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Copyright © 2018 Greg Laurie. All rights reserved.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Harvest Ministries6115 Arlington AvenueRiverside, CA 92504

www.harvest.org

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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The Bible Is Powerful

What is the Bible? The Bible is many things, but at its core, it is the Book that God has given us to show us how to come into a relationship with Him.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Bible is alive, it is powerful, and it is sharper than any two-edged sword. Even symbolically it has power. Have you ever noticed how people react when you pull out a Bible?

Sometimes when I travel, I will take my Bible with me. I love to be seated in coach in that cursed middle seat. You have a person on each side of you. The guy in front of you reclines so that you are really boxed in. The guy next to me might say, “How are you doing?” I answer, “I am pretty good. How are you?” Same niceties with the guy or gal on the other side. Everyone is chatting and everything is cool. Then I will reach down into my briefcase and pull out a Bible and try to get it up where I can read it without bumping into anyone’s knees or elbows. And as soon as I pull it out, they react like I just grabbed a skunk out of my briefcase. I have seen people visibly recoil from the mere sight of the Bible.

Yes, the Bible is a powerful Book. People know that there is something of significance in it. Recently, we advertised for our Southern California Harvest Crusade (an evangelistic outreach that we hold annually at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California). We purchased some banner space at a local mall. Our advertisement had a picture of me holding up a Bible while preaching.

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After a few days of having the banner up, the mall told us that they received multiple complaints and even a threat because people found the image “offensive.” At first the mall asked us to change the image, which we did, but then they told us they were not going to allow any of our advertisements. They took down our banners and refunded our money.

The controversy over the whole thing made its way into national media, and we ended up receiving more advertising publicity for the outreach than any banner could have accomplished, so it all worked out for good. But to think that even an innocuous image of a little black Book is enough to make people uncomfortable or confrontational is evidence that there is great power in the pages of the Bible. God’s Word is amazingly powerful.

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Courage to Stand with the Bible

I remember that right after I became a Christian, someone gave me a Bible. I had been a Christian only a few days. It was all so new to me and I was in a kind of in-between state where I was interested, but hadn’t really stood up for Christ. I was trying to fly under the radar a little bit. Some guy saw me on campus and yelled out to me, “Brother Greg! Praise the Lord! I got something for you. I got you a Bible!” He pulled out this big old gnarly Bible. It was huge. And here’s the thing. On the front, it had Popsicle sticks glued together in the shape of a cross. “Great,” I thought.

“A very big Bible with Popsicle sticks. Thank you so much.”

So there I am, holding this Bible. Keep in mind that I am in high school. Walking across campus with a very large Bible that has a cross made out of Popsicle sticks is risky. You might even get beat up. It is not that I was ashamed of the Bible. It is just that I was ashamed of this Bible in particular. I thought, “I can’t carry this thing around.” I tried to get it into the pocket of my coat, but it was too big. I ripped a hole in my pocket and shoved it in. I wasn’t exactly a bold witness for Christ at this point.

I went over to visit my friend. I used to hang out with this guy and some others every day at lunchtime. We did bad things. We would get high. We would smoke pot and go back and stare out the window for the rest of the day and think how cool we were. I had not seen these guys since I had become a Christian. I had completely turned my back on drugs at that point. It had only been a few days. I hadn’t seen these guys and I wanted to reconnect with them.

So I went over to this guy’s house. He lived by the campus. “What am I going to do with this Bible?” I thought. He had some bushes in front of his house, so I pulled out my giant Bible and shoved it in the bushes and walked into the house trying to be really cool.

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“Greg, how are you doing?”

“I am fine. How are you guys?”

“Where have you been?”

“Nowhere.” I wasn’t going to tell them I had become a Christian.

“What have you been doing?”

“Nothing.” My heart is beating fast. The Holy Spirit is prompting me to tell them. I am inwardly saying no.

“What have you been up to?”

“Really nothing, guys.”

They could tell I was acting a little edgy. One of them said, “Do you want to get loaded?”

“No. I don’t want to get loaded.”

“What is wrong with you, Greg?”

“Nothing is wrong with me. I am fine.”

