We Believe: The Bible

Good morning and welcome to CCC. We are so glad you are here with us today both here in person and online. I pray you have had a good week and if you have kids or work in a school I pray your transition has been very successful and smooth. I also pray you are leaning in to God and depending on Him for your strength and endurance as you go through your daily routine.

Let’s Pray

START OBS

This morning we are continuing with our We Believe sermon series and this week we are discussing We Believe: The Bible.

I highly encourage you to do a study of the entire Bible. From the law to the prophets to the gospels to the epistles and everything in between. God wrote all of these things intentionally and it is a wonderful study but that is not what God laid on my heart this morning.

We all approach the Bible with our own personal framework of pre-understanding....how we try to use what we know and understand to interrupt the Bible. Things such as language, social conditioning, cultural values, political allegiances…again very important but not what God laid upon my heart this morning. We may touch on these things but they are not the main thing that God was speaking to me about this week

Today I want you to understand what We believe about the Bible.

Many are intimidated by it.

Many have trouble reading and understanding it.

Many don’t know where to start.

Many don’t know how to study it.

Others love it.

They can’t get enough of it.

They think about it all day long.

They talk about it in almost every conversation.

They do their best to live it out.

Still others hate it.

They want to ban it…

They want to get rid of it....

they want to destroy it....

they want to change it to fit them

If you are honest you are a mix of all of those things at different times in your life.

So the first question we will wrestle with this morning is

What is the Bible?

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The Bible is God’s revelation to man about His plan.

His story.

God’s heart revealed to man so man can know and love God.

A passionate love story that required the death of a perfect Son to save all of mankind from their sin

All of those things are true but I believe the Bible answers this question the best

II Timothy 3:16-17

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“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

This morning we are going to dig into this scripture to understand what We Believe about the Bible.

The Bible was inspired and written by God.

It is perfect and infallible.

The Holy Spirit indwelled the human authors who penned the Bible

The Bible is more than mans translations.

There are good translations and there are horrible translations, again not the point of today’s message but worth mentioning here.

Anything that man does, including translating the Bible will fall well short of God’s perfection

John 14:26

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“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”

Since the Holy Spirit is the one who wrote the Bible and the one who teaches the Bible…human translations cannot stand in His way.

If you are truly seeking God in His Word the Holy Spirit will teach you in-spite of translation and mans inadequacy.

Now again, not the point of today but I need to say it....be careful with translations.

There are some that claim to be the Bible but have been added to and taken away from by man so much they lead more to satan than to God.

Be discerning and listen to the Holy Spirit if he says stay away from a translation then stay away.

II Peter 1:20-21

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“Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

That is enough for me to know that the first part of the answer to the question what is the Bible is God’s Word. Written by God and not by man.

That is enough for me and I pray for you, if it is not enough I pray you seek God to show you what you need to see to believe.

The next answer to what is the Bible is the Bible is

Profitable for Teaching

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Profitable comes from a Greek word that means helpful or serviceable…advantageous

Teaching takes many forms from formal to informal

The Holy Spirit through Tommie taught us this morning in Sunday School. The Holy Spirit through Sandy is teaching kids right now upstairs in Children’s Church

Fathers teach sons and daughters both by words and maybe even more so by actions

Another way to be taught is by reading

I read quite a bit. I have learned quite a bit and have taught quite a bit. Some books I have read have changed my life because they were founded on and written to explore God’s Truth. If you only have time to read one book then read the Bible!!!!

If you have more time to read then pray about what God wants you to read. Just remember the only book written by God is the Bible so everything else is just man’s opinion and therefore you need to be discerning as you read.

I firmly believe scripture teaches scripture.

Dig into God’s Word.

Teach what you find.

Most importantly allow the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read!

Rebuking/Reproofing

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The CSB uses Rebuking and the KJV uses Reproofing. The Greek word the CSB translates rebuking and the KJV translates reproofing means proof…conviction…evidence.

When you look up rebuking in Websters 1828 you find it means to chide, to reprove, to reprehend for a fault, to check by reproof.

Rebuking in this case is a verb, an action word. The Bible proves to you what is right and what is wrong. It reproves you for the things you do that are wrong.

Many Christians are not comfortable with conviction and discipline from God.

What a shame as God disciplines those He loves so by rejecting conviction and discipline you are rejecting God’s love.

Many come to church or a Bible study and want to have nothing but good feelings

Many want a time of being patted on the back in the secret place.

That is such a worldly attitude and approach to God and His Word.

God loves you.

Sure He wants to bless you.

He for sure wants you full of joy but God is righteous.

God loves His Word.

God deeply desires that none should perish but all come to repentance and salvation.

He wants you saved much more than happy.

Happiness is an emotion that is based off of circumstances and surroundings.

Joy is something that all true Christians have because true Christians have found Jesus and salvation and nothing that satan or the world or even themselves can do will take that away.

God through His Word and the Holy Spirit rebukes you.

When you are wrong it points that out and leads you to conviction which leads to confession, repentance and forgiveness.

Correcting

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This is similar to rebuking but different.

Correcting here comes from a Greek word that means straightening up or rectification.

Rebuking is more for when sin has occured.

