The Holy Bible | Ps. Keith Pittman

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You guys doing good this morning?

Come on, come on, man.

Thank you guys so much for coming to worship with us today.

I want to personally send a shout out to all of the fathers in the house.

So happy Father's Day to all the fathers and in the house, all those who desire to be fathers, all the mentors, the big bros, the unks, all those guys out there that serve as influential voices in the lives of others.

Thank you guys so much for all that you do.

We hope you feel honored, valued, and seen today.

As Sean said, we're we're in the beginning stages of probably one of my favorite series.

This is our second year doing this series, and it's probably going to be a trend for us for the couple of years to come, and it's really centered around summer school.

We know that summertime is typically a time where we go on vacations and we honor and we absolutely celebrate that.

But what we also recognize is that just because we go on vacation doesn't mean that the enemy does.

The enemy's very active often in those moments, and so it's important for us that even as we travel, that as we spend time with family and community and we celebrate that, that we don't separate ourselves from community, and we certainly don't separate ourselves from the Word of God.

So we take the summer time to really sharpen us theologically to ensure that we have exactly what we need as we are navigating through this incredible world.

So this is what this series is really all about.

Um and so last week, uh Pastor Vinny preached an amazing message.

Can we show some love to Pastor Vinny on his incredible message that he shared with us um last week?

Truly, truly, probably one of the best practical teachings I've seen on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, specifically in the area of our prayer language.

So if you ever had questions about that, or if you didn't see um the message from last week, or you just want to brush up on it, please um go and check it out.

It was really, really powerful.

Um, and today I have the honor of continuing um in the conversation of what we believe God is ultimately calling us to speak.

So if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at verses 14 through 17.

This series is intended to be a lot more teachy than preachy.

Um, those are Vinny's words, teachy instead of preachy.

But I do have um Pentecostal in my blood, so I'm pretty sure some excitement and passion is gonna come out one way or another.

But the goal is to be teachy, which is why we have this beautiful whiteboard up here that we're going uh to utilize.

Um, the text we're looking at uh this morning is is one that I think is really powerful and impactful because it allows us to recognize the importance of being rooted in God's word.

Timothy has been commissioned to go and be the pastor at a church in Ephesus, where we get the book of Ephesians from.

And Paul, his mentor, is writing him some letters that we now refer to as 1st and 2 Timothy to encourage him in his assignment.

In 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 through 17, Paul is speaking to Timothy specifically to encourage him, and we're gonna unpack that in a minute.

2 Timothy 3:14–17

But starting at verse number 14, here's what it says As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you've learned it, and how from a child you have been equated, you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Verse 16.

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work.

Paul is talking to Timothy and stressing the importance of no matter what's going on in the world, make sure that you stay connected to the scriptures.

So I want to take a few moments to examine and unpack this beautiful book that God has left for us.

So if you're writing notes, and hopefully you are, this is summer school after all, um, I want you to write down this message title that is deeply provocative and probably something you've never heard of the Holy Bible.

Let's pray and let's see what it is that God wants to speak to us today.

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for the gift of your word and what it reveals about you and what it reveals about us.

Father, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

Last week I had the incredible privilege of um being able to witness and participate um in the nuptials of an amazing couple at our church who got married.

We were in Cautiana, Colombia.

It was, it, it was, it was a vibe.

It was it was a vibe.

I I gotta tell you this.

This is something I did not know.

I did not know this.

Colombians know how to party.

We we we got there, you know.

We we got there, and I was like, okay, like we the wedding started at like around 3.30, 345-ish.

And so it got to be like around like 10.

Now for me, my temperament is like, okay, like we did it.

We we said the words, you said I do, we did the dance, we heard the speeches, let's wrap it up.

But around 10:30, they said, oh no, another meal's coming.

And then more party people were coming.

It was like, it was a whole thing.

At 1.30, I was like, man, I'm out.

I can't, I can't do this any longer.

Like, it went until 3.30 in the morning.

Like that's that's a party.

Pastor Vinny said his wedding went until 5.30 in the morning.

So the Colombians and the Brazilians, they got a little battle going on.

We'll see.

Invite me, and I'll always give, I'll start a blog post on it.

But but while we were there, we we got there a few days early, and the goal was really to kind of like, you know, just have some fun in the city.

And so typically, whenever I travel, um, I'll go onto a YouTube page of some traveling folks just to get a little bit of insight and what I can expect, what to look out for.

And so there was this one particular area that we were told to go to.

And what it was is there's this street where there's all this artwork and all this beautiful things.

