{"id":18219,"date":"2016-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-029-why-preach-the-bible-part-4\/"},"modified":"2016-05-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-029-why-preach-the-bible-part-4","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-029-why-preach-the-bible-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 029 – Why Preach the Bible? – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18219","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 029 - Why Preach the Bible? - Part 4","sermon_date":"20160501","sermon_month":"5","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3587,"sermon_slides":3588,"sermon_mp3":3593,"sermon_id":"51161059197","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"3:17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhy Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 4\n\n5-1-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 30\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to 2 Timothy 3:17, continuing our look at this series that we\u2019re in, which is a series within a series.\u00a0 The big series is\n\n2 Timothy, the series within the series is Why Preach the Bible.\u00a0 And of course I want to give a shout out to all of the volunteers that worked so hard yesterday to put together that ladies luncheon.\u00a0 I feel the Lord blessed it and it was just a great event.\u00a0 In fact, some of you I\u2019m shocked to see you here at church, I thought you\u2019d be keeled over in exhaustion.\u00a0 But it\u2019s good to see everybody here.\n\n2 Timothy 3:17, if you\u2019re visiting with us for the first time we are in the midst of a study through the book of 2 Timothy, which basically is a book about encouragement as Paul is seeking to encourage Timothy to complete his task in Ephesus as the pastor of that great work.\u00a0 Paul has called this young man to endurance, chapter 1.\u00a0 He has given him, chapter 2, about ten word pictures or metaphors explaining what endurance looks like.\u00a0 Some of those word pictures we\u2019re going to dial back to today, as you will see.\n\nAnd then he begins to talk about something that\u2019s a huge subject in the New Testament but not a lot of pulpits address this.\u00a0 It has to do with the apostasy, how the church, as it progresses towards the end of the church age will be tempted more and more to veer of course and to abandon truth.\u00a0 It\u2019s not really a prophecy about the world; the world doesn\u2019t have any truth to abandon.\u00a0 It\u2019s a prophecy about the church.\u00a0 Apostasy essentially is a departure from known truth.\u00a0 Paul has described the evil of the apostasy, verses 1-7.\u00a0 He\u2019s given a couple of examples of apostates, verses 8-9.\u00a0 And then Paul gives the antidote for apostasy.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t tell Timothy you can stop the apostasy.\u00a0 What he tells him, though, is you can control how you react to it.\u00a0\u00a0 And you, Timothy, need to not be pulled away with the majority; you need to continue on in what you know to be true.\u00a0 Paul tells Timothy to follow his own example of endurance.\n\nAnd then beginning in chapter 3, verse 14 through chapter 4, verse 8, he tells Timothy to preach the Word of God.\u00a0 As the church loses interest in the Word of God you need to be more bold in proclaiming, first studying and then proclaiming the Word of God.\u00a0 And I want you to understand something, Timothy, that the Word of God accomplishes nine things.\u00a0 It changes lives, like Paul\u2019s, verse 14.\u00a0 It gets folks saved, verse 15.\u00a0 It has to be preached because it\u2019s of divine origins, it\u2019s inspired by God, as we have talked about.\u00a0 And then last week you recall that it has an impact, a huge impact on the middle tense of our salvation that we call progressive sanctification.\u00a0 That\u2019s all in verse 16.\u00a0 The Word of God gets\u00a0 you saved because \u201cfaith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,\u201d\u00a0 Romans 10:17.\u00a0 And then the Word of God helps you to mature and to grow.\u00a0 And that process of growth was described at the end of verse 16.\n\nNow he continues on with his list and gives a fifth reason and this is where our focus is today on why the Word of God has to be something that\u2019s a priority in your life, Timothy, as a spiritual leader, in spite of the apostasy.\u00a0\u00a0 Number 5, the Word of God has to be a priority in your life because of its impact on equipping.\u00a0 See, there\u2019s a lot of things that we want to do in the natural world but we\u2019re just not fitted properly for it.\u00a0 For example, I think jumping out of an airplane looks fun, but unless I go through a training class and unless I have the right equipment, the parachute especially being important I guess, it\u2019s not something that I would just jump out and do because I have to be fitted properly or equipped properly for that activity.\n\nAnd you see, there are many, many people in the body of Christ that want to do this and that for God; they have a zeal for some ministry or for some vision that they have but they have never really allowed themselves to be equipped by God\u2019s Word for that task.