P90X for the Soul
Bible Study
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Series Introduction
P90X promo
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Bring it!
I had to show some of the promo for P90X because I find it pretty funny and a bit over the top.
P90X or Power 90 Extreme, is an extreme home fitness workout program that has sold over 2.5 million copies. It was developed by Tony Horton, a fitness guru who was the face of Beachbody fitness.
I know there are a number of people in our church who have done some of the workouts in P90X, and Laura and I have also done some of these workouts.
I obviously haven’t done them enough or on a regular basis, but this system is designed to help you get in shape physically in a systematic fashion.
Now, I think it is good to keep yourself in shape physically, even Paul tells us that “physical training is of some value” for us. So I want to encourage you to be exercising physically to keep yourself in shape and healthy. When we are physically healthy, we are much better able to serve with energy and passion and that is good.
But while physical training is of some value, Paul tells it is more important to train ourselves to be godly.
In 1 Timothy 4:7-8,
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he says, “train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Godliness has value in this life and for our eternity as well.
We need to grow in godliness.
Now we need to be cautious here lest we think we can be godly or act in righteous ways apart from the work of the Lord in us. We can’t.
We see in Isaiah 64:6 – that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (NIV)
We can’t make ourselves be righteous or produce godliness in ourselves. When we try to do that, we can easily become legalistic, thinking that “our godliness” makes us better than others.
Paul tells us that we are going to see people trying to produce their own godliness, apart from the power of God and apart from applying the truth of God’s word.
In 2 Timothy, 3:5, 7 he tells Timothy that there will be people that have “a form of godliness but (deny) its power.” He says they are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:5, 7)
Being a godly person ultimately has to come from the power of the Lord working in our life and be based upon the truth of his word, not what we feel may be “godly.”
Now while godliness has got to come from the Lord and we can’t produce righteousness and be godly in our own strength, that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t be doing anything.
Paul tells us in
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Galatians 6:8 that “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
When a farmer sows a field, he prepares the field to receive what he is planting. And as a farmer cannot grow any of the seeds he plants, (that happens naturally as the sun shines, and the rain falls and waters the seed) he does have responsibility to prepare the field to receive the seed and to make sure weeds are not growing up and choking out what is planted.
In the same way, we need to prepare the fields to receive the gift of righteousness and godliness that the Lord wants in our lives.
This is where we have responsibilities to train ourselves to be godly. There are things that the Lord has given us to do so that we are in a place to be grown spiritually.
It is these things, these responsibilities, that can help us be in a place to be grown in godliness, that we are going to be talking about over the next weeks so that we can be prepared for the Lord to grow us spiritually.
I am excited about this because as we put ourselves in a place to be grown, God does amazing things. I am looking forward to the amazing things He does in each of our lives as individuals and in our life as a church.
So are you ready to get extreme because we are going to challenge ourselves in implementing some of these disciplines so we are training to ourselves to be the godly people the Lord wants to grow us into.
Are you ready?
Let me hear you say, “Bring it!”
Sermon introduction
Ok, so I want to ask you if you have ever had something in your possession that was so valuable and would have been so beneficial for you, but you didn’t even know it?
I think sometimes we might be like this guy.
Fedex – Castaway commercial
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Can you imagine having something available to you that would help you in so many ways and yet you never opened it?
I think for many of us, that is often how we treat the Bible.
This morning I want you to turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
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We are going to see what Paul tells us about Scripture and how we truly beneficial His word can be.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV)
Pray.
I want you to notice first, the last part of this section.
Scripture is useful so that we are equipped for every good work.
Scripture helps us to be ready to do the things that the Lord will place in front of us.
It will help prepare us to be godly.
That’s good. That is what we want.
The second thing that is important to see, before we get into this verse a little deeper is that Scripture is God –breathed.
That means, even though the words we have recorded in this book have come from the pen of actual men who have lived in history, it is all inspired by the very God of the universe who has moved in these men in such a way as to give us exactly what He wants us to know.
Peter tells us this in
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2 Peter 1:21 - For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (NIV)
So the words in the Bible are God breathed, and useful to us in equipping and preparing us to be godly.
Commercial – Back to Basics
Now, if you really want to know that the Bible really is the Word of God, come to our Back to Basics seminar on Saturday, Sept 18th. We spend a good portion showing the external evidence that points to this being the very word of God.
Now, in the mean time, I want you to think about the fact that this is the very word of God.
Imagine that for a moment.
The God who has created all things,
the God who created you and me,
the God who knows the beginning and the end,
who knows the future,
who has sacrificed for us,
has spoken and given us things that he wants us to know.
In this book He has told us of
His interaction with His creation and
His love for man and
how because of His love, He has sacrificed for us.
He has told us how we can live life to the full.
He has told us things not to do because they are bad for us.
He has told us things to do because they are good for us.
In fact, Peter tells us in
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2 Peter 1:3-4
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him.
How is it we can know Him?
Through His word.
We can know Him in a general way just through creation and through what He has written on our hearts.
But we can only know the specifics through what he has chosen to tell us through His word.
