Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to look at some scripture from 2nd Timothy chapter 3 but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
I have always enjoyed sailing. One of the things that I’ve always learned each time that I go out there Is that there is always a need to correct your course that you are currently on in order to make sure that you’re going to get to the right destination at the end of the lake. There are slight little adjustments and corrections that you have to do all the time depending on wind, waves or even the weather.
I’ve learned that it is very similar to the Christian life because each of us are trying to correct our course day by day and become obedient and faithful to what the Christian faith teaches us. The Christian life is about constant course correction.
Many many years ago when they used to sail the old sailing ships, they had to constantly keep looking at the compass to guide them on their way. God through his forgiveness, mercy and grace allows us to change our path while here upon the Earth.
When each of us began the Christian walk with Christ, it’s kind of like putting a sailboat into the lake for the very first time. You really don’t know what you’re doing. You first need to learn how to put up the sails. Next you learn to do all the rigging. When you figure that out, then you have to understand how the rudder and the centerboard work. You might take that boat out close to the shore somewhere and learn to see if you can actually catch some wind in order to get some kind of movement out on the water.
As you’ll learn to sail, you learn to pick a spot out at the end of the lake and head for it. No matter how good of a sailor you may be, it’s going to require a few course corrections along the way to get all the way home. The Christian faith is very similar to this. Even as you mature in Christ Jesus, there are going to be little changes and things that you have to alter in your life to eventually get home to our final destination with Christ. When you first began being a Christian there were some major things that you needed to change but as you grow into maturity you will find that smaller perfections will be required in your Christian walk with God.
If we do make a mistake along the way, we can come boldly to the throne of grace and get forgiven in the time of need. God gives us the grace that we need so that we can make a course correction in our lives. This is one of the reasons why he wants us to be very forgiving with others in the church. As He is toward us, He wants us to be toward each other. The Bible teaches us that God’s word is given to us for correction.
Have you ever had to fix a mistake in your life? If you did then you were making a correction.
Imagine painting your kitchen and the next morning when you got up, realizing that it was completely the wrong color. You decide to go out and buy a different color of paint to redo it. That is what you would call a correction.
A secretary might receive a transcription from somebody that she has to transcribe, but it has a lot of mistakes. She needs to fix misspelled words. When she does that, it’s called a correction. She corrects a mistake.
The dictionary defines correction as an improvement or revision when there is something that needs to be fixed. It is a change that is made to something in order to correct or improve it.
How many times have you had to write a letter to somebody but had to go through many different drafts or revisions before you sent it out? God gives unto each of us forgiveness and Grace in the church so that we can revise and change the things in our life for the better. Every wrong that we make God allows us to correct our course to get back on the track and follow the teachings of scripture.
Each of us in the church have got all kinds of different weaknesses and faults that we need to work on in our personal lives. These faults certainly affect other people in the church but remember, God gives us the grace that we need in order to do a course correction. He gives us ample amounts of grace.
Can you imagine an old sailing ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean who was told by their captain that there would be no availability for a course correction. Where do you think they would have ended up? Surely not the place you were intending to go.
God gives us Grace so that we can alter and change things in our lives in order to become compliant with His will. When we first begin the Christian walk, there may be some huge changes that need to happen but as we grow in our faith there’s going to be little smaller areas that we need to tweak and correct.
Each of us needs to change and to become humble. We need to become meek, loving and obedient towards our God. We need to change and become faithful and compliant to His desires for us.
Each of us are here upon planet Earth. When you become a Christian what we are doing is preparing ourselves to be able to land on the shore of our final destination which is the kingdom of heaven. In order to do so and to become what God wants each of us to be, we have to correct certain things. The end of the Commandment is love out of a pure heart. The word love is a word that is very broad. What I mean by that is this.
If you say that you have a motorized vehicle it could be a moped, car, truck, bus, semi or even a child’s mini bike. The word love encompasses a lot of different things.
The Christian life is more than just professing to love others, it is converting to the love that is found in the scriptures. God’s love is far different than the world’s concept of love. This is why the scriptures are there to guide us into Divine truth. They teach us how to love others the way that God loves us.
2 Tim 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
When I went to high school I can always remember something that I learned in math class. They said the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. As a Christian we are attempting to take a straight line to our destination which is the kingdom of heaven. It’s the same thing when you sail. You’re setting your course as a straight line to your destination across the lake. On the way God gives us Grace that we need to correct our path.
There’s all kinds of things when you’re out on the lake sailing that you can run into. Strong winds may blow you off course. You can run into a log that’s hidden under the boat and break your rudder off. There are little things in life that we have to deal with day by day as we run the Christian Life. What matters is that you get back up and keep running.
Think about how many airplanes and ships have to adjust their course day-by-day and hour-by-hour depending on conditions and the things that are happening around them.
The Christian Life as you start to grow and mature in God’s word ends up about making minute adjustments day by day.
Maybe you said something for just a split second in your day that you regret but the other 23 hours and 59 minutes were fine. You need to make a small adjustment.
Maybe you said something that was arrogant fo a moment, but the other 23hours and 59:45 seconds were flawless.
There are a little small adjustments that we each need to do that will result in a huge course correction in your final destination.
Think about people who race cars for a living. A mechanic might make very small adjustments to a carburetor on a vehicle or they might make minor adjustments on a transmission. Because of those small things that they did they eventually win the race. As we start the Christian Life, there usually will be many big things that you turn away from. The further that you go in Christianity the smaller the corrections will become. That’s what happens as you mature. You might see a huge change in the beginning of the Christian walk as you look backwards in time, but as you mature the change has become smaller.
God gives each of us plenty of Grace. No matter how mature or how long that you’ve been a Christian God gives us the grace that we need to overcome each of our small little faults.
Remember that correction is an improvement or a revision of something that needs to be fixed. When you fix something it means to make whole or able to work properly again. It means to repair and to correct a problem that exists. God wants to fix each of us. God is a spiritual mechanic. His manual is found in the teachings of God’s holy word.
When we look into scripture, we realize the right or the wrong way to go. We realize the things that we’re doing okay and the things that we’re doing wrong. In the Christian faith God gives us a Grace in order to fix things in our lives. He gives us grace in order to correct ourselves. God’s instruction is given to us for correction.
Pro 15:32 “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.”
Pro 8:33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
If the captain tells you that you need to correct your course are you going to listen to him? Through the instruction in the teachings of the King James Bible, God shows us the right path and course to be on. Just like a captain who runs the ship are you going to listen to what he has to say? Are you going to do a course correction in your own life so that you can save not only yourself but others who are around you?
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow till then bye-bye everybody♥️♥️
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