\u00a0 The Word of God, then, becomes this tremendous tool that the Holy Spirit uses to equip us.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the focus there of verse 17.\n\nSo let\u2019s take a look there at verse 17 as we read it once again, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 Now what I\u2019m seeing here are about seven clauses or phrases that need to be understood.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to understand the philosophy of ministry that we have at Sugar Land Bible Church without understanding these seven phrases, or clauses, coming out of verse 17.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice this first one there, \u201cso that,\u201d or sometimes translated \u201cin order that.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what you call a hina<\/em> clause in Greek, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 What does \u201cso that\u201d communicate?\u00a0 It communicates causation.\u00a0 In other words, the Scripture, which has been described in verse 16 and its role in our growth in Christ causes or produces something in the life of the child of God, as we\u2019re going to be studying here, it produces equipment \u201cfor every good work.\u201d\n\nSo this little expression, \u201cso that\u201d connects verse 17 back to verse 16.\u00a0 Well, what was the content in verse 16?\u00a0 Our sanctification.\u00a0 Our sanctification is not where we become sinless, but as we are going thru the process of progressive sanctification by being perpetually corrected by the Word of God, as we saw last time, hopefully what is happening is we\u2019re sinning less.\u00a0 Our lives are gradually being conformed and transformed into the moral character of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We are beginning to exhibit what the book of Galatians calls the fruit of the Spirit.\u00a0 [Galatians 5:22, \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.\u201d]\u00a0 And as that process takes hold in the life of the child of God it produces so that, in order that, it produces a life of good works.\u00a0 So\u00a0 you notice the order here; holiness, personal holiness comes first and then the ministry of good works that God has for each of us comes second. \u00a0God uses vessels that are pure.\n\nNow when you go back to 2 Timothy 2:19-23 you\u2019ll remember that Paul told Timothy about the two vessels.\u00a0 It says there, 2 Timothy 2:2, \u201cNow in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. [21] Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things,<\/em> he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. [22] Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and<\/em> peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.\u201d\n\nWhat he is talking about here between these two vessels is not the difference between a believer and an unbeliever; he is talking about two different kinds of believers.\u00a0 One believer has made great strides through God\u2019s Word in this middle tense of salvation, that we call progressive sanctification.\u00a0 Another one hasn\u2019t, he, or she, is still living just like they lived in the world.\u00a0 And God looks at those two people as two different kinds of vessels; we might draw the distinction between plastic and silver; plastic wear and silver wear.\u00a0 If you\u2019re having an ordinary occasion at your house you use the plastic wear.\u00a0 If something special is happening in your house, New Year\u2019s, Christmas, birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving, you break out the silverware.\u00a0 And it\u2019s the same way in the Lord\u2019s house.\u00a0 He\u2019s got objects of plastic and He\u2019s got objects of silver; one is for very common purposes, one is for very noble purposes.\u00a0 And what determines what a believer is one or the other fit for the Master\u2019s use is their personal holiness.\n\nThat\u2019s the significance of this hina<\/em> clause, \u201cso that\u201d and the rest of the verse begins to talk about good works.\u00a0 The hina<\/em> clause connects verse 17 back to verse 16 which is talking about our personal holiness.\u00a0 God uses people that are personally holy.\u00a0 And this is very different than the way our culture thinks; we look for talent constantly.\u00a0 Even in the church world we look this way, we look at people that have talent to do something, to preach, to teach, to sing, to administer, some kind of talent.\u00a0 We have a tendency to promote that person independent of what they\u2019re like in their personal life.\u00a0 And God doesn\u2019t think that way.\u00a0 Such thinking is foreign to the pages of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 And with our political system you hear politicians of all stripes saying look, I\u2019m doing a good job in office, the economy is still running along fine.\u00a0 So what I do in my private life is nobody\u2019s business.\n\nSo we bifurcate job performance with personal holiness and that thinking seeps into the church and what we discover in the Word of God, particularly the imagery with those two vessels is that doesn\u2019t work with God at all.\u00a0 God uses people that are personally holy.