Battles of Faith

The Science Of The Scriptures

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor Myers, Atonte Myers

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Series Code: BOF

Program Code: BOF000019


00:15 Welcome to "Battles of Faith".
00:16 We're your hosts Ivor and Atonte Myers.
00:19 Today, our topic is entitled "The Science of the Scriptures".
00:24 Now, we're very excited, as I say probably
00:26 at the beginning of every program,
00:28 but we are excited about this program
00:29 because we are going to be talking about
00:31 how to study the Bible.
00:34 And I know that that is something that everyone
00:37 out there wants to know how to do better,
00:39 or want to learn how to do, period.
00:41 We have to know how to study the Bible
00:43 if we're going to be able to interpret and
00:46 take the things that God's Word says
00:48 and understand it for ourselves,
00:50 So, we're excited to be able to share the truths
00:53 that God has shared with us today.
00:55 - That's right. The Bible is called "the two witnesses"
00:58 in Revelation 11 and we've seen in previous programs
01:02 that the enemy of God doesn't like
01:06 these two witnesses, the Old and the New Testament.
01:09 Through all the ploys that he is using today
01:15 it is simply to get people to view the Word of God
01:18 as boring, as uninteresting, as insignificant
01:22 and we just want to take these programs,
01:26 today's program that shares how powerful the Word of God is,
01:31 how we can make it applicable to our own lives,
01:34 how we can learn to study the Bible
01:36 and, thus, realize how interesting and how eye-opening
01:40 of a book this really is.
01:42 - Especially for young people, Satan does not want you to
01:46 get into the Word, he does not want you to learn
01:48 how to study so you can understand it for yourself.
01:51 He wants you to continue to just kind of ignore it,
01:55 because it doesn't make sense or not take the time
01:57 to really get into it.
01:58 And so, this program is for you.
02:01 Take your time, get your Bible, go through it with us
02:03 and see the exciting things that God has in here for you.
02:06 - That's right. One of the things that we often talk about
02:09 is how the entertainment industry is dulling the minds
02:13 of so many people, so that, when it comes to the Word of God
02:15 you open up the Bible and all of a sudden you get sleepy.
02:17 It just doesn't seem as interesting to you
02:21 with all the exciting things that Hollywood has going on.
02:25 I believe that, that is organized by the enemy of souls.
02:30 So, we want to take this program and
02:34 begin to look at how we can see the Bible
02:37 as a very creative, interesting, not just interesting,
02:41 but eye-opening book.
02:43 - We can watch hours and hours of television,
02:46 or play hours of video games, or watch our latest music videos
02:51 or whatever is, but as soon as we get to the Word,
02:53 we just don't have interest, we're tired, we don't have time
02:57 and again, you're right, he has made it a point
03:02 to get us not to desire to study the Word.
03:07 - That's right. Isaiah 26:3 tells us:
03:09 'Thou will keep him in perfect peace
03:12 whose mind is stayed on Thee.'
03:14 And the word for 'mind' in the margin, it actually reads
03:18 'imagination'. It's interesting because,
03:20 what the devil is doing today is that
03:23 he's trying, through the entertainment industry,
03:25 to secure the imagination for himself,
03:28 so when it comes to reading the Word of God
03:30 we put no imagination to it.
03:32 I'm not talking about our own imagination,
03:34 I'm talking about godly imagination,
03:36 godly focus, godly concentration upon the Word of God
03:41 and that's why Christ says: 'I will keep him in perfect
03:45 peace whose imagination is stayed upon Me,
03:48 stayed upon my Word.'
03:49 When we bring our imagination, our thoughts, our feelings
03:55 to the Word of God and submit them to the Word,
03:57 the Bible becomes an incredible book to us.
04:01 I remember one incident I had when I wasn't even a Christian.
04:06 I was in a mall. This happened maybe 10 years ago.
04:12 So, I was walking through this mall.
04:13 As I'm walking through I see a whole group of people
04:17 and they're standing around looking at this picture,
04:20 or these pictures. And they're like: 'Wow! Look at that!'
04:24 And so, I stopped to look at this picture
04:27 and all I saw was a bunch of zigzag lines and squares.
