Those of us to whom is committed the privilege and responsibility to ‘labour in preaching and teaching’ seek faithfully to carry out our Lord’s last commission to teach all that He commanded. But we are often faced with the problem as to which lessons are the more urgently needed to be taught first, and what subjects are so vital for the Christian life, that they must not be omitted.
For evangelists and teachers this becomes doubly important. The spread of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the true and faithful Christian witness in multitudes of churches depend on these men and women. Their clear understanding of Christian truth, their ability to pass it on to others undistorted, and in its fullness of grace and power, and the witness of their own lives commending the reality of their message, must greatly depend on the way that we declare to them ‘the whole counsel of God.’ (Acts 20:27-32)
Apart from the headings, which are necessary to arrange and to clarify the subjects in an orderly manner and suitable sequence, other explanations and comments have not been added; in order to avoid any tendency to stress any particular school of thought or sectarian interpretation. Only words of the Scriptures have been used, because God’s Word itself, under God the Holy Spirit’s guidance, will always give the true explanation of its truths and mysteries.
God is His own interpreter
And He will make it plain.
May it please God, according to His mercy and grace, to use these pages to His glory; and may all those who study God’s Word with the help of these pages be made ‘wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,’ and also thoroughly equipped for every good work... (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
Notes
All references are given in the King James Version. Mostly only a few words are given as it is intended (whichever version is used) that the whole context should be studied from the Bible. When more than one reference is provided, the words are from the first reference, and additional references add verses for study of the subject.
Leonard E. S. Sharp
Preface to Second Edition
The success of the first edition of ‘Great Truths from God's Word’, its translation into a number of African languages and subsequent requests by Church leaders, including the late Archbishop Erica Sabiti, for additional chapters, encouraged the author to undertake this enlarged edition.
Today many people have the Scriptures in English or their own language but lack a handbook to help them in Bible Study, or any studyguide for finding references to the treasures of God’s Word. It was the author’s desire that ‘Great Truths from God's Word' might continue to meet the needs of men and women in their faith and life in Christ, and be a blessing to them.
Writing to encourage ‘our beloved physician’ in his revision of ‘Great Truths’, Archbishop Sabiti wrote, ‘Since the time when the First Edition went out a number of years have passed and there are great changes in the nations of the world, in politics, in economics and religious faiths. The hearts of many are failing them, full of fears, confusions and frustrations, others have turned their backs on God and lost their faith in Him’.
‘This Second Edition is composed to encourage Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to welcome and use this book to help them study their Bibles, to seek to understand its truth and build their lives on true and firm foundations’.
‘I pray that those who are seeking God’s way of life may also use this study guide to search the Bible and that God will reveal His truths to them’.
‘Also that those who have been given the responsibility to teach, preach and lead others in faith, may use this study guide to get for themselves spiritual food on which to grow to mature Christians, enabled to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and able to pass on God’s Truths to others’. J.L.G