I was in that place where I didn’t want to speak up for my faith. They pepper me with a few more questions and I don’t say anything. Suddenly, the front door opens and this guy’s mother comes walking in holding my Bible in her hands. She holds it up and says, “Who does this belong to?”

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Every eye in the room slowly went from that Popsicle-stick Bible over to me. Somehow they knew there was a connection between Greg and this Book. I said, “That’s mine.”

They said, “Greg, what is that?”

“It’s a Bible,” I mumble.

“A what?”

“A Bible!” I grabbed it and held onto it.

One of my friends said mockingly, “Praise the Lord, Brother Greg! Are we going to be Christians now and go to church and read the Bible?”

“No. We are going to punch you in the mouth. What do you think about that?” (I hadn’t read 1 Corinthians 13 yet.)

I was hiding the Word of God all right—not in my heart, but in the bushes. I realized after that incident that I couldn’t live in two worlds. I thought, “If I am going to be a Christian, I need to be a Christian.” I had already seen the emptiness of the lifestyle I had lived with those guys.

I started reading that Book with the Popsicle sticks on the cover. It started changing my life because it showed me how to know God.

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Taking the Bible for Granted

It is an interesting thing how many people in America have Bibles. Barna did a survey recently and found that 87% of households own at least one Bible. That is good news. But of those that were polled, only 50% said they read the Bible three or four times per year. But nearly one-third of adults (32%) say they never read, listen to or pray with the Bible, a five-percentage point increase over the previous year.1

The problem is that even though everyone probably has one or two Bibles at home, so many people don’t even know what the Bible says. There is a disconnect. For instance, another poll indicated that of those who owned a Bible and read it, half of them could not name any of the four gospels of the New Testament—not even one. Fewer than half knew who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Of the 60% of those who attended Easter the previous year, one-fourth had any idea what the occasion even signified.

What is going on? We are not taking the time to really study and understand what the Bible has to say. We don’t have any idea just how much God has put in the pages of Scripture for us.

I heard a true story of a young man who was graduating from college. He wanted his dad to buy him a new car. He even told his dad what car he wanted and how much it cost. All of his buddies were getting new cars from their dads. He wanted his dad to get him a car too.

Graduation day came. The kids were getting their new cars. This kid went up to his dad hoping Pop would throw him the keys. Instead the father gave him a box. He opened up the box and inside it was a Bible. He couldn’t believe it. “He got me a Bible?” the boy thought. “I asked for a new car and he gets me a Bible for a graduation present?”

1 https://www.barna.com/research/state-bible-2017-top-findings/

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This kid was so ticked off at his dad that he turned around and walked away and never talked to his father again. Many years passed and his father died. That boy had no relationship with his father at all. He was so angry about that gift.

After his father died, it was his responsibility to go back home to his dad’s house and get his affairs in order. As he was looking through papers on his dad’s desk, he saw that box. He blew off the dust, opened it up, and sure enough, there was the Bible his dad had given to him. And for the first time, he opened the Bible. Guess what he found inside? It was an envelope. He opened up the envelope and in it was a cashier’s check made for the exact amount of the car that he wanted, dated with the date of his graduation.

If he would have taken the time to open that Bible up, he would have seen that what he really wanted was in there: the check for the car. But because he was so hard-hearted, he missed out on all that his father had done for him.

Do you get the point?

There is something far more valuable in your Bible than a cashier’s check for a new car. God is giving you the words of eternal life. Your heavenly Father has so much that He wants to show you from reading the Word of God. It is the user’s manual of life that we all have been searching for.

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God’s Instruction Manual

I love electronic gadgets that do stuff, but I hate to read manuals. I usually ask my son Jonathan or somebody else to figure out how to set it up for me. If something goes wrong, I have to find someone to fix it for me. As a result, I have a lot of electronic gadgets that don’t work right. They chirp and beep in the middle of the night and I don’t know how to program them properly because I have never read the manual.

Think about life for a moment. Think about how many things go wrong because we have never read the manual that God has given to us. The Bible has warnings in it. It has admonitions in it. It has direction in it. It tells us how to live. And the purpose of those warnings is not to ruin our fun, but for our own good—for our protection, for our provision, for our pleasure, and to give us purpose.