04:30 There were pretty big pictures and I began to say to myself:
04:35 'These people must be crazy. Why are they acting so excited
04:38 about these pictures that look like mazes?'
04:41 And someone said to me: 'There's something
04:43 that you have to do with your eyes
04:45 in order to see what's really in the picture'.
04:48 So, I'm there and going: 'Okay, what do I have to do
04:50 with my eyes?' And he said: 'You've got to focus them,
04:52 shift them, do something', and so, I'm there,
04:55 looking and looking, and all of a sudden,
04:56 I don't know what I even did, all of a sudden,
04:59 the picture that first appeared as zigzag lines,
05:04 just jumped out and it was a 3D picture.
05:08 These were 3D pictures of boats, and cars,
05:11 and when you moved, the picture would move,
05:13 and it was just awesome, incredible,
05:15 and there I go: 'Oh, look at this!'.
05:17 I could just imagine the next person walking
05:19 and going: 'What's the matter with these people?'
05:22 The Word of God... I think it's comparable to that.
05:26 We can look at these things and they may seem
05:31 foolishness unto us, they may seem foolishness,
05:34 they may seem as a whole bunch of confusion...
05:38 I don't understand it...
05:39 But the Bible says that the Spirit of God reveals the deep
05:42 things unto His children, and we must go to the Spirit.
05:46 That's probably the first principle,
05:48 we must go to the Spirit of God and ask the Spirit of God
05:51 to reveal to us those things that do not appear
05:55 on the surface.
05:57 In other words, when we get into Bible study,
05:59 we've got to go beneath the surface
06:01 and it's there that we're going to find the treasures
06:04 that God has for His people.
06:06 - That's right. You know, a lot of people say that
06:10 Bible is so boring, 'I read it and it's just a story'.
06:13 That's because we're just reading the surface,
06:15 we're just surface readers.
06:18 It reminds me when we went to Hawaii
06:21 and we went diving for the first time.
06:22 You look out there and the ocean is pretty,
06:24 but as soon as you put on the goggles and
06:28 the breathing apparatus and go underneath to see
06:32 the beautiful tropical fish, then you can actually see
06:35 how beautiful this see really is, and that's like the Bible.
06:39 You can't just read the page and read it as a surface reader.
06:45 You have to actually go deeper to see what God is trying
06:48 to tell us and individually speak to your heart.
06:50 - That's right. Matthew 7:7,8. It says here:
06:54 [text on the screen]
07:07 Christ is inviting us here to ask, to seek, to knock,
07:12 and when we come to the Word of God
07:13 we've got to do those things. We've got to really be searching
07:16 and we've got to have an intent of finding.
07:19 God says: 'If you ask, if you seek, if you knock
07:22 you're going to find'. And what you find, He says,
07:25 is going to be exciting, is going to be eye-opening,
07:28 is going to be life changing.
07:31 We want to get into a little acronym that is popularly used,
07:36 many people know it. It's called NEW START.
07:39 It was created by Weimar. - Weimar Institute,
07:42 which is a health institute in Northern California.
07:45 - Right. And what they do is they go through 8 principles,
07:48 they call it 'the 8 principles of health':
07:50 nutrition, exercise, water, sunshine, temperance, air,
07:59 rest and trust in God.
08:01 We have found that this acronym of NEW START
08:08 may also apply to a new start when it comes to
08:12 Bible study.
08:13 It may also apply to the spiritual health of
08:18 those who are seeking to open the Word of God, and
08:22 to begin to understand it, to understand these two witnesses
08:26 as it were, and to hear what they have to say.
08:29 So, we're going to go ahead and we're going to go through
08:31 this acronym and we're going to begin with the letter N.
08:34 'N' stands for 'Nutrition'.
08:37 Now, we say 'How does nutrition tie in with the Bible study?'
08:42 Well, let's go ahead and look at Matthew 4:4
08:50 [text on the screen]
08:55 Very interesting. Matthew 4:4 tells us that we are to live
08:59 by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
09:02 When we come to study, nutrition is a very important principle
09:07 in Bible studying. We must, the Bible says,
09:10 eat the Word of God. In fact, Jesus said in John 6:
09:15 "Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood
09:17 you have no life in you".
