Good morning and welcome in. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
For some reason I’ve always been interested in electronics. In my bedroom as a child I use to tape and wire switches to my headboard so I could shut off the lights or turn on the radio in my bedroom anytime I desired.
One year someone purchased me a 50 to 1 Electronics kit where I could create all kinds of electric gadgets by simply attaching wires to small spring posts and following the directions. I can remember how fun of a summer that was. It also kept me very busy and prevented me from climbing up the tall trees by our house that I could possibly fall out of.
The kit came with a manual and if you simply did things the way It was explained in the book, you could create the item that you wanted to make. Even as a child, God was slowly teaching me about the Christian faith that one day in the future I would fully and completely embrace.
Wire by wire I would attach the electronic leads to each post. Sometimes the project didn’t work because a wire or two was out of place and the light that I was intending to make didn’t work. I had to go back to the manual and see where I had made my mistake so I could correct it. In the end when everything was hooked up properly the project worked perfectly.
Just like my electronics kit, God gives us his Holy Word for a reason. It’s a manual that helps us connect all the wires together that when followed, produces the end product that God wants each of us to become,……lights of mercy to this world.
As Christians, God wants to make us into new creatures. In order to do this we have to follow the handbook that He has given to us found in Scripture. It’s the teachings of Christ and the apostles found in the King James Bible.
2 Tim 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
God has already given us a manual so that we can become what he wants us to be. Notice that it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. There are people today who claim that the Apostle Paul was in the flesh when he wrote certain scripture.
I find that remarkable because God used Paul rather than modern-day theologians to write most of the New Testament that we have today. it simply shows a lack of respect for the man God chose.
Other prophets and Spiritual men of God believed in what he taught including the Apostle Peter. To reject certain parts of the scriptures is like leaving out a couple of wires on my electronic kit, the light just doesn’t come on.
When someone professes to be born again It’s more than making a statement because the true Christian is born again through study and application of God’s Holy Word. I had to study the manual in order to complete the project that I was working on as a child. It wasn’t just studying or reading the the manuel but it required application as well. The application part was about putting the wires in the proper place.
I have known people who memorize and quote all kinds of passages of scripture, which in itself without application is not enough to complete the final project. Without application people will come up with something completely different.
If you’re going to purchase a stamp to mail a letter to somebody but never lick the stamp and place it on the envelope, your letter is not going to get to where it’s supposed to go. Licking the stamp and placing it on the envelope is an application of postal knowledge. Its like the Christian faith. It’s more than just a profession, it’s application as the beloved Apostle James teaches us.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
If you are a doer it means that you are a person of action. The Apostle Paul was a man of action which resulted in a lot of the teachings in the scriptures that we have today. The Apostle Paul credited the works that he did as being motivated by God’s grace but none the less he had works that showed what he believed. Remember that faith without works is dead.
Having faith without works is like having a canoe with no paddles an attempting to get across a lake.
It’s like knowing how to ride a bike but you have no wheels to get down the road.
You can have lots of biblical knowledge…. but without attaching the wires properly and attempting to do what it says, the light cannot shine. It is our works that show the world what we believe. You can have an oil lamp that’s filled up with oil, but if there’s no application of touching a match to the wick it will never light.
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
To truly be reborn happens because of an application of scripture.
1 Peter 1:23 – Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
A few years ago, Andrew and I learned how to do something that neither of us had ever done before. One of our old sailboats had sprung multiple leaks in one of the pontoons while we were sailing and almost sunk in the lake. Thankfully we were close enough to the shore to drain out the water and get it home. It needed to be repaired and patched with fiberglass.
Andrew was in charge of reading me the instructions as we went, and I was responsible for the application of the materials to the hull. We both did our part and the result was that the boat never leaked again. So can you see how instructions followed by application produces results? If you don’t follow the directions or believe in the manual and decide to do it your own way the end result is going to be different. On the other hand if you believe what the directions say but you don’t ever apply you will also have a different result. When it comes to Christianity both qualities need to be functioning together.
Do you like shrimp with cocktail sauce? Do you like cereal and milk? These are really good together and produce a really good combination. I guarantee you that faith combined with works is the greatest combination that you could ever know. The reason why, is the end result is salvation and eternal life with our beloved God.
So when you read the manual, don’t forget that youve got to hook up the wires too!
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.❤
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 