Worth Tuning In
Tune in - How to Apply the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Option 2—Weighty Quotes
1 . Read the quotes. Students share what they think of each one
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart. "
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too."
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
2. Read the quotes again, but this time add the name of the person who gave the quote. Include the person's bio.
Helen Keller went blind and deaf at 19 months of age. Beginning at the age of 7, she learned basic signs and then how to form words and speak. Eventually she graduated from college and lectured all over the world as an advocate for the blind. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart. "
Anne Frank, a Jewish girl, hid with her family in an attic for two years in Amsterdam during World War ll. When discovered by the Nazi Gestapo, she was sent to a concentration camp where she later died. “Whoever is happy will make others happy too."
Thomas Edison was an American inventor. After much trial and error, he developed the phonograph, motion picture camera, and early versions of the light bulb, among other groundbreaking inventions. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Winston S. Churchill became the British prime minister in 1 940, during the early stages of World War II when the future looked bleak for Britain and the rest of Europe. Britain and her allies were victorious in 1945. "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
3. Discuss how knowing the source of the quote changed the students' perspective.
ASK: How did your thoughts about the quote change after you learned who said it? Did you consider the quote more or less weighty?
ASK: Whose quotes might you pay attention to today? Why?
ASK: Suppose you read a quote from God. How would you respond?
4. Transition to the Bible lesson.
The Bible is filled with direct quotes from God. We should seek to know them and always trust them. This session will assure us the rest of the Bible came directly from God too. We can trust the entire Bible represents exactly what God intended it to say. We should, therefore, treat the Bible as God's weighty Word. This lesson will challenge us to be "tuned in" to what the Bible says. The truth of God's Word should "play loudly" in our lives.
l. God Revealed His Truth
l. God Revealed His Truth
A. Our need for revelation
A. Our need for revelation
God began revealing His truth to Adam in the Garden of Eden. As part of that revelation, God revealed Adam was incomplete as the lone human. God created Eve and brought her to Adam to meet Adam's need (Gen. 2:18—25). God's actions revealed His benevolent nature and power.
God still reveals His truth to humanity today, but humanity's need for God's truth has changed dramatically. Our need is now desperate because sin entered the world through Adam and affected every person's relationship with God (Rom. 3:10). Every person would be separated forever from God if God didn't reveal how to be reconciled to Him.
Sin warps our thinking process (Rom. 1 :28). We can't think our way out of our problem with sin. In fact, our understanding is darkened (Eph. 4: 18), and our minds are hostile and rebellious against God. We can't please Him (Rom. 8: 7, 8). Our sinfulness has created a world of error and confusion, and we can't find the way to peace and life on our own.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
To have "darkened" understanding means to have a "callused" or "hardened" heart. All people, without God's gracious revelation of truth, would die with spiritually lifeless hearts. Praise God He caused the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts so we could know the way to Him.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
At the root of the term translated as " revelation" is the idea of 📷 unveiling. Through revelation, God unveils what we would not have known and could not have known on our own, including how to become His child.
The revelation of God gives us the opportunity to know the will of God. We can learn of His nature and of His plan. God's revelation is not deficient in anyway; it gives us all we need to know to obey Him and be rightly related to Him.
B. God's means of revelation
B. God's means of revelation
So how does God reveal truth? He uses three major ways?
1. Through creation
1. Through creation
Genesis 1 and 2 reveal God's creative activity. God, Who existed alone from eternity past, created the universe. God designed creation to reveal truths about Himself.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
ASK: What could a person learn about God by observing the universe? The complexity and design in creation reveals God's infinite knowledge; the order in creation reveals God's wisdom; God's provision in creation shows His love and care.
All of nature necessarily points to a creator. It is God's teaching device. Since the creation week, creation has been announcing God's presence, but not everyone recognizes God as creator. God's judgment hangs over unbelievers who hold down, or suppress, the truths about God that are evident in creation.
ASK: What unbelievable ideas does the world present in the face of obvious evidence for a creator of the universe? The eternal nature of matter; the Big Bang,' evolution.
Creation gives us proof that an intelligent creator must exist, but it doesn't tell us how to be related to Him. Furthermore, the curse on creation because of Adam's sin blurs God's message about His nature and abilities. So God gave us unmistakable revelations of His truth concerning sin and salvation through two other means.
We have even discovered Laminin. It is a protein that is part of the extracellular matrix in humans and animals. The extracellular matrix (ECM) lies outside of cells and provides support and attachment for cells inside organs (along with many other functions). Laminin has “arms” that associate with other laminin molecules to form sheets and bind to cells. Laminin and other ECM proteins essentially “glue” the cells (such as those lining the stomach and intestines) to a foundation of connective tissue. This keeps the cells in place and allows them to function properly. The structure of laminin is very important for its function (as is true for all proteins). One type of congenital muscular dystrophy results from defects in laminin.