We wanted to get some vibes.

And another part that was there was this one street that has like all of these umbrellas that are in the air.

Like, I don't know how to describe it, you have to Google it for yourself.

But you walk down a street and it's literally like hundreds of colorful umbrellas that are just floating in the air, suspended.

Gravity doesn't exist on this particular street somehow.

And it's beautiful.

So for me, I'm like, that's the only reason I want to go to this particular part of town.

So we get there, and and while we're there, the people descend upon us because they're like, hey man, they're Americans, that's money.

So, I mean, we're surrounded by folks, and they're trying to sell everything you can imagine to us, and we're trying to navigate through it.

And so, as we're walking as a group, trying to make it to our destination, I begin to hear this music playing in the background.

I just begin to hear this like guitar, and at first it's from a distance, but then it aggressively is getting closer and closer and closer and closer before it's like right behind me.

And I turn around, and next thing I know, I'm surrounded by like five different battle rappers who are all literally speaking.

There they are.

See them?

I'm just I'm just trying to mind my business, guys.

And I didn't know they were gonna put this video up.

Andy must have done this.

This goes on, this literally goes on for three blocks.

You can't hear the sound, but these brothers was going at it.

Like, they must have seen something in me that was like, yo, like, he got a little swag with him.

They said, Let's go.

So there's a part of me that wanted like, yo, I got bars too.

Like, don't test me, man.

Like, but all of my bars are pre-Jesus bars.

You don't want me to spit anything.

They said just I pull from my my old self.

But so I'm walking down the street, and so I'm surrounded for three whole blocks, just walking with a with a with a walking concert battle rap going on in my head, and I get to the end of it, and then they're like, okay, then they start rhyming and they start talking about money.

I'm like, hey, I got nothing for you.

So they they scamber off.

And so I turn around to my community that abandoned me.

Looking at looking at you, Andy.

He was our translator while we were there.

He did nothing to help me in this moment, completely abandoned me.

So I look around, I'm like, okay, guys, like let's let's get to the street with the umbrellas.

And they say to me, bro, we were literally just on it.

And I'm like, what are you talking about?

They were like, we were literally just walking on the street when you were surrounded by the rappers.

I said, no, we weren't.

They said, how did you not notice it?

Like the umbrellas were over your head.

Like, how did you not see it?

But I guess it was because there were so many voices in my ears that I couldn't even recognize what was right in front of me.

It was it was so distracting to me that I couldn't even pick up where I was geographically.

It makes me think a lot about the world that we live in right now.

Because there's so many things that I believe that God has for us.

He wants to lead us to a destination where we can experience peace.

He wants to lead us to a place where we can experience his blessing and favor and God's best in our life.

And as we're on this journey, there are so many voices in our ears, it's hard for us to even recognize that we're closer than we think we are.

Because we have the voice of social media.

We have the voice of the algorithms that seem to fuel our fear and our anger at the same time.

Everywhere we turn, there's new information and things that are being dumped into our laps that can cause us to lose focus.

This is why Paul is telling Timothy, you're in a world that's ever-changing.

And there's gonna always be a lot of voices in your ears.

There's gonna be the voices of the local politicians, there's gonna be the voices of the media, there's gonna be the voices of your own fear, your own brokenness.

All of these voices are gonna constantly be in your ear, and if you are not careful, it will distract you from the promises of God.

So when you can find yourself anchored in the truth of God's word, it will allow you to drown out those voices and stand on the incorruptible seed of the word of God.

But it requires us to fight past those voices, it requires us to root ourselves in.

Paul was talking to Timothy, who was living in a culture that had a lot of voices.

He was a new pastor in an already established church, being sent into a space where there were voices saying, Hey, don't do it that way because we've never done it that way.

The voice of tradition was something that he had to contend with.

He was also dealing with the fact that Ephesus was a very influential city, a lot of resources and a lot of political figures and a lot of cultural influence.

And so they were saying, Hey, be careful of what you preach, be careful of what you do.

Don't talk too aggressively about sin because you're going to offend people.

Be mindful of how you navigate through some of these difficult things.

And so he was being told by these voices to shy away from some of the more complex things that are inside of the kingdom.

He was also dealing with his own insecurities.

Scripture even tells us that he developed a stomach ulcer as a result of the stress and anxiety that he was dealing with.

This is why Paul said, Hey man, you got an ulcer?

A little wine might help that.

I'm not telling that for you.

I'm just telling you what Paul told Timothy.

