Friday, February 28, 2014

God-breathed

- Timothy was one of the first second-generation Christians. His mother and grandmother faithfully taught him the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament to be exact) when he was a small child. Parents' task is very important. Grand parents can help, too :). Teaching children at home about God is both an opportunity and a responsibility.
- Timothy was to continue in what he had been taught. Paul wanted Timothy and all of us to know that we never outgrow the Word of God. The Bible is the one antidote against apostasy and corruption in the Body of Christ. We see what happened when the Roman Church ignored the Bible. The Dark Ages ensued. The Holy Scriptures give us true wisdom and enable us to quickly detect any false teaching.
- The whole Bible is God's inspired Word. The Bible is not human ideas about God. Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed His person and plan to certain believers who wrote down His message. "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:20-21) The writers wrote down what God wanted them to write. All Scripture is completely trustworthy because God was in total control of its writing from beginning to end.
- God's Word is entirely authoritative and profitable for our faith and our lives. It's useful for teaching us about Who God is, what God does, what God desires, how to be saved, and all that God wants us to know & apply it to our lives. The Bible is our standard for testing what we hear/are taught. "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11) It's our safeguard against false teaching.
- God's Word is useful for rebuking/reproof. The Scripture is the Spirit's tool for convicting us. "For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
- God's Word is useful for correcting. It shows us where we go wrong and directs us to the right path. It helps us improve spiritually.
- God's Word is useful for training us in righteousness/Godliness/Christlikeness. It's our source of guidance for how we should live.
- In our zeal for the truth of Scripture, we must never forget its purpose--to thoroughly equip us, servants of God, to do good work...to do Christ's work in the world for God's glory. "Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls." (~Jonathan Edwards)

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