09:21 So, it is not just a matter of convenience
09:24 when we come to study the Word of God.
09:25 We've got to understand that it is our life.
09:29 - It is like Oxygen to the body. You can't live without it.
09:33 - So, we're told that we must eat the Word of God.
09:36 Another verse I think of is in Luke 6:21
09:39 and it says: "Blessed are you who are hungry for
09:45 you will be filled".
09:48 One of the principles of Bible studying is, I believe,
09:49 that we must be hungry for the Word of God.
09:53 We can't come to the Word of God filled up with
09:55 the things of the world. The best way to get hungry
09:58 is to fast.
09:59 - Right. And I believe that the entertainment industry,
10:02 the things of the world are like junk food.
10:05 It just fills us up for a very short time
10:07 and we have to just keep going back.
10:09 It's just to fill us up so we don't hunger after
10:12 the Word of God.
10:14 - That's right. So, if we were to fast:
10:16 'Okay, I'm going to step aside and set back the things
10:19 of this world. I'm not longer going to eat the devil's diet,
10:21 I'm not going to study his magazines any longer,
10:24 I'm no longer going to listen or watch the things,
10:27 or read the things that he wants me to read.
10:28 I'm going to fast from those things and I'm going to begin
10:32 to eat the Word of God.'
10:35 This is where our hunger comes from,
10:37 when we restrain from those things of the world
10:40 and the Spirit of God puts a hunger within us.
10:43 And when we hunger for the Word of God
10:46 the Bible tells us that we will be filled.
10:49 And when we're hungry... Think about when you're hungry,
10:52 when you really want to eat food
10:54 there's nothing that is going to stop you from going
10:57 into your kitchen or going to a restaurant and getting food.
11:00 And that is what God compares it to. It should be that intense
11:04 desire. You should really hunger, really desire it.
11:08 Don't let anything stop you.
11:09 - That's right. When I just came into being a Christian
11:12 there was a hunger that God put in me for His Word
11:17 and that hunger has never subsided, it's still there.
11:21 It is a process of constantly being hungry
11:24 and constantly being filled.
11:28 It's just an amazing thing: the more you study,
11:31 the more you learn, the more you think you know,
11:34 the more you don't know. It's a process of
11:37 continual growth.
11:40 God tells us that we've got to be hungry.
11:42 Also, another principle is that we've got to eat for sight.
11:49 Psalms 34:8 tells us to "taste and see that the Lord is good".
11:58 ..."taste and see that the Lord is good".
12:00 Why does the Bible say 'taste and see
12:01 that the Lord is good'?
12:03 When we begin to study the Bible our eyes are opened
12:07 and we begin to see just how good the Lord is.
12:12 And we need our eyes opened, and we've been told that
12:16 the Bible is that thing that God has given us
12:19 to open our eyes so, as we eat, our eyes are opened.
12:23 Now, that sounds very familiar to some because you're thinking:
12:26 hey, in Genesis Eve ate and the devil promised
12:32 that her eyes would be opened.
12:34 You see, and basically what he meant was not
12:37 her literal eyes, but her mind was going to be opened.
12:40 And the Bible says that Satan has blinded the minds
12:44 of them that believed not the Gospel.
12:46 So, when we eat the Word of God we're actually eating
12:49 that our minds may become open to spiritual things
12:53 and we can begin to see with our minds things that
12:56 we did not see before.
12:58 - Right. You know, earlier you talked about when you became
13:01 a Christian you hungered and that hunger
13:02 has never subsided, you kept going and going,
13:05 and I think I kind of represent the other side of people
13:08 who may be out there; I was raised as a Christian.
13:10 So, I didn't always eat. I just always figured there was
13:13 food in the kitchen, you know,
13:14 it'll always be there kind of thing
13:16 and I took it for granted. But something that we try
13:20 to tell our children, who are being raised as Christians,
13:22 is 'don't take this Trusth or this Word for granted'.
13:24 There're many people out there who would love to have it
13:27 and it's free and accessible to you and we should eat it
13:31 and hunger after it and use it to see the truth of God's Word.
