"Owner’s Manual For Life"
OPENING:
Illustration:
Use handful of "owner manuals" for curling iron, alarm clock, cell phone, digital camera, cooking stove etc.
(Hold up each individually and say... This one shows me how to operate this camera...and so on.)
It will take us a lot longer to know how to use any one of these items if we never look at the manual. Matter of fact, we may never know the best way to use them OR how to get the most out of them!
Many of us would say, "that’s life".
It doesn’t have to be. We don’t have to wander around in the dark. We don’t have to "guess" at what is best for us. We don’t have to just "dream" about a better way of life...a better way of being. We needn’t go through life with only half our potential. We have our own "life manual" available to us that will provide for us all the solutions we need to living a better life.
Text: 2 Tim. 3:16, 17
Proposition: Scriptures were given to equip us to be all God has for us to be
1. All -- adjective that includes idea of total, or the whole. Referring to every passage of Scripture and every word in every passage!
a. All is inspired by God -- the Creator...of Heaven and Earth...and all that is in it
2. Divine inspiration -- means God-breathed; making the Bible the Word of God...not merely a book containing the Word of God.
It’s the living Word. It will pierce your heart... touch your soul...and change your life.
-- Just as Mary’s womb was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit to give birth to Jesus, in this same way, the minds of these writers were overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.
-- Their writings were born out of their personalities (they were not robots) without partaking of their fallen nature.
-- The writers wrote from their own personal, historical and cultural backgrounds.
-- They used their minds, talents, languages and styles and wrote what God wanted them to write
-- God revealed Himself and His plan. God was in control.
READ 2 Pet 1:20-21 Scripture did not come from the work of the prophets own interpretation. God inspired the writers w/ His thoughts, His wisdom.
Bible is inspired and trustworthy. It comes from God. The one and only true God. Who is...
Almighty
Compassionate
Eternal
Faithful
Glorious
Good
Gracious
Healer
Holy
Incorruptible Immortal Immutable Just Light Love
Merciful
Most High
Perfect
True
He is truth and cannot lie!
He wrote the Bible
The inspired Word of God is our standard for testing everything else that claims to be true. If it does not pass the inspection of His Light..it is not for us.
The Bible is our safeguard against false teaching and our source of guidance for how we should live. A manual for life...for everyday living.
Illustration: Turn on alarm on watch and let sound a number of seconds. Tell how when first used, needed instructions to set and turn off.
Unless we read God’s manual for our lives, then how can we expect to know the right way in which we should act, think or do? How can we possibly understand His will for our life if we do not turn to the manual regularly? Transition to:
3. All Scripture is inspired and profitable (useful, helpful, advantageous; #5624 The Complete Word Study Dictionary).
ALL IS PROFITABLE for:
a. teaching --what is right; (for us, around us; friends, mate, job; how to speak, think and act)
b. reproof -- what’s not right (right actions, attitudes vs. wrong actions, attitudes; (correction of error and discipline in obedience AMP))
c. correction --how to get right (correcting our mistakes MSG) Ps. 119:30, 40, 105
d. training -- how to stay right (training us to live God’s way MSG) Staying right in His sight
All for in righteousness...in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action (AMP)
Now, that’s a great purpose! The Word of God all points us to a better, more holy way of living. So our thoughts, purposes and actions will conform to His. He has a better way of living all mapped out for us. All we need do is read...acknowledge...and follow.
READ verse 17
Tells us that God wrote the Bible so we who are His may be complete,
(sufficient, completely qualified; what they are supposed to be so that they might serve their destined purpose; Lexical aids to the NT)
1. so we will be able to meet all life demands of us
2. we will be able to handle any problems or challenge!
PROP: Scriptures were given to equip us to be all God has for us to be
God wants to show you what is true and equip you to live for Him
The purpose of the Scriptures is to equip us to do good
By the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us (MSG)
Read it regularly to discover God’s truth and to become confident in your life and faith.
Our knowledge of God’s Word is not useful unless it strengthens our faith and leads us to do good.
Sharing God’s Word shares the way to Salvation.
READ: II Tim. 3:15
It’s our only source of knowledge of how to be saved. John 3:16, John 14:6, Rom 10:9 , 1 John 1:9 , 1 John 5:13
You can call upon Jesus today and know that you have eternal life. It is the Word of God.
NASB with reference to other translations; Amplified AMP, The Message MSG
