We have now completed two sets of verses ---
The Four Corners of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; we have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from God full of grace and truth."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the word that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
The Romans Road to Salvation:
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 5:8 "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 12:1 "Therefore, dear brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship."
So where are we heading now?
Tonight we open with 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness."
Robert J. Morgan points out that this "3:16" verse bears multiple similarities to the more famous John 3:16 verse. To me the most important similarity that he brings to light is that both verses regard the greatest gifts given to humanity, the living Word in the form of Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God given in Holy Scripture.
First part of the verse...."All Scripture is inspired by God." First word, "ALL." Here's where some have a problem, for we can't pick and choose Scripture that we like and throw out the verses that we have problems with. And we can't pick one verse out of context without weighing it in light of ALL Scripture. It is the complete body of work that makes the Holy Bible the amazing work that it is. One part without the other parts is not complete, it is sixty-six books comprising a whole.
I know there are many who will argue the validity of some portions of Scripture based upon questionable translations, or inclusion of some verses that are not included in all versions. But, personally, I firmly believe that God has protected His Word throughout time so that what we have in 2011 is true to His message to us, and that He has been faithful to leave people a trustworthy document of His Word. Is that blind faith? Possibly so. But it is a conviction based upon the knowledge that I have of our God who would not leave us unable to know Him.
What we have in the Bible is a truly amazing gift from God. That's the whole purpose of this exercise of memorization....to embed the truth of His Word into our hearts. If it is not His divine Word, His inspired Word, then we might as well memorize "Great Quotes of the 20th Century."
But if it is more, if it is divine, if it is "God-breathed", then we will see these words that we are purposefully making a part of our lives empower us in ways that simple words contrived by human minds cannot.
The Four Corners of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; we have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from God full of grace and truth."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the word that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
The Romans Road to Salvation:
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 5:8 "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 12:1 "Therefore, dear brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship."
So where are we heading now? Into a set of nine verses to impress upon us the gifts we have been given through the written Word of God and the ability to communicate with our God through prayer. I've found that for me it seems easier to memorize a smaller group of verses, so we're going to break this set down into two smaller sets, one of six regarding the Word, and the remaining three on the gift of prayer.
Tonight we open with 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness."
Robert J. Morgan points out that this "3:16" verse bears multiple similarities to the more famous John 3:16 verse. To me the most important similarity that he brings to light is that both verses regard the greatest gifts given to humanity, the living Word in the form of Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God given in Holy Scripture.
First part of the verse...."All Scripture is inspired by God." First word, "ALL." Here's where some have a problem, for we can't pick and choose Scripture that we like and throw out the verses that we have problems with. And we can't pick one verse out of context without weighing it in light of ALL Scripture. It is the complete body of work that makes the Holy Bible the amazing work that it is. One part without the other parts is not complete, it is sixty-six books comprising a whole.
I know there are many who will argue the validity of some portions of Scripture based upon questionable translations, or inclusion of some verses that are not included in all versions. But, personally, I firmly believe that God has protected His Word throughout time so that what we have in 2011 is true to His message to us, and that He has been faithful to leave people a trustworthy document of His Word. Is that blind faith? Possibly so. But it is a conviction based upon the knowledge that I have of our God who would not leave us unable to know Him.
What we have in the Bible is a truly amazing gift from God. That's the whole purpose of this exercise of memorization....to embed the truth of His Word into our hearts. If it is not His divine Word, His inspired Word, then we might as well memorize "Great Quotes of the 20th Century."
But if it is more, if it is divine, if it is "God-breathed", then we will see these words that we are purposefully making a part of our lives empower us in ways that simple words contrived by human minds cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment