Are You Sure?

By Clif Dennis

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12)

Several years ago, at an auction, a scrap dealer bought an assortment of crates from the U.S. Army dis­posal unit at Fort Bliss, Texas. These crates were supposedly empty, but when the dealer transported them to his scrap yard, he found a live rocket inside one of the crates. Much to his dismay, after checking the other crates, he found a total of twenty-three rockets. All of these rockets were alive, highly explosive and very dangerous. They were designed to be fired from helicopters and spray thousands of fragments when ex­ploded. How had these rockets ended up in­side "empty" crates and been sold to a scrap dealer? An investigation found that a young army lieutenant had signed a state­ment that he had inspected the crates and had found them empty. It was learned dur­ing the course of the investigation that the young lieutenant had not inspected the crates at all, but signed off on them anyway. Of course, this ended his career, embar­rassed the U.S. government, and more than that, endangered human lives.

The young lieutenant suffered bitter con­sequences by making false assumptions. Had he carefully examined the crates, the end of his story would have been different.

In the same way today, many people buy into "empty" religions by not examining God's word to see what is inside. No individ­ual investigation of Scripture is made, but people are led by "pastors" to assume that their religion is in the Bible. Souls are lost eternally because of false assumptions. The damage to lost souls is much greater than that caused by the young lieutenant.

Shouldn't we all be more like the people in Berea in Acts 17:11? They searched the Scriptures daily, and it was said of them that they were more noble than those in Thessa­lonica because they were not willing to take the word of some­one just because he said it. In the hundreds of so called "branches of Christianity" in America today, "young lieu­tenants," so called "pastors" enjoy the com­plete loyalty of millions of followers who never question their word nor the creeds they follow.

Are you sure your brand of religion is in the Bible? True Christianity is in God's word and men's creeds are not God's word. Odds are you have bought an empty crate, (religion). Become like the Bereans. Search the Scriptures. Your eternal destiny depends on your willingness to do so.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, Who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21). &

Comparing Ourselves to Ourselves

Several years ago it was reported that the telephone operator in a small town in Cape Cod received a call every morning asking for the correct time. Finally, overcome with curiosity, she asked the inquirer, "Would you mind telling me why you call about this time every morn­ing and ask for the correct time?" "Sure, I'll tell you," the man said. "I want to get the ex­act time because I'm the man who blows the whistle at twelve o'clock." "Well, that's funny," said the op­erator, "because every day at the stroke of noon, I set our clock by your whistle."

How often do we set our spiritual stan­dards for ourselves based on what others are do­ing--without even considering what stan­dard they are following? It is good to follow the examples of others ONLY if those set­ting the examples are following the COR­RECT standard themselves. The apostle Paul says, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1). Notice that he says following another (him) must always be with the greater view of following Christ. To follow the example of others, without being aware of what standards they themselves are following, is the height of folly. The Scriptures speak of those who, "measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12). Let us ulti­mately set our spiritual clocks by the Lord, not man.... From Exhortations & Stuff, Whit Sasser, Appleton, WI. &

 

The Special Benefits of Group Bible Study

By Bob Myhan

As pointed out last week, Christians can study the Bible at home alone and benefit greatly. But they will benefit much more from coming to­gether at the place of worship and combin­ing their ef­forts at gaining a better un­derstanding of God’s word. Surely, this was one of the rea­sons God, through the inspired apostles and prophets, established local congrega­tions (see Eph. 4:11-16). By studying the Bible in groups, we receive:

Shared information - Others may under­stand something that you haven’t yet com­prehended (2 Tim. 2:2).

Spiritual association (Acts 2:42) - Most Christians need this regularly in order to off­set the associations they cannot avoid with worldly people.

Mutual encouragement (Heb. 10:24) - The worldly people we cannot avoid will not, generally, stir us up to good works (1 Cor. 15:33).

Reciprocal exhortation (Heb. 10:25) - We need this exhortation in order to remain faithful (Rev. 2:10).

Increased edification (1 Cor. 14:1-4; Eph. 4:14-16) - Certainly, we can be edified to some extent by means of our own personal, individual Bible study at home. But when Christians meet to share the results of their self-edification, those results are multiplied exponentially.

Obviously, God approves of group Bible study. Therefore, since it is so beneficial, His approval of us, as individuals, will necessar­ily increase if, when and to the extent that we participate therein. &

The Proper Approach to Bible Study

By Bob Myhan

There are many ways that one might approach the study of God’s word—the Bible. However, for optimum re­sults, whether alone or in groups, we must approach the study of God’s word:

Reverently, that is with “a feeling or atti­tude of deep respect, love and awe,”

“for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Pe­ter 1:21).

Meditatively, giving thought, not only to the basic meaning of the words, but also to their application in your life.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he medi­tates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. (1 Tim. 4:15).

Purposefully, with a view to dis­cover­ing truth, rather than simply confirming what you already believe.

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they re­ceived the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. (Acts 17:11-12).

Seriously, with the realization that, when God speaks, He expects us to not just to lis­ten so that we can know how to please Him, but to listen with a view to applying what we hear to our lives, so that we can please Him.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natu­ral face in a mirror; for he observes him­self, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25).

Dear reader, do you study God’s word reverently, meditatively, pur­posefully and se­riously? If not, why do you not? &