What is the Bible? (Part 1)

Tell me. In your own words – what is the Bible?

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by over 40 different authors, each writing under the direction and inspiration by the Holy Spirit.
We know the Bible is divinely inspired by the one true God, because:
-In its claims of absolute moral truth it does not contradict itself.
-Its prophecies have always come true, despite the fact that many of these prophecies were written hundreds of years prior to their fulfillment. The Bible contains over 600 prophecies that have come true and no Biblical prophecies have ever been proven false.
-Its truth changes the lives of millions of people.
-The Bible’s chronology does not contradict with history, archaeology or “proven” science.
-Its longevity - despite great opposition (e.g. the Roman emperor Nero), it has survived.
-It makes claims that no other religious texts make.

These are the “logistics” about the Bible. Let’s now attack the topic head-on.
• Do we respect the Bible’s authority in our lives?
o Rev. Jeremy Smith makes a great analogy
o To most Christians, the Bible is a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll down to the bottom and click “I agree”.
• Do we know what we believe and why we believe it?
o There’s a difference between “believing in God” and “believing God”.
 Is our Christianity based on “religion” rather than “relationship”?
 Do you live your life according to the Word? Or are you a legalist who knows the truth (right and wrong) and chooses to ignore it?
o Do we love God?
 If we love God, we want to get know Him.
 His character is revealed to us through His Word.
 Do you run to God only as a “last resort”?
 Is He your crisis hotline?
 RADICAL DEPENDENCE – we depend on God for everything!

What is the Bible then?
• The Bible is a SEED.
o When a seed is planted, first it germinates, it grows to maturity, and eventually it bears fruit. With the planting of God’s word in a person’s heart, it begins a process of conviction. God can change people through the living seed of his Word – the Bible.
o Before we were saved, the SEED of the Word of God was planted in our hearts, more than likely by another person.
 Another person shared the Gospel with you. You were either told by that person or persons or drawn to the Gospel by their Christian conduct.
• A seed must be planted, and then if possible, it needs to be nurtured.
 The SEED of the Word of God MUST be dispersed by you and me, because the Christian walk begins with the very SEED that brought you to Christ.
 Mark 4:1-20 – Parable of the Sower and the Seed
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”
Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
• An obligation to plant the seed
• Remember Ezekial 33. You are a watchman. You are RESPONSIBLE for issuing the warning of God’s judgment to the lost.

• The Bible is a HAMMER.
o It the power to convict unlike any other text.
 It has the power to crush even the hardest heart of stone.
 Jeremiah 23:29 - "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
 It has the power to convict atheists, agnostics, and other religions.
• How do we know?
o People DIE for the Bible.
 The Book of Hebrews is devoted to offering encouragement to Christians being persecuted for their worship of Jesus Christ.
 Emperor Nero dipped Christians in wax and burned them as candles for his garden parties.
 Romans would dress children of Christians in sheep skin and allow wolves and lions to devour them in the Coliseum.
 Yet we take for granted the “comfort” we have in the US.
 There are more Christians in China and Africa combined than in the US, a nation founded on Christian principles.
 The Chinese and Africans have underground churches – they die to worship Christ!

TO BE CONTINUED...