This is so important, because success or failure in your spiritual life is dependent upon how much of the Bible you get into your life on a regular basis and how obedient you are to it. If you are not getting into the Word of God, it is only a matter of time until you are going to fall apart spiritually.

When you go to visit a doctor, one the first things they often ask is if you have any appetite. Doctors know that hungry people are healthy people. When you are not feeling well, you don’t want to eat anything. The very thought of food nauseates you.

In the same way, spiritually hungry Christians are healthy Christians. They are hungry for the Word of God. The Bible, in 1 Peter 2:2, says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (NIV). We should be hungering for what the Word of God says to us. If you don’t have a hunger for Scripture, if you don’t have a desire to know what the Bible says, if you don’t have an interest in what God has revealed in His Book,

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then something is wrong with you spiritually. If you are going to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, you need to get into the Word of God and the Word of God needs to get into you. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed” (John 8:31).

I want to tell you something about the Bible. This Book is the most amazing document ever given to man. Technically speaking, it is not one book. The Bible is a compilation of 66 books with more than 40 different authors. It has been separated into two sections.

The first part of the Bible contains 39 books that make up the Old Testament. And the second part contains 27 books that make up the New Testament.

Overall, the Bible was written over the course of approximately 1,500 years, and was written in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) by people all over the place—from kings to peasants to philosophers to laborers, poets, statesmen, and scholars. Moses was a political leader trained in the schools of Egypt. He wrote the first five books of the Bible that we know as the Pentateuch. Peter was a fisherman. Joshua was a military general. Daniel was the equivalent of a prime minister. Luke was a doctor. Solomon was a king. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul was a rabbi. Each one of these men was inspired by God to write down the words we read in the Bible today.

Sometimes people will ask, “Why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?” and you might answer, “Because the Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”

“You can’t say that!” they’ll argue. “You can’t quote the Bible to prove the Bible.” Sure you can. It is not circular reasoning to quote one book to confirm another book. As I said, the Bible is 66 books, written over a 1,500-year span of time, giving us the truth of God. Of course you can quote the Bible to prove the Bible.

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We read in 2 Peter 1:20–21, “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God” (NLT).

Often when we quote the Bible someone will invariably say, “I don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God.” I will always challenge them on that. I will say, “Really? And you have read the Bible?” Their answer is always, “Oh yes!”

So I ask, “What is it in the Bible that causes you to doubt it?” They will say that it is full of contradictions. So I will say, “Show me one. I am interested in seeing one.” And of course, 99 times out of 100 they are not going to have an answer.

There are people who have honest questions about the Bible, and there is nothing wrong with that. There are certain statements in the Scripture that on the surface might appear to be a contradiction, but when you read them in context there are no contradictions in the Bible. Most people who make an assertion of that kind have never actually found a contradiction; they are saying it as an excuse to hide behind.

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Why We Should Stand with the Bible

Why do I believe the Bible is the Word of God? Why can I trust it? Why do I stand with the Bible? Let me give you a few reasons.

1. I stand with the Bible because it gives me the experience it claimed it would give me.

For instance, I read in the Bible that if I would confess my sins, God is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I don’t believe that just because someone else said it was true. God says it to me in the Bible and so I put it to the test. I said, “God, I am sorry for my sins and I turn away from them.” Guess what? My guilt was taken away.

I distinctly remember that shortly after my conversion it was as though someone had lifted a giant weight off of my shoulders. I felt like a heaviness had been taken away. I thought, “What is this all about?” I later read where Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), and realized that He took that burden of sin away. The Bible promised me that I could have a peace that passes all human understanding if I put my faith in Christ. I did that, and I have experienced that peace. Everything the Bible has promised me has happened for me. I believe it is true because it has been confirmed by my personal experience. Have you found that to be true as well?

2. I stand with the Bible because it is confirmed by science.

I know that some would say science and the Bible are in flat contradiction of one another. It seems that way at times, but it is not true. There are many in the scientific community who understand how accurate the Bible really is. In fact, the friction that has existed for so long is beginning to dissipate as more and

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more scientists declare that they too have a faith in God. There is compatibility between faith and science.

