One Source, The Authority Of Scripture - Back To School Series

Back to SCHOOL– One Source, The Authority of Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17

INTRODUCTION:

Ravi Zacharias, a Christian intellectual who travels around the world lecturing in secular settings on spiritual themes, tells of an experience he had in Columbus, Ohio. He writes, “A few weeks ago, I did a lectureship at Ohio State University. As I was being driven to the lecture, we passed the new Wexner Art Center. The driver said, ‘This is a new art building for the university. It is a fascinating building designed in the post-modernist view of reality.’ The building has no pattern. Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support nothing. The architect designed the building to reflect life. It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless. I turned to the man describing it and asked, ‘Did they do the same thing with the foundation?’ He laughed. You can’t do that with a foundation. You can get away with the infrastructure. You can get away with random thoughts that sound good in defense of a world view that ultimately doesn’t make sense. Once you start tampering with the foundations, you begin to see the serious effects.” [What About the Foundation?, Citation: Ravi Zacharias, "If the Foundations Be Destroyed," Preaching Today, Tape #142.]

Do you know people who, like the Wexner Art Center, have staircases going nowhere and pillars supporting nothing? Do you also know some people though who have not only played with the infrastructure of life, but who have also started to mess with the foundation of their? People can try to base their lives upon many different foundations, but only one is reliable. God is the creator and designer of life and He has given us His Word as the foundation for our lives. Building one’s life upon any other foundation will only lead to ruin.

This morning we again are going “Back to SCHOOL” to look at our ONE SOURCE-THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE. Many of us grew up in Sunday School singing, “The B-I-B-L-E.” Does anyone remember that song? Is the Bible “the book for [you]?” Will you “stand alone on the Word of God?”

Look what God tells us about the foundation He has given us - the Bible.

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (MsgB)

[16] Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. [17] Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

A couple of quick thoughts: [1] The Bible is “God breathed and useful.” Within these pages God shows us TRUTH, truth about God, the world and ourselves! [2] Through the Bible we are “put together and shaped up.” The Bible, God’s Word, is the foundation for our lives and the foundation determines the shape!

Our church has adopted the Statement of Fundamental Truths as set forth by the Assemblies of God. The first truth to which we hold is “The Scriptures Inspired.” It says, “The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.”

Within this short statement of faith are three building blocks that shape the foundation, not just of our church, but shape the foundation of our very lives. If you try to build your life without one or more of these building blocks firmly in place, then your life is going to crumble and fall. These foundational building blocks are:

1. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind.

2. The Bible is without error.

3. The Bible is God’s authoritative guide for our faith and our lives.

1. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind.

ILLUSTRATION: A mother sat at church next to her first grade daughter one Sunday morning and noticed her little one looking at the open Bible in her lap. After a few moments of looking intently at the Bible, she whispered to her mom, "Did God really write that?" The mother quietly whispered back, "Yes, He did." Looking down at her mother’s Bible again, the little girl then said in amazement, "Wow! He really has neat handwriting!"

God has neat handwriting because He wants you to know Him! Someone has called the Bible, “God’s love letter to man.”

• 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV)

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, BUT AS IT ACTUALLY IS, THE WORD OF GOD. . .

Everything we know about God, God has made known to us. God has introduced Himself to us through His Word the Bible. The Bible not only shows us who God is, but it does so PERFECTLY through His Son Jesus.