READ YOUR BIBLE

The Bible...IT IS PROFITABLE TO: 

     A. Change you. 

a. The story is told of a South Sea Islander who proudly displayed his Bible to a G.I. during WW II. He had received it as a present from a missionary some time before. The soldier said, “O, we’ve outgrown that sort of thing.” The native smiled back and said, “Well, it’s a good thing we haven’t, because if it weren’t for this book, you would be our evening meal.”

b. DL Moody said: “The scriptures were not given for our information but our transformation.”

c. Every person who receives Jesus Christ as their Savior is changed. Changed from walking the road to Hell to riding the cross to Heaven.

B. Convict you. 

a. Mark Twain, not exactly a die-hard Christian, wrote these words: “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me most are those I do understand.”

b. If you read the Bible, you WILL be convicted. We are all sinners – right up to the day we die. And the Bible will help us see where we are at odds with the Father.

d. The real question then becomes – What will you do with this conviction?

C. Correct you

a. How to get it right

b. One Sunday morning during announcements, the preacher said, "I need to make a correction to an announcement from last week’s bulletin. It read: The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment, and gracious hostility. It should have read: The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment, and gracious hospitality. Sorry, folks, we are a loving church, not a hostile one. We love hurting people." 

d. Often when we try to correct things ourselves, we just make them worse.

e. Using God’s Word – correctly – we can correct those areas of our lives that our not right.

D. Coach you…how to keep it right

a. Albert Einstein was on a train when the conductor came through collecting tickets. Einstein couldn’t find his ticket and became rather distraught. The conductor tried to console him by saying, "Mr. Einstein, don’t worry. When you find your ticket, just mail it in. We trust you." Einstein responded in frustration, "My dear man, that’s not my problem. I need my ticket to tell me where I’m going."

e. The Bible is our ticket to help us know where we are going and how to get there.

f. It will keep us on the right track and in the right way.

E. The Bible is profitable to change, convict, correct and coach us.

This year, commit with me to read through the Bible. Begin today, and spend time with God in His Word. Let Him talk to you and change, convict, correct and coach you in this year.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, speak to my heart today from Your Word. Let me make not a resolution, but a commitment to spend time with You in Your Word each day. Amen.