Read What?
1 Corinthians 10:11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
One of the biggest problems in Christianity in America today is "the reading of many books", while at the exact same time having a "famine of the Word of God". Another problem is the prolific nature of those who also write many books, become famous and are considered somehow so much more important and enlightened than the rest of the body of Christ. Yet another problem is using these books to replace the reading of the only Book given to us directly by God, which we claim is the Final Word and Authority on all matters of faith and practice. One of the commands in the Bible, before Jesus left this earth, is:
Matthew 28:19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Discipleship is now a lost and dying practice today, because you cannot make disciples of people and teach them what Jesus said unless you know what Jesus said. And you cannot know what Jesus said without His very own Words He left us with. If your Bible is all sufficient, then it is all you need to know what God expects; it is your manual for life. It is also a baton to be passed down to disciples. If you cannot teach from it in small groups, bible studies, discipleship, children's ministry, then you do not know it. If you do not know it, why is that? If you need other books by other authors as guidelines in order to teach, then it should be as merely a bullet pointed guide, not a book containing the actual text from men to disciple with. When discipling, the guide really just needs to be the Bible; otherwise the Bible is apparently not good and sufficient enough, like it claims to be.
1 Timothy 3:2
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
2 Timothy 2:24
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
- Fit; suitable; as, he used very apt metaphors.
- Having a tendency; liable; used of things; as, wheat on moist land is apt to blast or be winter-killed.
- Inclined; disposed customarily; used of persons; as, men are too apt to slander others.
- Ready; quick; used of the mental powers; as, a pupil apt to learn; an opt wit.
- Qualified; fit.
- All the men of might, strong and apt for war. 2 Ki 24.
- APT, v.t. To fit; to suit or adapt. Obs.
- Reading it
- Consulting/Searching it for answers
- Studying it
- Memorizing it
- Discipling from it
God Himself places His Word above His Name:
Psalms 138:2I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
We seem too often to want to relegate it into the corner while we consult fallible men.
We in our society and Christian culture hold in very high esteem authors of books. They build mega-churches, go on book tours, hold seminars and conventions, go on radio, TV and internet, as though one should listen to them as some sort of a final authority-then do not read the Word of God. which is a problem of neglect. Imagine listening to man and not God and calling that "God's Will". Who in Scripture ever benefited from that? Start with Adam and work forward to the anti-Christ. This is a hundred percent proven to be sickening or fatal, spiritually.
Genesis 3:17
"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;"
The result of Adam's one simple, single error of not listening to His Word and listening to his wife instead is death entering the world, then to now. Pretty severe!
Judges 17:6In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
2 Chronicles 15:3
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
Sound familiar? Same situation in American today. People want and cannot get the Word of God in other countries, or die trying to either get it or use it. We have several in our homes, and they are opened, "for church". Opened......not studied, searched, taught, memorized or used for discipleship. But we read, write and buy "Christian books", go to seminars, listen to sermons, consult experts for help, and ignore God's Word. God help us.
It was not reading, believing, knowing and teaching the Word of God to themselves and others that led the disciples to not knowing the Messiah would die for the sins of Israel and all of mankind when Jesus rose from the dead and communed with them:
Luke 24:25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Why did they not know? It was in the Word of God. Jesus did not ask, "Didn't you read Joe Blow's latest bestseller, 'What Will Happen to Jesus of Nazareth?'" How would they know what the prophets have spoken without reading the book God gave them? Now, admittedly, they could have read it and simply missed or did not use the eyes of faith, but what about us who did not read it or, today, those who do not read it, but instead read other things, eating up books ($$$$) of famous authors and lauding their works, when God did the ultimate written work of all time? About the only books a Christian needs to read today outside of the Word of God are:
- Books on ancient history, regarding the Gentile and World History (while reading Daniel)
- Books on archaeology which support Scripture (while reading Daniel)
- Books on Young Earth Creation Science, precisely because we live in a society that believes in the lie of Darwinism (coupled with reading the Genesis account and placing it above anything else)
- Articles on current events specifically, Israel in these last days. Yes, keep up with current events as they relate to last days and Scripture!
