How important is Bible study to you? How much thought and effort do you put into Bible study?
The Bible verse in 2 Timothy 2:15, focuses on why we need to study God's Word...to "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," which encourages diligent study of God's Word, if we are to become a competent and confident follower, capable of accurately presenting the truth. The Bible is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Psalm 119:105
However, it's a shame that some only study the Bible enough to acquire superficial knowledge and potential misuse. This is the reason we see false teachers. They wield a truncated understanding of scripture, making them dangerous, as a misguided grasp of religious texts can be a source of harm. They have a fragmented or selective understanding of scripture. God's followers have a great responsibility to God, for what they teach. We do not want a surface-level knowledge only, of the Word of God. People's souls are at stake, so it's important for us to know and understand what we're reading from God's precious Word.
We also do not do ourselves any favor by just casually picking out a verse and thinking we have its full understanding. I love deep Bible study and it is so important to delve into God's Word. I believe if we love God, we will thoroughly enjoy studying God's Word, in depth. Yes, sometimes we don't have the time, but I'm talking about those times we do. One can just simply read the Bible for the simple fact that they love reading the Bible, learning and growing in Christ, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, whether we're going to sit down to purposely study the Bible in private, or together with fellow believers, it is wise to give God our best in our studies, so we do not lead others astray, but strictly stay with the truths in God's Word and not make up our own interpretations or version of the Bible. Scripture, specifically Proverbs 3:5, advises against leaning on our own understanding, urging us instead, to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and minds, and acknowledge God in all our ways, and He promises He will direct our paths.
We cannot assume that we have learned all we need to know about a certain scripture, in 10 minutes. You need to check the context it was written in... Focusing on the entire chapter, to whom it was written, who said it, the time period, plus the history of that time period, and against other scripture verses.
Focusing on Misinterpretation:
1. Some cherry-pick verses and twist them to suit their own agendas.
2. Their understanding of scripture is selective and biased.
3. They use the Bible as a weapon, rather than a guide.
4. They have a misconstrued view of the Bible.
5. Instead of listening to God, they'll go pick a certain article from the internet and blindly believe everything the author has said, without even checking out whom the author is, what he believes, or what he or she stands for, instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. It is the Holy Spirit's job to interpret scripture for you. Why would we listen to man, when he is flawed with sin and has no idea how to get to heaven, unless God had told us in His Word? Since when are we smarter or wiser than our Creator? That is pride and arrogance in its worst form.
1st John 2:27 - But the anointing which ye have received of him (the Holy Spirit )...abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as He hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
Not only does the bible tell us to study to show ourselves approved, but to test the spirits of those who preach or teach. The Holy Spirit gives you great spiritual discernment and lets you know who is a true teacher or a false one. You can tell by if what they say, matches up 100% with what God says in His Word or NOT, and how would you know that, if you don't study and know your Bible? The devil can fool you in a second, if you don't know your Bible. You won't recognize a false teacher, when you see one. If their teachings, their words, or actions do not match 100% with what the Bible says, God said to leave them...and don't listen to anymore! The trouble is, some wouldn't know if false teacher for this simple reason that they don't know what they believe or what they should believe. The Bible tells us how to determine that. It is God's letter of instruction for life. It tells us how to survive life and find eternal life in Christ. If we ignore God's message, we have ignored the promise of heaven because we cannot enter heaven with sin on our heels. Sin is what keeps us condemned and separates us from God UNTIL we ask Jesus to help us and save us.
Focusing on the Danger of Incomplete Knowledge:
The biggest danger from a false witness who is unknowledgeable (the Bible uses the word ignorant in this case) of God's Word and teaches/spreads lies about God and His Word, or twists the truth, is that many souls can be lost forever, turned completely away from God forever, or lose their faith when they find out the real truth and that they were lied to. False teachers are the worst kind of stumbling block, and God does not blink at that. He takes their responsibility (or lack of) seriously. Souls are at stake. The exact scripture says:
"But whoso shall offend "one of these little ones" which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6
While scripture says, DO NOT forbid your children to come unto Jesus, don't think for a minute, that God wouldn't want the same applied to anyone who might miss heaven because of a false teacher, or any other reason.