\u00a0 The greater strides we make in this realm of personal holiness the more God graduates us to greater and greater degrees of usability.\n\nYou know, you run into a lot of people and you look at them and you say well, there\u2019s a very talented person over there; I wonder why they\u2019re not being used more in the area of their gifting.\u00a0 I wonder why God is not using that person more to expand His purposes on the earth.\u00a0 And I would bet this if I were a betting man; nine times out of ten if you look into that person\u2019s life there\u2019s a deficiency of their character.\u00a0 There is some sort of habitual sin that keeps happening and they have not brought that under the reigning and the authority of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And so God basically puts them on the bench; they\u2019re benchwarmers, they\u2019re not really in the game.\u00a0 They\u2019re very talented people but God simply can\u2019t use them the way He wants because He uses vessels that are holy before Him.\n\n\u201cSo that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 Now notice this second expression, \u201cman of God.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSo that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 Who is \u201cthe man of God\u201d?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s sort of an easy question to answer if you\u2019re familiar with 1 Timothy because 1 Timothy comes before 2 Timothy.\u00a0 Do you all agree with that thinking?\u00a0 1 Timothy comes first, 2 Timothy comes second.\u00a0 And going back to 1 Timothy 6:11 he defines who the man of God is, \u201cBut flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteous, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.\u201d\u00a0 So who is \u201cthe man of God\u201d?\u00a0 The \u201cman of God\u201d is Timothy.\u00a0 The man of God, therefore by analogy or extension would be all people that really have a heart to serve the Lord.\u00a0 The man is \u201cthe man of God.\u201d\u00a0 The woman would be \u201cthe woman of God.\u201d\u00a0 And what I want you to see in 2 Timothy 3:17 is that he mentions \u201cthe man of God\u201d but he mentions that \u201cthe man of God\u201d needs to be \u201cadequate,\u201d and needs to be \u201cequipped.\u201d\n\nIn other words, just because someone is a man or a woman of God does not mean that they\u2019re qualified to do great exploits and things for God.\u00a0 There has to be some kind of equipping process which only the Word of God can provide.\u00a0 There are many, many people that are very sincere about the things of God.\u00a0 They are very eager to get on with the business of God.\u00a0 And yet God looks at them as a sincere man or woman of God who lacks the equipment which can only be given through the Word of God.\n\nI\u2019m\u00a0 reminded of the prophet, Ezekiel; Ezekiel had a tremendous ministry, it spanned about 20 years or so.\u00a0 He preached judgment and he preached restoration.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting to me how the Lord prepared Ezekiel for that ministry.\u00a0 In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 2, verses 8-10, it says this: \u201cNow you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. [9] <\/strong>Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was<\/em> in it. [10] Then He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a metaphor here.\u00a0 Ezekiel, before you enter your ministry, before you enter your calling I want you to do something first by way of preparation.\u00a0 I want you to consume the scroll that I am giving you, metaphorically, for \u201cman shall not live on bread alone, but on\u201d what? \u201cevery word that proceeds from the mouth of God.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel, you\u2019re going to have a tremendous ministry but you have to be equipped for it first.\u00a0 You have to consume, you have to absorb the Word of God.\n\nYou know, you think about Jesus; Jesus had a thirty year preparation for a three\u00a0 year ministry.\u00a0 And most of us would rather have that order reversed; I mean I want a three year preparation for thirty year ministry and frankly I don\u2019t really want to bother with three years if I can get by without it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not how God works.\u00a0 There are many people that get out and try to do things for God who have never had a season in their life of absorbing truth and such people may have talent, they may have energy, they are kind of like a flash in the pan, but the depth isn\u2019t there.\u00a0 They have a drawer full of maybe three sermons that they just repeat over and over and over again.\u00a0 And I know people like this; you listen to them talk and you say that\u2019s what they said last month, or last year.\u00a0 There\u2019s only so much they have to draw from because they have never submitted themselves to the equipping ministry of the Word of God.\u00a0 So Timothy, you\u2019re a man of God and you need to be prepared for your ministry by the Word of God.\n\nAnd then you\u2019ll notice this expression here in verse 17, \u201cmay be,\u201d notice again what the verse says, \u201cso that the man of God may be\u201d or might be adequately \u201cequipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a verb, \u201cmay be\u201d as it\u2019s translated.