THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE

When Jesus stood before Pilate, he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” But he didn’t wait for the answer. If he had, I’m sure Jesus would have told him something similar to what he said in John 17:17 and John 8:31-32.

In John 17:17, Jesus said God’s word is Truth. In John 8:31-32, Jesus said if we continue in his word we will know the truth and the truth will make us free. I don’t know about you, but I want to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

The truth is there in God’s Book, the Holy Bible. The answers to our questions about life here on Earth, and life in the hereafter. Satan is out to destroy us, and we make it easier for him when we don’t know and understand God’s word. Remember how Jesus responded to Satan’s attacks when he tempted him in the wilderness? He used God’s word. Each time, he said, It Is Written, then he quoted the scriptures.

Today, there are many different opinions about religion, the Bible, human nature, the beginning of time, and many other things. Too often, people put their own interpretations on the things we deal with in life, and too often, we develop our beliefs by following our emotions. I’ve talked to many people about God and the Bible who say they believe what they believe because that’s what they’ve always believed. I’ve talked to people who believe what they believe because of things they saw in a movie years ago.

I’ve loved Bible movies since I was a kid, but sadly, I’ve never seen one that was 100% biblically accurate. There always seem to be errors or at least misinterpretations in the script, especially when they add dialogue that's not in the Bible. I understand why the writers add words in a movie, but sometimes I wonder if they’ve even read the Bible or if they’re just telling a story that they grew up hearing. I mean, sometimes that’s exactly what it seems like.

Reading the Bible is very important. Knowing the truth can mean the difference between life and death; both physical and spiritual. We can be deceived in so many ways if we don’t read God’s word. Acts 17:11 tells us that the people of Berea were more noble than the people in Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was true, and that’s the way we should be today. There are so many foolish teachings that would be completely cleared up if we would only read and believe the Bible.

Let’s read the scriptures I mentioned at the beginning. Since I only generalize them there, we’ll now see that they have a much deeper meaning.

John 17:17

17 Make them holy through your truth. Your word is truth.

Jesus was talking to the Father here about his disciples. He asked the Father to make them holy through his word because his word is holy. So, to be holy we must read God’s word. Paul tells Timothy something similar in 2 Timothy 3:15.

2 Timothy 3:15

15 From childhood, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.

So to be saved, we must believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus we must read (or hear) about him, and get to know him through God’s word, the Bible. Can you see how important the Bible is? Look at the next verse.

2 Timothy 3:16

16 All scripture is inspired by God, and is helpful for teaching, for evidence, for correction, and for instruction in being holy:

These verses tell us that the Bible leads us to salvation, and then shows us how to live a holy life through Jesus. That's how important the Bible is.

John 8: 31-32

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and,

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

There it is again; if we continue in his word or continue to read his word and follow it, and obey it, we will truly be his disciples, and by reading God’s word, we'll know the truth, and we'll be set free by the truth. Don’t you want to be set free? Don’t you want to know the truth? Lies deceive us, but the truth sets us free from those lies and deception. Knowing that God’s word is truth, we should want to read and know God’s word so we can be saved, live a holy life, and protect ourselves from being deceived by Satan and his minions.

Find time to read the Bible every day, if only for a few minutes. You’ll soon find yourself spending more time reading, and loving it. Yeah, it’s really that simple to start. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so don’t delay. Start today. God bless you.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2024 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

YOU THINK IT'S IN THE BIBLE BUT IT'S NOT

I’ve always found it frustrating when people miss-quote the Bible, but it's even worse when people “quote the Bible” and what they are quoting isn’t even in the Bible. I've always tried not to be critical when letting them know their quote isn’t there, but I was thinking, “They must not read the Bible much at all.”

The Bible is a big book and I’m sure not many people can quote the entire thing word for word, no matter how often they read it. I know I sure can’t, but I’ve made it a goal of mine to read it every day and study it as often as I can, so I think I know it better than some, but certainly not as well as others.

That being said, something interesting happened to me a few years ago. I was writing an article for my blog and was planning to end it with a certain “Bible quote” that I’ve heard all my life. But, I was surprised when I couldn’t find the scripture I was looking for. I was sure it was there, but where? Maybe I wasn’t quoting it exactly right. I searched for it using e-sword, my favorite Bible study program on my computer but still couldn’t find it. Then I searched for it on the internet and soon found the quote, but it wasn’t from the Bible at all. The quote is said to be from a preacher who lived in the 1500s named John Bradford.

“There, but for the grace of God, go I” — John Bradford

I guess we know what we know, and we don’t know, what we don’t know. That may sound confusing or it may seem oversimplified. There’s a song that says, “Them that don’t know, don’t know they don’t know.” We know what we know, and the things we don’t know, we have no idea that we don’t know them. People are people and that fact will never change. “After all, we’re only human.” No matter who we are, we forget things we once knew, and we don’t always remember everything correctly.

For a while now, I’ve been planning to write an article about things people think are in the Bible but are not. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I have a list I’ve been collecting, and I was planning to put them all in one article but, I think I’ll tackle some of them separately. Since I’ve joined the ranks of people who have thought something was in the Bible that wasn’t, maybe I can write the articles without being too critical, or judgmental.  

--Please subscribe to my blog and you’ll receive future posts by email. Thanks for reading.--

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

LESSONS ON THE JOURNEY - PART 2

Two months ago, Herbert Brown and his family moved from the city of River Port, Mississippi to the quiet peaceful little town of Cedar Creek. It’s the 16th day of January, and everyone is in the living room enjoying the warm fire and some hot cocoa.