Matthew 19:14 - "But Jesus said, suffer/allow little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
We can truly see that lack of true understanding, is dangerous. Partial and misapplied knowledge of scripture can be a source of great harm. False teachers demonstrate a deficient and dangerous understanding of the scriptures. By no means am I saying I'm the best teacher or whatever... I have to study very hard as well, and I love that so much because every time I study I learn more about Jesus and a plethora of other things in the Bible, but I do NOT put my complete faith and trust in mere flawed man, over my full trust and faith in the Source of Truth...God and His Word. He has never once, let me down. But I'm just sharing that it truly breaks my heart to see scripture mishandled, misconstrued, limited, distorted or falsely presented, causing so many to miss heaven.
Let's not trust man, but go to God's self-proclaimed Source of Truth for salvation, Jesus and His Word. Jesus did not leave us to guess about whom to trust. He point blank told us that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life... and that no man can come to the Father except by Him. One cannot go wrong, if they will simply allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to teach and guide them through life. I wouldn't trade Jesus for anything in the world. I don't love him because I was forced. I wasn't, and I was not indoctrinated. The Bible says seek and ye shall find and that's exactly what I did and how I found him. My love for Jesus comes strictly from my great love and gratitude to Him for his unconditional love for me and what he did for me on the cross, in saving my soul.
God did not leave us to guess about what happens to us after we die or about other crucial subjects, such as whom we need to trust for salvation. When it comes to our life and the destiny of our soul, we cannot afford to gamble with our own soul. Eternity is a long time, if we miss God's loving message to us, and as far as I can tell from my 52 years of Bible study and following Christ, I've seen no other evidence that points contrary to the fact that Jesus truly saves souls, and I experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit myself, once I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
I can only trust God. He is no liar. I don't even need to have read the Bible, in order to know who He is and what He can do for you, and neither did the people of old, as they did not have a Bible to tell them what to do or what was going on, and even if they had, they would not have understood it or what to expect, until after Jesus died on the cross and the Holy Spirit came to those who accepted him as their Lord and Savior. They would not have understood the Word, even if they had it. Not if Jesus had not died on the cross yet, and even then it was hard for the disciples to know what to expect. It was even hard for His disciples to understand what exactly is going on, and what Jesus meant when he talked about them having eternal life in heaven one day and so many other things. That's why I say I didn't need the Bible in order to experience Him and His presence. When I called out to him to save my soul, He kept His promise to save me and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in me forever, as my Divine Helper and my lifelong Guide and best friend, just as He promised he would do.
All these years, He has kept that promise. He's trustworthy. He turns no one away. I don't care who you are or what you have done... you're not so bad that Jesus cannot, or will not, save you and accept you just as you are. He will never turn you away nor abandon you. If He can save a sinner like me, He can save you. I needed saving just as much as anyone else in this world. I'm eternally grateful that He didn't turn me away, but only showed me love with no condemnation whatsoever. I found that God does not categorize sin, like we do, and that's because all sin, no matter what it is, separates us from God, until we ask his forgiveness, so he can wash away our sins, and that's exactly what I asked him to do, and that's exactly what he did. And I'm thinking right now to myself, wouldn't it be wonderful to dedicate your life to Jesus during this Resurrection Day celebration? The second you decide to do that, He erases every one of your sins and gives you a brand new life in Christ. It doesn't get better than that. A brand new life and a brand new beginning...just as if you had never sinned in your life! All your sins forgiven and completely forgotten. It's just like being a brand new baby and that's why it is called being "born again". Because that's exactly what it is and what it's like. A brand new Spiritual Awakening with a brand new life.
Jesus gave His absolute all, when He died on the cross, so that through Him, we could have our sins forgiven and forgotten, if that's what we want, and ask him to do. Jesus gave his all and that's why he deserves our all. Not a half commitment, but a full commitment out of our great love for him and what he did for us on the cross. Otherwise, we would all have been lost, forever.
John 3:17 says Jesus never came to condemn the world, but to save it and that's what we're celebrating this season. The death, then resurrection of Jesus Christ, conquering all sin and death. He has prepared a special place for you and I, forever in heaven, if you will allow him to save your soul. Just ask him in a simple prayer, to come into your heart and life as your Savior, and He will definitely do that. I can honestly say that without any hesitation or reservation whatsoever. You'll never be disappointed if you choose Jesus to be your Savior.
