Read Romans 15:4

Growing up a pastor’s kid, I was always familiar with the Bible. If I was tossed a Bible and instructed to find Ephesians, I could flip a few pages and find it. In 5^th grade, I won a class trivia contest by reciting the last verse in Revelation as I, for some reason, remember reading it before. Before apps for the Bible came out, you always brought your Bible to church so I would walk in with my Bible tucked in a blue case and come to church.

However, I couldn’t tell you much of anything about the Bible in the slightest amount of depth. Sure, I could find Ephesians in a “sword drill”, but what was in Ephesians? Who wrote it? Where did we get the name “Ephesians” from? Our reading today talks about how that which was written in the past was intended to teach and encourage us towards hope.

That became true for me when I studied the Bible in depth for a year after high school. Combing through the Scriptures and learning the contents of the books I just knew how to find allowed the Bible to become alive in my life.

We live in a society where it is becoming harder and harder to tell a non-believer, “The Bible says…” because, quite simply, they don’t believe it. However, for those of us who are followers of Christ, what the Bible says about any given topic should be held in the highest regard.

Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be studying several different topics and observing what the Bible has to say about them. Some of the topics are going to require more research from us as we read. However, it is vital to understand the Bible’s stance on these topics, especially as we continue to transition into a post-Christian society.

The truth is that we are only writing on 13 topics with myriads of other topics we could cover. It is my prayer that, through this series, you would be encouraged and inspired to, when you find yourself having a question about something, consult the Bible and allow its words to be truth in your life.

Jake Lawson