Recently on his X account, the famous actor Tim Allen (known for Home Improvement, the Santa Clause movies and Toy Story) commented that though he had never taken the time to “really read the Bible,” he has been reading “through the Old Testament … the New Testament … amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”[i]
The most wonderful book ever written is the Bible.
It should be because it is God’s book.
And Tim Allen is just now finding that out.
I am glad about that because I really like Tim and his story.
What Tim is doing is truly and undeniably how God will change this great nation of ours. One heart at a time. In Tim’s case it took most of his life, for he tells us he is 71 years old. But that is Tim’s story and is to be celebrated.
You have a story and I have a story. I do not always like my own story, for I must admit, I personally have struggled with my own failures. We can build a social media façade and represent to others a version of ourselves that is fake, or we can engage God’s Word, the Bible and let it transform us into what God wants us to be, not what we think people want us to be.
Tim Allen lost His father to a drunk driver at age 11. A few years later he spent time in prison for illegal possession of drugs.[ii] Most of us that love Tim know his basic trajectory.
And it is not unlike ours.
We go through pain, heartache, failure, and loneliness. But God is a wonderful God. And he gives us his wonderful book. And that book is full of surprises, if we only pick it up and read it.
One of my favorite surprises about the Bible is the nature of the Bible itself. Specifically, the literature. The Bible has historical books to tell us how he created us and the true story of people. Their pain, their failures, their rebellion, their sin against him, yet he still loves them. It gives us the prophets to warn us of our sin and how to turn back to him. It has the Books of the Law to tell us of his absolute perfect holiness and our sin against our wonderfully holy God. It gives us Hebrew poetry, one of my favorites, to gracefully, forcefully, and piercingly convey the unmatched truths of our Creator.
It gives us our past as a human race so we might know the big story.
It gives us our present and how we are to do spiritual battle in the here and now.
And it tells us in no uncertain terms of our future. Our future comes with warning and a promise. A warning in horrific detail of the soul that rejects God makes a choice to sever themselves from God forever in the doom of hell, or to serve him forever in incomprehensible glory in his presence forever.
And the apex of Scripture is of our Savior, Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate, resurrected Son that gave himself in our place to rescue us from that doom, if only we will receive this greatest of gifts from his loving hands.
The Bible really is a surprising document.
It is the most surprising document we have.
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[i] www.faithwire.com, August 1, 2024, by Tre Goins-Phillips
[ii] Ibid.
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We can come to know Christ through confession of our sins and repentance (turning away from sin). Let me encourage you to do this by talking to God through prayer. Here is an idea of how you might do that:
"Dear God, I believe your son Jesus Christ died in my place on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day following his death. I confess my sins, all of them, to you now with a humble heart. I repent of those sins and ask you to empower me with your Holy Spirit in overcoming further sin. Amen”
If you prayed this or a similar prayer committing your life to Christ and becoming one of his followers, let me encourage you to find a good, Bible-believing church.
Begin talking to God in prayer and reading the Bible daily. A good way to begin to read the Bible is to start with the Book of John in the New Testament.
Feel very free in connecting with me if you need any further help in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do this via the above email or Facebook page or this web page.
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Mercy Road Ministries was founded and now led by Ben Bounds. Ben has pastored churches across Texas for over thirty years and is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He holds a BA in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from Southwestern Assemblies of God College and did graduate theological studies at the BMA Theological Seminary.
Ben's first book, The Divine Chase: Responding to a Pursuing God, was released on 12.08.2017 through Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. It is available in paperback and hardback through your preferred bookseller (Mardels, Barnes and Noble, etc.) and paperback, hardback as well as ebook through online book retailers (www.christianbook.com, www.cokesbury.com, www.amazon.com, www.booksamillion.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, etc.).
Ben is the host of Staying in Bounds, an on-air Bible devotional broadcast multiple times daily on KWJV 103.7 FM Weslaco, TX which can also be heard worldwide online at www.kwjvthestar.com. Ben and his wife, Linda, together have four adult children and nine grandchildren. They live in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Ben can be contacted for preaching engagements at benbounds695@gmail.com or 903.441.3279. Ben can also be contacted via his website @ www.benbounds.com, which is also his blog and contains more information about his ministry.
Follow Ben @ https://www.facebook.com/mercyroadministries/ and this website www.benbounds.com.
©2024 by Ben Bounds. All rights reserved.
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