2 Timothy 3:16-17
To what do you attribute your tremendous success?
"We do everything that's written in this book."
The Bible is not just a book — it is God's written revelation to humanity.
The Bible speaks with authority, offers wisdom, and nourishes the soul.
It's about success that permeates every aspect of life.
When you live out the lessons taught within its pages, your life works as it should.
It's about what we should be doing when we're not here.
Christianity is not a one day a week religion.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
It's a revelation of the inheritance that God's people can claim as their own.
1. Read it like it was written with you in mind.
It wasn't written to you, but it was written for you.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:6)
That means that when you read the Bible, God speaks to you about you, not about other people.
2. Read it like it tells an unfolding story.
THE BIG STORY
We're part of this unfolding drama.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done ... so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds. (Psalm 78:4, 6-7)
The story of God's saving power will fill your heart with hope.
3. Read it with the intent of living it.
These stories and the characters we encounter in Scripture become like guides for daily living.
We see in him the rewards of obedience and the pitfalls of disobedience.
Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22 KJV)
We read the Bible to confront those things in us that require confrontation.
But our knowledge is all for naught if we don't apply what we learn to our lives.
We want to know the Word like a scholar.
We want to live the Word like a saint.
"Approach the Bible not only as a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking."
"The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation."
"The Bible is God's Word, and it does not change. It is the rock upon which our faith is built."
"A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't."
"Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian."