One bite at a time.

The Word of God is invaluable for us

          to understand God, the world, and our place in it. 

Why?  Because

         All Scripture is inspired by God and is

         useful to teach us what is true and

         to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

         It corrects us when we are wrong and

         teaches us to do what is right.  

         God uses it to prepare and

         equip his people to do every good work.*

God uses Scripture in our lives to teach us truth, to enable us to see what is wrong in the way we are living, to prepare and equip us.  ‘Quite valuable then, isn’t it?  Indeed, nothing else compares to it.

As we concluded the book of 2 Corinthians, we saw the danger of false teaching, and the strategy of the evil one to wreak havoc in the lives of God’s children--two aspects of life on which the Bible provides instruction.  With regard to false or counterfeit teaching, we must be diligent in knowing the truth, and vigilantly on guard for that which would adulterate, or masquerade, as truth.

Far more important than recognizing untruths, is knowing the TRUTH.  The truth is that the Bible is God’s revelation—

         his word, his plan, and what he has to say about himself

I believe that when one is first introduced to the Bible, it can be totally overwhelming--thoughts of ‘Where do I start?  What does this mean?  Really . . . that happened?’ That is why it should be approached in the same way in which we eat an elephant—one bite at a time.  

Two and a half years ago, I began writing “Morning Briefings” for a handful of businessmen, sending them out daily so they could get nourishment from God’s Word.  I started in the little book of James—five chapters chalk full of wisdom.  (More folks added on to the daily distribution of the Morning Briefings) 

“Hmmm….now they need a close examination of the life of Jesus; Luke will provide that,” I thought.  And so we read about Jesus’ humble birth, the selection of his closest friends—the disciples; we stood in the crowd and listened to him teach, and looked on as he touched and healed folks.  One thing was certain---no ne was ever the same after they met Jesus.  We watched as Jesus ascended into Heaven, (recorded in Acts chapter one), and we were awe-stricken when the Holy Spirit blew into Jerusalem on the Feast of Pentecost.

Captivated and curious, we followed Paul’s life, his remarkable conversion from Judaism to Christianity, desiring to learn and understand doctrine and his intellectual style of teaching.  My goal has been to teach through Paul’s letters to the churches…. So we studied I and II Thessalonians, Galatians, and I and II Corinthians.  Guess what is next?  Romans—Paul’s letter to the church of Rome.  

Taking a look at Romans, not only do we learn the early history of Christianity, but we also learn what it means to be a Christian—how not to just ‘talk the talk’ but to ‘walk the talk’.   And so, we tackle Scripture one bite at a time—one glorious, amazing bite at a time.

Christine