13:35 - Another principle when we're dealing with nutrition
13:39 is a principle that I like to call "no work, no food".
13:47 When Adam was put out of the garden he was told that
13:50 he would have to till the ground to get his food.
13:53 And I think that principle applies the same today.
13:58 We're even told in the Bible that "For man does not work,
14:02 neither should he eat".
14:05 When we come to Bible study we've got to realize that
14:09 if we're not willing to work, if we're not willing to dig,
14:11 if we just sit back and wait to be spoon-fed,
14:16 we're really not going to be able to survive
14:18 off of that. In order to eat, we must be willing to work.
14:23 And a lot of people are not willing to dig deep and to work.
14:25 And, to just dig through those Scriptures, to till the ground,
14:29 to find that food that is down there, we've got to work
14:34 in order to really eat and be satisfied.
14:38 I tell you, when you work... We're told that one of the
14:42 best things for laboring men is to eat from
14:45 the food of his hands.
14:46 When we dig in the Word of God and find those beautiful gems,
14:50 it is a rewarding experience.
14:52 - That's right. So, we're looking at NEW START.
14:54 We have Nutrition and that there's 'E' - Exercise.
14:57 - Exercise. What does Exercise have to do with Bible study?
15:03 1 Timothy 4:7 tells us:
15:07 [text on the screen]
15:16 We're told here that we ought to exercise ourselves
15:20 onto godliness. Not only should we study to get things up here,
15:25 but God tells us when we study, if you want more,
15:28 you've got to burn it off, you've got to exercise.
15:32 Which means you've got to put into practice those things
15:35 that you learned from studying the Bible.
15:38 - That's right. It's very important to do that.
15:40 If we don't do that, then we're not going to be able
15:44 to go further into study.
15:46 - Yes. We become slothful, we become spiritually heavy.
15:52 We walk around with a lot of knowledge,
15:54 but we are living lives that are not according
15:58 with what we know. We become spiritually overweight,
16:01 so to speak because we're not exercising onto godliness,
16:06 we're not exercising those things which we learn.
16:08 So, the second principle in Bible study,
16:10 or rather in this acronym, "Exercise" simply means
16:14 that we ought to do the things that God has called us to do.
16:18 It's like that story, the parable where Jesus tells
16:21 of the two young men. Their father asked them to do
16:24 something. One said 'I will do it' and didn't.
16:26 The other said 'I'm not going to do that', but did it.
16:29 We are called to do that which the Lord reveals to us,
16:32 to walk in the light. And walking in the light
16:36 is to exercise what God has shown to us.
16:39 - Then we have "Water", which is the "W".
16:43 - And water is a very powerful tool when it comes to
16:48 this process of Bible study, because Ephesians 5:25 says:
16:55 [text on the screen]
17:20 We're told here that, as we study the Scripture,
17:24 the purpose of Bible study is actually to wash us,
17:29 to make us pure, without spot and without wrinkle.
17:33 And, as we do these things, they increase and strengthen
17:38 our Bible study. Because God sees that this man walks
17:42 in what he knows, he exercises (what I have revealed)
17:49 and allows the Word of God, he allows what he studies,
17:52 she allows what she studies to reform her,
17:55 to wash her and to cleanse her.
17:57 This is what God is looking for.
17:59 The more He sees this, the more He reveals
18:03 those beautiful and precious gems, because He doesn't
18:06 just want to cast those gems out there,
18:08 just for anybody to trample over.
18:11 They're precious gems, and He reveals these things
18:15 onto His children.
18:16 - That's right. I know that many of us want to be washed
18:20 and cleansed by God, and, by studying His Word
18:23 it helps to do that.
18:25 I was talking to a gentleman once and he said
18:27 when he heard the Word of God and when he read the Word of God
18:31 it was like the words on the page were jumping off
18:34 and right into his heart.
18:36 I believe there's a supernatural thing like that happens.
18:39 When we're studying God's Word, His Holy Spirit is writing
18:42 those things in our hearts, and that's literally changing
18:44 who we are; that begins to take the desires away from us,
18:47 of the things that we do that are wrong,
18:49 and it actually gives us power to overcome those temptations.