- This all should not even come close to the amount of reading OF the Word of God
Tell you what. Instead of spending the money on the seminar of the author who seemingly wrote about the Word of God, save your money, buy a Bible and send it to someone who has none, overseas. We have more than one or two in our own homes, un-cracked, on shelves. And we buy "Christian books". Sound right to you? Next time your small group or church wants to have that famous Christian author come and speak and sell books, save that money and have a church-wide, out loud reading of the Word for an hour or a day, and send the Word of God overseas.
Revelation 1:16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Genesis starts off with the Word of God rejected...now think about Revelation. Nothing different there, either. The whole world rejects it and will follow the dragon, the beast and the false prophet.
2 Kings 22:1-20Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thyservants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.
And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
Again, the revival came from reading God's Word, not "Jewish books", which today we have as "Christian books". Before this, the wrath was upon them. After finding, dusting off and reading it, they repented, and were blessed.You might ask, what is wrong with reading or writing more books? I might ask back, do we need to? Really? Is the Bible so irrelevant, mysterious, untrustworthy, unreliable, incomplete that we need to read or write something ABOUT it and not READ IT? Ask yourself what the people in the Bible did in both cases. When they had and read the Word of God-REVIVAL! When they abandoned it- APOSTASY and a CURSE!
God devoted an entire Psalm (119) to His Word. David revered it. Today, we take it off of the shelf and dust it off and carry it to church. We let someone else talk about it for an hour, not reading it aloud together, and they may cover one or two verses. Hardly meat.
THE CONSUMMATE EXAMPLE: SAUL (1 SAMUEL)
- When his fathers asses were lost, and they searched in vain, his servant recommended seeing the man of God for direction(9:6)
- Samuel offered to show Saul the word of God (9:27)
- The Word of the LORD through Samuel commanded Saul to meet him in Gilgal to sacrifice (10:8)
- Samuel wrote the entire account IN A BOOK for us to read today(10:25)
- Samuel rehashed their history, learned from the Scriptures, including conditions for either heeding God's Word or rejecting it (12:6-15)
- Saul rejected the Word of the LORD regarding Gilgal (13:8-10)
- In turn, God rejected Saul as an eternal king (13:13-14)
- Saul made his own commandment (14:24)
- Jonathan his own son was the only person who violated that commandment (14:27)
- Saul spared him because of the words of men (14:45)
- God gave Saul yet another commandment, the Word of the LORD through Samuel (15:3)
- Saul failed to obey this commandment also (15:8-9)
- God removed his earthly reign now as well, for rejecting the Word of God (15:23)
- This disobedience was compared to idolatry, witchcraft (15:23)
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
He is not talking about the word of God here, as the Word of God is the King of all books and does not promote or even allow "weariness of the flesh", nor confusion, nor apostasy, nor unbelief. Neglecting and rejecting it does. Reading it causes hope, conviction and salvation, encouragement, healing, blessing, and much more.
Luke 16:29
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
"Moses and the prophets" is Scripture....Jesus is telling the dead man in hell that they are enough to save anyone, including this man's five brethren.
John 21:25And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
John is not recommending the writing of more books, either. Just that the life of Jesus was so filled that many more books could have been written as eyewitness accounts and added to the Canon. They were not, because God wrote down only that which HE decided we needed to know.
Acts 19:19Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
"Spiritual" books, meaning occultic, pagan books-not one of them Scripture, burned. The Bible has been burned many times, but always resurrects stronger many days later. This amount of pieces of silver is a lot of money (over twenty million dollars today) to burn, but when God's Word flows through, that all becomes irrelevant.
John 5:39Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
The reason everyone missed the boat was a lack of true knowledge of what God's Word says about the Messiah. The Jews did not lack the Scriptures-their own people wrote 99% of them and their own scribes coped them!
2 Timothy 2:15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
There is that command again, to study the Word of God (the word of truth).
2 Timothy 4:13The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Certainly this same Paul who wrote so many of the epistles which became our Scriptures was not referring to anything else than the Word of God. Previously, in the same set of sentences, he told them:
2 Timothy 4:2-3
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
- Preach the Word
- Be ready to give answers
- Be ready to reprove
- Be ready to rebuke
- Be ready to exhort
- Do it with patience and DOCTRINE (from the Word)
- The apostasy is coming when the Word is rejected
