What is the Bible?
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Instruction manual
Ps 119:10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (NIV)
Ps 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (NIV)
Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
If you want to know how to live right – read the Bible. It shows you how to live.
If you want to be happy – read the Bible. It tells you where to find true happiness.
If you want to succeed – read the Bible. It is the manual that tells you how to live the way God intended.
Think about it. If God created you, then he wrote the manual on how you operate the best. And if you
follow the instructions, you will succeed at life.
Where do you find the answers to your questions?
What do you do when you’re lonely and afraid?
De 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terri-fied because of them, for the LORD your
God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." (NIV)
What do you do when you are confused?
Ps 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. (NIV)
Isa 58:11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will
strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (NIV)
What do you do when you feel hopeless and defeated?
Ps 46:1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (AV)
Love letter
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
Jer 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I
have drawn you with loving-kindness. (NIV)
Psalms 139
1. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to at-tain.
7. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light be-come night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to
you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full
well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one
of them came to be.
17. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
To say “I love you” is good, but to write it is even stronger.
Revelation of God
Ps 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives un-derstanding to the simple. (NIV)
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eter-nal life: and they are they which testify
of me. (AV)
If you want to know a person, listen to that person talk for a little while. Their conversation will tell you
who they are. It will tell you what you need to know about them.
It’s the same with God. If you want to know God, read His Word. Then you will understand who God is
and what He is like.
Finally
Why is the Bible important?
1. Because it is eternal – it is forever.
Ps 119.89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Isa 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (AV)
2. Because God created everything by His Word.
Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (AV)
3. Because it gives life.
Mt 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.'" (NIV)
Ps 119:10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (NIV)
Ps 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (NIV)
Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
If you want to know how to live right – read the Bible. It shows you how to live.
If you want to be happy – read the Bible. It tells you where to find true happiness.
If you want to succeed – read the Bible. It is the manual that tells you how to live the way God intended.
Think about it. If God created you, then he wrote the manual on how you operate the best. And if you
follow the instructions, you will succeed at life.
Where do you find the answers to your questions?
What do you do when you’re lonely and afraid?
De 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terri-fied because of them, for the LORD your
God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." (NIV)
What do you do when you are confused?
Ps 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. (NIV)
Isa 58:11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will
strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (NIV)
What do you do when you feel hopeless and defeated?
Ps 46:1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (AV)
Love letter
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
Jer 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I
have drawn you with loving-kindness. (NIV)
Psalms 139
1. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to at-tain.
7. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light be-come night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to
you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full
well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one
of them came to be.
17. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
To say “I love you” is good, but to write it is even stronger.
Revelation of God
Ps 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives un-derstanding to the simple. (NIV)
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eter-nal life: and they are they which testify
of me. (AV)
If you want to know a person, listen to that person talk for a little while. Their conversation will tell you
who they are. It will tell you what you need to know about them.
It’s the same with God. If you want to know God, read His Word. Then you will understand who God is
and what He is like.
Finally
Why is the Bible important?
1. Because it is eternal – it is forever.
Ps 119.89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Isa 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (AV)
2. Because God created everything by His Word.
Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (AV)
3. Because it gives life.
Mt 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.'" (NIV)