18:53 - That's right. The 'washing' of the Word
18:56 is that thing that helps us to begin to discern
19:00 between what is right and what is wrong,
19:03 what we actually need to be cleansed from.
19:07 And this is why it's important. As we study we keep in mind
19:10 that the purpose of study is also to cleanse us from
19:14 all unrighteousness. The next one
19:16 we go to is 'Sunshine'. 2 Peter 1:19.
19:21 [text on the screen]
19:34 The thing that really true me was the study of prophecy.
19:42 It was sunshine to my soul.
19:44 When we study the Bible, one of the most powerful
19:49 elements, even to convince a non-believer,
19:52 is the element of prophecy.
19:53 Prophecy reveals that which no other can reveal.
19:57 In fact, God challenges. He says "all the other gods, let them
20:01 tell you the future. And if they can do it,
20:02 then let them be God." But they cannot.
20:05 So, as we study prophecy, that, I believe, creates a hunger.
20:10 Even Satan had to study prophecy to know
20:14 his future. He didn't know, he had to study
20:16 the first prophecy that God gave in Genesis 3:15,
20:20 he had to study it to know 'hey, that's talking about me,
20:23 this is what it's going to happen',
20:24 so, he doesn't have the power to know this; only God does.
20:27 - That's right. As we see the future revealed before us
20:30 I believe that it creates a hunger in our hearts to study
20:33 the Word more and more. That's why God says that
20:36 sunshine ought to be a part of our life.
20:40 We ought to study the words of prophecy,
20:42 because sunshine reveals that which we could not see
20:45 in darkness. It reveals the future, it reveals
20:48 what is ahead of us.
20:49 Next, we go to what? - Temperance.
20:52 2 Timothy 2:15 says:
20:56 [text on the screen]
21:04 This is a key, this is very important.
21:05 - That's right. Because, as we study the Word of God,
21:07 we've got to study it in temperance,
21:10 we've got to study it... it's got to be balanced.
21:13 - Everything has to match up, line upon line,
21:16 precept upon precept. - And many people,
21:18 when they study the Bible, it's not done rightly
21:21 dividing the word of truth. The word of truth must be
21:24 rightly divided. And as we begin to understand these principles
21:28 of Bible study, we need to ask the Lord:
21:30 "Lord, help me to rightly divide,
21:32 help me not to go by what tradition says, or
21:34 what a custom says, or what even I feel.
21:38 Help me to rightly divide this word of truth."
21:42 And now, we're going to go to the "A",
21:45 stands for "Air". This is beautiful because,
21:50 again, we've seen that, in the Bible air is symbolic,
21:55 or wind is symbolic of the Spirit of God.
21:58 In John 16:13 Jesus says of the Spirit:
22:01 [text on the screen]
22:15 It is vitally important that, when we study the Bible
22:18 we study it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
22:22 - If not, that's how things that are not correct
22:26 and things that are not in the Bible come up
22:28 and people start teaching them and preaching them as truth
22:31 because they studied it on their own,
22:33 without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
22:34 - That's right. There are other spirits that
22:36 are trying to lead us as we open the Bible.
22:39 We've got to be careful of those spirits.
22:42 And as we see here, it is vitally important that,
22:45 when we study the Bible, we study it under the inspiration
22:48 of the Holy Spirit, which means what?
22:49 It doesn't mean that I'm living a random lifestyle,
22:54 and then, when it comes the time to open the Bible,
22:57 then I pray. "Lord, please be with me
23:01 as I study. Hover over me, Holy Spirit."
23:03 No! It means that we must be living our lives
23:06 under the guidance of the Holy Spirit continually...
23:09 - ...so, by the time we get to the Word,
23:10 it's a continual abiding in the Spirit.
23:13 - Exactly. There're days when I'm walking somewhere
23:16 and, without having my Bible without me, the Spirit of God
23:22 will bring a verse to my mind and all of a sudden
23:24 it's the missing link that I've been looking for
23:26 in some study that I was doing and all of a sudden
23:29 everything falls in the place.
