2017-08-12
Matthew 24:35 NIV
One of the first books to come off the printing press when it was invented was the Bible. And it’s still the world’s best-selling book. An anonymous author has written: ‘It contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the fate of sinners, and the happiness of believers. It is a light to direct you, food to nourish you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveller’s road map, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s weapon, and the player’s game plan. It’s a mine of incredible wealth, and a river of genuine joy. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Christ is its grand subject, your good its design, and the glory of God its end. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practise it to be spiritually healthy. Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully. Let it fill your memory, rule your heart, and guide your steps. It is given to you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour, and judge those who trifle with its sacred contents.’ The Bible is ‘the word of our God [which] endures forever’ (Isaiah 40:8 NIV 2011 Edition). Most of us respect the Bible; the trouble is we don’t read it daily and put it into practice. After hearing a discussion on various translations of the Bible, one man said: ‘I prefer my mother’s translation, because she translated it into everyday life.’ Are you doing that?
Soul food: 1 Chr 19:1-23:20; Mark 4:26-41; Ps 119:57-64; Prov 21:7-9
2017-08-11
Genesis 6:14-15 NLT
The Bible detailed the original blueprint for shipbuilding. In Genesis, God told Noah to build a 1.5 million-cubic-foot ship and fill it with enough people and animals to repopulate the earth. And the specific dimensions God gave Noah turned out to be significant. In 1609 in Hoorn, Holland, a ship was built in the same proportions and it revolutionized shipbuilding. According to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping (See The World Almanac), by 1900 every large ship on the high seas was inclined toward the proportions of Noah’s Ark. And by the way, if you think it’s not sophisticated or educated to believe that the world was once destroyed by a universal flood, think again. About 85 percent of the rock surfaces around the world are composed of sedimentary rock, indicating that at some time in the past the world was covered by water. Consider also the Bible and meteorology. Solomon wrote, “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and… returneth again according to his circuits” (Ecclesiastes 1:6 KJV). The air around the earth turns in huge circles, counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. As a result, your local meteorologist can tell you with a high degree of accuracy what the weather will be like so you can dress accordingly. The Bible – there’s simply no other book like it! When you believe its central message of salvation through Christ you have peace and joy now, plus you get to live in heaven with God for eternity when you die. It doesn’t get better than that!
Soul food: 1 Chr 16-18; Mark 4:13-25; Ps 119:49-56; Prov 21:4-6
2017-08-10
Isaiah 51:6 NKJV
The Bible addresses the first law of thermodynamics (known as the Law of Conservation of Energy), which states that while energy can be changed from one form to another, it can’t be created or destroyed. This law disproves Sir Fred Hoyle’s “steady state” or “continuous creation” theory, which has been discarded by scientists. Hoyle stated that at points in the universe called “Irtrons,” matter (or energy) was constantly being created. But the first law of thermodynamics states the opposite: There is no “creation” ongoing today. The Bible says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Genesis 2:1 KJV). The word finished in the original Hebrew indicates an action completed in the past, never to occur again. The second law of thermodynamics says that in all physical processes, every ordered system over time tends to become more disordered. In other words, everything is running down and wearing out as energy is becoming less and less available for use. The Psalmist wrote: “You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure… they will all grow old like a garment… But You are the same, and Your years have no end” (Psalm 102:25-27 NKJV). The more scientists learn about life on earth, the more they discover the truth of what the Bible has clearly taught for centuries. No matter how sincere you may be or how hard you try, in order to open a locked door you must use the right key. Your Bible is the key that unlocks the door to understanding all of life, and God’s plan for you.
Soul food: 1 Chr 12:23-15:29; Mark 4:1-12; Ps 119:41-48; Prov 21:1-3
2017-08-09
Ecclesiastes 1:7 NKJV
The Bible talks about the water cycle. “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.” Every day the Mississippi River dumps approximately 420 billion gallons of water into the Gulf of Mexico. And when you think about the Thames, the Nile, and the Amazon, every day the same thing is happening in rivers all around the world. So where does all that water go? The answer lies in the hydrologic cycle, which the Bible introduced almost three millennia ago. The wise King Solomon wrote, “If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth” (Ecclesiastes 11:3). Amos the prophet said, “He… calls the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth” (Amos 9:6 NKJV). And Job’s friend Elihu said, “Behold, God is great… He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (Job 36:26-28 NKJV). The idea of a complete water cycle was not fully understood by science until the seventeenth century. Yet more than two thousand years prior to the discoveries of brilliant minds like Pierre Perrault, Edme Mariotte, Edmond Halley, and others, the Bible clearly explained the water cycle. The truth is, your Bible is inspired, inerrant, reliable, and more up-to-date than tomorrow morning’s newspaper. Every newspaper has a correction column acknowledging its printed errors. Not the Bible! You can trust it to guide you right in every area of your life.
Soul food: 1 Chr 10:1-12:22; Mark 3:20-35; Ps 119:33-40; Prov 20:28-30
2017-08-08
Job 38:35 NKJV
The Bible predicted modern telecommunications. Does that sound incredible to you? If so, consider this verse: “Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’?” Fifteen hundred years before Christ, in the book of Job, God said light could be sent, and manifest itself in speech. And along those same lines, did you know that all electromagnetic radiation – from radio waves to X-rays – travels at the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second)? That’s what gives us instant wireless communication with someone on the other side of the world. The fact that light can be sent and translated into speech wasn’t discovered by science until 1864 – 3,300 years later – when British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing (See Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopaedia). Samuel Morse, who invented the first telegraph and forever changed the world of communication, was a Bible believing Christian. A few years before he died, he said, “The nearer I approach the end of my pilgrimage, the clearer is the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible. The grandeur and sublimity of God’s remedy for fallen man are more appreciated, and the future is illuminated with hope and joy.” In life you’ll meet “doubting Thomases,” and God loves them. In fact, Jesus made a special appearance after His resurrection just to resolve Thomas’s doubts. And He still does that today! So get acquainted with your Bible, then let every sincere, questioning heart know that science proves the Bible true.
Soul food: 1 Chr 7:20-9:44; Mark 3:1-19; Ps 119:25-32; Prov 20:25-27
2017-08-07
Isaiah 40:22 NKJV
The Bible tells us the earth is round. “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth.” The word circle comes from a Hebrew word which can also be translated as “circuit.” The book of Isaiah was written about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. That’s at least three hundred years before Aristotle suggested in his book On the Heavens that the earth might be a sphere. It was another two thousand years later, at a time when science believed the earth was flat, that Scripture inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote: “It was the Lord who put it into my mind… I could feel His hand upon me… There is no question the inspiration came from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvellous illumination from the Holy Scriptures” (from the diary of Christopher Columbus, in reference to his discovery of the New World). The Bible teaches oceanography. In the nineteenth century, Matthew Fontaine Maury, who is called the “Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology,” read the words of David describing “paths of the sea” (Psalm 8:8). He said, “If God said there are paths in the sea, I am going to find them.” Today we’re indebted to his discovery of the warm and cold ocean currents. His book on oceanography remains a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities. So next time you meet someone who questions the accuracy of the Scriptures, smile graciously and tell them, “Science proves the Bible true.”
Soul food: 1 Chr 6:1-7:19; Mark 2:23-28; Ps 119:17-24; Prov 20:22-24
