We live in a time where precious few people know the teachings of the Bible.  Many people THINK they know what the Scriptures say.  They heard their mom say this or saw that on tv.  Maybe they read a religious article written by a Christian so now they know what the Bible teaches.

  The sad part is that many of the people I am talking about are Christians!  They spend little to no time studying the Bible for themselves and are therefore quite unaware of God's teachings.

  As an example, I recently mentioned on someone's post the fact that the walls of Soloman's temple were overlaid with gold and that it was God who had given the plans to do so.  Another person reading the post was shocked that I would suggest such as we all know that God would not want that kind of money spent on a building.

  Now I'm not planning on having gold walls in the church building we hope to begin soon, but the point I am making is that the other person was not even aware that what I said came from the Bible.  And there are many more out there.  Good people...honest people...people who love God...but they are ignorant (in the proper sense) of His word.

  Christians who publicly speak out for Biblical values are often subjected to harsh criticism.  They are described as cold, unloving, stuck in the past, etc.  Our country is racing down a secular slope because few people know and accept the teachings of the Scriptures.

  Which thus makes the teaching of the Bible all the more important in our day.  Verse by verse study is needed as never before.  In the past, a pastor could speak  on various topics and know that the people in the pews had the Bible background to grasp the truths being taught.  That assumption cannot be made today.  In fact, we must assume instead that the people we are preaching to have little or no knowledge of the Scriptures we quote.

  We must get down to the nitty gritty with our congregations.  It's time to walk our people through the greatest book on earth--the Bible.