Restoring The Bible To The Centre Of Our Lives
Manage episode 463314057 series 3028983
The Bible is often called The Book of Books because no other book can compare with it. It is the Word of God (Matthew 4:4). Over 100million copies are sold annually, with parts of the Bible having been translated into nearly 3600 languages, and the full Bible to over 724 languages. The YouVersion Bible app has been downloaded over 500million times globally.
It should be our goal and priority this year to make the word of God the foundation in our lives, in our marriages, in our families and in our church. It shouldn’t be a part of our lives, but rather central to our lives.
In Nehemiah 8 we see that, after experiencing many challenges, there was a turning back of the people to the Word and instructions of God (Nehemiah 8:8-9,18). In 445BC-432BC was when Nehemiah was appointed Governor of Jerusalem by King Artaxerxes, and oversaw the re-building of the city’s the walls in just 52 days. He held joint assemblies with Ezra, who was the priest and scribe at that time (a scribe’s role being to study, interpret and teach scriptures), for public scripture reading. People confessed their sins and renewed their covenant with God, and they implemented social reforms.
Ezra and Nehemiah thought having the temple and the security of the rebuilt walls weren’t good enough. They wanted to re-build the people. It was important that God’s people were where God wanted them to be, both physically and spiritually. So, what did they do? They wanted the people to put the word of God in the centre of their lives. They built a wooden stage in the centre of the public square, so that everyone could gather and see Ezra and the Levites with him. Everyone in the community who could understand gathered in the square to hear the public reading of the Word of God (Nehemiah 8:3). There were 14 Levites on either side of Ezra explaining and unpacking the word of God to the people. And the people wept, not with tears of joy, but because they were convicted of their sin. They wept repentant tears of sorrow. And to build back, they had to start somewhere. We see:
1. They opened the book (Nehemiah 8:5)
2. They read the book (Nehemiah 8:8; 1 Timothy 4:13,16; Psalm 1:2-3; Nehemiah 8:5; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 119:11)
3. They explained the book (Nehemiah 8:8; Hebrews 4:12)
4. They were moved by the book (Nehemiah 8:9b)
5. They obeyed the book (Nehemiah 10:29)
Apply
1. They opened the book (Nehemiah 8:5). Do we actually open the Bible? Do we read it? That’s where it begins. Or is it gathering dust in a shelf somewhere? The Bible app makes it convenient to read on your phone. But having a physical Bible is very helpful as there are no distractions, no messages or social media notifications popping up and dividing our attention.
2. They read the book (Nehemiah 8:8). It is important that we read the Bible in public and in private. As we see in Nehemiah 8, there was public reading of the scripture. The apostle Paul encouraged his disciple Timothy in this too (1 Timothy 4:13,16). They read the book every day (Nehemiah 8:18). It is important we read the Bible daily, delighting in and meditating on God’s word. Then we will flourish, being fruitful, being youthful, and whatever we do: your work, family, marriage, business, studies, sports etc will prosper (Psalm 1:2-3). And they read the book from a central place (Nehemiah 8:5). The word of God was central to re-build the people, and it should be central to us to re-build ourselves, our marriages, families and church. We need to use the word in challenging situations, overcoming obstacles, for wisdom, daily decision making, encouraging and correcting, resisting temptations, and for seeing breakthroughs including in our finances (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 119:11). The word of God should always be central in our lives.
3. They explained the book (Nehemiah 8:8). We need to unpack the word of God and break it down to understand deep truths in the Bible. God’s Holy Spirit helps us in this. It’s good to read different versions like the KJV, NKJV, MSG, Amplified version. The Bible says that the word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). It’s not dead, rather it’s so sharp that it can cut through like a surgeon’s scalpel to reach between soul and the spirit. It can help us to discern between what is worldly and what is spiritual. You will be able to discern a situation, a decision you need to make, or the advice you need to give to your children. The word of God has the power to go deep within us, to heal and restore us.
4. They were moved by the book (Nehemiah 8:9b). People were moved because they were convicted of their sin and their disobedience, and their previous lack of attention to the word of God. They were crying repentant tears. We need to be convicted for looking for instruction elsewhere, when God had made a life manual, a living and powerful life-transforming book for us. We had a great role model in the late Queen Elizabeth of devotion to Jesus and the Word of God.
5. They obeyed the book (Nehemiah 10:29). We need to make a conscious decision and a real commitment to obey the word of God. We read from the book of Nehemiah, how the leaders at that time thought that having the temple worship and the physical security of the rebuilt walls weren’t good enough. They wanted to re-build the people, and the word of God was central to it all. Today let us all make the Bible central to our lives. For as we do, we will live lives of conquest and see great blessing in our marriages, in our families, in the church and in our nation.
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