He's like, hey, bro, you know you're gonna have to deal with that.

So Paul is literally trying to mentor and help his young disciple that he refers to as a son in the faith because he knew there were so many voices in his ears.

So Paul writes him two letters that we now refer to as 1st and 2 Timothy.

1 Timothy, Paul is on his missionary journeys, he hears about what Timothy is going through, and so he writes the first letter to him to encourage him on how to structure the church, how to handle, how to handle conflict.

Beautiful, lead beautiful letter on leadership and structure.

But then there's also 2 Timothy.

That was a little bit different because when Paul writes this, he writes this from a jail cell.

Paul is now in the Roman Empire's captivity, and we learn about Paul's journey that he was expecting to be executed.

So he's writing a letter to Timothy almost as his last will and testament to Timothy.

He's aware of the challenges that Timothy is facing.

He's aware of the nuances of the ever-changing culture.

And so Paul pins this letter, recognizing that this is going to likely be the last things I ever say to my son and the faith.

Man, I can only imagine the weight of those words, the consideration.

And you would imagine that if he's going to give him these last words of his, that he's going to give him some profound insight.

By all means, you would think that he would tell him to make sure that he stays relevant.

You would think that he would tell him to build his platform.

You would think that he would tell him to do whatever's necessary to gain influence, to go to whatever leadership conference, to become a better organizational leader.

Paul doesn't do any of that stuff.

He doesn't tell him how to impress people, he doesn't tell him to build a platform.

Paul's last words to Timothy were stay connected to the Word of God.

Because you're gonna face a culture that's ever-changing.

You're gonna you're gonna face opposition, you're you're gonna face some things that are gonna literally try to challenge you in your beliefs.

And I'm telling you, son, you you need to root yourself in the word of God.

Because the world is changing, but God's truth doesn't.

The world's coming for you, but you can still find a sense of peace if you anchor yourselves in the right thing.

Paul tells Timothy to make sure that you continue in the beliefs that you are affiliated with.

I don't believe that that's a message just for Timothy, but I believe that it's a message for us today.

Because much like Timothy, we have a lot of voices in our ear.

Much like Timothy, there's a lot of things that are happening in the world that can try to distract us from the truth of God's word.

And if we're not anchored in the word of God, we will be tossed to and fro by every circumstance that we see in society.

So I want to take a few moments just to kind of teach and unpack the importance of God's word and why we need to engage it on a regular basis.

Here's the first thing that I want us to write down the Bible is the word of God.

The Bible is the word of God.

And this is so, so important.

Because when we look into the world, the world will often tell us that the Bible is just a book written by old dead people that's no longer relevant.

There are some that'll say that the Bible is filled with errors and flaws.

But Paul has different language when he's describing the scripture.

He says these words.

He says, All scripture is breathed out by God.

He uses this Greek word, theopnustos.

It literally means God breathed, the breath of God.

Paul is saying that everything that we read in this sacred text is literally carried by the breath of God, the same breath of God that animated Adam and Eve, the same breath of God that descended on the day of Pentecost and emboldened the believers, that same breath, that same life-giving force is in these words.

Powerful thoughts to consider.

Now many will think that, well, how did we get this word?

How did it get written?

How did it come to this place?

And Peter talks about this a little bit in his writing, helping us to recognize that this was not something that was written by the will of man, but it was written by the influence of God.

2 Peter 1 20 says this.

We know all this first, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along in the Holy Spirit.

Carried along.

Inspiration is a powerful thing.

Maybe you've been on the receiving end or even the extending end of being inspired to do something.

My wife, Megan, she's wonderful at reaching out to people as God places them on her heart.

Her and I are completely different.

I'm a text message type of guy.

Hey, thinking of you.

Hey, what's going on with you?

Did you see last night's game?

That's my way of saying I'm in praying for you.

But but Megan, on the other hand, she's she is great at like picking up a phone and calling people.

And you know what I've seen is I've seen it when she does these things, she calls people, they're like, I needed this phone call.

I'm so glad that you called me.

I was just thinking about you.

Or I was just reading that passage of scripture, and this confirms what God was already speaking to me.

That's what it means to be spirit-led.

It's simply responding to the unctions, those nudges that God is leading you to do something, and he breathes on it.

So these men, as they were being inspired and witnessing the activity of God, they will simply begin to write it, and then God would breathe on, not taking over their mind, but influencing the words that they were writing of what we now refer to as the Bible.

The word Bible simply means books from the Greek translation.

It's the plural form of book.