\u00a0 It\u2019s what you call in the subjunctive mood which is the mood of possibility; maybe this will happen, maybe it won\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s the mood of probability; maybe this will happen, maybe it won\u2019t.\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s not guaranteed that Timothy will submit himself to the equipping nature of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why God told Timothy back in the word pictures in 2 Timothy 2;15, in the word picture of the workman, he said, 2 Timothy 2:15, \u201cBe diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.\u201d\n\nHow do you get to a point in your life where you can accurately handle the Word of God? \u00a0Well, this verse says you have to be diligent.\u00a0 What is diligent?\u00a0 It\u2019s consistency, regularity.\u00a0 And you have to present yourself over and over to God, submitting to His Word both in knowledge and in obedience.\u00a0 And that regular process is the process God uses more than any other single thing to prepare people to be the husband they\u2019re supposed to be; to prepare people to be the wife they\u2019re supposed to be.\u00a0 To prepare people to be the parent they\u2019re supposed to be, or the child they\u2019re supposed to be, or the ministry that they\u2019re supposed to have.\u00a0 Or what they\u2019re going to be doing on the job and in their career.\u00a0 We\u2019re all called to do different things.\u00a0 How in the world does God prepare us for these tasks?\u00a0\u00a0 It is only accomplished through the work of the Word, the ministry of the Word.\n\nAnd a lot of us just do not reach our potential because we\u2019ve never spent time in God\u2019s Word the way we should.\u00a0 You know, I\u00a0 have these cleansing teas I drink in the evening, and sometimes I\u2019m in a hurry, I just want to drink the dumb thing and get to bed and, you know, I throw it in the microwave, flick it on for 30 seconds and drop the tea bag in and okay, it\u2019s been in there for 15 seconds, that\u2019s enough time, let\u2019s drink it and check it off my list and get to bed.\u00a0 You know when I do that the tea doesn\u2019t taste too good; it tastes like water.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that the longer that tea bag soaks in the water the stronger and stronger that tea that I\u2019m about to consume becomes.\n\nAnd all of us are like this with the Word of God.\u00a0 We want to be this and we want t be that but we\u2019re not really soaking in the Word of God as we should and so we have sort of a powerless taste to our lives.\u00a0\u00a0 The power of life, the power of ministry comes from meditating on the Word of God both day and night.\n\nNow notice also this word \u201cadequate.\u201d\u00a0 1 Timothy 3:17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 This word \u201cadequate\u201d is very interesting.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s an adjective, artios<\/em>, it means to be complete, capable, proficient, competent.\u00a0 Timothy, you\u2019re not any of these things on your own, even though you\u2019re a man of God, even though you have a heart for God.\u00a0 You\u2019re not any of these things on\u00a0 your own.\u00a0 On your own you\u2019re not complete; you\u2019re not capable, you\u2019re not proficient, frankly you\u2019re not even competent.\u00a0 But it is the equipment and the fitting that the Word of God will give you that will equip you for your task.\u00a0 And what a task that was.\n\nCan you imagine being put in charge of that church at Ephesus, the key church of the first century world; a church that Paul, the apostle himself had planted, a church that Paul, when he pastored that church, Acts 19:10 says everyone in Asia heard the word of the Lord through that ministry.\u00a0 [Acts 19:10, \u201cThis took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.\u201d]\u00a0 What a ministry, and here\u2019s this kid, young man, who basically gets sick a lot, not exactly something that would just jump off a page as you look at a resume, I mean, who would put Timothy in charge of this?\n\nBut Timothy was in that position.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul had put him in that position. And can you sense the inadequacy that Timothy felt?\u00a0 Not being up to the task; not being up to the job.\u00a0 No doubt some of you feel like that just in daily life.\u00a0 I feel like that many times, just not up to the task.\u00a0 And how meaningful this promise is here, that it\u2019s the Word that will equip you.\u00a0 Give yourself to the sacred scriptures and writings because they, and they alone, as God unfolds them through the ministry of illumination will prepare you for your task, which you\u2019re not adequate for by yourself.\n\nWhat does the Word of God exactly do for us.\u00a0 This takes us to number 5, it prepares us for, notice this expression, \u201cgood works.\u201d\u00a0 agathos<\/em> is the word good; argon<\/em> is the word work; notice again the verse, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every\u201d we\u2019ll be focusing on \u201cevery\u201d in just a minute, but right now just focus on \u201cgood work.