Do You Understand What You Are Reading?

Dr. Mike Bible Life Questions
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:30-31 ESV.

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There are those who shy away from reading the Bible because they believe it is an outdated manuscript. Then there are others who have attempted to read the Word but gave up when they became confused with the story content. Then there are those like the treasurer of the queen that Philip was led through a divine appointment to meet and expound the scriptures to him.

As a seventeen year old who just surrendered to the Triune God without a minoot understanding of anything that is important with God, I can relate. The first book of the Bible that I ever read was Ecclesiastes. This is the book that King Solomon wrote about his search and discovery for the meaning of life. When I first read it, I was dumbfounded, dismayed, and discouraged. But when I searched out various teachers of the Scriptures, they made the book become alive through the Triune God’s eyes.

Like any class where the student wants to learn, a teacher or mentor provides the catalyst that opens the mind of the pupil. Iron sharpens iron. As the teacher helps expand the student’s view of the subject, both the teacher and student grow from the experience.

Back in the first century, instruction came when two or more people personally met in the same location to discuss a subject. Today we live in a global schoolhouse where knowledge is a computer screen away. Though more convenient, the danger of searching the worldwide web is deciphering solid knowledge from speculative advice.

When studying any subject, we will generally gravitate toward those who are like us. The danger though is becoming narrow-minded. The advantage of broadening one’s scope is the ability to communicate with others from their point of view.

So when studying the Bible one needs to understand the background of the teacher, writer, or instructor. What is the filter they use to discern scripture? Everyone reads the Bible from a preconceived filter. For example, it could be a denominational filter, a twenty-first century western civilization filter, or a middle-eastern filter. It could be a socialistic filter, a communistic filter, or a democratic filter. Or in other words, everyone reads the Bible with a theological bent. The majority of today’s Biblical teachers generally have been trained from an Arminianism, Calvinism, or Trinitarian bent. Do you know the difference?

When you know where the person is coming from, than you have the general foundation on how they believe reality works. From there you can more easily discuss and understand the framework of their concepts and teachings.

The bottom-line: If the central core is Jesus Christ, listen and learn. Whatever differences come about are generally the preferences of the holder or their theological position of a perceived reality. We can argue and discuss preferences all day. However, if peace and grace is what you seek, than focus on building bridges in and through Jesus Christ. For when we read Scripture from a Christ-centered, Trinitarian perspective, our heart-filled eyes are open to see the Word in an eternal-to-earth dimension: God’s. Yes, I am bias.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Director & Founder
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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What Good Does God Expect From You?

Dr. Mike Bible Life Questions , ,
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 ESV.

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The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time lived by a code of some 613 statutes which they believed God expected them to perform. Like most religious people throughout history, they believed more was better than less.

In the book of Micah, the question was asked and answered. What good does God expect from us in our daily walk? The answer wasn’t 600 plus but threefold: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

Imagine if our culture today simply lived by these three principles.

What if instead of closing our eyes to the infirmities around us, we exposed them and corrected them? Not through violence, but with kindness and humility.

What if instead of belittling others through social media who don’t live up to our standard of excellence, we humbly in love point them toward a better solution.

What if instead of jumping to a conclusion before one hears both sides of the story, we judicially gather all the facts first before speaking about it from a platform of love.

What if instead of boasting about the self, we humbly acknowledge our existence is dependent on a God who allows us to breathe air, play in His sandbox (earth), and share His gifts with others.

What if instead of supporting the status quo of those who claim to be rich, famous, or powerful, we express the rights of the downtrodden, homeless, and immigrant.

What if instead of being angry with the customer service representative who is there to help resolve your problem, we practice a little kindness.

What if instead of treating others from our standard of righteousness, we allow God to discipline and reward justice as He knows what is best.

What if instead of being the macho man of the house, we treat our family the way God treats us – with love, mercy, and a whole lot of grace.

In other words, let’s do good with less us and more Him.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Director & Founder
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Does a Friend Need Encouragement…Share Today’s Message!

What Is Your Quest For Fulfillment?

Dr. Mike Bible Life Questions , ,
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Isa 55:2 ESV.

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How many of us spend years in search of the holy grail? We pursue our deepest wants without consideration of the cost. We think if we only could have the life that we want, we would be happy and fulfilled. Yet after we achieve our goals, we find there is something still missing. We are not as satisfied as we thought we would be. In fact, some of us may even become depressed, discouraged, and more dumbfounded.

Yet the solution lies right in front of us. But we are so confident in ourselves, we don’t recognize we are lost in the forest following every trail that comes our way. Instead of stopping and identifying which way is the true north, we keep moving thinking one of these paths will lead us to the promise land.

We spend money not on the essentials of life, but on trying to hide behind the illusion of who we are. We work for the sole purpose of making money, but never seem to have enough. We read self-help books by authors who don’t really have a clue themselves, but know how to market their product to people who are hurting and desperate. While they profit behind their insecurities, their readers become more confused trying to duplicate another fad of the times.

For most of us slow learners, we didn’t realize our condition until Grace overflowed into our lives. We heard about Jesus the Christ, but not until we made the commitment to accept his invitation for a heavenly marriage, did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

If someone told me in my more prideful days that Jesus Christ is the answer I seek, I would have felt sorry for them. But today, I have come to realize that real fulfillment does come by having a real, intimate relationship with heaven and earth’s King. For from this relationship, every blessing that man seeks, every experience that one wants to capture, and every virtue one desires to behold, comes alive.

When one allows Jesus Christ as the center of one’s life, and denies himself so that the Triune God may fully express Himself in and through you, you have come to the place of real fulfillment.

The more Jesus is allowed to live in you, the more you become transformed into his image. The more your character is morphed into a godly fashion, the wiser decisions you find yourself making. You find that these choices are built under the umbrella of God’s favor. The outcome is more than you ever expected from yourself. You are pleasantly surprised and eternally humbled by the experience.

You now realize that the King you serve is more than a Savior. He is the central core of Life. He shares everything he has with us so we may fully experience what it means to be human – the way God intended life to be from the very beginning of creation.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Executive Director & Founder
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Does a Friend Need Encouragement…Share Today’s Message!