It's it's this idea that the Bible is not one singular book, but it does tell one story, but it's 66 different books that are all pointing towards Christ.

It didn't just fall out of the sky, but it was people who were inspired to write.

And then as the writings would take place, it would go through what they call the process of being canonized.

What canonized simply means is the canon.

That would be the process in which they used to verify to ensure that the scriptures were truly inspired.

Maybe you've seen some extra biblical literature that's out there that people who have said that they've written books.

We've seen people who write books and they've said that that Jesus was married, that Jesus had children.

And when those books were written, they would run it through the process of making sure does it fit the criteria of inspired writing?

Was it something that was done by a first-hand apostle?

Was it something that has actual witnesses connected to it?

And if it did not meet that criteria, it was removed from the canonization of scripture.

So everything that we see are things that went through the exhaustive process of confirming that whatever is in this sacred book is not only done with eyewitness accounts, but it actually has more supporting literature than any other literary work in the existence of man.

Imagine that for a moment.

A book that is that is saturated in faith has more supportive text than even science books do.

That passes from generation to generation.

So now we have an Old Testament and a New Testament.

39 books of the Old Testament, 27 books of the New Testament that cover over 1,400 years with 40 different authors all pointing in the same direction, and people who have never met each other generations apart are all speaking from the same prophetic vision, only confirming that what God has inspired, He's also preserved.

And the Bible is filled with all types of different literary genres.

We have narrative, we have law, we have we have poetry, we have prophecy, we have books of wisdom, we have the gospels, we have letters, we have apocalyptic scriptures, all woven together to tell one beautiful story.

And each of those types of books has their own different hermeneutic process by which we approach and study it.

It's all God breathed, and it's all meant to be transformational for us.

The Bible is not the word of man, it's the literal word of God.

That's the first thing that we have to recognize.

Because I believe the enemy wants to make sure that if we can just begin to pull a thread enough at this Bible, we begin to question its heart, we begin to question its merit, and now we don't live a life that matches it, and then we find ourselves still living in chaos and disarray.

But once we can settle that this is God's word that is written to us, for us, we can begin to orient our lives around it, which brings me to my second point.

The Bible is transcendent.

That's an SAT word.

Transcendent.

That means it goes beyond the structures of time.

It goes beyond the parameters that we have established.

It's transcendent in the way that it's structured.

The Bible is timeless in its truth, even in a shifting world.

If I could be honest with you, one of the most common objections that I hear today is that the Bible is outdated.

That how can a book that was written thousands of years ago possibly speak to modern life?

After all, there is some really, really interesting things in the Bible that when we read it, it can really challenge us, it can anger us, and make us feel uncomfortable.

The Bible speaks about kings and shepherds, it talks about patriarchs and prophets, it talks about laws and sacrificing animals.

And then we even have even more complex text that deals with violence, murders, wiping out entire villages.

We see things such as slavery and gender roles in the Bible.

So when we see these things in scripture, of course it's going to lead us to a place where we have to ask ourselves, is this still relevant?

Is this something that I can really place my faith and trust in?

Especially when we have seen people weaponize the Bible in an effort to control or harm others.

We've seen people take the very scriptures that are meant to produce life and lead us to a place of wholeness, and we use it to condemn because people sin differently than us.

We've seen this happen over and over again.

So when you're on the receiving end of that, it only brings you to a place where I have to deconstruct the merits of scripture so that I can feel better about.

The life that I'm in, and there's responsibility on both sides.

So let's let's talk about this.

While the Bible was written in a specific time, it was never limited to just that time.

It was written in a time, in a context to a group of people, but it's also for us.

I want to say this and I want you to hear me.

The Bible wasn't written to us, but it was written for us.

There was a context.

There was a group of people.

Let me step on some toes here.

The Bible was not written to America.

It wasn't America wasn't even a thing.

That's not even a thought process.

So when we try to take scriptures and make ourselves the new Israel, we completely missed the mark.

When we've lost sight of the fact that the world we live in is the empire and the church is the kingdom, we've completely lost the mark.

We have to recognize that the Bible is speaking to a group of people in a specific context, but we extract the principles from it when we have a healthy hermeneutic.

The Bible was written in a very specific time, but it's not limited to that time.

It's anchored in history, but also alive in eternity.

And the timeless message is something that is so powerful for us to embrace.

God didn't speak in abstract ideas, but he stepped into time and he acknowledged the times and seasons of that culture.

This is what Paul is writing to Timothy.