For instance, it was the Bible that first said that the number of stars is beyond counting. Early astronomers scoffed at the Bible for that very reason: “Imagine the Bible teaching that the number of stars is beyond counting. Imagine the Bible saying that the stars are like the sands of the sea and innumerable. What a ridiculous thing! We know exactly how many stars there are.”

In the early days the astronomers would look up and see the stars with their eyes. Then they developed telescopes and could count more. They got higher-powered telescopes and found more and more. Now scientists have admitted that you cannot count the stars. They are beyond counting. Hello? Guess who said it in the first place? The Bible. It was God who created the stars.

It was also the Bible that said the earth is hung upon nothing in Job 26:7. In that poetic way the Bible was describing the mysterious force of gravity. Now we have come around to see this mysterious thing that the Bible had spoken of all along.

It was the Bible that said the things that are seen are made of things that are not visible (see Hebrews 11:3). This predated by many centuries the discoveries of modern science, which finally recognized that all matter is made up of invisible energy—that matter and energy are interchangeable. Everything is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. People would scoff at the Bible for saying that the things that we see are made of things that are not seen, but now we recognize it as truth.

The Bible is the source of truth. Having said that, let me point out something that is important to know about the Bible. It is not the intention of the Bible to be a textbook on science, per se. If that were so, it would be much thicker and much less comprehensible. Rather, the Bible is intended to be a Book of redemption. Its

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primary purpose is not to tell us how the heavens go, but rather to tell us how to go to Heaven. It is God’s message to you on how you can know Him—how to come into a relationship with Him. In these troubled and confused times, we certainly need to read it.

3. I stand with the Bible because it is confirmed by archaeology.

Over the years thousands of critics have challenged the historic reliability of the Bible. But archaeological findings have confirmed the historicity of Scripture time and time again.

For example, critics over the years have doubted the authenticity of Scripture because it spoke of crucifixion. Certain critics said that Rome didn’t crucify people. That is incorrect and historically wrong. You can see that a statement of that kind strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith. (If the biblical description of crucifixion is not true, then how can we believe the rest of it?) For many years this complaint would be made—that we don’t see crucifixion historically.

An interesting thing took place not too long ago. It was in 1968 when the remains of a man crucified in his mid-thirties were discovered north of Jerusalem with a seven-inch nail still embedded in the heel. The state of the bones indicated the condemned man’s arms were outstretched and his feet had been placed sideways and a spike was driven through them. This is exactly as the Bible describes crucifixion.

Over the years critics have also doubted the authenticity of Scripture because they found no historical record of a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate. Pilate played such a key role in the account of the crucifixion of Jesus, yet there was no historical record. “Therefore,” people asserted, “the Bible is not true. We have no evidence that a man named Pilate ever existed.” In 1961 an inscription found in Caesarea Maritima confirmed that Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor in Judea at the time of Christ’s crucifixion.

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Critics doubted Scripture because they said there was no record of a high priest known as Caiaphas. In 1990, the tomb of the high priest Caiaphas was discovered.

I haven’t the slightest doubt that future archaeological discoveries are also going to confirm the teachings of the Scripture. The Bible is a reliable document. You can trust the words that are found in it.

4. I stand with the Bible because it is the one Book that accurately predicts the future.

This is a big one. We are not talking about psychic hotline mumbo-jumbo here. We are talking about specific prophecies that have been fulfilled. No other world religions have books that do this. The Bible speaks of the future with absolute certainty. That is because God is eternal. He can see the future as accurately as we can see the past. It is all a continuum to God. It is all the same to Him. So when the Bible says a certain thing is going to happen, it is not like God is going out on a limb. It is not like a tabloid prediction. It is basically a revealing of history ahead of time by the God that sees the future as clearly as He sees the past.

The Bible has dared to predict the future not once, not twice, but hundreds of times. It is worth noting that one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy. Approximately one-half of these prophecies have already come to take place. Therefore, if one-half have happened as He said they would, I have no reason to doubt that the remaining ones will happen exactly as God has said. When God tells you about what the future holds, you can take it to the bank. It is going to happen.

