to the folks at church, “Live your life in such a manner that I won’t have to lie about you at your funeral!”  Christian funerals allow me to focus on who’s really important, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I thank the Lord for Christian funerals.  So, may I ask you…how will you die?

Let’s live for Jesus and share Him with everyone!

-         -  Bro. Dave

John Harper - Hero of the Titanic

I am thankful for the hard work of Rudy and April Burgess and the whole kitchen crew and youth group who helped to raise more than $1,800 this past Sunday for the Backpack Program. Praise God! The challenge awaits! Let’s continue to work and pray and help to feed the hungry stomachs and souls of Mercer County. 

With all the attention in the media focusing on the Titanic – the following story comes from Baptist Press:

It has been 100 years since Titanic, the greatest ship of its time, sank on its maiden voyage, killing more than 1,500 passengers. The "unsinkable ship" had done just that, and on the tragedy's centennial we stand captivated by the story. Many movies, documentaries and books have familiarized us with some of the passengers, such as entrepreneur John Jacob Astor IV or the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown. Yet one of the supreme stories of the Titanic involves a heroic pastor and his passion to save lives and souls.

When pastor and preacher John Harper and six year old daughter boarded the Titanic it was for the privilege of preaching at one of the greatest churches in America, Moody Church in Chicago, named for its famous founder Dwight L. Moody. The church was anxiously awaiting his arrival not only because of the pending services, but to meet their next pastor, as Harper planned to accept their invitation. Harper was known as an engaging preacher and had pastored two churches in Glasgow and London. His preaching style was suited for an evangelist as testified by the words of another local pastor. "He was a great open-air preacher and could always command large and appreciative audiences. ... He could deal with all kinds of interrupters, his great and intelligent grasp of Bible truths enabling him to successfully combat all assailants."

When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Harper successfully led his daughter to a lifeboat. Being a widower he may have been allowed to join her but instead forsook his own rescue, choosing to provide the masses with one more chance to know Christ. Harper ran person to person, passionately telling others about Christ. As the water began to submerge the "unsinkable" ship, Harper was heard shouting, "women, children, and the unsaved into the lifeboats." Rebuffed by a certain man at the offer of salvation Harper gave him his own life vest, saying, "you need this more than I do." Up until the last moment on the ship Harper pleaded with people to give their lives to Jesus.

The ship disappeared beneath the deep frigid waters leaving hundreds floundering in its wake with no realistic chance for rescue. Harper struggled through hyperthermia to swim to as many people as he could, still sharing the Gospel. Harper evidentially would lose his battle with hypothermia but not before giving many people one last glorious Gospel witness.

Four years after the tragedy at a Titanic survivor's meeting in Ontario, Canada, one survivor recounted his interaction with Harper in the middle of the icy waters of the Atlantic. He testified he was clinging to ship debris when Harper swam up to him, twice challenging him with a biblical invitation to "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." He rejected the offer once. Yet given the second chance and with miles of water beneath his feet, the man gave his life to Christ. Then as Harper succumbed to his watery grave, this new believer was rescued by a returning lifeboat. As he concluded his remarks at the Ontario meeting of survivors he simply stated, "I am the last convert of John Harper."

When the Titanic set sail there were delineations of three classes of passengers. Yet immediately after the tragedy, the White Star Line in Liverpool, England placed a board outside its office with only two classes of passengers reading, KNOWN TO BE SAVED and KNOWN TO BE LOST. The owners of the Titanic had simply reaffirmed what John Harper already knew. There are people who know Christ and will spend eternity with God in heaven and many others who will not.

For us, 100 years after the Titanic, may we be as zealous as Harper was with every opportunity to share Christ with the perishing.

- Bro. Dave

The Last Enemy

This Easter Sunday we looked at the fact of the resurrection and how Jesus handles our fears and reigns as king. 1 Corinthians 15:26 mentioned the last enemy that Christ will conquer at his return – death itself. In my research for the sermon, I came across this devotional written by Charles Spurgeon more than 120 years ago:

THE LAST ENEMY.

1 Corinthians 15:26 (ESV) The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Those who have stood by a fresh grave and buried half their hearts in it can tell you what an enemy death is. Death takes the friend from our side, the child from our arms, the pillar of our homes, and the brightness of our hearth. Death has no pity for the young and no mercy for the old. Death has no regard for the good or the beautiful. The scythe of death cuts both sweet flowers and noxious weeds with equal readiness. Death comes into our garden, tramples our lilies, and scatters our roses. Death finds even the most modest flowers that are hiding under the leaves, and it withers them with its burning breath. Death is our enemy. “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

 Why do saints die? Because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:50). A divine change must take place in our bodies before we can enter heaven. Death and the grave are the refining pot, the furnace that makes the body  ready for its future bliss. Death cuts the ropes, that the boat may freely sail to the fair haven. Death is the fiery chariot that ascends to God. Death is the gentle voice of our Great King.

We fly on eagles’ wings, far from this land of mist and cloud, into the eternal serenity and brilliance of God’s house above. It is not death to die.