When Paul is dealing with the ever-evolving dynamics of him being in jail, when Timothy's dealing with the ever-evolving culture and the influence of Christianity beginning to spread, but yet also trying to be suppressed at the same time, Paul tells Timothy to continue in what you have learned in the scriptures.

Now here's what's so important about this.

So watch this.

So Paul is talking to Timothy, and he's telling him that even though Jesus has come, that doesn't mean that the Old Testament is irrelevant.

He actually is telling him the very scriptures that have raised you are the same scriptures that I want you to continue to engage in.

The same scriptures that shaped his childhood still can guide his future.

Why?

Because the truth doesn't expire.

Isaiah chapter 40, verse 8 says it this way: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40:8

Matthew 24, verse 35, it says this heaven and earth will pass away, but my words, the words of Jesus, will never pass away.

Matthew 24:35

The Bible is a book that speaks to every generation with piercing clarity.

But it does require us to have a healthy way in which we engage it.

Which allows me to take a side note right here.

This upcoming Wednesday, we have summer school.

And at summer school, I'm going to be teaching on hermeneutics.

How do we study the Bible?

Healthy ways for us to engage Scripture on its terms in a way that it can transform our lives.

So what I'm about to share right now is a real small component of that, but you got to come out on Wednesday to get the rest of it.

But when we're reading Scripture and we're hearing some of these complex passages, it requires us to do two things.

Recognize the difference between descriptive passages and prescriptive passages.

It sounds so similar, but they're vastly different.

There are certain passages in the Bible that are describing things that took place.

They're describing the consequence of sin.

It's describing what has happened when we see a people that live a life in rebellion to God.

I've seen people who will often pull scriptures and take them out of context because they haven't been able to adequately interpret it on its own terms in its context.

A good friend of mine, he will often quote from the book of Psalms because the book of Psalms is largely David, and it's him being expressive in emotion about all the varying things he's going through, his frustrations.

So my friend was like, Man, I just want people to, I just want God to break my enemy's teeth.

I'm like, bro, what is wrong with you?

He's like, No, it's in the Bible.

See how quickly that can happen?

It was a joke between us, but that's what happens when people take the Bible out of context.

We're not realizing that the Bible is describing the emotional state of David.

It's not God's endorsement saying, like, hey, if somebody's messing with you, let me out them.

That's not what it's saying.

It's simply describing David's emotional state.

When we look at descriptive versus prescriptive scriptures, it requires us to examine the Bible on its own terms.

When we read in the Old Testament and it talks about polygamy, tribal warfare, it's showing us a world as it is, not as it ought to be.

In fact, scripture is brutally honest about human failure, but it always highlights God's patience and mercy.

When we read in the New Testament and we see that it talks about slavery, and we see about how women are treated, it's never meant for it to stay that way, but it's meant for us to recognize that there was a culture and a time where that was the norm.

So the Bible was always planting seeds to help people to move forward.

It was meant to help people to progress.

Let's let's look at it this way.

When Paul is talking to the folks in Colossians, he says these words, Master, treats your bond servants justly and fairly, knowing that you have a master in heaven.

Now, for some of us, we're like, wow, that's an uncomfortable passage because Paul is talking to people who literally have slaves.

But if you only understood that Paul telling the masters to treat their slaves with dignity, that was a radical concept.

It's the word of God moving people forward.

It's meant to help people to progress, knowing that one day we will break out of that very oppressive system.

It was very countercultural for Paul to write those words.

Same thing applies to the patriarchy.

So, yes, the Bible was emerged from a male-dominated society, but it also began to move the needle forward with radical equality.

Galatians 3 28.

Paul is wrecking people's minds when he says these words.

There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither slave nor free.

There is neither male nor female.

You are all one in Christ Jesus.

For the original hearers of that, that would have been the most radical thing they could have ever heard.

That Jews and Gentiles are the same, that men and women are the same, that slave and free are the same.

Paul was using a hermeneutical approach that was hopefully planting a seed that would allow people to escape the oppressive system in which they live.

So when we read the Bible, we have to understand the difference between something being described versus something that's being prescribed.

Paul was giving them information on how to live in a broken system with the hopes that one day we can come out of that system.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we recognize that he is a man who believed in these scriptures.

He believed that the word of God was transcended.

In fact, he believed that all of the Bible pointed to him.

He says these words in Luke 24, 27.

It says, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he being Jesus, interpreted to him that all the scriptures concerning himself.

This is the words of Jesus saying that if you look in the Bible, even in the Old Testament, it all points to me.

