There was a radio announcer many years ago that would use a famous line in his broadcast when he said… “now you will hear… the REST of the story.” (Paul Harvey).
It is extremely common for us at church to state over and over again… “read your Bible regularly!” Why do we do this? Well, simply put, the Bible is God’s Word written for us. It is completely worth the time to study how we have the Bible, and the history of how it arrived in our lap. But put simply and profoundly, this is God’s Word for our lives.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says…
- All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Hebrews 4:12 says…
- For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Isaiah 40:8 says…
- The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
Matthew 24:35 says…
- Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
And there is plenty more!
As I bring this year’s academic sermon series to a close, I am trying my best to help you understand the entirety of the whole Bible, the whole Word of God. The reason is that I just don’t think we understand what we really have in our lap when we have this gift of God’s written Word. So, I am going to attempt to tell you the whole story this Sunday morning and help connect the dots in our lives to God’s full redemptive story.
How can you prepare yourself? For this week… bring your Bible to Church. Like Paul Harvey the old radio guy, I want to tell you, ‘the rest of the story.’ If I had one thing for you to get after all my preaching and leading over the years, it would be to let God’s Word sink deeply and often into your heart, mind, and soul.
See you Sunday morning as we open God’s Word together.
