Listen to this Class: 12302013AToolYouNeedForNextYearDonRuhl

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A Tool You Need for Next Year 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • December 30, In the year of our Lord, 2012

 

Prelude: 

  1. As a Christian what do you believe is the most important thing in life? 
    1. Is it loving God?
    2. Is it loving your family?
    3. Is it loving your neighbor as yourself?
    4. Is it glorifying God?
    5. Is it being honest?
    6. Is it going to heaven?
    7. Is it praying?
  2. How did you discover the most important thing in life? 
    1. If you had never read the Bible,
    2. would you have chosen any of those things?
  3. You see, whatever we think tops the list for the most important thing, 
    1. we discovered it because we read it in the Bible, and
    2. saw that the Bible placed a premium on that item.
      1. Therefore, everything begins with reading the Bible.
        1. Yes, we have to think on what the Bible says.
        2. Yes, we have to do what the Bible says.
      2. However, the first step is simply reading God’s message to us.
  4. Let me show you why you should read the Bible daily. 
    1. Reading the Bible daily affects…

Persuasion: 

  1. Your Thinking

    21 …because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools… (Rom 1.21, 22).
  2. Your Speech

    34 “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12.34).
  3. Your Living

    9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
    By taking heed according to Your word.
    (Psa 119.9)

    143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
    Yet Your commandments are my delights.
    (Psa 119.143)

  4. Your Argumentation

    10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke (Acts 6.10).

    46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
    And will not be ashamed.
    (Psa 119.46)

    98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
    For they are ever with me.
    99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    For Your testimonies are my meditation.
    100 I understand more than the ancients,
    Because I keep Your precepts.
    (Psa 119.98–100)

    141 I am small and despised,
    Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
    (Psa 119.141)

  5. Your Ability to Resist Temptation

    37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
    And revive me in Your way.
    (Psa 119.37)
  6. Your Analysis of Problems

    105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
    And a light to my path.
    (Psa 119.105)
  7. Your Belief in What Brings Success

    130 The entrance of Your words gives light;
    It gives understanding to the simple.
    (Psa 119.130)
  8. Your Relationships

    29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12.29–31).
  9. Your Mental State

    25 My soul clings to the dust;
    Revive me according to Your word.
    (Psa 119.25)

    28 My soul melts from heaviness;
    Strengthen me according to Your word.
    (Psa 119.28)

    45 And I will walk at liberty,
    For I seek Your precepts.
    (Psa 119.45)

    50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
    For Your word has given me life.
    (Psa 119.50)

    52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
    And have comforted myself.
    (Psa 119.52)

    77 Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;
    For Your law is my delight.
    (Psa 119.77)

    92 Unless Your law had been my delight,
    I would then have perished in my affliction.
    93 I will never forget Your precepts,
    For by them You have given me life.
    (Psa 119.92, 93)

    107 I am afflicted very much;
    Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.
    (Psa 119.107)

    114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in Your word.
    (Psa 119.114)

  10. Your Eternity

    12 “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12.48).

Exhortation: 

  1. John showed us in Revelation 20 what will happen at the Judgment, and 
    1. when we combine this passage with John 12,
    2. we can know that the Bible will be at the Judgment.
      1. Let me add that it will be an open Bible,

        11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20.11–15).

      2. When Jesus questions us about our lives and
        1. whether we have conformed ourselves to His teachings,
        2. some people will be puzzled,
          1. claiming that they did not know such and such, and
          2. it would not surprise me for Jesus to ask,
            1. “Have you not read…?”
            2. The reason I say that is because
              1. ten times the Gospel writers
              2. quoted Him asking people that question.
    3. Revelation 20 reveals the opening of books at the Judgment.
      1. One is the Book of Life, containing the names of those destined for heaven.
      2. John 12 shows that the Bible will be there.
      3. Revelation 20 shows our works are recorded in our own books in heaven.
  2. Has someone, anyone, told you that you do not have to read the Bible? 
    1. Has someone told you that you do not have to read certain parts of the Bible?
    2. Who do you think does not want you to read the Bible?
      1. I can think of only one, and
      2. he will use anyone on Earth,
        1. even unsuspecting Christians,
        2. to persuade you not to waste your time
          1. reading the Bible, or
          2. not to read all of the Bible.
  3. Make a resolution today for the new year 
    1. that you will begin reading the Bible daily.
    2. Kerri and I will hand out to you the reading plan that we use.
  4. Make a resolution today for the rest of your life 
    1. that you will follow the Lord Jesus, and
    2. that He shall be your Teacher,
      1. which means that you will read His word
      2. to find out what He wants to teach you.
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