PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study
Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837-1899 · 31,550 words · 80 reading sections
CHAPTER XII.
Study of Subjects--Love--Sanctification--Faith--Justification--Atonement --Conversion--Heaven--Revivals--Separation--Grace--Prayer--Assurance --God's Promises. I FIND some people now and then who boast that they have read the Bible through in so many months. Others read the Bible chapter by chapter, and get through it…
544 wordsSECTION 62CONVERSION.
People talk about _Conversion_--what is conversion? The best way to find out is from the Bible. A good many don't believe in sudden conversions. You can die in a moment. Can't you receive life in a moment? When Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in Europe a man preached a sermon against the pernicious doctrines t…
929 wordsSECTION 63Part 63
Then, again, people say thy don't believe in _revivals_. There's not a denomination in the world that didn't spring from a revival. There are the Catholic and Episcopal churches claiming to be the apostolic churches and to have sprung from Pentecost; the Lutheran from Martin Luther, and so on. They all sprung out of re…
920 wordsSECTION 64Part 64
I have heard some people say that it was not their privilege to know that they were saved; they had heard the minister say that no one could know whether they were saved or not; and they took what the minister said, instead of what the Word of God said. Others read the Bible to make it fit in and prove their favorite c…
481 wordsSECTION 65CHAPTER XIII.
Word Study--"Blesseds" of Revelation--"Believings" of John--"The Fear of the Lord" of Proverbs--Key Words. ANOTHER way to study the Bible is to take one word and follow it up with the help of a concordance. Or take just one word that runs through a book. Some time ago I was wonderfully blessed by taking the seven "_B…
605 wordsSECTION 66KEY WORDS.
A friend gave me some key words recently. He said Peter wrote about _Hope:_ "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear." The keynote of Paul's writings seemed to be _Faith_, and that of John's, _Love_. "Faith, hope and charity," these were the characteristics of the three men, the key-notes to the whole of their teachings. …
150 wordsSECTION 67CHAPTER XIV.
Bible Marking--Borrowing and Lending Bibles--Necessity of Marking--Advantages--How to Mark and What to Mark--Taking Notes--"Four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise"--"Every eye shall see Him"--Additional Examples--Suggestions. DON'T be afraid to borrow and lend Bibles. Some time ago a …
210 wordsSECTION 68BIBLE MARKING: ITS NECESSITY.
An old writer said that some books are to be tasted, some to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. The Bible is one that you can never exhaust. It is like a bottomless well: you can always find fresh truths gushing forth from its pages. Hence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. Hence…
121 wordsSECTION 69ITS ADVANTAGES.
Bible marking should be made the servant of the memory. If properly done, it sharpens the memory; rather than blunts it, because it gives prominence to certain things that catch the eye, which by constant reading you get to learn of by heart. It helps you to locate texts. It saves you the trouble of writing out notes…
427 wordsSECTION 70HOW TO MARK AND WHAT TO MARK.
There are many methods of marking. Some use six or eight colored inks or pencils. Black is used to mark texts that refer to sin; red, all references to the cross; blue, all references to heaven; and so on. Others invent symbols. When there is any reference to the cross, they put "+" in the margin. Some write "G", meani…
753 wordsSECTION 71TAKING NOTES.
When a preacher gives out a text, mark it; as he goes on preaching, put a few words in the margin, key-words that shall bring back the whole sermon again. By that plan of making a few marginal notes, I can remember sermons I heard years and years ago. Every man ought to take down some of the preacher's words and ideas,…
779 wordsSECTION 72ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES.
Turn to Exodus 6:6-7-8. In these verses we find seven "I wills." _I will_ bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. _I will_ rid you out of their bondage. _I will_ redeem you with a stretched-out arm. _I will_ take you to me for a people. _I will_ be to you a God. _I will_ bring you in into the land […
760 wordsSECTION 73SUGGESTIONS.
Do not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use. An interleaved Bible gives more room for notes. Be precise and concise: for example, Neh. 13, 18: "A warning from history." Never mark anything because you saw it in some one else's Bible. If it does not come home to you, if you not understand it, do not put …
78 wordsSECTION 74CHAPTER XV.
Personal Work--Three Kinds of Church Services--Church Members--Individual Experience--One Inquirer at a Time--Those who lack Assurance--Backsliders--Not Convicted of Sin--Deeply Convicted--The Divinity of Christ--Can't Hold Out--No Strength--Feelings--Can't Believe--Can't be Saved all at Once--Not Now--Further Suggesti…
303 wordsSECTION 75THREE KINDS OF CHURCH SERVICES.
There ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: one for worship--to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; another for teaching; and at these services there needn't be a word to the unconverted, (although some men never close any meeting without presenting the Gospel), but let them be for the churc…
763 wordsSECTION 76LAYING DOWN RULES.
I admit one can't lay down positive rules in dealing with individuals about their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but not so men. Matthew and Paul were a good way apart. The people we deal with may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank poison for another. In the 15th of …
152 wordsSECTION 77YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.
It is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your conversion experience. Experience may have its place, but I don't think it has its place when we are dealing with inquirers; for the first thing the man you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He doesn't want your experience. He want…
184 wordsSECTION 78ONE INQUIRER AT A TIME.
Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn't give cod-liver oil for all complaints. "No," he says, "I must seek what each one wants." He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms. One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have consumption. What a man wants is to be ab…
907 wordsSECTION 79Part 79
Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man receives eternal life. You can't afford to deceive one about this great question. But you can help his faith a…
190 wordsSECTION 80SUMMARY OF SUGGESTIONS.
1. Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden's Concordance, and a Topical Text Book. 2. Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket and do not be ashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc. 3. Do not be afraid of marking it, or of making marginal notes. Mark texts that contain promises,…
544 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.