The Bible Basics

The Bible Basics Tisa Holloway

Copyright © April 24, 2015, Tisa Holloway, Printed in theUnited States of America. All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher. The Publisher makes no representations or warranties with respect to theaccuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specificallydisclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particularpurpose. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profitor any commercial damages. Introduction Once you get saved in the Lord, God will set up a divine plan and destinyfor your life. But you will need to know exactly what God will be lookingfor as you embark on this new journey. The information and knowledge in this book will give you the specific keyareas you will need to understand and focus on so you can fully complete allof your divine destiny for the Lord. The Bible Basic information and knowledge in this book is also somethingthat should be taught to newborns so they will know exactly what to key inon as they are being raised up in the Lord. Acknowledgments A heartfelt thank you goes to all friends and relatives, who haveencouraged the writing of this book. Here are the specific chapters in thisbook and again, it cannot emphasize enough the extreme importance onmany of these different areas.

Table of ChaptersChapter 1 The Full Surrender ....................................................................1Chapter 2 The Basics of the Christian Walk ...........................................24Chapter 3 The Power of the Word of God...............................................29Chapter 4 Seeking After the Knowledge of God.....................................42Chapter 5 Bible Verses on Faith..............................................................75Chapter 6 Obedience to the Lord.............................................................93Chapter 7 The Fear of the Lord .............................................................109Chapter 8 Trusting in the Lord ..............................................................118Chapter 9 Holding Fast to the Lord.......................................................126Chapter 10 The Importance of Waiting on God’s Timing ....................135Chapter 11 Choose Your Friends Carefully ..........................................147Chapter 12 God Will Guide Your Steps................................................154Chapter 13 God Will Fully Support You...............................................158Chapter 14 Memorizing Verses From the Bible....................................174Chapter 15 Bearing Good Fruit For the Lord ........................................184Chapter 16 Bible Verses on Marriage and Family ................................190Chapter 17 A Good Name is to Be Chosen Over Great Riches ............208Chapter 18 The Sin of Adultery ............................................................211Chapter 19 The Sin of Fornication ........................................................224Chapter 20 Sanctification ......................................................................230Chapter 21 Healing Verses of the Bible ................................................249Chapter 22 The Sinner's Prayer .............................................................272







The Bible BasicsChapter 1The Full Surrender What is the next step in my new walk with the Lord? If there is one themethat you will see repeated over and over again in many of our bible basics isthe extreme importance that each and every Christian turn their entire livesover to God the Father for Him to fully handle. You have now just made Jesus your Savior. However, there is now onemore big thing you must do. You must now make Jesus Lord over yourlife. Jesus must now become both your Lord and Savior, not just yourSavior. You must now make the second biggest decision that you will ever makein this life. The first biggest decision is whether or not you will accept Jesusas your personal Savior through His death on the cross. Now that you havedone that, you have truly become saved and born again. You are now faced with the second biggest decision that you will ever make in this life. And that decision is, who is going to run the rest of your life, you or God? The Bible makes it very clear as to who should be guiding your steps in this life, and that Person is God the Father through the Holy Spirit! This decision as to who will be running your life from here on in willdetermine the course your life will now take. If you decide to run your ownlife and call all of your own shots, then your life is going to take acompletely different course as versus the one you would take if you wouldturn your entire life over to God the Father for Him to fully handle. The Bible specifically tells us that if we choose to follow our own path inthis life, then that path will eventually lead to death. You will have forever wasted the one and only opportunity that you had tolive this life for God to accomplish whatever He wanted you to accomplishin this life. And this will be an eternal regret that you will carry with youonce it has been shown to you how much more you could have accomplishedin this life had you chosen God's path and will for your life as versuschoosing your own path and calling all of your own shots. 1

The Bible Basics Good works will not get us into heaven. We can only be saved by gracethrough faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. Once we are saved,God the Father expects you to do something with what time you still haveleft down here on this earth. He now wants you to come and \"work\" forHim. God and Jesus will be \"rewarding\" us for good works that we do forThem while living down here on this earth. These good works cannot get ussaved, but they can get us the bigger and better rewards once we enter intoheaven. God and Jesus will be rewarding us \"according to our labors\" for Themin this life. Good works for God and Jesus will be highly rewarded once wecross over and enter into heaven. If we choose to run our own lives instead of turning the reigns of our lifeover to God the Father, then we will not be embarking on the real path thatGod would like us to travel on, and any works that we end up doing whiletraveling on our own path will in no way be as highly rewarded as the worksthat are done operating in God's perfect will for our lives. This life is but for a moment, a blink of an eye, compared to the eternal time frame that is operating up in heaven. We will spend the rest of eternity with God and Jesus once we enter into heaven. So ask yourself, do you want to work for yourself and the small rewards that you can get down here that will all perish the minute you die and cross over, or do you want to work for God the Father, do His perfect will for your life, accomplish what He wants you to accomplish in this life, and then receive His full and final just rewards that will last forever once you enter into heaven? The rewards that God will bestow upon you for faithfully working forHim down here on this earth will be heavenly rewards that will last for allof eternity. All of the things that you try and accomplish on your own, outof your own flesh, will in no way be rewarded anywhere near to what theywould have been had you been operating under God's perfect will for yourlife and followed the path that He had set up for you to follow in this life. So what does your natural common sense and intelligence tell you wouldbe the wisest decision as to who should be running your life? You, with yourlimited powers, limited intelligence and limited strength, or God the Father,who is all powerful, all knowing and all perfect? Since God is all powerful and all knowing, this means He knows much 2

The Bible Basicsbetter than you do what you should be doing with your life, what mountainsyou should be seeking to climb and what goals and aspirations you should bestriving after in this life. Since God's knowledge is absolutely perfect on all matters, this meansHe knows you better than you could ever know yourself. He knows whatyour real strengths and weaknesses are better than you could ever know foryourself since your knowledge is limited and imperfect, including what youthink you know about yourself. Only God knows what you were really created to be in this life. Only God knows what you would really be best at. Only God knows what your true calling should be in this life. Only God knows who you should marry and what jobs you should be taking in this life. And since God is all powerful and there is nothing that He cannot do or accomplish, then this means He can also anoint you with His power for whatever He will be calling you to do for Him. So not only do you get God's perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom guiding you in this life as to exactly what you should be striving for, but you will also have His power and His anointing flowing through you so that you can be very good at the jobs and tasks that He will be calling you to do for Him. But if you decide to choose your own way and call all of your own shots,then God will not be anointing you with His power or guiding you every stepof your way, and you will thus be forced to try and find your own way, allwithout any of God's help, power or guidance. When it is all finally said and done, you will have become a \"failure inGod,\" since you will have chosen to travel down your own path rather thanthe path God already had set out for you long before you were even bornthrough your mother's womb! You have to look at the real \"big picture.\" The real big picture is not onlywhat happens in this life, but also what happens in the next life. The next lifein heaven is nothing but a continuation of this life that we are living downhere on this earth. But there is one main difference. This life on earth is butfor a very short period of time. The life we will be living up in heaven willbe forever, with no more crossovers into any other realms. We should thus be living this life for what will be recorded up in heaven, not for what will be recorded down here. Any trophies, medals, money or material possessions that we might be able to 3