This is why we need to know His Word. We learn of Him and it readies us to be godly. If we do not know his word, we will not grow in knowing him or will we be ready for the good works he wants us to do.
This is why we need to study the Bible.
Now, I want to look at verse 16 a bit closer and see exactly how God’s word can prepare us to be godly.
Paul tells Timothy 4 things that the word of God is useful for
The word of God Teaches us – It shows us what is right
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It is God’s word that will teach us the things that He wants us to do.
We can’t just live how we feel. We have got to learn how God wants us to live.
If we desire to live life to the full, then it is imperative that we know how God wants us to live, what are the right things He tells us to do so we can experience the full life?
We find in God’s word, not only things like the 10 Commandments that teach us God’s moral law, but we also find the teachings of Jesus which teaches us that all the law and commands are basically wrapped up in 2 commandments.
Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
How do we love God?
As we study God’s word, we see that he tells us.
He tells us
John 15:9-12
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
As we study and read God’s word, we see how to be good wives and husbands, sacrificing for one another like Christ did for us.
So the word of God teaches us what is right and how to live in ways that express our love for the Lord and our neighbor.
That is not all, though.
The word of God Rebukes us – It shows us what is wrong
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As we read and study God’s word, He will open our minds to areas we are not living right.
We will not always think things we are doing or ways we are living is wrong until we hear from God that.
I think of David in the OT when he was with Bathsheba. He really didn’t recognize the wrong of his actions until the word of God, through the prophet Nathan, was spoken to him.
It was through the word of the Lord that David came to recognize that he did something wrong and was rebuked.
So the word of God teaches us, rebukes us and
The word of God Corrects us – It shows us how to get right
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The Greek word is “Epa-narthisis.” To make straight again.
In secular Greek writings it meant to set upright something that had fallen down or helping someone up after having fallen down.
“Correction is Scriptures positive provision for those who accept its negative rebuke.”
When we have been rebuked by the word of God concerning something we are doing that we now see is wrong, we need to turn from it.
It is the word of God that shows us that we can repent in the power of the Lord and be cleansed.
Just as David, when rebuked by the word of God through Nathan concerning his sin with Bathsheba, he repented and turned from it and was restored in right relationship with the Lord. He was known as a man after God’s own heart.
So the word of God teaches us what is right, rebukes us with things that are wrong in our life, but also corrects by showing us how to get right through repentance.
Finally,
The word of God Trains us – it shows us how to stay right
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Teaching is something that can happen in a classroom, but training is not just information that is taught, but that is learned by going over it and applying it so that you can spiritually react in a positive way.
When our military men have been trained, they often rely on their training and instinct in the heat of battle. They don’t have to really think about their responses so much because they have been trained.
When we have been trained in the word of God, we have stored away verses in our heart, we have responded with the knowledge of God’s word many times in various circumstances so that it becomes a natural response for us.
When Satan attacks, we know to Resist the devil and he will flee.
When temptation comes, we know to look for the way out because there is one.
When our flesh wants to lash out, we have been trained to hold our tongue and pray.
Training takes time. It takes the teaching and rebuking and correcting and lives that out in real life. That is the training we need.
Application
Ok, to have the word of God do all of those things, we need to believe it, and then be in it.
We need to make Bible study a priority in our life if we are going to get and be spiritually fit.
So, what to do?
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Join a Connection Group
Today, and next week we have opportunities to sign up for Bible Studies. These studies will begin next week. In your bulletins today there is a list of the various small groups available and where they meet and what they will be studying.
The Discipleship 101 class that Joe and Joy Kelley are leading is not for new believers. It is for more seasoned believers who want some training in how to disciple someone. You will be required to be discipling another person if you join this group. We can help you find another person, but this is for those committed to discipling others.
GET INTO A CONNECTION GROUP!
One on One
There is also an opportunity for those newer to the faith or those who really have never really experienced any type of growth in the faith to be discipled by another couple or individually by a man or woman. We have about 12 spots open if you are interested in being disciple in a more one on one environment.
This is an important way to begin our spiritual training. Over the next weeks we are going to talk about other elements of a proper spiritual training regimen, so be sure to come back each week as we go through this spiritual workout for your soul.
Transition
Now, being that we talked about the word of God and its importance in our life today, I want to encourage you to take another step of faith in becoming spiritually fit. I want you to help get the word of God in to other people’s hands.
The Gideon’s
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We have (David Kiester/ John Rago) here from the Gideons to tell us a little about what the Gideons are doing in helping get the word of God into other people’s hands so they can be being trained to be godly. After he tells us a bit about their ministry, we are going to take up a love offering. In your bulletins is a flyer and an envelope. If you want to write a check or give cash, just put it in the envelope and drop it in the basket when we pass it.
Gideons speak
Take offering
I would ask you to give something to the Gideon’s as they continue to strive to get the word of God into the hands of others. Isaiah tells us that God’s word will not return to him void, but that it will accomplish the purpose it was set out for.
As the ushers take that offering, Billy and the team are going to come up and close us in a song.
