Fully Equipped Series

Fully Equipped

Text: 2nd Timothy 3:14-17

Introduction.

I’d like to tell you a story about a little 9 year-old boy by the name of “Joey”. Joey’s parents took him to Sunday school and his teacher taught the class a lesson from the Bible.

Now the lesson the teacher taught was from the Book of Exodus and it was about how God sent Moses to save the Israelites who were prisoners of the pharaoh in Egypt. She told the story about how God enabled Moses to get the Israelites out of Egypt.

When Joey got home, his mother asked him what he’d learned that morning in Sunday school class.

Joey replied, “Well, Mom, our teacher told us about how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

When the got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge, and all the people went across the water safely.

Then he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters and call in an air strike when the Egyptians were closing in on them. And then, when the Egyptians were coming across the bridge, they sent in bombers to blow up the bridge and destroy the enemy—and all the Israelites were saved!”

Joey’s mother asked, “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?”

Joey replied, “Well, no. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”

Now, that’s a funny little story, but it does show an attitude that’s prevalent in our world today, as far as the status of the Bible is concerned. Many talk about the Bible as if it were based on myth or legend. Some question its historical accuracy—others say it is merely fiction and the invention of mankind.

Barna Survey.

The George Barna Group does surveys on religion throughout the Unites States; and, in 1996, they reported that ½ of all Americans say they don’t read the Bible because, “…there’s no way you can understand it anyway.” It seems strange to me that, if this is God’s book, He would give us a book that no one could understand.

It’s impossible to understand the Bible? John writes, “I write these things so that you might believe…”

John 20:30 & 31

---30---“Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

---31---But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His name.”

The apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 10:11 about people who had lived in the past times, which were recorded for those he wrote to—and those writings also have been handed down to us.

1st Corinthians 10:11

---11---“Now these things happened as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon which the ends of the ages have come.”

It was scripture—and it was given for a purpose. The question is, do we believe it? The most popular song in the Christian world is Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so… And so, we should all ask ourselves, do we really believe it? Does the Bible tell me so?

What Is The Bible Anyway?

What do I mean by the word “Bible”? There are many books out there with the word “Bible” in their title that have nothing to do with what we’re talking about. There’s the “Beauty Bible”, The Fisherman’s Bible”, “The Golfer’s Bible”, even “The Cooking Bible”—but these aren’t the books I’m talking about.

These other books used the word “Bible” in their title to indicate they’re the standard “authority” on their particular topic. One local newspaper made the claim, “If your religion is “sports”, then our newspaper is your “Bible”.

Now the word “Bible” is never used; but, the word “scripture” is used many times and means “sacred writings”. The word “Bible” means “a book or collection of books regarded as authoritative on a topic”.

The Christian Bible we’re talking about is a collection of 66 different books divided into two sections (the Old and New Testaments).

The Bible was written by more than 40 different authors—over a span of 1500 years,—and in three different languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. This Christian Bible presents a unified message of God’s plan and purpose for humanity.

Thirty-nine books make up the Old Testament, which was written between about 1500 B.C. and 400 B.C. The OT starts with the Book of Genesis and ends with the Book of Malachi.

The 27 books that make up the New Testament were written over about a 50-year period. These books deal with

· the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ—

· the resurrection—

· the beginning of the Christian church,—and,