The Bible Basics acquire down here will not be crossing over with us when we enter into heaven. There are only three things that will be crossing over with us when we enter into heaven: Ourselves Our saved friends and loved ones And all of the accomplishments that we achieve for God Nothing else will be crossing over! That is why you have to look at thecomplete big picture, not just a small part of it, which is our earthlyexistence. You have to become both saved and surrendered if you really want toenter into the real walk with the Lord. Christians are obviously saved, but many of them are not operating underthis full surrender with the Lord. They have married the wrong people andare thus living in miserable marriages or have gone through multipledivorces. They have chased after the wrong jobs or calls in their life, andthus have no real sense of fulfillment or accomplishment in their lives. The only way that you can find what your true calling is in this life, who your true soul mate should be, what your true destiny is, and what you were really born to be in this life is by entering into God the Father's perfect will for your life. There is absolutely no other way! The center of God's perfect will for your life is the safest and most fulfilling realm that you will ever enter into in this life! Stepping out into God's perfect will for your life where He is now guidingand leading your life in the direction that He will want it to go in is likestepping from the dugout out onto the real baseball field where the realaction of life is really at. Too many of God's people are trying to play thegame of life from the stands, and this is all because they are refusing to turnthe reigns of their life over to Him for Him to fully handle. These verses are giving you major, and we mean major revelation from God the Father on the second most important decision that you will ever make in this life. Who you will be choosing to run your life, you or God, will make or break what time you still have left down here on this earth. You only have one shot, one opportunity, one window in which to leave your mark. Let God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, guide you into the most incredible realm you can imagine this side of heaven, the realm 4

The Bible Basics of God's perfect will for your life! We'll break the Scripture verses down then we will show you how to enterinto this full surrender with the Lord and how to maintain it for the rest ofyour earthly life.1. Choose This Day Who You Will Serve The very first verse from Joshua is one of the most classic statements evermade on the full surrender that God is looking for from each one of us.Joshua is a perfect example of someone who lived his entire life right in theLord. He fully followed God all the days of his life and was completelysuccessful in accomplishing all of the missions that God had him set out on. Joshua is a powerful role model for all Christians to follow by the waythat he lived his life for God. His story is a perfect example for all Christianson how to properly follow God and the call that He can place on your life.As a final testament to this man's story, God saw fit to name one of thebooks of the Bible after him, \"The Book of Joshua.\" Joshua says to choose this day who you will serve. He says as far as heand his household are concerned, they will be serving the Lord. Joshua knewthat he had to make a choice on how to live his life, either by serving himselfand his own wants and desires, or to fully serve God the Father. As a resultof making the correct decision as to who should be guiding his life, hebecame one of the most successful men in the Bible with everything that heaccomplished for God. He was the first one to lead the Israelites from the desert into the PromisedLand to begin to conquer and gain possession of the specific lands that Godwanted them to have. Joshua ended his life making the statement that Godhad not failed to give him every ounce of land that his foot had stepped on.God was able to do this for him because he was willing to fully follow Godevery step of his way. Each person has to make this choice for themselves as to who they aregoing to serve and follow, themselves and their own agendas for their life, orGod and His agenda and purpose for their life. You cannot serve twomasters, that you cannot try and serve both God and \"mammon\", whichmeans wealth and riches. Jesus Himself also makes some very radical and intense statements on thisissue. He says that those who are not with Him are against Him, and that Hehas not come to bring peace, but division! He specifically states that He has 5

The Bible Basicscome with a sword to set a man against his own father and a daughter againsther own mother. Jesus is drawing a powerful battle line in the sand. What He means bysetting a son against his father or a daughter against her own mother is thateach person must choose to serve and follow Him and Him alone, notyourself, not your parents and not your friends. And if you choose to serveand follow anyone else in this life, then you are going directly against Him.God has to be #1 in your life. He will not accept a second or third positionnext to your parents or your close friends. Here are 10 very powerful verses all showing us that we have to serve andfollow God and Jesus in this life and not ourselves or anyone else. 1. \"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.\" (Joshua 24:15) 2. \"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.\" (Matthew 6:24) 3. \"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.\" (John 12:26) 4. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said: \"We ought to obey God rather than men.\" (Acts 5:29) 5. \"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.\" (Psalm 37:4-7) 6. \"But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, \"You are my God.\" My times are in Your hand ...\" (Psalm 31:14) 7. \"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.\" (Matthew 12:30) 8. \"I came to send fire on the earth ... Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.\" (Luke 12:49) 9. \"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against 6

The Bible Basics her mother-in-law.' And 'a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.\" (Matthew 10:34) 10. \"Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.\" (Luke 14:33) Jesus says that unless you are willing to take up your cross and followHim, that you will not be worthy of Him! What does Jesus mean when Hesays to take up your cross? What does the cross represent? What happenedwhen Jesus went to the cross? He died a maximum death. The cross thusrepresents a maximum death for all of us. When you enter into this full surrender with God the Father, you areputting everything in your life to a maximum death in reference to yourselfsince God will now be the One to control the direction your life will now betaking. You are putting to death all of your wants, all of your desires, andwhat you think you should be doing with your life since you have nowturned the reigns of your life over to God the Father for Him to fully handle. What did Jesus really do when He went to the cross that day to die for allof our sins? He fully surrendered His body, His soul, His spirit and Hisentire life over to God the Father in order to complete God's perfect will forHis life down here on this earth. It was God's perfect will that He go to thecross to die for all of us, and Jesus was willing to fully surrender every partof His earthly life to God the Father to complete that call. This is why Jesus says in one of the above verses that unless you arewilling to \"forsake all\", you cannot truly become one of His disciples.Forsaking all means that you are willing to fully surrender every aspect ofyour life over to God the Father and go with God's call and will for your liferather than your own. Notice the specific wording in some of the above verses all showing thatthe only way to live this life is under a full surrender with God the Father: We will serve the Lord Commit your way to the Lord My times are in Your Hand 7

The Bible Basics No one can serve two masters If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me We ought to obey God rather than men He who is not with Me is against Me All of the above verses are definitely showing us that the only way to truly\"find\" our life in this life is to fully commit to serving the Lord and goingwith His perfect will for what He wants to do with our life. There is no other way in this life to find true fulfillment, true happinessand a true sense of approval and accomplishment other than living andoperating in the center of God's perfect will for your life. And the only waythis can be done is by completely surrendering every aspect of your beingand every aspect of your life over to God the Father.2. Doing The Will of God Once you fully surrender every aspect of your life over to God the Fatherfor Him to fully handle, then the next thing God will do is to let you knowexactly what it is He wants you to do for Him in this life. Your job now, afterentering into this full surrender with Him, is to seek to do His specific willfor your life. When you really cut into this part of your walk with the Lord, what God isbasically looking for from each one of us is that we take our lives one day ata time, and in each one of these days that we accomplish, to the best of ourabilities, what He wants us to accomplish for that specific day. Do what Godwants you to do on a daily basis. Do the best and be the best that you can atthe jobs and tasks that God will be calling you to do for Him on a daily basis. We must seek to do the will of God the Father and not our own will, andthat we are to seek to finish the work that He has laid out before us. 1. \"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.\" (Matthew 7:21) 2. Jesus said to them; \"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.\" (John 4:34) 3. \"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the 8

The Bible Basics Father who sent Me.\" (John 5:30) 4. \"Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight\" (Hebrews 13:20) 5. \"Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.\" (2 Timothy 1:8) 6. \"'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.\" (Acts 13:22) 7. 'Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.\" (1 Samuel 2:35) We are all to seek to do the will of God for our lives, and that we are tofollow God and God alone as to what it is we should be striving for in thislife. The verse above from Acts 13:22 is God the Father talking about KingDavid. King David was the greatest king that Israel has ever had. God saw that David would be a man that would follow after \"all\" of Hiswill, not just some or part of it. This was one of the main keys as to whyDavid became the greatest king that Israel has ever had. The one verse from 2 Timothy 1:8 states that we have a \"holy calling\"from the Lord, but that this holy calling is for God's purpose for our lives,not for our own purpose.3. God Has A Specific Plan and Purpose For Your Life Once you are willing to completely surrender your entire life over to theGod the Father for Him to fully handle, then what will happen next is thatGod will be setting you up to follow the specific path that He will want youto follow in Him, and in that path will be your call, your purpose, your dutiesand your tasks that you will now be seeking to accomplish for Him. Godnow has a set plan and a set future for your life. One of the verses listed below states that \"where there is no vision,\" the 9

