How the Bible Can Help You

COUNCIL TIME - 1/11/06 • Materials: car manual, teddy bear, lantern, some type of food Intro: I wonder if you can tell me what I have here? (Car manual). I’ll bet you have one of these inside the glove compartment of your car. It’s a pretty detailed book. Do any of you know what you would learn if you read the manual? Who wrote the manual? (How to operate things on the car, what to do if something goes wrong) If I read the manual, my life is a lot better. I understand that I have to put gas in the gas tank. What if I put a soda in my gas tank? What would happen to my car? God’s Word is a little like this car manual. If God is the Creator - if he made you and me, and every human being who has ever lived, then He knows us better than anyone else, even ourselves. God gave us the Bible so we could know everything we need to know so we can live the best way - with God, with other people, and with ourselves. I want to give you 4 ways the Bible can be a real help to you, and I’m going to give you a picture of that help. First, (get out food). What do I have here? What happens to people when they don’t get any food? Eventually, they get weaker and weaker and die. One way God talks about the Bible is that it is food not for our physical bodies, but for our spirits - who we are on the inside. Just like your body gets hungry and needs food, your spirit desperately needs food. People’s spirits can get horribly hungry. And God says - this is the best food for you. And it is delicious! (Ps. 119:103) Here’s another way the Bible can help you. (Get out teddy bear). Even though you are little, you already know that there are sad things in life. There are many happy times, but Jesus said in this world, there will be sadness. When we are sad, or something bad happens to us, we need comfort. And God gave us the Bible to help us feel better. When bad stuff happens, we sometimes forget that God loves us no matter what. (119:64) Here’s another way the Bible can help you (lantern). When you watch television, do you ever feel that all the commercials want to do is sell you more and more stuff? They seem to say - you’ll really be happy and feel great if you own all these things. But I think you are smart enough to know that isn’t true. But what would make us happy? How can we figure out what is stupid stuff and what is really, really solid? We can feel in the dark about this. (Turn on lantern) - God gave you and me the Bible so we wouldn’t be in the dark. You have learned verses that tell you that God’s word is true, really true. You can count on it. And it will be a real friend to you to light your way. So I want you to take out your bibles. I can remember back when I was a new Christian and people were telling me I had to read my Bible every day. I didn’t know where to start. Just open up your Table of Contents. Wow - there’s lots of stuff there, isn’t there. What if this was your very first time reading the Bible. You could get pretty discouraged. So let’s practice. Every time you read the Bible, it gets a little easier and a little more comfortable. Do you remember learning how to ride a 2-wheeler. The first, time you probably felt like you were about to tip over. But maybe now, you just jump on and go. Open now to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5:14-16. Let’s see if we can read this part of the Bible and understand it, okay? First, let’s remember that the Gospels - there are 4 of them - tell us about the life of Jesus - how he was born, the miracles he did, what he taught, how he died and how he rose again. So let’s read together 5:14-16. Now say you’re home, and maybe it’s right before you go to bed. You are in bed, and you have said - okay, I want to read the Bible today. And you are at this chapter and verse. You read it, but it doesn’t mean much to you. Maybe it’s a bit like this can of soup. You know the good stuff is inside, but without a can opener, it’s useless to you. So let’s talk together about what these verses me. We are going to ask 2 questions: What is the big idea? How should I pray? Jesus is talking and he’s talking to men and women and boys and girls who want to be Christians. And he’s saying - here’s one way Christians should live. And what does he say Christians are like? What should they not do? What should they do? Is he saying that Christians should get up on a very high mountain and glow? What is Jesus saying? Why should we do good things? Most people think that being good gets us into heaven - what is Jesus saying? Okay, so we get the idea. If we are Christians, God expects us to live in a way that people see it and thank God. Good. But we’ve still got to think harder. When I read this, I have to ask myself - are there any parts of my life where I live in a way that if people saw, they would not thank God? Does God care how I live? And then I can ask God to help me - please let me know what I do that you want changed and help me. Is God going to change everything at once? No. But when you and I follow Jesus, it changes us and that change has to show. I’m going to hand out bookmarks for you to put in your Bible. And when you read, it will help you to read smarter.