Jun 21
8:13 AM
It's Inspired By God
Jun 21
8:13 AM
Jun 21
8:13 AM
Monday, June 21, 2021
2 Timothy 3:16
The Bible is the basis for everything we do at Lakeshore. It's the basis for all our services, all our groups, all our studies, all our events. It's the basis for Life Lifters. The Bible is the basis for everything we believe as a Christian. It's the basis for everything we do as a Christian, it's the basis for truth that every Christian lives for. But here's the question: why do you believe in the Bible? Why do you believe the Bible is worth living for? Do you have an answer for that? If somebody says, "Hey, man, I don't believe the Bible. Why would anybody believe the Bible?" What would you say?
I want to spend a few Life Lifters explaining why I believe the Bible. I'm going to give you three helpful reasons to believe the Bible. Here is the first. I believe the Bible is true, I put all my faith in the Bible because it is God's inspired word. The Bible is inspired by God. I get that from a very important passage, 2 Timothy 3:16. It says, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." So, the beginning of the text says all scripture, not some scripture, most scripture, or just Jesus' words (the words that are in red), but every word of scripture is, as the NIV translates it, "God-breathed." That's a literal translation. Some translations say inspired. And the Greek word for "God breathed" literally is Theos-pneuma. Theos meaning God, and pneuma, where we get our word pneumatic from. If you have a door with a wind cartridge, also called a pneumatic cartridge, the door doesn't just slam shut, the air in the cartridge helps it close gently. Pneuma is almost like breathed or spirited, and is also the word for the Holy Spirit. The Hagios Pneuma, or Holy Spirit. So what he's saying is that God breathed the scriptures. All scriptures are God-breathed. They're they're literally God's word.
Then, Paul says the scriptures are profitable for teaching, for rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. What's the difference between correcting and rebuking? Rebuking is showing where something is wrong. Correcting is showing how to make it right. So, the first reason why I believe the Bible is because it's inspired by God. It is God's word. The Bible again and again calls itself God's word. One of the other things I say is, "If you don't believe the Bible is God's Word to us, where else are you get to get God's word?" If God is truly a good God (and he is), and if he cares (he does), then he would provide direction. How else has he provided direction? He doesn't provide it any other way except through the Bible. It is inspired by God. Do you believe that? And if so, tell people. So you say, "Vince, that's not enough." Believe me, when you tell people the Bible is God's word, and if God's a caring and loving God, he would never leave us directionless, then the next thing to say is, "what else is inspired like this?" We will give you some more help in the next two Life Lifters, but the most important thing today is that even if some of you don't know if you believe the Bible, please know that it is God's word. It is inspired by God. It is his word to us. Not some scripture, not the New Testament, not Jesus' words only, but all Scripture is inspired by God. I hope it gives you confidence, and I hope it also gives you confidence to tell others why you believe in the Bible.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for this precious book called The Bible. We trust in it because it is your word. You have breathed it to us, you inspired it for us. It is profitable for every good work. Help us to have confidence in it and share our belief in it to others in a way that they will believe too. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.