The Bible Basicspeople will perish. What this verse is trying to tell us is that unless you knowwhat your purpose is in this life, what you were created for and what it isyou should be striving after, then you will aimlessly wander throughout yourentire life never accomplishing anything of any real worth and neverfulfilling the divine destiny to which God has called you. Your life will \"perish\" right before your very eyes because you havenever sought to do God's will for your life. You will thus have forever lostand wasted the one and only chance you had to do something of anyconsequence in this life with what little time you had to do it in. Here are 6 very good verses all showing us that we have a holy callingfrom the Lord and that our days have been \"determined and fashioned\" todo something specific for the Lord. 1. \"Where there is no vision, the people perish.\" (Proverbs 29:18) 2. \"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.\" (Jeremiah 29:11) 3. \"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.\" (Psalm 139:16) 4. \"Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.\" (Job 14:5) 5. \"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.\" (Romans 8:28) 6. \"For many are called, but few are chosen.\" (Matthew 22:14) The verse from Psalm 139:16 is literally telling us that God knows whatHe wants to do with our lives before we have even been formed in ourmother's womb! It says that before we have even been born, God has ourdays \"fashioned\" out for us. The next verse from Job 14:5 says that all ofour days are \"determined\" by the Lord. These two words, \"determined and fashioned\", are both telling us thatGod has our entire lives perfectly planned out for us if we are willing toenter into His perfect will for our life. But the last verse, where it is statingthat many are called but few are chosen, is sadly telling us that most peoplewill not enter into God's perfect will for their lives. 10

The Bible Basics This verse is not talking about our salvation, but about our calls in God.This verse is showing us that God is \"calling\" many to come and work forHim, but most are turning Him down for various reasons. Most people would rather control their own destinies, call their own shots,decide who they should marry, what jobs they should be taking and whatmountains they should be climbing in this life, not really realizing that theyare going down dead ends when all is finally said and done.4. God Will Guide Your Steps in This Life After coming into this full surrender with the Lord where He is now in fullcontrol of your life, two things will now start to occur. God will immediatelyplace you on the path that He will want you to follow in Him. And on thatpath will be your call or calls, your jobs and exactly what He will want youto do for Him for the rest of your earthly life. The second thing that will occur is that God will now start to guide yoursteps so that you can get to where you need to go to accomplish everythingthat He wants you to accomplish for Him. If God is going to call you to be a great musician, a great Bible teacher, agreat evangelist, a great doctor, or a great policeman, then He is also goingto have to guide your steps so that you can make it to the tops of these typesof mountains. These calls will not fruit out overnight. You'll have to work and sweat tomake it into these calls or whatever it is God is calling you to do for Him.This is where the real adventure is really at, in the climbing to the tops ofthese types of mountains. So not only do you get God's best for your life asto what your destiny is going to be in Him, but you will also be getting God'sguidance on a daily basis so that you can reach those specific goals. If God is going to call you to be a great evangelist, but doesn't guide yoursteps on a daily basis on how to get there, you will never make it on yourown. You can only get to the top of your personal mountain in your call withGod only if God is anointing and leading you to be able to climb thatmountain. Otherwise you will never make it on your own. Jesus specificallysays that without Him we can do nothing. Many people have decided, without consulting God first, what mountainsand goals they should be striving after in this life. They then might make ithalfway up their mountain, but then all of a sudden it happens, everythingbreaks down and they fall completely back down to the bottom of the 11

The Bible Basicsmountain, literally losing everything they had built up in climbing halfwayup that mountain. Unless God builds the \"house\" of our lives, we will labor in vain trying todo it all on our own. There are many Christians who are now living defeatedand broken lives as a result of broken dreams, all because they were trying todo it all on their own without any of God's help, guidance or power to getthem there. It is the job of the Holy Spirit Himself to guide your steps in this life. Thesteps of a good man are \"ordered\" by the Lord and that it is not in man totry and direct his own steps in this life, and that if he does try to direct hisown steps in this life, that its way will eventually lead to death! Get it settled once and for all in your minds and in your spirits that Godwill lead and direct your steps in this life. This job belongs to Him, and Himalone. This job does not belong to you, your best friends or your parents! 1. \"For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.\" (Romans 8:14) 2. \"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.\" (Psalm 37:23) 3. \"O Lord, I know the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.\" (Jeremiah 10:23) 4. \"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.\" (Proverbs 14:12) 5. \"A man's steps are of the Lord. How then can a man understand his own way?\" (Proverbs 20:24) 6. \"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.\" (Proverbs 16:9) 7. \"Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.\" (Psalm 119:133) 8. \"Therefore be followers of God as dear children.\" (Ephesians 5:1) 9. \"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.\" (John 10:27) 10. \"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.\" (Proverbs 3:5) 11. \"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He 12

The Bible Basics restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.\" (Psalm 23:1) 12. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: \"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.\" (Isaiah 48:17) 13. \"Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.\" (Psalm 25:4) 14. \"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.\" (Psalm 32:8) 15. \"Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.\" (Psalm 27:11) 16. \"The Lord will guide you continually\" (Isaiah 58:11) 17. \"For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.\" (Psalm 48:14) 18. \"Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the road which they should travel.\" (Nehemiah 9:12) 19. \"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way\" (Isaiah 53:6) 20. \"Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord Your God has commanded you; You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.\" (Deuteronomy 5:32) Once we embark on the path that God now has us set up on, that we arenot to change course by attempting to turn to the right or to the left. The roadGod will now place us on is a \"straight\" and narrow road. There is noturning back once you enter in on the path of God's perfect will for yourlives. If we seek to go after our own way and our own path in this life, that weare looked upon by God as sheep that have gone astray. Notice the specific words that we will now bullet point for you, onceagain to highlight and hammer home the point that it is God's job to fullyguide your steps in this life. Led by the Spirit of God 13

The Bible Basics The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps A way which seems right to a man its end is the way of death A man's steps are of the Lord The Lord directs his steps Direct my steps by Your Word Be followers of God as dear children My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me He shall direct your paths He leads me by still waters He leads me in the paths of righteousness Leads you by the way you should go Lead me in your truth I will guide you with My eye Lead me in a smooth path The Lord will guide you continually He will be our guide even to death Led them by day to give them light on the road which they should travel There is no question that the only way for each and every Christian to livethis earthly life is under a complete and full surrender with God the Father,with God and Jesus leading your life every step of the way on a daily basisthrough the Holy Spirit. There is no other way in which to live this life. God the Father could nothave made it any more clearer than by the way that He has worded all of theabove Scripture verses. 14