2. Through Jesus
2. Through Jesus
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John bore witness that Jesus is the eternal "Word," meaning He is God the Son. He came to earth as a human to live with humanity. While on earth, Jesus revealed His glory, the same glory shared by God the Father. God's glory is His greatness. It includes both His grace and truth.
Jesus told His disciples to watch Him and listen to His sayings so they might learn about the Father. Specifically, Jesus taught His disciples about God's forgiving grace and then illustrated it by submitting to death on the cross for the sins of the world.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Jesus taught the truth that He and God the Father are one. So Jesus' actions automatically reveal God's power and nature. His life is a living book about the Father.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
As the writer of Hebrews noted, Jesus died, rose again, and left the earth around two thousand years ago to sit at God the Father's right hand in Heaven. But that doesn't mean we can't benefit from Jesus' revelation of God's glory and truth. God had men record Jesus' words and actions in the form of books that were eventually gathered with many other books and recognized as God's Word. The Bible, then, is God's third means of revelation of truth.
3. Through the Bible
3. Through the Bible
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about the importance of God's revelation through the Scriptures.
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Timothy learned from the Scriptures that salvation comes through faith in Jesus. His mother and grandmother faithfully taught Him God's Word of (2 Tim. 1 :5).
ASK: What Bible verses or passages helped you understand your need for salvation?
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Paul wrote that all Scripture is given by God. He provided it for our learning and understanding (Rom. 15:4). The Bible reveals all we need to know about God and our relationship with Him.
ASK: Have you talked about spiritual things with someone who had never read the Bible? How did the conversation go?
ASK: From where did they seem to be getting their ideas about God and salvation?
Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica about the importance of receiving God's Word.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
ASK: What are some indicators that a person has received God's Word for what it is—the truth from God? They seek to know it; 📷 they respect what it says; they submit to it; they desire to help others understand it.
The Bible is God's special revelation to us. Without it, we could not know God nor understand sin and salvation.
God Inspired the Bible
God Inspired the Bible
When we read and study God's Word, how do we know what we are reading is from God and not a mix of God's ideas and man's ideas? We know because God's Word testifies about its origin and trustworthiness.
God communicated specific words
God communicated specific words
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
The Greek word theopneustos, translated "inspiration, literally means
"God-breathed." The English word "inspiration" comes to us from the Latin word inspirare, which means "to breathe in. " The Latin word is used as the translation of the Greek word in the old Latin Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 1 7 and 2 Peter 1 .•21 , two key passages that support the doctrine of inspiration.
Scriptures are inspiring, but that is not what the inspiration of Scripture means. Inspiration is "God's superintendence of human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of the original autographs" (Charles Ryrie, A Survey of Bib/e Doctrine [Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1 972], 38). Inspiration means the Scriptures came directly from God. He breathed them out and into the minds of the writers.
"Who told you to do that?" is a question that seeks an authority to justify behavior. If the questioner respects the person who authorized the action, then the one being questioned is absolved. The inspiration of the Scripture places the authority of the Bible with its Author: God.
Since God authored the Bible, we should expect it to reflect His perfect character; it should be free from error. If the Bible was the product of human ingenuity or abilities, it would be tainted with man's ideas and would certainly contradict itself. The Bible gives evidence of divine inspiration in that it is unified. The message from Genesis to Revelation is cohesive and sound.
As mentioned, the Greek word for "inspiration" means "Godbreathed" (2 Tim. 3:16). The Holy Spirit, the member of the Trinity Who communicated the words of Scripture, obviously has neither a body nor lungs. He doesn't use air to communicate. But the idea of air passing over vocal cords to produce sound helps us understand that the very words of the Bible came from God.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Jesus treated the words of Scripture as from God. Jesus said He came to fulfill God's promises recorded in what we now call the Old Testament. Jesus even went so far as to say not one jot (the smallest Hebrew letter) or tittle (the smallest part of a Hebrew letter) would pass before the promises of Scripture were fulfilled. Jesus would not speak so confidently and specifically if the Old Testament was simply a record of man's thoughts about general themes concerning God.
ASK: If the Bible contained man's words instead of God's, what could we imply from Jesus' promise? That God takes His cues from people; that God is obligated to do what people tell Him to do.
God communicated trustworthy words
God communicated trustworthy words
Because the very words of the Bible are inspired (2 Tim. 3:16), we know they are true and trustworthy. When God moved writers to record His words, they recorded His exact words without any errors. The original writings, then, were "inerrant, " meaning they didn't deviate from what God intended the writers to record.
Since the original writings, called "autographs,” were written thousands of years ago, can we be sure the Bibles we have today represent God's exact words? We can be sure the Old Testament Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts and the New Testament Greek manuscripts used as the basis for translations of the Bible are extremely accurate. When comparing manuscripts copied from copies of the original autographs, there are no significant textual variations. The differences that are present don't affect any doctrinal truths. We can study our Bibles with confidence that they represent the Word of God.
ASK: What does your treatment of God's Word suggest about what you believe about its origin? Do you treat it as the very words of God?