Why would Jesus do that, knowing that he's ushering in this dispensation of grace, this moment of us being free from the law?

Because he was proving to us that the Bible is transcendent.

It never expires.

There's principles that we can extract from it that could bring transformation from our lives.

This is why the Bible is still the most read book, the most translated book, the most published book, and the most powerful book on earth, because it still speaks.

It not only whispers from the past, but its power to lead us into a stronger future.

The Bible has been translated literally into thousands of different languages.

Why?

Because it still works.

There's a story about people in China where the Bible was literally illegal.

So the underground church, they would smuggle in Bibles and then they would tear off single pages, and a family would have that page and immerse themselves only in one page, just John chapter 1, verse number 1 through 18.

John 1 · chapter mention

And that's all they had, but they would live their lives just organizing themselves around it.

Why?

Because it was worth it, because the word of God is more than enough to transform our lives.

The Bible talks about a man who was in a Louisiana prison, and when he got into the prison, he was in solitary confinement.

And the only thing that was in that cell with him was a Bible that someone else had left behind.

He began to read the Gospel of John.

And by the time he got to the end of it, he saw God's love for him.

He repented and then became a preacher inside of the prison that led to a revival.

It wasn't a message, it wasn't a podcast, but it was simply him engaging the power of God's word.

In a remote village in Papua New Guinea, the Bible was translated into the native language of those folks there.

And an elder of that community, he read the Bible.

He began to weep and he said, I finally recognize that God speaks in our language too, because I was having dreams and visions that I didn't understand.

But the Bible now brings clarity to it.

And then he began to weep, and a revival broke out in this unreached people group, not because of a conference, not because of a dynamic preacher, but because of the word of God.

The word of God still speaks.

It speaks about God's love, it speaks about God's redemption because God lives in his word.

It didn't expire with the first century.

It's not ancient advice for forgotten people, it's the living voice for every generation.

So let us not treat this like it's a museum exhibit, but let us open it because it truly is alive.

Paul tells Timothy, devote yourself to this book.

Devote yourself to the public reading of this book, exhorting people, encouraging people.

The bottom line is that this book has the ability to transform people's lives.

Don't get away from it.

No matter how much people try to tell you to, don't shy away from it.

Immerse yourself in this book and watch the transformation that'll take place as a result of it.

The Bible is transcended, the Bible is timeless.

Here's my my third point.

The Bible informs every area of my life.

It informs every area of my life.

I'm gonna put this in short.

I just have the Bible is formational.

Transformational.

It informs every area of my life.

Sadly, there are some of us that that live compartmentalized lives.

And what we believe is like, okay, I'll read the Bible and it can inform my faith.

I'll read it and I'll say in the name of Jesus when appropriate.

But am I going to really allow it to inform the kind of father that I am, the kind of husband that I am, the kind of coworker that I am?

But when we have a healthy engagement in Scripture, the Bible informs every area of our lives.

This is why Paul is talking to Timothy, and he says that the word of God has been breathed out by God and it is profitable.

That means advantageous, beneficial, it adds value to our life.

He said, It is profitable.

It's not something that's just meant to be read on a Sunday and that's it.

But it's supposed to be engaged and lived through, and when we do, it adds value to our lives.

And Paul breaks down these four areas in which it brings value to our lives.

He says it's profitable for teaching, it's profitable for reproof and correction, it's profitable for training, and it's profitable to help us become equipped.

Paul said it's profitable for teaching, it's beneficial for its teaching.

It teaches us something.

The word of God teaches us about God.

The word of God teaches us about ourselves.

When we read Genesis chapter 1 and it says that we're made in the image of God, it's teaching us who we are.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It's teaching us that we're supposed to be people that model God.

It means that we also are called to treat other people with dignity, even if they look different from us.

We wouldn't have that concept if we didn't first have the Bible that taught us that we're made in the image of God, and God tells us to be fruitful and multiply.

That's purpose, that's that's significance, that's what he's instructing us to do.

The Bible teaches us about God, but also about ourselves.

It teaches us what holiness is, it teaches us what justice is, it teaches us what love is, it teaches us what mercy is.

The Bible teaches us what salvation is, it teaches us, it's it's instructing us on these powerful things.

And when it does that, it begins to literally shape our worldview.

It shapes the way that we see things, it changes the filter by which we understand things.

I I recently, um in my bathroom, my son Caleb, he'll occasionally come downstairs and he'll come into our bathroom and um because we have the best mirror in the house.

He'll come down to our bathroom and he'll like sometimes change in our bathroom and he leaves.