The Bible Basics5. The Consequences of Not Fully Following God One of the most dramatic examples of one group of people who followedGod \"fully\" and another group who did not were the Israelites who weretested by God the Father in the desert after being rescued from the Egyptiansin the story of Moses. Near the beginning of the 40 year wilderness experience, they were allgetting ready to go into the Promised Land to reap their big reward in God.However, before they went in, they sent in twelve spies to see what theirenemies looked like and what they would encounter once they crossed overto possess the land from some of these evil people. When the spies cameback, ten of them came back with a bad report. They said the enemies weretoo big and that their kingdoms were too well fortified. Mind you, the Israelites had just seen one of the greatest displays of God'spower that the world has ever seen when He threw 10 whopper plagues atthe Pharaoh to set them free. Yet just as they were getting ready to cross overinto their Promised Land, they started questioning and doubting that Godcould take these enemies out for them, even though God just got donedelivering them from an entire Egyptian nation several years earlier! When God sees their lack of faith and belief in Him that He could conquerthese lands for them, He threw up His hands and said that was going to be it.He pronounced judgment on them telling them that all of the men 20 years ofage and older would not enter into the Promised Land due to their lack offaith and belief in Him to be able to accomplish this mission for them andbecause they had not \"wholly followed God.\" However, God then states that He will allow Joshua, Caleb and all themen under 20 years of age to go in there to conquer and possess the land, allbecause they had a \"different spirit\" in them and because they would bewilling to \"follow God fully.\" This story is a poster story for one group of people who were willing tofollow God fully and another group of people who were not. The one groupthat was willing to follow God fully got to go into their Promised Land,while the other group did not! Those are the consequences of not havingenough faith and belief in God the Father and not being willing to fullyfollow Him in this life. How many Christians have missed out on entering into their PromisedLand this side of heaven, all because they failed to fully follow God and takethe path that He wanted them to take in this life! 15

The Bible Basics Here are two very powerful Scripture verses describing the abovescenario. 1. \"Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, 'except Caleb and Joshua for they have wholly followed the Lord.' \"So the Lord's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.\" (Numbers 32:11) 2. Then the Lord said: \"I have pardoned, according to your word because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.\" (Numbers 14:20) These two verses are giving all Christians major revelation on what God islooking for from each one of us. He is looking for those who will \"followHim fully.\" Being willing to follow God fully means that you are willing toenter into this full surrender with Him where He will now be the One toguide your steps in this life, not you or anyone else. Here are two more good verses showing the negative consequences of notbeing willing to fully follow God in this life. 1. \"Woe to the rebellious children,\" says the Lord, \"Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation.\" (Isaiah 30:1) 2. \"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;\" for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:19) Choose God and His path for your life, and you will find true happinessand fulfillment. Choose your way or anyone else's way, and you will reap 16

The Bible Basicsabsolutely nothing in this life as far as God is concerned when it is all finallysaid and done.6. God Will Be Rewarding Those Who Are Willing to Follow Him Fully For those who are willing to follow God fully in this life and operate inthis full surrender with Him, there are some incredible blessings and rewardsthat God can bestow upon you, not only in this life, but also in the next lifeas well. Here are 6 very good verses all stating that Jesus will be rewarding us forthe works that we are willing to do for Him down here on this earth. These works will not get us into heaven, as the Bible is very clear that it isonly by grace through faith in Jesus that we can receive eternal salvation.God and Jesus will be rewarding us to some degree for the works that we arewilling to do for Them down here. The Bible does not tell us exactly what these rewards will be, but if we aredealing with a God of maximum intensity, then you can bet your bottomdollar that these rewards are going to be something very special and willdefinitely surpass any rewards we can receive down here on this earth. Notice in 5 out of the 6 verses that it says that God and Jesus will bespecifically rewarding us for our \"works and labor\" that we are willing todo for Them. 1. \"For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? For the Son of Man will reward each according to his works.\" (Matthew 16:26) 2. \"And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.\" (1 Corinthians 3:8) 3. \"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.\" (Revelation 22:12) 4. \"I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one according to your works.\" (Revelation 2:23) 5. \"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.\" (Matthew 16:27) 6. \"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive 17

The Bible Basics a hundredfold, and inherit everlasting life.\" (Matthew 19:29) Depending on what God may call you to do in this life, some may beforced to leave family, friends, cities, states or possibly even their countries.If they receive this kind of heavy call from the Lord. The last verse says thatGod will be rewarding those who are willing to take on these types of extraheavy calls with a hundredfold type reward and blessing. The Bible does not tell us what this hundredfold reward and blessing maybe. But our guess is that it will be one big whopper intense reward due to theextreme sacrifices these people will be making in order to accomplish themission that God has set them out on. Any earthly wealth by way of money, possessions and fame that isacquired by doing our own thing and calling all of our own shots in this lifewill all completely disappear and dissipate the second we physically die andcross over into the next life. We will take absolutely nothing that we earn,make or acquire into the next life. Jesus Himself could not have said it any better when He says in one of theabove verses what good will it do a man if he gains the whole world in thearea of material wealth and possessions, but loses his own soul in the processof acquiring all of that wealth. It will have all been for naught when that person comes to the end of hislife and he is forced to face up to his own mortality and comes to the fullrealization that all of the earthly wealth that he was able to acquire andaccumulate will all die and perish right along with his physical body whenhe finally dies. None of that earthly wealth will be passing over with himinto the next life. Many wealthy people do not come to this revelation until they are literallyon their deathbeds. They then all of a sudden \"see\" that they had theirpriorities all wrong in this life and they had chased after all the wrong thingsin this life. If we choose to do our own thing and follow our own way in this life, thatour way will eventually lead to death. For those who are not Christians, itwill mean the death of their souls by not making it into heaven. For thosewho are Christians, it will mean the loss of being able to receive some reallybig intense rewards from God once we enter into heaven to be with Him forall of eternity. 18

The Bible Basics7. Everyone Will Face God For A Personal Judgment Each and everyone of us will have to face God and Jesus for a personaljudgment when we die and cross over to meet Them face to face. Everythingthat we have done in this life, all the good with all of the bad, will comebefore Them for judgment and scrutiny. There will not be one thing that willbe hidden from Them, no matter how secret we may think it is this side ofheaven. The verse from Ecclesiastes states that \"every work\" that we have donewill be brought before God for judgment. There are only two types of workthat God will be judging, those that are done in the will of God for our livesand those that are done out of own wills. Which works do you think will be the more highly rewarded and the moreapproved of by our Lord once we cross over to meet Him face to face, theworks that were done in His name, for His sake and in His perfect will forour lives, or the works that were done solely for ourselves and for our ownself gratification? These next 3 verses are a very sobering reminder of what is going tohappen to each and everyone of us when we die and cross over. This is whyyou must get your priorities straight and live your life for what will berecorded in heaven, not for what will perish down here the minute we dieand cross over. 1. \"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.\" (Ecclesiastes 12:13) 2. \"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.\" (Hebrews 4:13) 3. \"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\" (2 Corinthians 5:10) Who do you want to live your life for? Yourself and your own goals andaspirations, knowing full well that none of your fleshly accomplishmentswill be highly rewarded by God once you enter into heaven. Or do you wantto live for God and His call for your life, knowing that everything that youdo for Him operating under His perfect will for your life will be very highlyrewarded once you enter into heaven? 19

The Bible Basics Each Christian must make their own personal choice on this matter. Youmust choose this day whom you will serve, yourself or God. There is nomiddle area or neutral grounds on this issue. This is an all or nothingproclamation being made by the Lord to each and every born again believer.After you get saved, this will now become the biggest and most importantdecision that you will ever make in this life.8. How to Enter Into a Full Surrender With the Lord Before you really enter into this full surrender with the Lord, you reallyneed to think about this and really chew on the ramifications that making thisfull surrender will entail. This will be the most life altering decision you willever make in this life. If you turn your life over to the Lord for Him to completely handle, yourlife will take a completely different course as versus the one your life wouldtake if you would decide to control your own destiny and call all of your ownshots. Once you make this full surrender with the Lord, there is no turning back,no matter what hell or the devil may try and throw your way. You canobviously always bail out on God anytime you want to as He will neverforce you to stay loyal to Him and fully serve Him. You are free to goanytime you want. Once you have the knowledge of what this full surrender is really allabout, and then you decide to embark on this adventure with God, and thenyou bail out on Him 10-20 years down the road, God is going to judge youmuch more severely when you die and cross over to face Him for your ownpersonal judgment as versus another Christian who really doesn't have fullknowledge of this aspect of his walk with Him. To whom much is given,much more will be expected! Jesus Himself has stated that you are better off never having known thetruth than having known the truth, and then turning back to your old ways.Once you receive knowledge from God as to what He wants you to do withyour life and how to handle it, then He will expect you to do something withthat knowledge and implement it into your life. The Bible says that faithwithout any works will be dead. Even though God will always let you bail out on Him anytime you want to in your walk with Him, you must make this decision for yourself as to who you will choose to follow and serve in this life, 20

