Read the Bible Yo

 Let's start with a little game. Below are 10 statements. As you read each one, write down whether you think its a true biblical teaching or false teaching. You don't have to explain why you think its true or false, just determine which it is.

Things the Bible Teaches...??

1. Most people are basically good.

2. God accepts the worship of all religions.

3. The OT Law (Law of Moses) condemns children to death for cursing their parents.

4. Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father.

5. Sin entered the world when Eve ate an apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

6. All people are created in the image of God and He loves them as His children.

7. Money is the root of all evil.

8. All you have to do to be saved is ask Jesus into your heart.

9. God will never give you more than you can handle.

10. God helps those who helps themselves.

Did you figure out which ones are true and which are false? What if I told you that only ONE of those statements is a true biblical teaching, and its not the one you think it is. The answer key (with an explanation for each) is in the comment section if you're curious.

If you got a bunch of them wrong, don't feel too bad, the wording got a little tricky and I even tricked some of the leaders last night with those statements. If you somehow got them all right, or came close, I am willing to bet that you were able to figure it out based on one thing: you've read the Bible.

Answer me this: have you ever felt like you can't talk about God because you don't know enough? Or have you felt like you can't talk about God because someone may ask you a question that you don't know how to answer? Or because you just don't know what to say?

How do we fix this? How can we know more? Where can we find answers? How can we know what to say?

The answer is simple: by reading the Bible. If you take nothing else away from any of my messages, take this: READ THE BIBLE. Know what it says. Consume it like New England Clam Chowder from the Cheesecake Factory after a 5-day fast (there's a story there). Take it in like cool water after a long summer day in the hot sun. Get lost in the Word of God like when you get stuck scrolling through TikTok until 4 in the morning.

Read.

The.

Bible.

Why is it so important for Christian's to read and know the Bible? Some of you know that I've recently gotten really into TikTok (my wife tells me I'm obsessed). Over the last month I've been interacting with a lot of false teaching (FROM CHRISTIANS) that has come across my For You page. I never knew how bad it was out there, even just within Christian circles. People who have a very poor understanding of the Bible are teaching whatever they want and calling it biblical. Then, people who don't know the Bible very well are believing them! This is a problem. When we don't know the Bible very well, we are going to fall into a lot of false teaching.

In Psalm 1, David talks about the blessing that comes to those who meditate on God's Word every day - it leads us to righteousness and keeps us close to God. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells Timothy "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

This letter, naturally, comes after 1 Timothy 4:8, where Paul tells Timothy "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

We can see benefits to physical training. It keeps our body in good shape, allowing us to have a higher quality of life and live longer. There is value to that. But Paul here is saying that training in godliness has MUCH GREATER VALUE, holding promise both for this life, and the life we will spend in eternity with God. And how do we train in godliness? By reading Scripture. By spending time in the Word of God. It is what trains us to live as God wants us to live, and to draw near to Him in all things.

When we invest our time in the Bible like we are commanded to do, our minds are changed, our behaviors change, our lives change, our words change, our understanding is changed, and we are better able to identify false teaching. These are amazing benefits for this life, and as we draw near to God, these hold benefits for eternity as well.

So read the Bible. Meditate on it. Think about it. Memorize it. Act on it. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know what to say when people ask us questions. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know and be able to identify false teachings. The more we read the Bible, the more we will talk to people about the Gospel and faith in Jesus. This is because it is "out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). What we put into our hearts and minds is what is going to come out of it. So the more time we spend in the Word of God, the more the Word of God will come out in our daily lives.

If you want to grow in your faith, to grow closer to God, and to have everlasting benefits in both this life and the life to come: Read the Bible.

Astronomy and the Bible, Part 1

 Hey yall. So last night, instead of a message from myself or another leader, we watched the first portion of a video by Dr. Jason Lisle - a Christian astronomer. You can watch the video on YouTube by clicking here, or by searching "Jason Lisle Astronomy". The video is an hour long, so we only watched the first 22 minutes, in which Dr. Lisle covered two things: the glory of God revealed in astronomy and the Bible's accuracy concerning the basics of astronomy.

The main point of the first section was to demonstrate the vastness and awesomeness of the universe, so far as we have been able to observe it. If you have the time to watch part of the video, he has some excellent illustrations that are just mind-blowing and magnificent. God's creation is truly wonderful.

