Again, it's late and God's Word is great

Hey guys,
Spurred on by Marisa's recent post - www.iconformed.blogspot.com
I wanted to write on why I firmly, 150%, whole-hearted believe that the only thing and the best thing we need to teach our young people in church and in youth groups is the Bible.

We see it all over, not just Iceland, that for too long, people have underestimated and de-valued the power and authority of the Bible. God's Word. I know we throw that around a lot, "God's Word", but have you ever stopped and looked at those two words sat next to each other in a sentence? God's Word. The Word of God. Word's from God's heart and mouth. God communicating to us humans. God wanting to speak to us. God wanting to speak to me. God wanting to speak to you.

Over the past year I have realised how much I love God's Word and how much I love teaching God's Word. I cannot escape it, God has gifted me with a love for His Word and for teaching it. I love it! And I thank Him for gifting me in this way.
I have also realised that for every program we design, for every new booklet and prayer diary we come up with, the best and most important thing in it all and at the end of the day is the Bible. God's Word.

God's Word is amazing. Not only do we get comforting, correcting and confrontational verses but most importantly of all, in every book of the Bible, we see a picture of Jesus and see how every book points to Him. Up until about a year ago, I never fully realised that Jesus was not restricted to the Gospels. We have a book that was written by the Creator of the universe and as He wrote it, He took care to include, on every page, a sign of what was to come. He took the time to make sure that Jesus, the Saviour of the World, could be seen wherever you read in the Bible.

Is that not amazing or is that not amazing?!

God has revealed Himself to us through creation and so on but the greatest and most clearest ways of seeing Him is through His Word and His Son. Combined. Not seperate. Not as different identities or different options, but together. We cannot know Jesus without the Bible and what it says about Him and we cannot understand the Bible without realising it's all about Jesus! They go hand in hand.

So we cannot teach our young people just about how great God is through looking at the mountains or a waterfall or a snowflake or a flower. We cannot teach our young people about Jesus just from our experience. We cannot teach our young people the Bible without showing them Jesus on every page. We cannot teach our young people anything but Jesus Christ and what the Bible says about Him.

Let's get it out of our heads that the latest Christian book, idea, theory, speaker, program, website or jewellery is what we push or teach in our youth groups. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What we teach them is the Bible. From start to finish. What IT says about Jesus. What IT says about God. What IT says about the Holy Spirit. What IT says about homosexuality. What IT says about sex before marriage. What IT says about how to treat each other. What IT says about love. What IT says about your parents. What IT says about life after death.

Get my point?

If we are someone who claims to love Jesus and does not teach the truths and realities of the Bible as God has written it, then we are doing Satan's work for him.