The E-Vine for April 27, 2006

Eastford Baptist Church
April 27,2006
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who
does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth.”
(2 Timothy 3:15)

A little church sent their search committee to interview a young preacher as a prospective pastor. This fellow was young, and he was not very nice looking, but he seemed sincere. The chairman of the search committee asked the nervous young man if he knew the Bible. He said, “Yes sir. I know the Bible real well.” The chairman asked, “What part of the Bible do you like?” He said, “I like the New Testament.” The chairman said, “Well, why don’t you tell us the story of the Prodigal Son?”
The young preacher swallowed and said, “Well now, there was this man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus who had two sons. The younger son went down to Jericho by night for some riotous living, as he was riding in his fiery chariot, he caught his hair in a tree limb and he hung there – for 40 days and 40 nights. Finally, Delilah came out and cut off his hair and he fell on the stony ground–and the thorns grew up and choked him half to death. The next morning Solomon and his wife Gomorrah came by and carried him down to the boat dock and he caught a ship to Nineveh. When he got there he saw Queen Jezebel sitting on the wall, and he said, ‘Toss her down, boys,’ and they said, ‘How many times shall we toss her down, seven times? And he said, ‘Nay, but seventy times seven,’ so they chunked her down...and she burst asunder in their midst...and they picked up twelve baskets of the fragments that remained...and in the resurrection whose wife will she be?” When he finished the chairperson said to the committee, “Folks, he’s not very good looking, but he really knows the Bible – let’s call him as our pastor!”
Of course all of these statements are found somewhere in the Bible. The problem is they’re all mixed-up and taken out of context. (Hopefully, you recognized that!) Sadly, there is an epidemic of Biblical illiteracy among Christians today. After interviewing thousands of Americans, George Barna has reported 74 percent of Americans believe, “There is only one true God who is holy and perfect, who created the world and rules it today.” But when asked, “Is there is any such thing as absolute truth?” 65 percent answered “No.” We’re in trouble, because we live in a culture where people want to believe in God but they don’t know what the Bible says. How about you? How well do you know your Bible? Are you doing your best to present yourself as an approved workman who correctly handles the Word of Truth? Do you know enough to defend your faith and to give a reason for the hope that lies within you? “Doing your best” involves energy, time, commitment and diligence. Are you willing to make a diligent effort so that you can grow beyond spiritual infancy and distinguish wrong from right? No matter where you are in your present understanding of the Bible, today you can start to grow all over again. Consider renewing your commitment to personal Bible study. Why not commit to hiding God’s Word in your heart by committing one verse of Scripture to memory every week? Simply write a verse down on Monday morning and place it in a prominent place where you will see it throughout the week. Imagine the growth in your spiritual life if you had 52 verses memorized one year from now!

In His Grace,
PT