Well, so so one day I'm about to go out and I wear my glasses and I wear my contacts interchangeably.

So this one day I put in my contacts and I leave, and I realize like, these contacts must be very old.

It's not working.

Like, I'm I I like everything is blurry.

I'm like, Megan and I are out.

I'm like, I got a headache.

Like, I feel like I'm am I having a stroke?

Like, I'm literally like, it was off.

We get home, Caleb comes in, he's like, hey dad, have you seen my contacts?

Come to find out that I was wearing his contact lenses.

Watch this.

This is what happens when we live with someone else's filter in our lives.

We begin to get disoriented, we get confused, we we lose perspective, we lose focus.

So, what the Bible does is it transitions us from looking at the world through the lens of sin and brokenness, and it gives us the perspective of Jesus.

And when we have the perspective of Jesus, it roots us in something that doesn't allow us to be tossed to and fro.

Matthew 7, verse 24 and 25, it says this for everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock.

Matthew 7:24

And when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall.

Why?

Because it was founded on the rock.

What Jesus is saying is that when you can really immerse yourself in my word and build your life around my word, that storms are going to come.

He doesn't say they may come.

When they come, you will still be rooted in something that will allow you to feel anchored and recognize that I may be going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I fear no evil because God is with me, because I'm anchored in his word.

But when I'm not anchored in his word, I'm tossed to and fro by everything that I see on the news.

I'm tossed to and fro by everything that I see on social media, I'm tossed to and fro by everything that I hear.

Yes, we need to be informed by these things, but when we don't allow ourselves to be rooted in something above and beyond those things, we can be caught to and fro.

So the Bible, it grounds us.

A Bible-saturated mind is a renewed mind that gets things through the perspective of Jesus.

But Paul also says these other things.

He said that the Bible is profitable for reproof and correction.

Now it gets fun.

Because not only does it teach us about God, his love for us, his vision for us, the things that we love to hear, but Paul said it's also beneficial for reproof and correction.

Reproof literally means conviction.

That means that the Bible, it brings things to light in ourselves.

It means that when we're reading the word of God, the word of God is also reading us.

And it begins to reveal things in us that sometimes makes us feel a little uncomfortable.

James says it this way that when we're engaging God's word, it's like looking in the mirror.

And when you look in the mirror, you're like, man, I got a lot of grades.

When you look in the mirror, you begin to see things that maybe you don't want to see.

Which is why we live in a generation that doesn't like to engage the scripture on its terms.

Can I get on the soapbox for a moment?

We live in a generation now where we have it our way, everything is customizable.

Just just let me edit it and let it be my way.

Let me let me chat GBT this thing.

Let me move this thing around.

Let me let me create a faith on my own terms.

Because if I'm confronted with something that I don't like, then that's trauma.

If I'm being challenged in the area of my life that there's that there's some flaws or some blind spots, then then then that's that's trauma, and I don't like it, and I'm gonna go and put myself in a safe space.

Listen, I'm literally a therapist.

I understand that.

But we got to make sure that when God confronts us with the areas of our lives that are incongruent with his word, that we don't allow the world to give us language that ultimately allows us to stay as minors when it comes to the word of God.

It's trying to help us to mature.

So the Bible will often bring things to light that will make us feel uncomfortable.

So that's reproof.

But he doesn't leave us there.

He also corrects us.

That means he redirects us, it means he straightens us out, he puts us back on the right path.

The Bible not only reveals the areas where we come up short, but it puts us on the right track ever so gently.

I have a vehicle in my car that I got, um, I've only had it for a couple of months now, but it has like one of those lane correction technologies in it.

My previous car didn't have that.

I had that car for 10 years.

That technology didn't exist then.

But in my new car, like when I'm driving, first of all, I didn't realize I crossed the line apparently a lot more than I thought I did.

Because it's always like, hey bro, like what do you but when I first started driving it, like as I'm drifting over, the wheel is literally, I'm like, man, like is is Elon taking over my car?

Like, I don't know what's going on.

So I'm like, I'm literally fighting against it, but what it's doing is it's saying, like, hey, I'm reading the environment and you're drifting a little over, so I want to redirect you to get back to where you're supposed to be.

That's what the word of God does.

I sense where you're going, and I just want to I want to redirect you because if not, you're gonna crash into something, you're gonna go off the side of the road.

So so let me help to redirect you when we engage the word of God, it redirects us to be exactly where God has ultimately called us to be.

That's what a loving father does.

