Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study: And Anecdotes, Incidents And Illustrations

Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or books. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with you.

It is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don’t get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is about ready, say, “Shall we not ask God to give us light on this point?” Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two hours in talk. When the spirit of God has led him so far that he is willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom. Ask him to pray for himself. If he doesn’t want to pray, let him use a Bible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: “Lord help me!” Tell the man: “If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you make the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the heart.” Don’t send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry out: “God be merciful to me a sinner!”

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 and trust, and lead him aright.

Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared for it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed. “Very well,” he said to the messenger, “the third portfolio on the left”; and he went to sleep again.

Do the work boldly. Don’t take those in a position in life above your own, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don’t deal with a person of opposite sex, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your endeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all importance to them. “What must I do to be saved?”

CONTENTS:

Preface

Chapter I Close contact with the Word of God

Chapter II Doubting and inquiring

Chapter III The Old and the New Testaments

Chapter IV My Word shall not pass away

Chapter V Fulfilled prophecy

Chapter VI Text preaching and expository preaching

Chapter VII Reading and Studying

Chapter VIII How to study the Bible

Chapter IX The telescopic and microscopic methods

Chapter X One book at a time

Chapter XI Study of types

Chapter XII Study of subjects

Chapter XIII Word study

Chapter XIV Bible marking

Chapter XV Personal work

Chapter XVI Summary of suggestions