Some statisticians have figured out what the odds would be of eight prophecies being fulfilled by Jesus if they just happened by coincidence. In other words, what are the odds that coincidentally Jesus could have just happened to fulfill those eight prophesies? For instance, the chance that Jesus would just happen to be born

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in Bethlehem is 1 in 280,000. The chance that He would have a forerunner announcing His coming is 1 in 1,000. The chance that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver is 1 in 10,000. The chance that He would happen to have His hands wounded is 1 in 10,000. The chance that He would just happen to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey is 1 in 1,000. Putting it all together, the chances that Jesus fulfilled eight prophesies by coincidence is 1 in 1028. That’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Do you see how unlikely that is? Let me put it another way. The possibility that Jesus coincidentally fulfilled just eight prophesies would be like the odds of covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet thick and marking one, then blindfolding someone and having them walk across the state and randomly reach down and pick up the one that was marked. Those are the same odds.

But guess what? Jesus didn’t fulfill just eight prophecies. He fulfilled many.

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The Bible Is a Book of Faith

Ultimately it comes down to faith. I can look at archaeology, I can look at science, I can look at the fact that the Bible predicts the future, but there is an element of faith where I have to say that I accept the Bible to be true.

It reminds me of a story that I heard of a young girl who loved the Lord but didn’t have a deep knowledge of Scripture. She was out sharing the gospel on a street corner. A well-known atheist saw her and he thought he would have a little fun at her expense.

He walks up to her and says, “Young lady, I have a question for you.” His voice booms among the crowd. “I see you have a Bible in your hand,” he continues. “You believe that all of the Bible is true?”

“Yes, sir. I believe every word of it, cover to cover.”

“You believe in all of the stories of the Bible?”

She said, “Yes, sir. I believe every story.”

He thought he had her now. He said, “Do you believe the story of Jonah and the whale and that he lived to tell about it?”

“Yes, sir. I believe the story of Jonah and the whale.”

“Tell me, young lady, how is it possible that a man could be swallowed by a whale and live to tell about it?”

She said, “I don’t know, sir, but the Bible says that it is true, so I believe it.”

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“How do you know it is true?”

“Because the Bible says so,” she answered, “I will tell you what—when I get to Heaven, I will ask Jonah.”

He said, “Is that so? What if Jonah is not in Heaven?”

She answered, “Then you go ahead and ask him.”

There is an element of faith when it comes to accepting the Bible. You have to accept the words of the Bible because God said them. Can I explain everything in the Bible? No. But I believe it because I have found it to be true. You will find it to be true as well if you will read it.

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What the Bible Says About the Bible

Let’s look at Psalm 19 and read a few verses about the Bible.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7–11)

Let’s consider a few things from this passage.

1. The Word of God is perfect.

This phrase the law of the LORD that we see used here in Psalm 19 is a Hebrew term used to describe Scripture. You could just as easily put in the phrase the Bible. The Bible is perfect, converting the soul. There is nothing that you need to add to the Bible and nothing that you need to take away from it. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16–17,

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. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (NLT)

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When the Bible says that all Scripture is inspired by God, a more literal translation would be “all Scripture is breathed by God.” This means that the Bible is the original autograph that God has given to us and you can rely on it.

What do I mean by that? The first manuscripts of a document are called the original autographs. The further back you go in time, the better or more reliable your documents are. What is interesting with the Bible is that even recent discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls have confirmed the ancient autographs, not contradicted them. This serves to confirm that the documents that we have used to build our modern translations are indeed reliable. The Bible is a perfect Book.

As society changes, you don’t have to flow with the winds of change. You can stand on the firm foundation of the Word of God. You can know right and wrong. The Bible is the roadmap to knowing God.

2. The Word of God transforms us.

Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” If you read the Word of God and really believe it, it is going to change your life.

You might say, “I am not all that interested in being transformed.” Listen: The Bible is for people who have a sense of desperation about where they are in life. It is for people who don’t have the purpose in life that they wish to have. It is for people who are not sure where they came from or where they are going. The Bible is for people who don’t want to be ruled by their passions. It is the Book for people who don’t want to be mere victims of circumstance. It is the Book for people who want their relationships with others to be better. The Bible is for people who want direction in their life.

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In short, the Bible is the Book for everyone. It tells us how to live life to its fullest.