The Bible Basics yourself or God. If you decide to serve God and fully surrender and commit your life to Him, then you must set your face like flint, draw your battle line in the sand and march forward determined that you will stay true, loyal and faithful to God and Jesus for the rest of your earthly life, no matter what the cost, and no matter what life, hell or the devil tries to throw your way to try and knock you off course. This is a full surrender to the death! That is why we say there is no turning back once you decide to make thisdecision to fully surrender your entire life to the Lord and follow His perfectwill for your life. You will be held accountable for the knowledge that younow have about this part of your walk with God the Father. If after really thinking and meditating on all of this, you decide that thereis no other way to live your life, and that you truly want to enter into this fullsurrender with the Lord, it now becomes very easy to do. You do not have toget all worked up into any type of major prevailing or travailing. This issimply a conscience decision that you will make with your own intellectoperating out of your own free will with the Lord. Here are two short, simple prayers getting straight to the point with Godon this decision. The first prayer will be the one that you will do to make theinitial full surrender. The second prayer will be the one that you should do atleast once or twice a year for the rest of your life letting God know that youmean serious business with Him as to who should be running your life, andthat you will continue to let Him have the reigns of your life to the day youdie. When we say making a full surrender to God, we mean making a completeand total full surrender. You can hold nothing back. Some Christians onlysurrender certain parts of their life to God, but not other parts. If you do notmake a full and complete surrender of everything in your life to God theFather, then you will partially handcuff Him in being able to work full forcein your life. With the \"measure\" you use, will be the measure that will be measuredback to you. If you only give God 50% of your life and your efforts, then Hewill only give you back His 50%. But if you are willing to give God 100% ofyour life and your efforts, then He will in turn give you back His 100% inthe way that He will work your life. It's \"your all for His all.\" To make sure that you fully surrender everything over to the Lord, youmust surrender 4 specific things over to Him. The apostle Paul says we have 21

The Bible Basics3 parts to our beings, body, soul and spirit. He then says we are to have allthree parts of our being \"completely sanctified\" in the Lord. The only waythat can happen is if you are willing to completely surrender all three parts ofyour being to the Lord for Him to sanctify. Here is the verse from Paul that is specifically telling us to do this: \"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\" (1 Thessalonians 5:23) In addition to these three parts of your being, God now wants one morething, and that is your \"entire life.\" And when we say entire life, we meaneverything in your life, past, present and future. Some Christians may surrender their job lives over to God, but not thechoice as to who they should marry. They then marry the wrong person as aresult of making this decision all on their own, and they end up throwing amonkey wrench into the course that their life had been taking in the Lordand sometimes they are completely knocked off the course that God hadinitially set them up for. God has to be the One to build the house that you are attempting to buildin this life. One wrong move, one wrong choice on your part could cause thewhole house to completely unravel and fall apart. A chain is only as strongas each of the individual links are. One weak or broken link can cause thewhole chain to become completely unraveled! Marrying the wrong person or taking the wrong job could cause you tolose valuable years on the mountain you are attempting to climb in God dueto having to deal with the serious consequences of making that wrongchoice. This is why God has to be in total control and in total charge overevery area of your life, not just some or part of it. In these two prayers, you will see we have you surrendering your body,your soul, your spirit and your \"entire life\" over to God the Father. Whenyou tell God you are willing to surrender your entire life over to Him, Hewill take you very serious and assume that you literally mean everything andanything in your life, no holds barred! Here are the two specific prayers. Obviously feel free to add any of yourown personal words when making this commitment to Him. But the specificwording in these two prayers, if truly done from your heart, will break youinto a realm with God that will completely change the course your life has 22

The Bible Basicsbeen taking.1. Making the Initial Full Surrender \"Father, In the name of Jesus, I am now willing to place my body, my soul, my spirit and my entire life into Your hands. I now ask that You place me into Your perfect will for my life. From this moment on, I will choose to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and will allow You to lead and direct my life in the direction that You will want it to go in. Thank You Father. Thank You Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit.”2. To Stay in the Full Surrender \"Father, In the name of Jesus, I continue to place my body, my soul, my spirit and my entire life into Your hands. I am choosing to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and I ask that You continue to keep me in Your perfect will for my life. Thank You Father. Thank You Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit.\" If you are willing to make this full commitment and full surrender to theLord, then you will now have forever changed the course your life has beentaking, and God will now start to take control of your life and steer it in thedirection that He will now want it to go in. You have now just stepped from the dugout out onto the real playing fieldof life, where God can now use you to complete His purpose for your life. 23

The Bible BasicsChapter 2The Basics of the Christian Walk Now that I am saved, what do I do next? This is a very common questionfor people who have just recently been saved. We read that 50% of peoplewho get saved drop out of their walks with the Lord within the first year ortwo. The number one reason why so many new Christians drop out is becausethey do not know what to really do next. They either do not get the properteaching and coaching from other Christians they are associated with, or theChurch they have joined does not have any type of progressive teachingsystem in place to lead them on their new journey. The apostle Paul says you have to \"work out\" your salvation with fearand trembling. Salvation is just the beginning. God has a purpose and a planfor each person’s life. Once you get saved and become born again, God willnow set out an incredible adventure for you to embark on. You are nowbeing given a brand new life with a brand new start. All old things have nowpassed away and all things have now been made truly brand new. These are the areas that each new Christian has to be gradually led into ifhe or she is really going to enter into the real walk with the Lord. Here is what we call the bible basics. • Full Surrender • Become Spirit Filled • Establish Faith and Trust in God • Walk in all of God's Ways • Obey all of God's Commandments • Develop a Personal Relationship with God • Seek after the Knowledge of God 24

The Bible Basics • Establish relationships with other Christians • Join a Good Spirit Filled Church Here are our thoughts on each of the above.1. Full Surrender The first thing each Christian has to do after they get saved is tocompletely surrender their entire life over to God the Father. Jesus has tobecome LORD over your life, not just your Savior. If you want to find what God’s call and plan is going to be for your life,and exactly what He wants to do with your life, then you are going to have tobe willing to completely surrender every aspect of your life over to Him. It'syour all for His all. And when we say to fully surrender your entire life over to God theFather, we mean to fully surrender everything. You can hold absolutelynothing back. If you do not fully surrender everything over to God, then youwill handcuff God and prevent Him from working full force in your life. You have to become both saved and surrendered. All Christians areobviously saved, but many are not fully surrendered to the Lord, and that iswhy very little happens after they initially get saved.2. Become Spirit Filled The second step after a person makes a full surrender to God the Father isthey need to become Spirit filled. They need to receive the Baptism of theHoly Spirit. You cannot walk this walk without the power of the Holy Spiritoperating in your life. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to guide you into all truthand to teach you all things. He cannot properly do all of this unless He isreleased from your spirit to come up into your soul.3. Establish Faith and Trust in God Once you completely surrender your entire life over to God the Father andreceive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the next step is to establish faith andtrust in God. The only thing that will bring you into God’s realm is faith andbelief. Nothing else will! 25

