Thankful for the Bible

This week is Vacation Bible School here in Summerville and Bible Camp for Faith Baptist Church in St. Mary’s, AK. They will be teaching children the Bible up there while we are teaching children the Bible here at home. They are focusing on being precious jewels for God’s glory through the preciousness of Christ in us, while we are teaching about being strong in the Lord by putting on the whole armor of God to withstand the evil one at work in our day. All biblical churches have the truth of the Bible as the commonness of their message and the practice of the Christian faith. God has only given us His Word in Holy Scripture to define Him and His will for mankind; therefore, it alone is our final authority for faith and practice as an individual believer in Christ and collectively as a true church that truly has Christ as its head. Books about the Bible are nice and often helpful, but none of them are more essential to the Christian faith. Unfortunately, many of the books about the Bible written from man’s perspective have created much more confusion about the Bible than clarity, and many have exalted the books of man over the book of God in their allegiances. As messed up as we humans have made faith and church and God and religion in our existence with the Bible to help us, just think how terribly further off we would be if God had not given us His Bible to guide us. God’s Word alone is essential for knowing God properly, for relating to God effectively, and for honoring God accurately as His children and His churches. However, God’s Word without God’s Spirit in us is still an exercise in great potential for failure. I am so thankful for God’s Word, but I am also thankful for God’s Spirit to help me to understand God’s Word the way He wants it to be understood. The vital part we play is to make sure we are being yielded to His Spirit and that we are truly listening to His Spirit, so we can fully benefit from His Spirit helping to guide us in our understanding and benefit of God’s Word in our lives. This is where things get to be very challenging for us humans and where so much of our divisions come from. In the end, we each are completely accountable to God for our response to His offering to us of His Word, His Son, His Spirit, His Church, and His Will. My advice, as the shepherd here today, is to be very sure of your obedience to Him and all that He has made possible in your life for His glory.