23:30 In other words, the Spirit of God will be studying with you
23:36 even as you're just walking around, just going about your
23:39 daily chores or whatever it may be, under the influence
23:42 of the Spirit of God. The Spirit is continually speaking,
23:44 continually pulling verses together and thoughts together
23:48 in our minds, so that... I mean, I study all the time
23:52 but I don't have a Bible in front of me all the time.
23:55 I'm laying in bed and, just meditating upon the Lord
23:58 and upon His Word, and just thinking,
24:00 and all of a sudden the Spirit will
24:02 reveal some thought and I'm going:
24:04 "Oh, this is good!" And so, we've got to study.
24:09 Bible study becomes an exciting thing when you do it
24:13 under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
24:15 - And he's not joking. He does study quite a bit.
24:17 When I met him, he was studying the Bible.
24:19 Well, we want to move on to "Rest".
24:21 - In Matthew 11:28 it says:
24:25 [text on the screen]
24:29 ..."I will give you rest"
24:31 When we come to the Word of God,
24:33 the purpose, and we've said this in a program before,
24:36 the purpose of Bible study is to allow us to rest in Christ,
24:41 it is to give us peace.
24:46 When we study the Word of God and we see its beauty,
24:50 we see its consistency and we are convinced
24:54 of its consistency, we have this peace that passes
24:58 all understanding. We have this rest.
25:01 I remember being out in the world and just being uncertain
25:03 of so many things. What is this world all about?
25:06 What's going to happen to me when I die?
25:09 What is the future about? What's going to happen
25:12 to this world? And I had no peace.
25:15 None at all.
25:16 Well, the study of the Bible brings us a peace that
25:20 passes all understanding. What it does is it reveals
25:24 to us, as we've said before, the truth of the future,
25:27 it answers those questions that human beings have:
25:32 ...what about this? ...what about that?
25:33 ...what about our future?
25:35 And, when it answers those questions it, inevitably
25:38 brings us this peace that passes understanding.
25:40 I can rest now. Why? Because I know the truth.
25:44 How did I know the truth? Through the study of God's Word.
25:48 - And after we find peace we must then finally trust,
25:52 trust in God fully.
25:55 - Right. After He has revealed to us all there is,
25:57 not only we learn to trust Him, I think we inevitably trust Him.
26:03 Why? Because all we have seen, the beauty of His Word,
26:06 the things coming to pass as they were written...
26:09 ...how can I not trust Him? He knows the future,
26:13 He's put this beautiful Book together,
26:15 He has the world in His hands
26:17 and you get this trust, and ultimately that is where
26:21 the devil does not want us to get.
26:23 - He always wants us to have anxiety, not trust God,
26:27 worry about this, be uncertain about that,
26:29 but God wants us to trust.
26:30 I wish we could even to a program with all the miracles
26:33 He has done in our lives and things for us,
26:36 because He is a wonderful God who we can trust.
26:40 - Right, and let me reiterate this again, Atonte,
26:43 is that the things that our youth are facing today,
26:48 the music, the video games, the entertainment industry,
26:53 it is all designed to keep us from having
26:57 a New Start, becoming a new creation in Christ.
27:03 Because as long as those things can keep us from
27:06 the two witnesses, as long as we are under the influence
27:09 of that beast from Revelation 11
27:12 which is against the two witnesses,
27:14 the Word of God, the Old and the New Testament,
27:17 as long as he keeps us away from that,
27:19 we cannot have trust, we cannot have rest,
27:21 we will not be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
27:24 We will not even desire to study the Word of God.
27:28 We'll starve! We won't exercise, we'll become slothful.
27:32 All these things and all to keep us away
27:35 from having that trust in Christ.
27:36 - And that's Satan's whole ploy: to keep you away from that.
27:40 He has created the entertainment industry Hollywood
27:43 jus to keep you from that. We cannot overemphasize that
27:46 enough. I think we take it way to lightly.
27:49 God is wanting us to wake up and to take it
27:52 very seriously.
27:54 - Well, we're all out of time. We'd like to invite you
27:56 to our next program where we're going to be discussing
27:59 more of how to study the Bible.
28:00 Until then, God bless you.


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Revised 2014-12-17