The Bible Basics And the beautiful thing about this is God is only looking for a smallamount of faith to get started. Faith the size of a mustard seed will move amountain. Your faith can grow, but God does not expect it to growovernight. All God asks is that you give Him just a little bit to work with,and He will more than prove Himself to you so that you can learn tocompletely trust Him to guide you on your new journey.4. Walk in All of God's Ways We now have to learn how to walk in all the ways of the Lord. The Bibleis the number one source where you will learn all of the ways of our Lord.These are the rules of the game. If you want to play baseball, the first thing you are going to have to learnare the actual rules of the game. You cannot step out onto the playing fieldunless you know exactly what those rules are. It is the exact same thing with God’s playing field. If you do not learnwhat His rules and ways are going to be for you in this life, then the deviland his demons will come in on you for major attacks and try to take youout. God says in the Bible that His people will perish for having lack ofknowledge. It is a matter of life and death to learn what God’s ways are if you want tolive out the allotted amount of time that you still have left down here on thisearth. People’s lives are shortened on this earth due to stupidity and notknowing the ways of God.5. Obey All of God's Commandments God also lays out for us what He does not want us doing. God lays outbefore each one of us a choice on how to live this life. You can either chooseGod and live this life the way He wants you to live it, or you can choose tolive this life your way or the world's way, and then end up reaping eventualdeath. There is only one way to live your life and that is God's way, not yourway! God specifically lays out certain sins and transgressions that He willwant you to stay out of. We have to develop a good healthy fear of the Lord. This meansdeveloping a reverent and healthy respect for God, His ways and Hiscommandments. This healthy fear of the Lord will help keep you out of 26

The Bible Basicsserious sins that could end up ruining your life.6. Develop a Personal Relationship With God The number one reason God created the human race was for intimatefellowship. God wants to establish a deep, personal and intimate loverelationship with each person He has created. God actually longs for this. It’s not that God needs us humans to exist, butfor some strange reason, and even to the amazement of the angels in heaven,God seems to have some type of special love and longing for the human raceand wants more than anything to establish this personal love relationshipwith each one of us.7. Seek After the Knowledge of God God places an extremely high value on the pursuit of knowledge. Onceyou get saved and become born again, God will expect you to grow in theknowledge of Him, His Son, His Holy Spirit and all of His ways. The mainsources of God knowledge in this life are the following: A. The Bible, This is absolutely the number one source of spiritual knowledge available to man down here on this earth. Each Christian thus has to spend some type of regular, quality time in the Bible in order to learn more about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all of Their ways. B. Other Books, God has anointed many of His teachers to be able to teach from His Word. There are many good quality books in the Christian bookstores that Christians can feed off of in addition to the Bible. C. Tapes and CD's, There are also many good teaching cassette tapes and CD’s from anointed teachers that Christians can also feed from. D. TV/Radio, Many of God's anointed teachers also have TV and/or radio ministries where you can either watch or hear them teach from God's Word. If you’ll notice on the above 4 sources of knowledge, God does give you awide variety of options to choose from in order to grow from the knowledgethat He wants you to have about Him. 27

The Bible Basics8. Establish Relationships With Other Christians Once you enter in on this real walk with the Lord, you will need todevelop good, healthy relationships with other Christians. God will start todo some real incredible things in your life and you will need others to shareyour walk with. God will lead you to the people that He will want you toconnect with. You will have to have other Christians to feed with and toshare your walk with.9. Join a Good Spirit Filled Church We personally recommend that each new born again Christian ask Godwhich church He would like for them to join. There are different levels ofthe anointing in all of the different churches, and God knows best which onewould be best suited for your own spiritual development and growth in Him.God will make sure that He gets through to each person as to which churchHe would really like for them to join. 28

The Bible BasicsChapter 3The Power of the Word of God The first thing each and every Christian must fully realize is that Te HolyBible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God. There are many liberal Christians who are starting to question the validityand authenticity of the Bible. After studying the Bible in its complete entirety, there is absolutely no doubt in our mind that all of the Bible is God breathed, and that all of it has come directly to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. For those of you who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible andthat all of it has truly come from God the Father. Not only did all of theBible come direct from God the Father through the Holy Spirit to all of theauthors who wrote all 66 books of the Bible, but we will also give you somepowerful verses from the Bible showing you how powerful the actual wordsof the Bible really are, and how they can dramatically help to change andtransform you into the kind of person that God really wants you to become inHim. The actual words of the Bible are anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself, and they have the full ability to completely change and transform you if you are willing to work with the truths that are contained in the actual words. Jesus says in the Bible that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. However you first have to know what the truth is before the truth can start to work to set you free. This is why Kind David said we must meditate on the words of the Bible,so we can find out what their true meaning is and how these truths can applyto our daily lives. Meditating on the Bible means to think about, to chew on,to try and figure out what the meaning of the words and the differentpassages of the Bible are all about. Though the Book is long, God has made it as simple and easy as Hepossibly could. Think about this. There is only one Bible. In one Book, God 29

The Bible Basicshas given us everything we need to know about Himself, His Son JesusChrist, the Holy Spirit, the basics of our salvation through the death of HisSon, how He wants us to live this life, the things He wants us doing and thethings that He does not want us doing. In this one Book are all the ways and commandments of our Lord, andall the information we are ever going to need on what is awaiting all of us onthe other side when we die and cross over, heaven for the saved and hell forthe unsaved. The number one reason God created the human race was for intimatefellowship. Even to the amazement of the angels in heaven, God seems tohave some type of special longing and love for the human race. The fact thatGod would send His one and only Son down to our earth in the flesh to gothrough the worst form of physical death at the time He came, all just tobring us back to Himself, really does show us how much God really doeslove all of us. The love that God has for all of us is like a \"consuming fire.\" These twowords are showing us a love that is of maximum intensity. With this kindof intense love for us, God is trying to tell all of us one main thing, and thatone main thing is that He is looking to enter into a one-on-one personallove relationship with each one of us. Think about this, that the one and only all powerful God of the entireuniverse is looking to make a direct personal connection with you on anindividual and unique basis. If you really step back and look at the big picture and all the things thatwe see in this life, what is the one thing that most of us long for in this life?What is the one thing that will make you cry when you see this portrayed onthe movie screens? It is the longing for a true soul mate. It is the longing fora pure, true and unconditional love from a person of the opposite sex. There is nothing that can satisfy the deeper longings of your soul the waythat true love can. However, there is just one small catch with this scenario.Even though some of us may have found their true soul mates in this life,there is one more small thing that has not been met. No matter how perfect you think your mate may be, your mate is still notperfect since the Bible tells us that all men and all women have sinned andhave fallen way short of the glory of our God. No matter how good of a loverelationship you may have with your mate, that person is still not capable ofgiving you perfect love because that person is not perfect in his or her very 30

