Studying the Bible Part 1

January 3, 2015

Studying the Bible - Part 1

New Years Resolutions

According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute:
62% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions

25% of people drop their resolution before the first week
29% don’t make it past 2 weeks
36% don’t make it past 1 month
54% don’t make it past 6 months

What’s the point of a resolution?

Wikipedia - A New Year's resolution is a tradition in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year's Day.

Definition of Resolve - firm determination to do something

Only 8% of those who make resolutions, achieve their goal
“People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don't explicitly make resolutions”
(Statistic Brain Research Institute)

Committing to do something is always going to turn out better than doing nothing and hoping that your life changes.

If there is anything that we can “resolve” to do this yearor “make a firm determination to do," it should be to grow closer to God and wholeheartedly devote ourselves to the Word of God.

We say we believe the Bible is true and is the ultimate resource for life, but According to LifeWay Christian Resources, 80% of churchgoers don’t read the Bible on a daily basis.

What is the Bible?

2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Romans 15:4
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

1 Thessalonians 2:13
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

The Bible is the most accurate ancient book that we know of.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd found the Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave that had parts of the Old Testament that dated back to between 2nd Century BC and 1st Century AD.

We have:
- 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament
- 24,000 in other languages
- 36,000 quotations from within 250 years of Jesus

The Bible is our ultimate infallible source of truth!

“We lose much consolation by the habit of reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves.”
― Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Communication Card:

I will commit to read through the Bible this year
I will work to make my Bible study more consistent and fruitful
I will spend time with God daily this year