\u201d\n\nYou know, I think\u2026 and I\u2019m partly to blame for this, at least in this church, good works have gotten a bad rap.\u00a0 We preach so aggressively against, because of many false gospels out there, we preach so aggressively against this idea that goods works gain you salvation.\u00a0 We\u2019re so aggressive in that direction that you get the impression that I guess good works are bad; I guess God doesn\u2019t want good works at all.\u00a0 We preach so aggressively that good works don\u2019t guarantee your salvation, good works don\u2019t authenticate your salvation; what gives you the assurance of salvation are the promises of God.\u00a0 We preach so aggressively in that direction that we get this idea that good works are somehow out of God\u2019s will; good works are bad.\n\nAnd what a distorted impression of the Bible we can get.\u00a0 Let me tell you something.\u00a0 You were created to do good works.\u00a0 God desires for His children to abound in good works.\u00a0 We quote, quite frequently Ephesians 2:8-9, we leave off verse 10.\u00a0 Why do we do that?\u00a0 Ephesians 2:8-9 most of us know it by heart, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; it is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,\u00a0 [9] not as a result of works, so that no one can boast.\u201d\u00a0 And we put the Bible down.\u00a0 But what about verse 10, \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d Wow, you mean I am created for the purpose of good works?\u00a0 You mean that the good works God has me to do as His child of God are actually prepared beforehand.\u00a0 You want to talk about restoration of good works, Ephesians 2:10 does this.\n\nNow good works have to be understood correctly.\u00a0 They don\u2019t precede salvation, they follow salvation in the design of God.\u00a0 We do good works with the right motivation under His power, however, the good works themselves are critical to the life of the child of God.\u00a0 Of course they don\u2019t gain one justification before God; we\u2019ve given multiple teachings on that.\u00a0 And yet the desire of God for the child of God is to abound in good works.\u00a0 Jesus taught this in the Upper Room, did He not.\u00a0 In John 15:5 Jesus said, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.\u201d\u00a0 Wow, the Lord wants us, as His children, to bear, not just a little few shriveling grapes on the side but \u201cmuch fruit.\u201d\n\nAnd then he says in John 15:8, \u201cMy Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove yourselves to be My disciples.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve drawn distinctions in our teachings between being a believer and being a disciple, which we won\u2019t rehash here.\u00a0 But a disciple is a follower of God; not all believers are disciples but every disciple is a believer.\u00a0 You get saved,\u00a0 you receive the gospel, you\u2019re ushered into the family of God and then the calling on your life is move off into discipleship.\u00a0 And what is the criteria that God uses to determine if we are truly His disciples?\u00a0 It is the bearing of not a few shriveling grapes but \u201cmuch fruit.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s how you\u2019re going to prove you\u2019re really followers of Mine the Lord Jesus says.\n\nIf you don\u2019t believe me, read this week the whole book of James, five chapters.\u00a0 The book of James contrary to popular opinion is not written so that people can second guess whether they are Christians; that\u2019s not it\u2019s point.\u00a0 It\u2019s trying to move people off the bench and into the game.\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you tired of being third string?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you ever want to be the starting quarterback?\u00a0 Read the book of James.\u00a0 It moves people away from dead orthodoxy, people that have their fire insurance paid up and are going to heaven and moves them into the realm of workers for the kingdom of God expanding His purpose on the earth.\u00a0 You all know that I believe the kingdom is yet future but certainly we can win souls for that coming kingdom, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 That\u2019s what the book of James teaches.\n\nAnd what prepares us for these good words?\u00a0 It\u2019s the Word of God.\u00a0 The Word of God equips us, not just a little tiny bit but adequately for every good work.\u00a0 Thomas Constable, in his Online Notes writes this: \u201cEvery good work is the ultimate goal of our lives.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 2:10.\u00a0 The mastery and use of Scripture is only a means to an end, not and end in and of itself.\u00a0 God did not give us the Bible just to satisfy our curiosity but to enable\u00a0 us to help other people spiritually.\u201d\n\nYou mean the study of the Bible, you mean learning Greek tenses, you mean winning the Bible Bee, memorizing verses, listening to sermons, going to Sunday School class, reading through the Bible in a one year plan, you mean that\u2019s not the end of the game?\u00a0 No it\u2019s not, that\u2019s the beginning of the game.