However, it's a shame that some only study the Bible enough to acquire superficial knowledge and potential misuse. This is the reason we see false teachers. They wield a truncated understanding of scripture, making them dangerous, as a misguided grasp of religious texts can be a source of harm. They have a fragmented or selective understanding of scripture. God's followers have a great responsibility to God, for what they teach. We do not want a surface-level knowledge only, of the Word of God. People's souls are at stake, so it's important for us to know and understand what we're reading from God's precious Word.
We also do not do ourselves any favor by just casually picking out a verse and thinking we have its full understanding. I love deep Bible study and it is so important to delve into God's Word. I believe if we love God, we will thoroughly enjoy studying God's Word, in depth. Yes, sometimes we don't have the time, but I'm talking about those times we do. One can just simply read the Bible for the simple fact that they love reading the Bible, learning and growing in Christ, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, whether we're going to sit down to purposely study the Bible in private, or together with fellow believers, it is wise to give God our best in our studies, so we do not lead others astray, but strictly stay with the truths in God's Word and not make up our own interpretations or version of the Bible. Scripture, specifically Proverbs 3:5, advises against leaning on our own understanding, urging us instead, to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and minds, and acknowledge God in all our ways, and He promises He will direct our paths.
We cannot assume that we have learned all we need to know about a certain scripture, in 10 minutes. You need to check the context it was written in... Focusing on the entire chapter, to whom it was written, who said it, the time period, plus the history of that time period, and against other scripture verses.
Focusing on Misinterpretation:
1. Some cherry-pick verses and twist them to suit their own agendas.
2. Their understanding of scripture is selective and biased.
3. They use the Bible as a weapon, rather than a guide.
4. They have a misconstrued view of the Bible.
5. Instead of listening to God, they'll go pick a certain article from the internet and blindly believe everything the author has said, without even checking out whom the author is, what he believes, or what he or she stands for, instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. It is the Holy Spirit's job to interpret scripture for you. Why would we listen to man, when he is flawed with sin and has no idea how to get to heaven, unless God had told us in His Word? Since when are we smarter or wiser than our Creator? That is pride and arrogance in its worst form.
1st John 2:27 - But the anointing which ye have received of him (the Holy Spirit )...abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as He hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
Not only does the bible tell us to study to show ourselves approved, but to test the spirits of those who preach or teach. The Holy Spirit gives you great spiritual discernment and lets you know who is a true teacher or a false one. You can tell by if what they say, matches up 100% with what God says in His Word or NOT, and how would you know that, if you don't study and know your Bible? The devil can fool you in a second, if you don't know your Bible. You won't recognize a false teacher, when you see one. If their teachings, their words, or actions do not match 100% with what the Bible says, God said to leave them...and don't listen to anymore! The trouble is, some wouldn't know if false teacher for this simple reason that they don't know what they believe or what they should believe. The Bible tells us how to determine that. It is God's letter of instruction for life. It tells us how to survive life and find eternal life in Christ. If we ignore God's message, we have ignored the promise of heaven because we cannot enter heaven with sin on our heels. Sin is what keeps us condemned and separates us from God UNTIL we ask Jesus to help us and save us.
Focusing on the Danger of Incomplete Knowledge:
The biggest danger from a false witness who is unknowledgeable (the Bible uses the word ignorant in this case) of God's Word and teaches/spreads lies about God and His Word, or twists the truth, is that many souls can be lost forever, turned completely away from God forever, or lose their faith when they find out the real truth and that they were lied to. False teachers are the worst kind of stumbling block, and God does not blink at that. He takes their responsibility (or lack of) seriously. Souls are at stake. The exact scripture says:
"But whoso shall offend "one of these little ones" which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6
While scripture says, DO NOT forbid your children to come unto Jesus, don't think for a minute, that God wouldn't want the same applied to anyone who might miss heaven because of a false teacher, or any other reason.
