2. Session Seven My Bible Is God’s Word

3. How We Got Our Bible Originals Reliable Manuscripts God’s word accepted by God’s people God’s word kept intact in English: The King James Version Inspiration Preservation Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. (Psa 12:7) Copying Canonization Translation God The Author Man The Instrument Textus Receptus All scripture is given by inspiration of God (II Tim 3:16)

4. Putting the Pieces Together God’s word is inspired God’s word is preserved God’s word is not some ambiguous, intangible pursuit of today’s “scholars” MY BIBLE IS GOD’S WORD!

5. Where Do I Come In? The Natural Man – I Corinthians 2:14 – The unsaved and spiritually blinded man (II Cor 4:4) – His understanding is darkened (Ephesians 4:17-19) – He is able to understand the gospel (John 20:31, Rom 10:17) The Carnal Man – I Corinthians 3:1-2 – The believer who is being controlled by his old nature – He is only able to receive the milk of the word (Hebrews 5:12, I Peter 2:2) – “This Book can keep you from sin, and sin can keep you from this Book”

6. Where Do I Come In? The Spiritual Man – I Corinthians 2:12 – Being controlled by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 5:18) – Given discernment and growing in Christ (Heb 5:14) – Taught the word by the Spirit of God (John 14:26) – It should be every Christian’s objective to be spiritual – Not so much where you are, but the direction in which you are going

7. Gospel messageSpiritual growth Bible Natural Man (darkened understanding) Carnal Man (controlled by the flesh) Spiritual Man (controlled by the Spirit) Where Do I Come In? Milk

8. What Now? The spiritual man has a respect for the Bible As God’s word, my Bible is… – Profitable (II Timothy 3:16) – To be heard (I Samuel 3:9-10, James 1:19) – To be studied (II Timothy 2:15) – To be obeyed (James 1:22, Revelation 1:3) – The testimony of my Savior (Luke 24:27, John 5:39, Revelation 19:10)

9. Effective Bible Study 1.Prepare – Find a place and time conducive to Bible study – Eliminate distractions 2.Pray – “Open thou mine eyes” (Psalm 119:18) – Reminds us that we are dealing with God’s word – A prayer that precedes Bible study encourages humility and acknowledges responsibility

10. Effective Bible Study 3.Read (I Timothy 4:13) Psalm 19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. – To read through the Bible in a year requires only 4 chapters a day – The Bible can be read aloud in about 70 hours (the New Testament in 18 hours) – Lee Roberson once observed the tendency for a preacher to find sermons in the scriptures neglecting the blessing of simply reading them

11. Effective Bible Study 4.Meditate (Joshua 1:8, Philippians 4:8) 5.Study (II Timothy 2:15) – Our desire is God’s pleasure – The word of truth is to be “rightly divided” – Compare scripture with scripture 6.Do (Psalm 119:35, 67, James 1:21-25) – To be a “doer of the word” is to be a “doer of the work” – Sins of omission prevent Bible study