The Bible Basicsnature. Thus every single one of us still has that little hole in our soul that just can't seem to be filled with anything else in our lives. No matter how much money we have, no matter how many material possessions we have, no matter how many loving children we have, there is still something missing and none of these things can completely fill that little hole that is in all of our souls. God has purposely left a vacuum, a hole and a void in each one of our souls when He created us. And the only thing that can fill this hole and void is God the Father Himself, His Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. There is absolutely nothing else on this earth that can fill that void. People are literally chasing the wind trying to find anything and everything to fill that void, and no matter how many lovers they have, no matter how many marriages they enter into, no matter how many toys they buy with the money they have, nothing they chase after in this life will fill that hole in their souls. The only thing that will fill that void and hole in your soul is finding and then entering into a personal love relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else that will fill that void! Since God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are perfect in Their actual natures and have no dark side to Their personalities, then They, and only They, are the only Ones who are capable of giving you a perfect, pure and unconditional love that no one else can give you on this earth. We will find a peace that will pass all human understanding once we haveaccepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and have become truly bornagain. That peace we will find is the result of finding the one true Personwho can fill that empty void that is on the inside of each and everyone of us,and that one Person is God Almighty Himself. Once you have found God through accepting Jesus Christ as your personalLord and Savior, there is now something you must do. You must now growin the knowledge of God and grow in the personal relationship that He wantsto establish with you. And how do you start to grow in the personalrelationship He wants to establish with you and grow in the knowledge thatHe wants you to have about Him? By diving head first into the Bible! 31

The Bible Basics When two lovers first meet and fall in love with one another, the firstthing they naturally and instinctively want to do is to learn as much as theycan about one another. How can you truly fall in love with another person unless you first seek toknow everything you can about your lover, his or her past, where they havebeen, what they have been through, who are all of their friends and family,etc. Once you really fall into true love with someone, you will have a hungerto find out as much as you can about them and their past. It's the exact same way in our relationship with God. God obviouslyknows everything about each one of us, but we do not know everythingabout Him, His Son or His Spirit. So the only possible way that we can learnall about God is to read and study from the Bible, since the Bible is the onlyBook that we have down here on this earth that will give us detailedinformation as to who the Three of Them really are. If a true born again, Spirit filled Christian is really in love with God andreally wants to deepen the personal relationship that they have nowestablished with God, then the first thing that person will really want to do isto get into the Bible so that they can find out everything they possibly canabout this awesome God of ours. The more knowledge you gain about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit from studying the Bible, the stronger and deeper your personal relationship will become with the Three of Them. There are several other incredible things that will start to occur in your lifeif you really seek to study the Bible with the intentions on wanting to learnmore about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in order to deepen the personalrelationship that you have now established with the Three of Them. We will break these Scripture verses down under appropriate captions soyou can see how powerful the Word of God really is and how it candramatically transform and change the quality of your life if you are willingto study, learn and seek to apply the truths that are in this incredible Book. These verses are showing you how powerful the Bible really is. Since allof the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father, you can completelytrust and rely on what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure solidGod truth. 32

The Bible Basics1. All of Scripture is Given to Us By Inspiration From God the Father These first two verses will specifically tell us, without any other possibleinterpretation, that all of the Bible has been given to us by \"inspiration ofGod\" through holy men who were \"moved by the Holy Spirit\" to writewhat they wrote! All of the words in the Bible have come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The specific authors of the Bible then wrote under the guidance, inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit. This is why you can completely trust that what you will read from theBible will be 100% pure solid God truth! There is no other book on our earththat contains direct words from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christother than the Holy Bible. God Himself has personally arranged that all ofthe revelation that He wants us to have in this life about Him and His Sonwould all be contained in this one incredible Book. Here are the two specific verses telling us this: \"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.\" (2 Timothy 3:16) \"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.\" (2 Peter 1:20) All of Scripture, not just some or part of it, comes direct to us byinspiration from God the Father. The holy men of God who wrote the Bibleall wrote under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself. Italso says that no part of Scripture was of any private interpretation of theseauthors. The first verse also lays out the groundwork as to what the Bible is goingto be used for, for establishing solid Christian doctrine in the real truths ofGod, and for instruction in the knowledge and ways of God, so that we mayall be made complete and thoroughly equipped to go to work for God in thecalling that He has set up for each and every one of us in this life. These two specific verses are powerful foundational verses in which ourstudy of Scripture has to be based on. If you do not believe that all of the 33

The Bible BasicsBible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God, then the Holy Spirit isnot going to move on you to start to really work the truths that are containedin the Bible to change, mold and transform you into the kind of person thatGod wants you to become in Him. If you want the truths that are contained in the Bible to really be able to change and transform you, then you have to believe that all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. If you do not, then the Bible will have little or no transforming effect on you and your life.2. The Word of God is Living and Powerful The words that are contained in the Bible are living, powerful andsharper than any two edge sword we can make on this earth. The words in the Bible have God's supernatural life in them. They areliterally anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why thewords and the truths contained in the Bible have the supernatural ability tochange and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you tobecome in Him. That is why Jesus told the apostles to \"feed\" His sheep. When you readand study the Bible for increased learning, you are feeding yourself with thedirect and anointed words from God Almighty Himself. Many Christians who do not regularly feed off of the Bible have no ideaon what they are really missing out on. The Words that are in the Bible arepure solid spiritual food that have the supernatural ability to feed yourmind, soul and spirit. Nothing else will feed your inner man like readingfrom the Bible will. Just like our human physical bodies need physical food to be able tosurvive, so does our mind, soul and spirit. The food that we feed our physicalbodies will not nourish our mind, soul or spirits. The only thing that canspiritually feed and nourish us on the inside are true solid spiritual truths.And the only true solid spiritual truths that can feed us to cause any kind oftrue spiritual growth to occur in this life are truths that come direct from Godthe Father and Jesus Christ. There are no other spiritual truths from any other sources that we can feedoff of that will cause any kind of real spiritual growth to occur in this life.Any other source is just dead meat. It has no supernatural life or ability tochange you because it is not coming direct from God the Father and thus has 34

The Bible Basicsno anointing on it. All other false religions and New Age type thinking have no supernaturalability to change and spiritually transform you in this life. Only the truthsthat are contained in the Bible have this ability. Now here are 9 major power verses showing you how much supernaturallife and power there really is in the Word of God. 1. \"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.\" (Hebrews 4:12) 2. \"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.\" (Isaiah 55:11) 3. \"Is not My word like a fire?\" says the Lord, \"And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?\" (Jeremiah 23:29) 4. \"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life\" (John 6:63) 5. \"This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.\" (Psalm 119:50) 6. \"Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.\" (Jeremiah 15:16) 7. \"How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!\" (Psalm 119:103) 8. But He answered and said, \"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.\" (Matthew 4:4) 9. \"As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.\" (1 Peter 2:2) All of the food analogies that God is using to compare His Word with.What He is trying to tell us is that when you are studying the words that arecontained in the Bible, you are spiritually feeding yourself withsupernatural nutrition! All of the above Scripture verses are trying to tell us one thing, that theWord of God is living, powerful, and real spiritual food for the soul and 35

The Bible Basicsspirit of every man and every woman who is willing to feed off of it.3. The Word of God is Pure Solid Truth If the Bible is telling us that all of Scripture is coming direct to us fromGod the Father through the Holy Spirit, then all of the words that are comingdirect to us from God in this Book are 100% pure solid truth. If God is all perfect and all powerful, then this means His intelligence and knowledge on all things is all perfect. And if His knowledge on all things is all perfect, then this means that all of the words that He is conveying to us in the Bible can be counted on as being perfect words, thereby giving us perfect knowledge. This means that all of the Bible can be counted on as being 100% puresolid God truth with no errors and no mistakes. The Bible tells us that allhumans will only know in part with what knowledge we are able to gaindown here on this earth. Thus every book you read from human authors willnever be totally perfect in the knowledge that the author is trying to transmitto you. However, since all of the Bible is coming directly to us from God Himself, then the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that is totally and completely perfect in the knowledge that it is trying to transmit to us. This is why the Bible has the ability to change your life. No other book onthis earth has the amount and quality of wisdom and knowledge that thisBook has, all because this knowledge and wisdom is coming direct fromGod the Father Himself. Now here are 4 very good verses from Scripture that are specificallytelling us that every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is 100%pure solid truth. 1. \"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.\" (Proverbs 30:5) 2. \"The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.\" (Psalm 12:6) 3. \"For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.\" (Psalm 33:4) 36

