Bible study

Announcements

Nerf War: Monday 11 AM - 2 PM

See You At The Pole: Wednesday 7 AM highschool, 7:15 AM Middleschool

Mercy Unlimited: October 14th 1 PM - 5PM

Game

Dead Cat

Intro

Tonight we are going to continue talking about habits that we can do to help strengthen our spiritual lives.

Two weeks ago we started by talking about spending time hanging out with God through prayer, last week we talked about finding someone to help hold us accountable. This week we are going to continue by talking about how we can grow by spending time studying the Bible.

Reading the Bible is one of those things that just comes up any time someone asks how to learn more about God right. Its generally one of the first responses. However if we are honest with ourselves its one thing that we dont actually do nearly as often as we should if we are serious in wanting to learn more about Him.

But if it is an area where you feel like you dont read the Bible enough, know that you are not alone in that feeling.

Lets take a look at what Paul wrote to Timothy who Paul was spending time mentoring.

2 Timothy 3:14–17 NIV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Now many historians and scholars actually believe that this was the last letter that Paul wrote before he was executed. So when you read 2 Timothy you are literally reading Pauls last words.

There are a few different things that we can look at in this passage. So lets dive in

Gods Word points us to Jesus

We can see in this passage that the Bible points us to Jesus. It is full of stories, some of them are rather memorable like Noah, Adam and Eve, Balaam and his donkey, and Jael (tent Spike) but lets look closer at what Paul said in verse 15

2 Timothy 3:15 NIV

and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

This verse tells us that since Timothy was a young child he was taught the Scripture, and that all of those stories worked to point Timothy toward Jesus.

The story of Adam and Eve tells us about how God was our creator, and gave us everything that we have.

Noah and the flood tells us how our broken world was made new.

Balaam shows us that God is working even when we dont see it.

Jael shows us that God is fighting for your redemption, and salvation through Jesus, even when the circumstances look bleak.

Gods Word shows us the Truth

Not only do we see that the Bible points us to Jesus, but we also see that Gods Word shows us the truth. The Bible tells us all kinds of true things. There is a saying in Israel that everytime a spade hits the dirt the Bible is proven correct again. Because over and over again people who were hesitant to Believe the Bible actually proved the facts stated in the Bible as they found Archaeological evidence that what the Bible teaches is true.

But even more than all of that I think Paul was thinking even bigger than just historical things.

2 Timothy 3:16 NIV

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Paul was telling Timothy that when we dive into the Bible we learn a lot about God, but we also learn things about ourselves. And that is so true today. When we spend time studying God’s word we begin to see how good God is, even when things seem bleak. We see how His perfect plan worked for others, and we can trust that if it worked for others, it will work for us as well.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

We see in Jeremiah that God does have a plan for you. Now this passage is frequently quoted as saying your life will be wonderful, and you wont have hard times. But thats not the case. Right after Jeremiah informed the Israelites of this message from God, they were sent into slavery…. again….

Now I dont know about you, but slavery is not my definition of a hope, and a future, or prosperity.

However God does have our best interests in mind, but they may not look like what we want them to.

At first that may sound disappointing, that God may lead me into slavery, or that God will point out my faults, and where I come up short, but what this is doing is actually allowing us to be made more like Jesus.

James 1:2–4 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This reminds us that we will face difficult times and to understand that those hard times are in your life for a reason.

Gods Word prepares us for the best possible future.

This leads us to the next point in this passage of 2 Timothy. Not only does the Bible Point us to Jesus, and show us the truth, but God’s Word also prepares us for the best possible future.

If I could stand here on this stage and tell you everything you wanted to know about your future, would you want me to tell you? Most of us would say yes of course you want to know. Well lets take a look at verse 17

2 Timothy 3:17 NIV

so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This verse tells us that although it wont tell us what our future is, and it may not tell us who we will marry, or take to prom, but the Bible will prepare us to do all of the good works that God has set before you to do.

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

so we can see that we were created to do good works. So with this knowledge we can be asking ourselves is what we are planning on doing good, or which of these choices will lead to doing the most good.

And if we each ask that question before every decision that we make, we will begin to change the world around us.

How can we live this out?

Read your Bible every day

Its impossible to allow the Bible to make a difference in your life if you have never read it.

Tim Allen back in August posted this to his X / twitter account

Screenshot of Tim Allens post

We live in a generation where the Bible is literally at your fingertips any time you have your phone accessible. And if your not able to have your phone, we live in a country where the average number of Bibles per home is 4.4. Now with that said if you need a Bible please let myself or your small group leader know, and we will get you one.

Read your Bible with other people

Next suggestion is to read your Bible with other people, this goes back to what we talked about last week, and having people to hold you accountable. Because its really easy to say we are going to start something. There are a lot of people that start a Marathon, there are much fewer people that finish a marathon.

So others will help you keep going and finish, also the great thing about reading the Bible with other people is that you have other people that can help answer your questions when they arise, and trust me they will arise.

Dont stop asking questions until you find answers

Lastly just because you dont understand something doesnt mean we stop asking questions. If you would like to know a little secret. I still have questions too about some things I read. If you have questions bring them up to your small group leader, or myself. If we dont know the answer we will do our best to help find the answer, or walk you through finding the answer on you own.

But heres the thing as we go on this journey if you do happen to miss a day or two or 30 reading the Bible, the biggest thing is to jump back in. Nobody is perfect, we all miss days sometimes. The goal is not just to read the Bible every day, but to get to know God better.