How Will They Hear Without a Bible?

        During my years in the U. S. Navy, I attended a few Bible studies that were sponsored by a representative of a mission group that served the military.  They have since branched out to serving many more people than just the military.  The group, called the Navigators, had a number of ways in which to study the Bible.  You would learn of the various methods and then one day, begin studying the Bible for yourself.  I recall a couple of those ways.  One was called the ABC study method and a second one was called an STS (Search The Scriptures) method.  Then, upon entering college a number of years later, I learned that there was a course called "Hermeneutics" that would give you tools to use in your daily Bible study.  At this point, you can see that we have gotten the tools ready, but so far, have not studied the Bible.  You can have the methods, but fail to use them and all you have is a good tool box but nothing to show for it.  People have to hear the message from the Word of God in order to be saved in the first place.  Romans 10:14 says, " How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"   
       Notice that the people have to have heard the message in order to believe in the first place.  There has to be that time when the basics are learned and then to go on to teach the wonderful message of the Gospel.  You can purchase a Bible in the Dollar Tree for a buck.  We have access to Bibles everywhere we go.  At least, this is true in this present age in which we live.  You can go to other countries only to find that they do not have a Bible, nor do they have a written language and certainly, they do no know how to read.  So, how are we going to get the message to them for them to have heard and to have believed in that message.  There are still a few groups in the world today that are involved in the task of Bible translation.  If the group has no written language, then one has to be created then the people have to be taught how to use it, in other words, how to read and then finally to translated the Bible and then to teach it to them in order that they might be saved.  Wow.  What a process.  It used to take a missionary's lifetime to do it but now it is accomplished in a much shorter time with the advances of technology that we have today.  What good would it all be if we produced the Bible for them and then left them without the preaching of the Word to them individually?    We look at this passage and point to the fact that we need a preacher to preach the message, but first, we need a Bible in order to have something to preach to them in the first place.    Literally thousands of languages have been written down and the Bible put into the language of the various people groups that they might hear the message and then to believe.   Praise God today that He has given us His Word.