One of the joys of my life is being a father, grandfather, a godfather.

Like, I I love it, but you know what you have to do sometimes?

You have to correct.

You have to you have to highlight some areas where there's shortcomings, and you have to correct.

From the time that my kids were small, even to now when they're adults, and I'm super close with my kids.

I love them with all that's in me, but there are moments when I gotta look at my kids in the eyes, even as adults, and say, like, hey, I want to bring your attention to this and I want to help you get back on track, not to harm you, but because I love you and it doesn't feel good.

And sometimes they're mad at me, and sometimes they'll walk away, and then I remind them they're living in my house for free.

Looking at y'all.

Anyway, so but Proverbs 3 says this.

It says, For the love, for the for the Lord reproves who he loves.

He reproves who he loves, he he directs, he corrects those that he loves.

The Bible is not about condemnation, it's about restoration.

So when it talks about it's it's leading us into this space, Psalm 119 says that your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

It's the word of God that that helps me to organize my, don't go there.

And as I allow it to instruct every area of my life, I'm being formed into Christ's character.

I gotta go quick.

Here's the next thing Paul said.

Paul said it's good for training.

It's good for training, training and developing us.

Training is the repetitious process of us being cultivated into forming habits that reflect the character of God.

Jesus says in Matthew 4, 4, for man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

We need to be nourished by the word of God.

John 8 31.

He says these words If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

Abiding means dwelling, allowing ourselves to go through the sanctification process through repeated experiences that allows us then to be formed in Christ Jesus.

That's what training means.

Here's my final thought.

Because Paul says that when we allow it to inform every area of our lives, we're being taught on who God is and who we are.

It brings things to light and it corrects us.

It trains us through repetition to become people like Christ and it equips us to do what God has called us to do.

It equips us.

That means that we have everything that we need in order to be successful.

So whether it's raising children, it equips you through the book of Proverbs on how to raise your children.

If you need courage when facing trials, then you read the book of Psalms.

If you need grace to forgive, you begin to engage the words of Jesus.

If you need strength to resist sin, then you read Paul's writing in Ephesians, where it talks about the whole armor of God and bringing out the sword of the Spirit.

This is how Jesus was able to resist temptation.

When he was in the wilderness and the enemy was coming at him with everything that he could imagine, Jesus didn't go into a deep prayer, he quoted the word of God.

This is what our response should be in moments of temptation.

So ultimately, this is more than just a book, it's a voice.

It's a voice that's still speaking.

It's not just to inform you, but it's to form you.

It doesn't just answer your questions, but it also questions your assumptions.

It doesn't just equip you on Sundays, but it prepares you for Monday.

So if you want to grow in Christ, you must be rooted in his word.

Let it teach you, let it reprove you, let it correct you, let it train you because it's ultimately equipping you.

And it all points to Jesus.

The Bible tells us in John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1 · chapter mention

That's Jesus.

That's why they say he's the incarnate of the word of God.

If the word of God is the mind and heart of God, Jesus is the flesh and blown of God.

The Bible says that He's the He's the visibleness of the Godhead.

This is what Jesus' role is, and He is perfect theology.

That when we want to understand God's word, we measure it with the ministry and life of Jesus, and it exposes us to who God is.

And when we look at Jesus, we recognize that he is not only The logos of God.

That's the mind, the heart, the word of God made flesh.

He's also the Rhema of God.

That's the prophetic word of God, the now word of God.

That means that God, that Jesus is not only speaking to who he is and who you are in him, but he has a word for you right now because his truth doesn't expire.

When we are reading this Bible, we are not reading words, we're engaging a person.

We're not being taught on what to do, but we're being shown on who we can become.

We don't just carry the word, but we believe the Bible and we meet the one who reveals who the word is.

That is what it means to be people who engage scriptures.

Maybe right now you may feel a little dry and stagnant, but I want you to know that Jesus is indeed the living word, alive, wanting to meet you exactly where you are, to speak to you the things of God, maybe to teach you something about his love and the way he sees you, maybe to reprove, to reveal something to you that you need to bring to light, maybe to correct you, to put you back on the right track, maybe to train you so that you can become a disciple who's fully equipped for what he's called you to do.

Every single one of us has an assignment.

And when we engage the word, we engage the living word that is Jesus that brings transformation.

So I want us to go into a brief moment of reflection because maybe you need the living word to speak to you.

But maybe you're not familiar with who the living word is.

So when it's time of reflection, let's just close our eyes, let's journal, but let's invite the living word to speak to us in this moment.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.