READING THE BIBLE

It's Sunday!!  You know how much I love Sundays!  I'm so looking forward to the day and all of it's potential blessings!  I know it's Labor Day weekend and the crowd could be down a little, but I'm still expecting a great crowd of God's people and things to happen for God's glory! Today is the 31st of August.  My Bible reading plan is for 60 days and sometimes I get 61 days with two months back to back which means I have a day off.  BUT, I still read 20 chapters in Genesis to get a head start.  I'll talk about them tomorrow, but I just wanted to talk today about reading the Bible.  When you read the Bible, God speaks!!  You can find so much truth and God speaks so clearly to your spirit as you read His precious Word.  Also, you become rooted and grounded in truth.  People will tell me sometimes what they believe and it has no basis in Scripture.  They are believing a lie, a falsehood.  I want to be grounded on truth!  Also, people who do not read the Bible do not last long in the Christian Life.  Now, they are still saved, but they are sidelined for the cause of Christ.  They either get discouraged or they get offended.  The Devil is real and wants to discourage us or get us angry and disappointed with others.  The Bible will encourage us because we will see so many people that had greater problems than we deal with and God helped them through their situations and God will help us as well.  The Bible will also keep us from getting offended to the point of quitting church or serving God.  You cannot run on empty, and when you do not read the Bible and try to serve God, you soon find yourself on empty!!  You cannot do that long, you will get offended or just quit.  The Bible tells us that "Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them."  Jesus tells us about the seed sown on stony (shallow) ground and the seed grows quickly at first, but because it has no root in itself, it withers away.  Jesus told us that these are they that hear the word and by and by they are offended and then quit because they have no root in themselves.  Now the Bible also tells us that Offenses will come!  That is a fact!  I've been offended and I've been the source of offenses.  We are human aren't we??  WELL, that comes with the territory, but IF we are grounded in God's Word, it rolls off of us like water on a duck's back!  Today, let me challenge you to get into God's Word.  I will continue to tell you what I gleaned out of each day's reading, but I want you to get into God's Word as well.  I imagine that most of you already do, but the nuggets of truth are out there for each of us to dig, and the Bible is a vast gold mine waiting for us to prospect.  Let's get at it!! May God richly bless you today!!  Pastor Mike Mutchler