Week Thirty-Eight, 2018
LESSONS FROM THE BIBLE
By John Grant
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 (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
We have all been to schools of various types to various levels. We have studied to gain knowledge to enter the working world. Teachers help prepare students for life after graduation. They teach academic lessons and various skills that students will need to attend college and to enter the job market.
But there is another often overlooked source. It is the Bible. In 2 Timothy, Paul tells his readers that all scripture is “God breathed” and is useful for four activities, teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
TEACHING: We cannot understand God, God’s world and the things in the world apart from His instruction. General revelation, those things which we can observe with our senses, are wonderful in giving clues about God and the world He made, but they fall far short of giving us the necessary understanding of good, evil, spiritual matters, God’s person, etc. In order to live good and proper lives on earth. We need God’s Word to give much greater understanding of His person, plans and purposes. We need God’s Word to give much greater understanding of His person, plans and purposes. By instructing us as to what exists and the purposes for which they exist, God gives us faith to have confidence in what we would otherwise possess.
REPROOF: He convicts us of our wrong thoughts and ways. God’s Spirit not only teaches about what is, but also helps us be aware when we have not properly responded to that truth (doctrine). For example, we might learn that man is made in the image of man. If we mistreat our wives, then we will sense the Holy Spirit making us aware of our pang of guilt. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8).
CORRECTION: God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not only interested in telling us of our wrong actions and motivations. He is there to build us up. The Spirit again uses the Word of God to build us up back to where we should be. Here we can see the difference of the Spirit and the evil one. The evil one would keep us feeling guilty so that we give up while the Spirit of God encourages us through teachings about forgiveness and restoration how to find His peace. He then straightens out our perspective that we would not need to fall anymore.
Think of how Jesus encouraged Peter after his betrayal. This is the ministry of the Spirit of Christ to build us up, so that He might fill and use us.
TRAINING: The Spirit of God carefully uses the Word of God to train us to rightly live in relationship to others. God does not just teach us to know that we should have a good marriage, but trains us to have a good one.
All four aspects are used for one purpose: for righteousness. They all (teaching, reproof, correction, and training) are used to help us live in a right relationship with God and others. Since each of these four have the same preposition in front of it, it seems conclusive that all four work together towards the same righteous goal. Without either the Word of God or the Holy Spirit active in our lives, we cannot grow much in our Christian lives.
God is the author and the Bible is the textbook, God sums it all up in Psalm 32:8 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
Whose parachute are you packing?:
Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, ‘ You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down! ‘How in the world did you know that?’ asked Plumb. ‘I packed your parachute,’ the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, ‘I guess it worked!’ Plumb assured him, ‘It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.’
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Too Many Babies Aborted? Toys R Us Cites Sagging Birth Rates as Reason for closing. Wonder how many potential customers were aborted.
Are you on the front lines? In Desert Storm, 11% were and 89% were giving support. Those in the back need to be just as committed.
You don’t grade a church by its seating capacity, but rather by its sending capacity.
A church not mobilizing missions is just a spiritual Rotary club.
Worshiping is important but mission is what the church has been created to do.
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
1 Timothy 1:8-9
“We know that the law is good when used correctly. For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders.”
Stabilize your soul with the sovereignty of God. He reigns supreme over every detail of the universe. Max Lucado
Value people more than possessions, obedience more than pleasure, and integrity more than popularity. Jim Denison
There is a reason why the windshield is bigger that the rear view mirror. Your future matters more than your past. Max Lucado
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©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618