You are wrong.....

you have sinned....

you are living of the world and God rebukes you to get you to see that sin, confess that sin, repent from that sin and walk again with Him in righteousness

Correcting is more showing you what is right.

You are starting to drift off the narrow road and the Word of God corrects that by showing you what is right.

You are beginning to apply a worldly attitude toward scripture and life

You may begin to accept things that you shouldn’t accept

You may be lingering in temptation too long

Maybe you have arrived at or been taught a wrong interpretation of scripture.

God corrects you by showing you what is right in His Word through the Holy Spirit.

Training in righteousness

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This is God showing you how He wants you to approach life as His Child.

Humans are wicked by nature.

Your heart and my heart are desperately wicked.

We don’t know how to be righteous on our own.

We don’t know how to approach life as God intends for us to approach life.

God through His Word and Holy Spirit teaches us how to approach life in a way that honors and pleases God

Be complete, equipped for every good work

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This is the end result of God’s Word.

A prepared, willing Child of God who is living from Jesus and doing the things God created them to do.

Football season is again upon us and some are happy about that and some could care less.

Every football player has a playbook.

In that playbook is everything the coach wants that player to know so he can be successful.

The more time the player spends with the playbook the better equipped he is to succeed on the field.

God has given you the playbook....the Bible.

The more time you spend with it the better equipped you are to build God’s kingdom

I pray from this morning so far you have a better understanding of the Bible and why we believe it is to be God’s Word and how God wants to grow and prepare you through His Word.

I want to now take a few moments and look at one study technique.

There are many quality ways to study the Bible and most who are Bible scholars, those who truly study the Bible use different ways at different times. This is but one way and I am not saying this is the best way just one way.

First Pray

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Before you begin to read and study you need to pray.

Pray God would guide and direct your study.

Pray that God removes you and allows the Holy Spirit to teach you.

Always approach Bible study humbly and open to hear from God!

The best way to be humble and open to hear from God is to spend time talking to Him

Prayer is what plugs you into the power of the Lord.

Prayer is an act of surrender and submission because by praying you are admitting and saying that you need God

Pray for a clean heart

Pray for a clean mind

Pray for God to reveal sin so you can confess it and enter your Bible study time with a pure heart and mind free from sin

Pray for God to help you with your biggest weakness during your Bible study

Maybe you struggle to pay attention, pray

Maybe you struggle to comprehend what you read, pray

Maybe you struggle because you think of everything you need to do, pray......also a very practical tip for you is to have a small note pad and pen handy and every time you think of something write it down that way your brain knows you have it and it can let it go

Pray!

Plan

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Sometimes God leads you directly to a passage of scripture....that is AWESOME.

Most of the time that is not the case.

Have a plan.

Are you going to do a word study. God lays a word on your heart so you look for every time that word is used in scripture and study those scriptures.

Maybe you feel led to do a character study where you dive into the life of someone in the Bible looking for God’s Truth.

Maybe you are looking for a verse by verse study of a book

Whatever it is have a plan so you can use your time wisely.

Once you have prayed and planned you are ready to study

When you study the first thing to do is

Observation

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What does it say?

Read Read Read

Read the passage or book 2 or 3 times in one setting. This will help ensure that you are seeing the big picture of the scripture

Then read smaller sections, within the passage 5 to 10 times

Read different translations to help get a broader perspective

Read each time like it is the first time you read the passage.

Read about the author and about who he was writing to

Be intentional about your reading.

Humans tend to read carelessly or read without noticing what is being read.

Be intentional about every Word

If you don’t now what it says you can never know what it means

Ask questions of the text,

who

what

when

where

how

That is how you wrestle with a text ask as many questions as you can think of

God why did you choose this particular person at this particular time in this particular location

Every wonder why Jesus choose a bunch of misfits and losers in the worlds eyes to be His disciples and apostles

David, King David a shepherd one of the lowest jobs in the eyes of the Jews yet God said he was a man after His own heart

Ask questions

The next step is

Interpret

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What does it mean

Context is king so lets look at two types of context

Literary context

Look at what is going on before and after your particular text. Verses are not independent but units of thought

Think of writing a letter…it is a complete train of thought not random independent thoughts thrown together.

The Bible is no different books are usually complete trains of thought.

They go together

They build off of each other

Historical Context

The Bible reflects a way of life.

It was written by God through men…those men used what they knew to communicate what God told them to communicate

When you study the Bible and are looking to interpret it look at language....

culture…

lifestyles of the time and try to find what the author meant

The third is

Application

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How does it apply?

James 1:23-24

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“Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.”

God expects you to apply His Word to your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How do you do that by surrendering and obeying the Holy Spirit

You always start with inward application.

How does this truth apply to me?

What is God showing me here?

What do I need to do in response to this truth?

Do I need to confess sin?

Do I need to repent?

Do I need to start doing something?

Prayer.

Surrender.

Humility.

Action

All of these make up application

It does no good to know right and not do it.

If you were dying you wouldn’t care if I knew how to save you, you would only care about me saving you.

You can have all the Biblical head knowledge in the world but if it never makes the hardest, longest 18 inch travel from your head to your heart it is worthless

God gives us His Word to change us from the inside out through the power of His Word taught and applied by the Holy Spirit.

Invitation