Charlotte is preparing lunch for her family, and Herbert is keeping the fire going. Mark, the youngest, is staring at the fire dancing in the fireplace, as daddy puts more wood in.

Billy and Cindy are looking out the window, hoping the snow that the weatherman predicted will come soon, so they may get to go out, and play in it today. With joy in their eyes, they recalled all the fun they had playing in the snow the previous winter in River Port, and how they had made snow cream, snow angels, and built a snowman...

Suddenly, the snow began to fall and they both shout at the same time, “It’s snowing.” With excitement in his voice, Billy asked, “Mom, can we go out, and play in the snow?” “Not right now,” came the reply from Mother. “It’s almost time to eat. Go wash up.”

“Can we go out after we eat?” Cindy asked as she ran from the window. We’ll see,” Mother said. “OK,” Cindy groaned, with disappointment in her voice. Then Mark asked, “Mommy, what does WILSIE mean?” Before Charlotte could answer, Billy spoke up and said, “It means, no.” Neither Herbert nor Charlotte could keep from laughing. “I guess it does seem like that sometimes, but it simply means we’ll have to wait, and see what’s going on later. You may be able to, and you may not. It’s not YES, and it's not NO.” I guess it means the same thing as, maybe.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2009 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

UNDERSTANDING BIBLE TRUTH

I’ve been reading the Bible since I was very young. I’ve known it was God’s book for a long time, but I didn’t really understand exactly what that meant. When I got older and learned how to properly study the Bible, it came alive to me. I realized that what I once thought was a big book of collected stories from many different writers, is actually one big book containing one story about God and his people, and although the words were written down by over forty different men, it all came from one source, God himself.

It’s not only a history book, but a book of promises for us, now, and for the future. It’s an instruction book on how God wants us to live and treat each other. As anyone can see, many who don’t follow God’s instructions, contained in the Bible, do whatever they want, violate every command given by God, and cause countless innocents to suffer.

What’s even worse, there are many who claim to follow biblical teaching, but often have the same mindset as those who don’t. Part of the problem is the interpretation, or should I say, the “misinterpretation” of scripture. This leads to all kinds of problems; from simple disagreements, to split congregations, new denominations, split families, and even total rebellion against God.

Everyone thinks their interpretation is right, and that’s understandable, but most will not even consider the possibility they might be wrong, even when shown from the holy word of God. Almost every denomination believes it’s the only one who has the truth.

In giving Bible studies, I’ve studied with and talked to many people over the years. I’ve studied different denominations and what they believe, and I’ve arrived at one conclusion. No denomination that I know of has all the truth. Most of them have some true doctrines, and some have mostly true doctrines, but they all teach something that is contrary to the Bible. It seems the Truth is scattered throughout the earth.

Before I go any further, let me say that I’m not a Bible scholar, and I don’t know everything there is to know. I’m not claiming to be perfect, nor to have divine wisdom. I’m a sinful wretch saved only by the grace of God. I have believed strongly in certain Bible teachings only to discover I was wrong, and as I continue learning, I expect to find more things in God’s word that I didn’t know or maybe even misunderstood. I’m not claiming to be smarter than anyone else, but when the Bible clearly teaches something, and a church or an individual is doing and saying something totally opposite, it doesn’t take a scholar to see the contradictions.

So what should we do, stop going to church? No. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day didn’t have everything right either, but that didn’t stop him from going. Sometimes it may be serious enough that we have to move to a different congregation or even change denominations, but we have to realize that God’s true Church is not a certain building, or denomination anyway.

The true church is made up of believers all over the world who have been born again; Those who follow God wherever he leads, and obey his Commandments (Luke 17:21). They pray and study his word every day. That’s the key. Bible Study; Not just reading, but studying; Treating the entire Bible as one book, comparing scripture with scripture (Isaiah 28:10), and being willing to change our minds when we see we are wrong. That’s called growing.

There’s only one Truth, and it’s there in God’s word for all of us to see. There are so many denominations today because there are so many different interpretations of God’s word. Too often, people will develop their own views, and when they come to the Bible, they look for evidence to support their beliefs. This is the wrong way to study the Bible.

Another mistake we make when studying God’s word is one that we often ignore because we don’t really think about it. When we read something, we understand it based on how we think and what we’ve learned. Even our understanding of word definitions color our thought process.

When reading the Bible, there are several things we need in order to understand it properly. One is a desire to know the truth. The other is an understanding that there are words and phrases in the Bible that meant something different when they were written than what they mean now. A good Bible Concordance will help with this. I also recommend the Free computer program called e-Sword, which has a Concordance, and a ton of other helpful Bible Study tools, including many free versions of the Bible. There’s also an app for iPhones and Androids which does cost a few dollars, but it’s worth every penny.

The Bible usually interprets itself, and the King James Version has a built-in dictionary. The more you study, the better you understand. We should always come to the Bible as little children, with humble, teachable spirits, and again, we must be willing to change our beliefs when they are different from God’s Truth. We should always pray and ask God to guide us in our understanding of scripture. Who better to help us understand the word of God than the One who inspired the men who wrote it (2 Peter 1:21).

When we do this we’ll see the Truth more clearly. The Bible will become to us the book that God intended it to be from the beginning, and we’ll join the ranks of those who make up the true church scattered throughout the entire world; The ones who know the Truth, and have been made free by it.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6