Read It, Heed It, And Obey It!

From time to time, folks have asked me if there is some "magical formula" that I use in order to motivate people to consider becoming New Testament Christians. When I talk to people in the workplace (or any other place) that I know who are interested in spiritual things, I encourage them to follow three simple instructions taken from the Bible (and no, I never argue with any of them over their religious or denominational beliefs — life's simply too short, and I don't have the time to waste — in fact, my late grandmother once told me, "Mike, I'm living on borrowed time" —  aren't we all?).

The three simple instructions are:

1) "Read" the Bible for yourself (without any outside interference or input from well-meaning family or friends) especially the New Testament (Ephesians 3:1-4 - note the word "read" in vs. 4), since this is the testament we are under today (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galations 6:2 ASV; cf. Romans 7; Romans 8:1-2; Hebrews 7-8). If we can motivate people to just "read" the Bible, we have won half the battle in convincing them to "obey" the saving gospel of Christ.


2) "Heed" the Bible's instructions note the word "heed" or the phrase, "take heed" in the New Testament (using a good online concordance).

3) "Obey" the Bible's instructions — specifically, the spiritual instructions found in the New Testament (Romans 6:17) recorded by the inspired New Testament writers as they were guided or "moved" by God's Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:15-21) .

Then I tell them that if they have any questions about what they read, please write them down, and I will be more than happy to try and provide them with a scriptural answer (1 Peter 3:15 KJV; cf. Acts 8:25-35). If I cannot accomplish this with the study of the scriptures that I have done, I will find someone who does know the answer.

Thus, the above three biblical instructions contain the simple formula that I use regarding the promotion of Bible reading (without the magic!) Read it, heed it, and obey it!


Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets


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