\u00a0 That\u2019s not even the end goal; that\u2019s a means to the goal.\u00a0 The Word, when it does its work in the heart of a person adequately equips that person to be used as a vessel or a channel or a vehicle for God so that other people can be blessed.\n\nHave you heard the expression, \u201cBlessed to be a blessing\u201d?\u00a0 What is God\u2019s plan for your life?\u00a0 He wants to use you to bless other people.\u00a0 That\u2019s what He wants to do.\u00a0 Well, what prepares\u00a0 you for that?\u00a0 It is the work of the Word which prepares us for our purpose.\n\nBarclay in his commentary writes this:\u00a0 \u201cHe\u201d the Christian, \u201cmust study the Scriptures to make himself useful to God and\u00a0 useful to his fellow man.\u00a0 He must study, not simply and solely to save his own soul but that he may make himself such that God will use him to help to save souls and comfort the lives of other people.\u201d\u00a0 God wants to use you to help save other people, to comfort them, to bless them.\u00a0 He is not giving you an understanding of the Bible just to win some kind of trivial pursuit contest.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed to be a blessing,\u201d and yet you can\u2019t move into that realm of being a blessing unless you\u2019ve been adequately prepped for it through the Word of God.\n\nAnd what does the Word of God do?\u00a0 This takes us to number 6, it equips the child of God.\u00a0 The word \u201cequip\u201d here is very, very interesting because if you hold you place here let me take you to one other place in the Bible.\u00a0 Look at Ephesians 4:11 and following. \u00a0And what you need to understand as\u00a0 you\u2019re turning there is that the church at Ephesus has a paper trail.\u00a0 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, written to the church at Ephesus do not represent the first book that God ever wrote to that church.\u00a0 In fact, the very first book that God authored through Paul to that church is the book called what?\u00a0 Ephesians. Where was Timothy?\u00a0 Ephesus.\u00a0 So to understand this concept of equipping it\u2019s necessary to go back to the very first letter that the Holy Spirit gave to that church.\u00a0 And if you start connecting the dots in this way you\u2019ll start to see what he means by this ministry of equipping.\n\nIn Ephesians 4:11 it says, \u201cAnd He gave some as<\/em> apostles, and some as<\/em> prophets,\u201d now that\u2019s the foundation of the structure of the church, and He gave \u201csome as<\/em> evangelists,\u201d those are those who have a gifting and a calling to go out amongst the lost and bring other people to Christ into the fold.\u00a0 Without evangelists the church can\u2019t grow.\u00a0 And watch this, \u201cand some as<\/em> pastors and teachers,\u201d in the natural world there is a difference between an obstetrician and a pediatrician; those are two completely different disciplines, aren\u2019t they.\u00a0 In fact, I don\u2019t even know of a doctor who is both.\u00a0 The obstetrician helps in the birthing process; pediatrician helps the newborn grow.\u00a0 The evangelist is the obstetrician, the pediatrician is the pastors and teachers, more technically pastor-teacher.\n\nFor what purpose? \u201c For the\u201d what?\u00a0 What\u2019s the next word? \u00a0[verse 12] \u201cFor the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;\u201d and you go right through the rest of that paragraph through verse 16 and you\u2019ll see what maturity looks like.\u00a0 [Verse 13, \u201cuntil we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. [14] As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; [15] but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects<\/em> into Him who is the head, even<\/em> Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.\u201d]\u00a0 It is the function, then, of the pediatrician or the pastor-teacher to equip the flock so that the flock can grow and mature to a point where God can start using them as individuals to bless other people.\n\nNow here\u2019s the $20 question: through what means or mechanism does the pastor-teacher equip the flock.\u00a0 Well, let\u2019s take it to the third letter that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus and that\u2019s back to 1 Timothy 3:17, it tells us exactly.\u00a0 After dealing with the Scriptures he says, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate,\u201d and what? \u201cequipped,\u201d the gift of pastor-teacher is the ability, therefore, to understand the Word of God and explain the Word of God in a way that your average Christian can get it and understand it.\u00a0 And as the Holy Spirit uses that spiritual gift of pastor-teacher what is happening to the flock of God is they are growing in terms of maturity and Christ likeness.\u00a0 And as they grow in maturity and Christ likeness, as they become blessed what happens is they are equipped so they can be a blessing.\n\nWhat is this church, Sugar Land Bible Church about? What is our forte?\u00a0 What is our game?\u00a0 What is our bag?\u00a0 What is our specialty?\u00a0 You can sum it all up in this word \u201cequip.