What do you want to know about? The Bible has to say something to say on the subject. You want to know about relationships? The Bible addresses that. You want to know about having a proper work ethic? The Bible gives you that as well. You want to know what course your life should take? The Bible tells you. You want to know how to get right with God and how to get to Heaven? The Bible tells you that as well.

The reason it transforms us is because it is powerful. Again, Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is alive 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” (NIV).

Sometimes the Bible even stops bullets. Did you read that story about the crazed woman who wanted to kill her son? She took a shotgun and went to find her son at church. He was coming out of a church service. At close range, she fired the shotgun and it hit his Bible and stopped the bullet. The Bible literally saved his life.

I am not suggesting that you get in gunfights and hold up Bibles for protection. What I am saying is that, even better than stopping a bullet, think of the terrible things that the Word of God can stop in your life if you obey its principles.

When it comes to sharing your faith, nothing is more powerful than quoting the Bible. God said in Isaiah 55:10–11,

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish

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what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

That is why when I give evangelistic messages I quote the Bible. I believe in its power. I believe in its authority. I know that it will hit the intended target and do the work that God wants it to do.

3. The Bible gives incredible wisdom.

Again, Psalm 19:7 says, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” The Hebrew word translated “simple” comes from a root word that speaks of an open door. It was the idea of a person having a mind like an open door where everything comes in and goes out. This person doesn’t know what to keep in, what to throw out, or what right and wrong are. They are simple-minded.

I think of a whole generation of young people that have been raised on TV, movies, video games, and music—bombarded with so much outside influence. They open their minds up and fill them with all of that stuff. They don’t have a grid for knowing what right and wrong are. That is why you have kids going to school campuses and senselessly blowing others away. That is why you hear of kids with no moral compass. They don’t know what to believe. God says that if we read the Bible and believe it, He will make wise the simple.

Do you know how I know that to be true? Because it happened to me. I was one of those kids. When I was going to school, I didn’t get good grades. I fooled around for most of my time in school and daydreamed and drew cartoons and made people laugh with stupid jokes. I had no real course in life. I wouldn’t go to the library and spend hours poring over various volumes telling me about the history of the world. I would watch television and listen to music and goof off.

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When I became a Christian, I realized that God had given me a living Book to follow. Not some book of history—though the Bible is that and more—but something to guide my life by. I would read it and be amazed at how relevant it was to my circumstances—so relevant at times that I was surprised the ink was dry on the page. It seemed as though it had been custom-written for me. Has that ever happened to you? Have you read a Scripture that has jumped off of the page, exactly what you need for the moment? That is the power of the Word of God.

Any wisdom that I may have acquired in my lifetime does not come from Greg Laurie. If you knew me well, you would know that I don’t have much to say to you. Any wisdom that I have to give to you has come from the Word of God. He makes wise the simple.

Let me speak for a moment to a younger generation of Christians who know the Word and are studying the Bible: You know more than a lot of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who have thrown their lives away chasing after stupid things. You believe the Word and are seeking to live by it, and God has made wise the simple. Jesus prayed, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank You for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike” (Luke 10:21 NLT).

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Like Hidden Treasure

The Word of God can change lives and that’s what it will do for you. That is why we need to believe the Bible.

Let me bring this to a close with a true story I heard of an old recluse who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado. He lived in abject poverty. When he finally died, his distant relatives came from the city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, they found him living in a beat-up old shack with an outhouse beside it. Inside the shack was a thrashed three-legged stool, a little cooking pot, some mining equipment, a little potbellied stove, and a kerosene lamp. That was all he had. His relatives gathered up this junk to haul it away. They didn’t want it.

As they were making their way down the road, an old-timer came by and called out to them. He said, “You all want anything that is left back there in the cabin? Can I take what is left?” They said, “It is just a bunch of junk. Have at it.” The old-timer said thanks, and the relatives drove off to the city.

The old-timer went back to the guy’s house. He went over to one of the floorboards and lifted it up and pulled out all of the gold that his friend had been hiding there for the last 53 years. It was worth millions of dollars. Apparently the recluse had died with only his close friend knowing his true worth. As the old friend watched those people drive down the road with the dust coming up behind them, he said to himself that they should have gotten to know their relative better.

