Concept:

Where did the Bible come from? The Bible is God’s Holy Word. It is inspired by God and can guide you to a new life in Jesus Christ and teach you how to live a Godly life. It was written over a period of 1600 years, by more than forty different writers, on three different continents, and in three different languages—and every book of the Bible has a unified message and points us to God. Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” When it says “God-breathed”, it means that the Spirit of God inspired the writers to write what God wanted us to know. This fact is confirmed by the Spirit within us which testifies to the truth in the Bible. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful.” In other words, the unique “living” feature of the Bible is confirmed as it speaks personally to you. Scripture has the power to transform our lives and feed our souls.

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"Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.." Isaiah 40:8

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The Bible Teaches Who God Is

How is the Bible organized? The Bible contains 66 Books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Testament simply means covenant, a word that refers to God’s promises to us and His faithfulness to honor those promises. Each book has a different theme and a different way of showing who God is and teaching us His ways. Have you ever had someone teach you a point using many different illustrations? That’s how the Bible is: there are so many different stories and ways God shows us who He is and who we are. Talking about the things that happened to people in Bible, it says, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11). We can learn from the things people went through in the Bible and feel comforted by them. 

 

Hebrews 4:12

"For the word of God is living 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."

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The Power of the Bible

God’s Word the Bible can have tremendous power in your life. In accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have begun a new life in Jesus Christ. There are some key ways that God’s Word the Bible can help transform your life. First, the Bible can teach you about salvation and about new life in Jesus Christ. You can be sure of your salvation. Second, the Bible can help you grow in your faith. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

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"Do good to your servant according to your word, O Lord." Psalm 119:65

"Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me." Psalm 119:98

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The Bible Teaches How to Live

Third, the Bible can give you spiritual power over evil. Even Jesus Christ, when He was tempted, quoted the Bible and displayed power and victory. The Bible is “The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” Fourth, the Bible can teach you how to live. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Fifth, the Bible can show you in your own life, what is good and what is not good. Often we are blind to our own faults; just like in the dark you cannot tell the difference between a bright shirt and a dark shirt. The Bible “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And sixth, you can use the Bible to help others. God wants us to be victorious over sin and evil. “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.” God has given you tremendous spiritual power through faith in His Holy Word.

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"Long ago I learned from your statutes that You established them to last forever." Psalm 119:152

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Conversation Points
 

Question: 

What do you understand the bible to be?
What is the bible for?

 

2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

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Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

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Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
    and a light for my path.

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Isaiah 40:8
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
    but the word of our God stands forever.”

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Creation of the Bible

Question:
Where did the Bible come from?

The Bible is 66 Books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament), written by 40 authors over approximately 1600 years. But what is amazing is that all the information is so intricately and perfectly woven together! Without a single contradiction across it. In fact, the mystery of the "codes" that have been found to be hidden in the texts are so amazing that they testify to the truly "extra-terrestrial" nature of it.

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Bible Prophecy proves the existence of God

Bible scholars and historians love to argue about dates when books of the old testament were written - was Psalms written 1000 B.C. or 1200 B.C. - and so forth. But when it comes to Bible prophecy how can trust that some-one didn't just write the stuff down AFTER the event and call it prophecy? Well for start - it would be pretty foolish for the nation of Israel to accept such a clearly known false-hood (remember the nation of Israel was THERE and it is about them) to base their faith on. But secondly, when it comes to Jesus there is a very significant historical event that demands an explanation.

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During the second century BC - over 200 years before Jesus - the Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament) was translated by approximately seventy scholars from Hebrew into Greek. This translation, called the Septuagint (which means "seventy") starts appearing as a reference point in other (non-biblical) writings 200 years before Jesus appears. This means that everything that we have in the Old Testament is validated with a MINIMUM age of 200 years before Jesus arrives on the scene. There are over 200 identified fulfilled prophecies about Jesus listed in the Old Testament! To put it in perspective that is like people writing about Donald Trump becoming president over 200 years before he is born! And then giving an amazing array of details that must all have been fulfilled - like where he would be born, what he would do, how he would do it - with details of specific events! That could only happen if the book is supernatural!

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How do we know what is in the New Testament is right?
 

A common complaint against the bible is that it has been copied and translated so many times that there is no way of knowing that the content of the bible is accurate. The fact is that this idea is totally false. While there is not a single "original" of any of the books of the New Testament, we have hundreds of copies that were made as close as 5-10 years before the originals were written. And we have thousands more copies and fragments that are all within 100 years of when we guess the originals were written. And with the exception of the odd "and", "the", or "but" - the all say EXACTLY the same thing in the original Greek language they were written in. With such a wealth of historical resource, our modern translations are able to re-translated every time from the original language that it was so faithfully originally preserved in.

People may not like the MEANING of the bible, but no decent scholar would argue the validity of the historicity of the CONTENT.

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What do we learn from the Bible?

1 Corinthians 10:11
11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

 

We can learn from the things people went through in the Bible and feel comforted by them. 

 
The Power of the Bible
The Bible can teach you about salvation and about new life in Jesus Christ.
 

John 5:24
24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my word and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

 

You can be sure of your salvation.

 

It causes you to grow in your faith
 

Romans 10:17

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The Bible can give you spiritual power over evil.

Even Jesus Christ, when He was tempted, quoted the Bible and displayed power and victory. The Bible is “The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”

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Ephesians 6:17
17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

The Bible can teach you how to live

Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
    and a light for my path.

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The Bible can show you in your own life, what is good and what is not good.
 

Often we are blind to our own faults; just like in the dark you cannot tell the difference between a bright shirt and a dark shirt. The Bible “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

 

Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

​

You can use the Bible to help others.
 

God wants us to be victorious over sin and evil. “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.” God has given you tremendous spiritual power through faith in His Holy Word.

 

2 Timothy 1:7
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline

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Psalm 119:152
152 Long ago I learned from your statutes that You established them to last forever.

 

Question:

Have you developed a daily habit of reading the bible yet?