Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Jun 25 8:12 AM

It's a Seamless Story

Jun 25 8:12 AM

Friday, June 25, 2021

Today, I want to give you a third reason why I believe in the Bible, and that's this...

Friday, June 25, 2021

2 Peter 1:20-21

This week we have been looking at reasons why I believe the Bible. Today, I will give you the third and final reason. There are many, many, many, many reasons to believe the Bible, but I'm giving you three significant ones from two very significant passages. On June 21 and June 23rd I said the first two reasons I believe in the Bible are because it is God's inspired word to us, and because the Bible equips us for every good work. Those reasons came from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It is one of the most important passages in the Bible about the value of the Bible. We talked about how everything the Bible asks us to do is good and our nation was built on Judeo-Christian values. So many things that people have done culturally, nationally, governmentally, individually, and church-wise, have been good because they follow the direction of the Bible.

Today, I want to give you a third reason why I believe in the Bible, and that's this: it's a seamless story told by many. The other important passage along with 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is 2 Peter 1:20-21. Let me read it, unpack it, and explain what I mean. "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." In other words, those who wrote the books of the Bible are all, in a sense, prophets because they professed the truth of God through their writing. And nothing in the Bible came from the prophets' own interpretation. It wasn't a human thing. The Bible wasn't the byproduct of man because it wasn't even a man's heart to try to write inspired scripture. The only people that had it in their heart to write inspired scripture were people who didn't write inspired scripture, like Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon, which is a completely non-inspired book of God, and other cult leaders, to be sure.

So, "no prophecy ever had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." In other words, the Holy Spirit inspired men to write what they wrote. not in a mechanical dictation sense where they went into a trance, but in a sense that God put it on their heart to write these things, and he and they did, and God superintended it. In fact, this is called the doctrine of inerrancy. The Bible is without err in the original manuscripts, but here's what I want to say. You could say, "Yeah sure, the Bible is inerrant because that's what the Bible claims. That's a circular argument: the Bible's without err. How do you know that? Because the Bible says so." But here's what I want to say. Notice how it says all the prophets were inspired by God to write the same thing. How many of you could get 40 people together in a room and say, "Let's write a story about God," and they would all write the same thing? You know, the Bible has about 40 different authors. So how many of you would like to do it with 40 different authors over a period of approximately 1500 years? The first books of the Bible - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy - were written by Moses in about 1400 BC. The last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, was written around 95 or 96. AD. That's 1500 years! 40 different authors over 1500 years on multiple continents with multiple backgrounds: fishermen, fig pickers, doctors, lawyers, scholars, everyday people, etc. And yet, what comes out of it is one message. The Bible has no contradictions in it. It may seem to have some, but there's explainable reasons for the very, very precious few that seem to contradict. It's seamless. So, it proves to us that it is God's word. This could never happen if man tried to do it on his own.

That's why I believe the Bible. I hope not only that you'll have confidence in the Bible for yourself, but that you will have confidence in the Bible to tell others that the Bible is God's inspired word, is useful for good works, and is without err because of all the proof of all the authors and all the time and the one unified message as a result. I hope that inspires you to share your faith and have confidence in the Bible. Father, thank you for this truth. Help us not only believe this about the Bible, but actually read the Bible and be inspired to live it out every day. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jun 23 8:17 AM

It Equips for Good Works

Jun 23 8:17 AM

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

This week, I'm talking about why I believe the Bible.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

2 Timothy 3:16-17

This week, I'm talking about why I believe the Bible. On June 21st, I said the first reason why I believe the Bible is because it is inspired by God. It is breathed by God and is literally God's word. We saw that in 2 Timothy 3:16. Today, I'm going to give you the second reason why I believe the Bible, which is that it equips us for every good work. Look at what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

First, Paul says it's useful for those four things, which are basically life manual things, and then it goes on in verse 17, which is where I want to focus: "...so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." In other words, the Bible is not just a source of information, or a source of inspiration, it's a source of application. This verse is saying that everything that the Bible says is good, and everything the Bible asks us to do is a good work. The second reason I believe in the Bible is because it is good.

You say, 'Oh, that's very subjective, Vince, "The Bible is good."' Well, let me tell you how the Bible has helped so many different people in our nation. Do you know that the whole judicial system is based on biblical principles? The law talked about how to judge, and we have Lady Justice with the scale and the blindfold. We have the 10 commandments. Our Judeo-Christian value system for law was based on the Bible, what is good, what is bad. The morality of the Bible has affected virtually every culture on Earth. The truth of the Bible helps people know what to do. The people that have lived out the Bible have never had history point back and say, "What you did was wrong." Never. Have Christians done wrong things? Yes, but it wasn't sanctioned by the Bible. So it doesn't say that everything a Christian does is right, what it says is whenever a Christian does what the Bible says, then they do good works.

Finally, on a personal level, when you live out the Bible, nobody says,"My goodness, what a horrible life." No, it's good. So many people try so many different things, and it doesn't work, but the people who finally get their life, right how do they get it right? They come to the Bible. It's what happened to me on November of 1983. For 22 years I lived a self-ruled life, trying to figure out everything on my own, doing made up good work. You know what good works were to me? Whatever was convenient, that was good. Whatever I was doing, that was good. Everything else was wrong. If I didn't do it, but you did it, and I didn't like, it was wrong. It was very subjective. The Bible is absolute, clear, concrete. When we do what it says, we do good works. We see it in nations and countries. We see it in groups. We see it in cultures, we see it in our own individual lives. The Bible is the source of good works. Somebody asks why I believe the Bible? It's because everything in the Bible is good. Everything that God tells an individual to do in the Bible is good. Everything God tells the church to do is good. We have seen this for 2000 years. That's why so many cities in our nation were founded by Christians. So many hospitals were founded by Christians. That's why you still see house Methodist Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, Baptist Hospital. Why? Because Christians did good works. History is loaded with people who lived out the Bible in good works. That's another reason why I believe the Bible, and I hope because you live it out you realize all the good things it inspires you to do when you live it out.

Father, thank you for your Word. It helps us know good from wrong. And because it is the source of good, we can believe in it. I thank you for this truth in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jun 21 8:13 AM

It's Inspired By God

Jun 21 8:13 AM

Monday, June 21, 2021

Why do you believe in the Bible? Why do you believe the Bible is worth living for? Do you have an answer for that?

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.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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