In the same way, God has given us His Word. If we would get to know Him better, we would discover the treasures that are found in it.

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Let me share one more principle with you: keeping the Word of God will make you a happy person. Psalm 19:8 says, “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.” You want happiness? You want joy? Live by the Word of God. Jesus said, “Blessed [Happy] are those that hear the word of God and keep it.” If you want a life that is full and meaningful, you need to live by what the Bible teaches.

You can have a happy life even without all of the things that the world tells you that you need to be happy: To be happy you have to party. To be happy you have to have the mega-mansion with a line of sports cars in the garage. You have to have the girls and fame and fortune.

I don’t think so. I look at a lot of today’s famous people and it seems like many of them are in rehab centers right now. It seems like a lot of them are living miserable lives. I don’t know why I would want to believe what they have to say.

Then I look at people I know who follow the Word of God and they seem like happy people to me—people who have found true purpose and meaning. The Bible tells us how to do that.

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How to Know God

Here’s a quick roadmap that the Bible lays out if you want to have a life that is meaningful: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

You need to understand that God loves you so much He sent His Son to die for you. I talked about the historical accuracy of the crucifixion. The Bible teaches that nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, went to a cross and willingly died for our sins. He was crucified for us. He rose again bodily from the dead three days later. Why did Jesus do that? Because the Bible also tells me that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us has broken God’s commandments. Every one of us has fallen short of His standards. God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to die in your place and pay the debt that you and I owed for our sin. If I will turn from my sin, the Bible tells me I can be forgiven and have the hope that when I die I will go to Heaven.

If the Bible only ever promised hope of life beyond the grave—and nothing else—it would be worth being a Christian. If the Bible said,

“If you want Heaven, you have to live a miserable and wretched existence on earth, but when you die it will pay off,” that would still be good. But the Bible tells us that not only will God give you life after death, but He promises He will give you life during life.

When I was a kid, I was more interested in the abundant life while I am living. As I get older, the life after death part starts sounding better. When you are young and feel like you are going to live forever, you don’t think much about death. But the Bible promises both life after death and life during life. By that I mean a life worth living. A life that is not dependent on drugs or alcohol or other pleasures this world offers that won’t really fulfill you. It promises life that is full and meaningful, and a relationship with God.

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Let me ask you, do you have this relationship with God? Do you know God? Is Christ living inside of you? If you died today, would you go to Heaven?

No one knows when death is going to come. Death could come tomorrow for some of us. It could come tonight. That is why we need to be ready to meet God. If you died now would you go to Heaven or to Hell? The Bible warns us about that.

If you are not sure that Christ is living inside of you, I am going to give you an opportunity to be sure by asking Jesus to forgive you of your sin. If you have never asked for His forgiveness, this is your opportunity to ask for it now. You can pray a prayer like this one, and mean it from your heart:

God, I know that I am a sinner. I have broken Your commandments and fallen short of Your standards. Right now I turn from that sin and ask You to come into my life. Be my Lord, Savior, Friend, and God. I put my faith in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone, to save me from my sins. Thank You for loving and calling me. Thank You for giving me the Bible to teach me how to live and know You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

I am also inviting those of you who used to walk with God but have gone back to the old life to come back to the Lord and receive the forgiveness that you need as well. You can pray a prayer like this:

Lord, thank You for second chances. Thank You that even though I have strayed from Your commands and neglected my relationship with You, You welcome me back as a loving Father. I turn away from my sin and rededicate my life to You. Help me to obey the instructions found in Your Word, the Bible. I choose to follow You from this point forward. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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Stand with the Bible

Do you believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word? Do you believe the Bible contains the answers that everyone needs? I believe these things because I’ve seen God change lives through the Bible.

• God uses the Bible to heal marriages.

• God uses the Bible to cure the addicted.

• God uses the Bible to melt the hard heart.

• God uses the Bible to comfort the bereaved.

• God uses the Bible to give hope to the hopeless.

The words of Psalm 19:7 are so true: “The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (NLT).

If the Word of God has impacted your life, feel free to add your testimony to those of so many who stand with the Bible. You can post a picture of yourself with your Bible on social media using the hashtag #StandWithTheBible and also search that tag to see the stories of others who are not ashamed of God’s Word.