No. 493 “A Church Built Up by the Word” — Why We Study the Bible Together August 2, 2026

No. 493 “A Church Built Up by the Word” — Why We Study the Bible Together August 2, 2026 “I’ve been attending church for many years, but I still don’t know the Bible very well.” This is one of the things I hear most often in pastoral ministry. People faithfully attend worship, pray, and serve, yet when they open the Bible on their own, they feel overwhelmed and do not know where to begin. So let me ask a simple question: Can we build a biblical church if we do not know the Bible? The answer is clear: No. The church is not built on human ideas, personal experiences, or cultural preferences. It is built on the Word of God. We may have great passion, but if our knowledge of Scripture is weak, we can easily lose our direction. We may have many programs and activities, but if the Bible is no longer at the center, we cannot build the kind of church that truly pleases God. The Apostle Paul reminded his spiritual son Timothy: “The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” — 2 Timothy 3:15 The Bible is not simply a book for accumulating religious knowledge. It is God’s written revelation to us—His Word that leads us to salvation and reveals who He is. That is why knowing the Bible is not merely an academic exercise. It is a journey of knowing God. In the days of the prophet Hosea, God spoke with great sorrow: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” — Hosea 4:6 The deepest problem was not a lack of military strength or economic resources. It was that the knowledge of God had been lost. Jesus defined eternal life in remarkably personal terms: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” — John 17:3 To “know” God does not simply mean knowing facts about Him. It means knowing Him personally, trusting Him, and living in obedience to His Word. The early church understood this well. Paul reasoned from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 17:2–3). The Bereans examined the Scriptures every day to see whether what they were hearing was true (Acts 17:11). These believers did not merely collect biblical information. The Word shaped their lives and formed them into disciples who could influence the world around them. The prophet Jeremiah gives us another important perspective: “Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.” — Jeremiah 9:24 What should we truly boast about? Not the quality of our circumstances, the amount of what we possess, or even the things we have accomplished. Our greatest privilege is to know God. That is why I warmly invite you to our Life Study beginning next week. You do not need to come knowing everything. Come with your questions. Come with a willingness to learn. Come with a desire to know God and His Word more deeply. God does not turn away those who sincerely desire to learn from Him. The Israelites gathered manna each morning in the wilderness, and God faithfully guided them day after day with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21–22; 16:4). In the same way, God continues to guide His people today through His written Word, illuminated by the Holy Spirit. When we begin our day with the Word, our day begins to change. When we live our week by the Word, our lives begin to change. Let us become a church that learns the Bible together. And let us not stop at simply knowing what the Bible says. Let us become a biblical church—a people who know the Word, believe the Word, obey the Word, and live out the Word together. May God build His church among us, firmly established upon His Word and continually shaped into the likeness of Christ.