The main point of the second section, on the "Basics", was to demonstrate how the Bible has been accurate when it comes to some of the basics of astronomy. Not only has it been accurate, but it was accurate way before the secular scientists caught up. Back when the secular world thought the world was flat, the Bible was already describing it as round (spherical). This means there were a lot of scientists back then that thought the Bible was wrong, only to be proven wrong later when science revealed "oh wait a minute, no, the Bible was right all along". This offers some encouragement to us Christians today as we deal with the scientific world making claims that go against what the Bible says is true and right. They've been wrong in the past, the Bible has not.

So, take some time to watch at least part of the video, and if you have extra time, go look into some of his other material. He has some great stuff to think about and look at as we find out more and more about our world and the universe.

If you have any questions or comments generated from the video, feel free to ask them below and we can discuss those together. God bless!

Come to Me, You Who Are Weary, and I Will Give You Rest

 Last night looked a little different as far as the message goes. Instead of a typical "Leader gets up and talks about something for half an hour", we looked at a couple of different scenarios and then worked in small groups to unpack what the Bible had to say about how to handle those scenarios. Before the message time, however, we took turns whacking each other with foam swords in a series of duels.

Let me ask you a question. When you have a problem, where do you go for advice? Do you have a particular friend who is your "go to" for problem-solving? Does it depend on what kind of problem it is? Maybe you have a good relationship with your parents and you often go to them for advice. Every now and then someone will come to me, but I'm not usually their "Option A" (maybe more like "Option Z"). So, where do you go? Take a second and really lock in an answer before reading further. Got it? Good.

Was your answer "I go to God and His Word"? My guess is, probably not. One of the main problems I see in our group is that we (yes, I am including myself in this) will go just about anywhere else first for advice before going to God and the Bible. For some reason, our gut instinct is to ask a friend, or a parent, or even Google before opening up the Bible for answers. The crazy thing about this is that we would rather trust other created beings than trust the Almighty Creator. I mean, seriously, if we really believe that God created everything (which according to our beliefs, He did) then wouldn't He be the first person we go to for advice on how to live in His Creation?

Logically, it makes sense for us to go to God. But the sad truth is that often, we don't. This needs to change. Our gut instinct should be to go to God first. To read the Bible first, before going to other people (who can then help us understand what God says to do in the Bible). Last night, in an effort to get this point across, I had everybody split into groups and work through case studies. Each group was given a short scenario and some Bible verses to look through. Their goal was to figure out what the person in the scenario should do according to what the Bible said about that scenario. I won't share the scenarios here, but the point of the message was to show that the Bible has the answer. God knows how to handle any and every situation we come across, and He has given us access to that knowledge through His written Word. All we have to do is read it.

Matthew 11:28-30 says this: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When we have problems in this life, and stress is weighing us down, Jesus invites us to come alongside Him. He invites us to go to Him with our problems so He can share the load. The imagery in this passage ties back to an old farming technique, where two oxen would be connected together through a wooden device called a "yoke". The yoke kept the oxen side-by-side as they dragged a large plow through the dirt to loosen it and make it ready for planting. When training new oxen for this, what the farmer would do is take an older, seasoned ox and pair him with a young, inexperienced ox. The older ox, who knew what to do, would lead the way (taking most of the weight and doing most of the work) as the young ox had no choice but to follow. Over time, the young ox learned what to do and would be able to work with the old ox so that they were working together. That is what Jesus invites us to. He is the old ox - full of experience and knowledge of what to do - and we are the young ox - inexperienced and untrained. He offers to guide us through life and teach us the way we should go, all we have to do is go to Him.

So, if you're frustrated by the problems of this life, and you don't know what to do - look to Jesus. Go to Him, read His Word and learn from Him, and He will give you rest for your soul. He will show you the way. My hope is that moving forward, your first instinct when facing a new problem would be to go to the Bible. And if you don't know where to look, or you don't understand what it says, go to a leader, come talk to me. We are literally here to help you grow and mature in your walk with God, so we would love to hear from you and help you find answers.

If you have a situation and you need advice, or would like to know what the Bible has to say about handling that situation, you can post it anonymously in the comments below or share it in the box at the church (oh yeah, we have a box for questions now). My plan is to take one every week and share about it during the message. That's all for now, God bless you and your family.