The Bible Basics 4. \"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.\" (John 17:17) The words that come from God are \"pure\" words. The last verse thensays that all of God's words are \"truth.\" Put those two verses together andyou get that all of the words that come from God are \"pure truth.\" Pure means 100% pure, which means that all of God's words are pure100% solid truth with no errors or mistakes. This is why the Word of God isalso called infallible and inerrant. If the Bible says that a thing is so, then itis so, end of discussion. You can literally bank your life on it!4. The Word of God Can Sanctify You If all of the words of the Bible are pure 100% solid truth, then this meansthat all of the words in the Bible have the supernatural ability to sanctifyyou, especially since all of the Bible has the anointing of the Holy SpiritHimself on the entire Book. God's ultimate and highest aim for all of us after we become saved andborn again is to sanctify us, to transform us, to mold and shape us into theexpress image of His Son Jesus. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to start this molding, transforming andsanctifying work in us after we get saved. However the Holy Spirit needssomething to work with in order to get this transformation process kickedinto full gear, and that something is knowledge. God wants you to have fullknowledge on what it is He wants to change about you before He reallystarts to move you into this sanctification process. And where do you get the knowledge that will get God to start thissanctification process within you? From the Bible! There is no other bookthat we can learn and study from that will give us the direct knowledge thatwe will need from God the Father to get Him to start this sanctificationprocess within us. It's the Word and the Spirit working together in a believer's life that willget God to start working full force in your life to change you into the kind ofperson He really wants you to become in Him. Here are 6 powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us all ofthis. The first two verses will tell you that God can literally sanctify you byHis Word. 1. \"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.\" (John 17:17) 37

The Bible Basics 2. \"That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.\" (Ephesians 5:26) 3. \"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.\" (Psalm 119:9-12) 4. \"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.\" (John 15:3) 5. \"And receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.\" (James 1:21) 6. \"For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.\" (1 Thessalonians 2:13) The last verse says that the Word of God can \"effectively work in you.\"This means when you start reading and studying the Bible in order to gainmore knowledge about God, it will start to effectively work in you to start tochange you into becoming a better and more holy person. Just think of the power that this Book has to dramatically change andtransform the quality of your entire life. True happiness and true innerfulfillment can only be found on the inside of your being, not on the outsidewith material things and possessions. Hollywood is living proof that money, fame and notoriety will not buyyou true inner happiness. There are many in Hollywood who truly have whatthey think is \"all\", yet they are miserable, unhappy, depressed and go fromone shrink to another, all in an effort to try and find what is still missing intheir lives and why they can't seem to find true happiness with all of theearthly wealth they have accumulated. The only way to find true happiness in this life is to become saved andborn again through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, and then enter into adynamic personal relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Fromthere, you are to start seeking after the knowledge about God and all of Hisways by studying and reading the Bible on your own. 38

The Bible Basics The personal relationship you will establish with God, and the knowledge that you will gain about God from reading and studying from the Bible is what will dramatically transform the quality of your life down here on this earth. Nothing else on this earth will do that for you!5. The Word of God Will Give You Knowledge and Wisdom We are to grow in the knowledge and ways of God. And the number oneway in which we will grow in the knowledge of God is by studying andfeeding off of the Bible. There is no other way! If you don't seek to learnmore about God and Jesus by studying from the Bible, then your spiritualgrowth in the Lord will stagnate and you will stop growing in Him. There are no shortcuts to true spiritual growth in the Lord. You have topay your dues, and those dues are that you have to gain and increase inknowledge about God before the Holy Spirit will really start to spirituallygrow you in the Lord. And the only Book that will give you this secretknowledge in order to really be able to spiritually grow and mature in theLord is the Bible. And not only has God given us everything that we will ever need in thisone Book. He has also given us His Holy Spirit, whose main job is to \"teachus all things\" and to \"guide us into all truth.\" The Holy Spirit Himself will be the One to personally open up themeaning of Scripture for you so that you can see the knowledge that God theFather is trying to transmit to you through this Book! This is a supernaturalwork that can be done for you by the Holy Spirit if you are willing to go intoa seeking mode with Him when you study the Bible. Here are 8 good verses telling us that the Word of God can impart trueknowledge and true wisdom to us, and that God does want us growing in theknowledge of Him, His Son and His Holy Spirit. 1. \"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\" (2 Peter 3:18) 2. \"And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.\" (Luke 24:45) 3. \"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.\" (John 14:26) 39

The Bible Basics 4. \"However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth\" (John 16:13) 5. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, \"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\" (John 8:31) 6. \"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another\" (Colossians 3:16) 7. \"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.\" (Psalm 119:105, 130, 133) 8. \"My son, give attention to My words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.\" (Proverbs 4:20) All of the above verses are showing us how powerful the words that arecoming direct from God and Jesus really are. The Word of God can trulychange your life, but only if you are willing to spend some quality timeseeking to understand what is in this most incredible Book.6. The Word of God Will Stand Forever The last thing you will really need to grasp on the power of the Word ofGod is that the Word of God will last and stand forever, both in this life andthe next life to come when we all enter into heaven. Here are 3 good verses from Scripture telling us that the Word of God isnot chained and that it will endure to all generations, both in this life and thenext life to come, which means forever! 1. \"For which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.\" (2 Timothy 2:9) 2. \"Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations\" (Psalm 119:89) 3. \"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.\" (Isaiah 40:8) Not only will your study of Scripture profit you in this life, but it will alsoprofit you in the next life to come, which will be heaven. 40

The Bible Basics Any one human can not truly master the Bible in this lifetime. There issimply way too much knowledge, wisdom and revelation that is contained inthis one Book for any one human to be able to fully grasp all of it in thislifetime. The Bible is like a treasure chest that has no bottom to it. All of thisknowledge is contained in just one Book! Only a true God of the entireuniverse could have put this much knowledge and revelation into one Book. 41

The Bible BasicsChapter 4Seeking After the Knowledge of God God the Father places an extremely high value on the pursuit ofknowledge, especially spiritual knowledge. He says that gaining knowledgeis greater than all the silver, gold and material things of this world. We have to grow in the knowledge of God. Once you get saved, that isjust the beginning. From there, God expects you to grow in the knowledge ofHim, His Son Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit and all of Their ways. As we mentioned in our bible basic \"The Power of the Word of God\",the number one way that you will grow in spiritual knowledge on this earthis by reading and studying the Bible for yourself. There is simply no otherway. God has arranged to have all of the spiritual knowledge that we will everneed about Him, His Son and His Spirit to all be contained in this one Book.You also grow in the knowledge of God through your own personaladventures that you have with Him in your own daily walk, along withlearning from other Christians, especially those who are anointed and giftedto be able to teach from His Word. God is using some very intense language in these verses. You can reallytell that He is trying to let all of us know the extreme importance of growingin this knowledge. The reason for this is that God's ultimate aim for us afterwe get saved is our sanctification and transformation. He wants us to becomemore holy like Himself. He wants to transform us into the express image ofHis Son Jesus. However, before God will allow this sanctification process to really kickinto full gear through the Holy Spirit, He wants you to fully understandexactly what He is doing and why He is doing it. You have to have theknowledge as to what God is doing and exactly why He is doing it. Even small children will pick up on this principle very quickly. Tell achild that he is not to do something, and what is the first thing he will do? Hewill ask you why he can't do that particular thing. And then if the child is oldenough to understand what that reason is, you then proceed to tell him why itis not in his best interest to do that particular thing. You are giving your 42