-      May God bless us with hope in life and no fear in death through our faith in Jesus His son. 

-      Bro. Dave

The Proofs of Easter

Easter is our greatest celebration as Christians, because it focuses our minds on the highlight of the Christian faith—the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, His rising physically, visibly, bodily from the tomb, His remarkable return to life following His torturous death. This isn’t just another wonderful gospel story or another in a series of amazing miracles. This is the story and the miracle of Christianity. It ties together all the other strands of our faith. As scientist Henry Morris put it, “The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is a false religion. If it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth.” According to Acts 1:3, Jesus presented Himself alive by “many infallible proofs.” Notice those three words: Many—not just one or two indications.Infallible—this means irrefutable, certain, convincing. Proofs—these are solid evidence, admissible in a court of law. In the first part of 1 Corinthians 15 (the Bible’s Resurrection chapter), Paul lists some of these proofs:

1.   Fulfilled Prophecy (v. 4). The Resurrection of Christ was predicted in advance. Verse 4 says, “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

A.  Old Testament Predictions: See Isaiah 53:9–11 (niv), Psalm 16:9–11, and Zechariah 12:10. See also Psalm 2:7–9; Psalm 30; Psalm 40:1–3; Psalm 110:1; Psalm 118:21–24; Hosea 5:15–6:3. There’s also the example of Jonah, whose departure from his “grave” in the fish foreshadowed our Lord’s emergence from the tomb.

B.  Jesus’ Own Predictions: His enemies did us the favor of pulling out His resurrection predictions and reinforcing them for all history. How? They used them in His trial and afterward (Matt. 26:61, 27:63). See also John 2:19, Matt. 12:40, and Matt. 17:22, 23.

2.   The Eyewitnesses (vv. 5–8). Following his Resurrection, Jesus remained on earth for forty days, appearing at least ten times to various individuals and groups. The genuineness and historical reliability of these accounts are well attested. Some people assume that Christ only appeared to His hardcore believers. That isn’t true. First, all the disciples were skeptics; none imagined that He would rise from the dead (Matt. 16:21, 22). Second, Thomas was a vocal and determined doubter (John 20:24–29). Third, James, the Lord’s half-brother, had ridiculed and rejected Christ (John 7:1–5). And fourth, Saul of Tarsus was the greatest enemy to His movement (Acts 8:1; 9:3–5).

3.   The Power of the Resurrection to Change Lives (vv. 9–11). How else can the transformation of Saul of Tarsus be explained? What about the change among the disciples? John Stott wrote: “Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection. It was the resurrection that transformed Peter’s fear into courage and James’ doubt into faith. It was the resurrection that changed the Sabbath into Sunday and the Jewish remnant into the Christian Church. It was the resurrection that changed Saul the Pharisee into Paul the apostle and turned his persecuting into preaching.”

Praise God for the resurrection of His Son, and may we share the Good News to all this Easter season!

-          Bro. Dave

Easter in the Old Testament:

1.   Jesus’ Easter Text. In his account of the first Easter, John (who had a lot to feel guilty about) told of running to the tomb with Peter (who had even more to feel guilty about). Seeing the empty tomb, they suspected Christ was alive. But verse ten says, “As yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” Whenever we come across the word “Scripture” in the Gospels, we can substitute, “Old Testament.” None of the New Testament books had yet been written. Verse 9, then says, “They still did not understand from the Old Testament that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Later that afternoon, two disciples were walking to Emmaus. Jesus appeared to them, but His identity was withheld. After engaging them in conversation, He “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Later they said, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (v. 32). Later that night, Christ “opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (v. 45). Jesus wanted the disciples to understand from the Old Testament that He had risen from the dead. Very probably He quoted Psalm 16.

2.   David’s Easter Text (Ps. 16:5–11). This psalm is clearly messianic. “Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; My body also will rest secure, because You will not abandon me to the grave, Nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (niv). Why do we think this is one of the passages Christ quoted to the disciples on the first Easter? Because it is a primary Old Testament prophecy about the Resurrection.

3.   Peter’s Text (Acts 2:25–32). On that great day of Pentecost, Peter preached the first evangelistic sermon in church history. Look at the Old Testament text he highlighted: “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him . . .”—and he quoted Psalm 16, applying its truths to the risen Jesus of Nazareth.

4.   Paul’s Text (Acts 13:32–38). This was also Paul’s text on the Resurrection. In his first recorded sermon, Paul quoted Psalm 16, explaining: “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.”

That, then, is the implication of Easter for you and me. Jesus rose from the dead that our sins might be forgiven, that we might once again feel inwardly clean (Is. 1:18). When we come to the Risen Lord in repentance and faith, He forgives our sin, washes our hearts, and makes us new. That was David’s message. That was Christ’s message. That was Peter’s message. That was Paul’s message. And today, after all these years, it is our message. Will you receive it?

May God bless our sharing of the Easter message with all!

-          Bro. Dave