Matthew 19:14 - "But Jesus said, suffer/allow little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
We can truly see that lack of true understanding, is dangerous. Partial and misapplied knowledge of scripture can be a source of great harm. False teachers demonstrate a deficient and dangerous understanding of the scriptures. By no means am I saying I'm the best teacher or whatever... I have to study very hard as well, and I love that so much because every time I study I learn more about Jesus and a plethora of other things in the Bible, but I do NOT put my complete faith and trust in mere flawed man, over my full trust and faith in the Source of Truth...God and His Word. He has never once, let me down. But I'm just sharing that it truly breaks my heart to see scripture mishandled, misconstrued, limited, distorted or falsely presented, causing so many to miss heaven.
Let's not trust man, but go to God's self-proclaimed Source of Truth for salvation, Jesus and His Word. Jesus did not leave us to guess about whom to trust. He point blank told us that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life... and that no man can come to the Father except by Him. One cannot go wrong, if they will simply allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to teach and guide them through life. I wouldn't trade Jesus for anything in the world. I don't love him because I was forced. I wasn't, and I was not indoctrinated. The Bible says seek and ye shall find and that's exactly what I did and how I found him. My love for Jesus comes strictly from my great love and gratitude to Him for his unconditional love for me and what he did for me on the cross, in saving my soul.
God did not leave us to guess about what happens to us after we die or about other crucial subjects, such as whom we need to trust for salvation. When it comes to our life and the destiny of our soul, we cannot afford to gamble with our own soul. Eternity is a long time, if we miss God's loving message to us, and as far as I can tell from my 52 years of Bible study and following Christ, I've seen no other evidence that points contrary to the fact that Jesus truly saves souls, and I experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit myself, once I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
I can only trust God. He is no liar. I don't even need to have read the Bible, in order to know who He is and what He can do for you, and neither did the people of old, as they did not have a Bible to tell them what to do or what was going on, and even if they had, they would not have understood it or what to expect, until after Jesus died on the cross and the Holy Spirit came to those who accepted him as their Lord and Savior. They would not have understood the Word, even if they had it. Not if Jesus had not died on the cross yet, and even then it was hard for the disciples to know what to expect. It was even hard for His disciples to understand what exactly is going on, and what Jesus meant when he talked about them having eternal life in heaven one day and so many other things. That's why I say I didn't need the Bible in order to experience Him and His presence. When I called out to him to save my soul, He kept His promise to save me and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in me forever, as my Divine Helper and my lifelong Guide and best friend, just as He promised he would do.
All these years, He has kept that promise. He's trustworthy. He turns no one away. I don't care who you are or what you have done... you're not so bad that Jesus cannot, or will not, save you and accept you just as you are. He will never turn you away nor abandon you. If He can save a sinner like me, He can save you. I needed saving just as much as anyone else in this world. I'm eternally grateful that He didn't turn me away, but only showed me love with no condemnation whatsoever. I found that God does not categorize sin, like we do, and that's because all sin, no matter what it is, separates us from God, until we ask his forgiveness, so he can wash away our sins, and that's exactly what I asked him to do, and that's exactly what he did. And I'm thinking right now to myself, wouldn't it be wonderful to dedicate your life to Jesus during this Resurrection Day celebration? The second you decide to do that, He erases every one of your sins and gives you a brand new life in Christ. It doesn't get better than that. A brand new life and a brand new beginning...just as if you had never sinned in your life! All your sins forgiven and completely forgotten. It's just like being a brand new baby and that's why it is called being "born again". Because that's exactly what it is and what it's like. A brand new Spiritual Awakening with a brand new life.
Jesus gave His absolute all, when He died on the cross, so that through Him, we could have our sins forgiven and forgotten, if that's what we want, and ask him to do. Jesus gave his all and that's why he deserves our all. Not a half commitment, but a full commitment out of our great love for him and what he did for us on the cross. Otherwise, we would all have been lost, forever.
John 3:17 says Jesus never came to condemn the world, but to save it and that's what we're celebrating this season. The death, then resurrection of Jesus Christ, conquering all sin and death. He has prepared a special place for you and I, forever in heaven, if you will allow him to save your soul. Just ask him in a simple prayer, to come into your heart and life as your Savior, and He will definitely do that. I can honestly say that without any hesitation or reservation whatsoever. You'll never be disappointed if you choose Jesus to be your Savior.
