Church of the Open Bible
Church of the Open Bible
RESOURCES
"A Christian is strong in resolution, fervent in the desire of holiness, and makes the most violent efforts to attain it; but at the same time knows that it is absolutely out of one's power; and therefore, depends upon God for support, and keeps close to him in prayer for constant supplies of light, grace and comfort."
Thomas Adam, Thoughts on Religion, (Edinburgh, 1821), 192
In a helpful analogy (John 15), Jesus compared himself to the main branch of a productive plant, his disciples to the vines, and his Father to the gardener. According to this image, fruitful living is a result of abiding or persistent dependence on the resources that come to us through the grace of God. One of the most important means of grace is the weekly practice of reading and interpreting the Bible within the corporate context of worship and prayer. While the full experience of this exercise cannot be conveyed through either print or electronic media, a weekly summary will be attempted in the audio files that are linked to the messages page. To retrieve them, you can click on either the message title or its related image.
According to the Apostle Paul (Romans 12:2), one of the greatest dangers to the follower of Christ is conformity to the way of life that characterizes the culture in which they find themselves. The antidote is "to be transformed by the renewing of your minds." To that end, it has proven consistently desirable to seek out and digest the writings of other Christ-followers who have proven themselves to be reliable guides for the journey. As Benjamin B. Warfield observed (over a century ago) the quantity of reading material available can make this a daunting task. Under the "Reading Recommendations" tab, therefore, we offer some suggestions based on our own experience. To make the list, these books will have to be read and found helpful (first-hand) in a way that exceeds more typical contributions to the subject area of its content. This is, of course, a work in progress and we welcome further suggestions. Many subject areas are slated for addition.
It only requires a couple of chapters from the Old Testament, around 21 verses from the New Testament, and a dozen verses from Psalms or Proverbs each day to read through the Bible in a year. A minimum commitment of 15 minutes a day can cultivate perspective grounded in the values of eternity.