\u201d\u00a0 We are a teaching church; we believe in teaching the Word of God in a way that people can understand it and apply it and so that they can grow to the point where God can begin to use them in their office, their vocation, their calling, their ministry.\u00a0 And unless you understand this ministry of equipping the focus of this church is a mystery.\u00a0 I mean, why do you have to preach for a whole hour?\u00a0 Can\u2019t we beat the Baptists to the cafeteria at 1:00 someday at least?\u00a0 And so much of church life today is not built around this concept of equipping.\u00a0 It\u2019s like fast food, you\u2019re in and you\u2019re out; give me a liver quiver for the week.\u00a0 Give me three points and a poem and let me get on with my life.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what this church is; that\u2019s not what our calling is.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t what our specialty is.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t what our forte is.\u00a0 It is about equipping.\n\nAnd Paul is very clear here that this equipping cannot and will not happen independent of a perpetual intake of the Word of God.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here for entertainment; we\u2019re not here for show.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here for meet and greet.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here for people to use the church to climb some kind of social structure or scale.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the purpose at all.\u00a0 That\u2019s not even why God called the church into existence and began to put into it various spiritual gifts.\u00a0 This church is about equipping.\n\nNow later on in the passage, chapter 4, which we won\u2019t be getting to today, it also says do the work of an evangelist.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe I have the gift of evangelism.\u00a0 I wish I did but God gives the gifts according to His will, Hebrews 2:4 says that.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:4, \u201cGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.\u201d]\u00a0 And I don\u2019t think Timothy had the gift of evangelist either.\u00a0 And yet he was called to do the work of an evangelist.\u00a0 So part of our equipping ministry is to also give the gospel regularly in the hopes that some would respond to it.\u00a0 If I had the gift Billy Graham had I could give the gospel and hundreds and thousands of people would get saved.\u00a0 That\u2019s not happening with me; God hasn\u2019t made me that way.\u00a0 So then why do you keep giving it?\u00a0 Because some of you have the gift; God wants to use you as an evangelist because you, in your family, in your business, in your office, in your spheres of influence, have contact with people whose names I don\u2019t even know and have never met.\u00a0 And I can equip you to be an evangelist because you\u2019ll hear the gospel over and over again, and\u00a0 you\u2019ll start picking up on how to share it, what to focus on.\u00a0 This is all part of this ministry philosophy of equipping.\n\nAnd this last one, now \u201clast one\u201d doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re done in 30 seconds because this one will step on a few toes.. all right?\u00a0 But we\u2019re all friends at the end of the day, I want you to remember that.\u00a0 The last point here is \u201cevery.\u201d\u00a0 Did you catch the everys and the alls back in verse 16, Scripture is inspired by God, it says, \u201cAll Scripture\u201d that word \u201call\u201d is a big deal.\u00a0 Now notice what he says here in verse 17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for\u201d what kind of good work?\u00a0 \u201cevery good work.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s an adjective, \u201call\u201d or \u201cevery.\u201d\n\nThere is a parallel passage in 2 Peter 1:3-4 which makes the same claim.\u00a0 Peter writes, so \u201cthat His divine power has granted to us everything<\/u> pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.\u00a0 [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises<\/u>, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d\u00a0 Notice \u201cpromises\u201d is underlined; that\u2019s the Scripture.\u00a0 What do we have in the Scripture is \u201ceverything\u201d related \u201cto life and godliness.\u201d\n\nGoing back to 2 Timothy 3:17, [\u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d]\u00a0 What does the Scripture do?\u00a0 It adequately equips, not for a few good works, but \u201cfor every good work.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is a piece of Swiss cheese, it\u2019s supposed to look like that anyway.\u00a0 That is how your average evangelical Christian today looks at the Bible.\u00a0 They look at it like a piece of Swiss cheese, it\u2019s got a lot of holes in it.\u00a0 The Bible has a lot of good things to say, people think, but what do we do with these holes where the Bible has not really addressed something. We\u2019ve got to plug up the hole with something and let\u2019s borrow the thinking of man to plug up the hole.\n\nAnd what I\u2019m dealing with here is not the issue of inspiration of the Bible; I\u2019m not dealing with inerrancy of the Bible, what I\u2019m talking about here is the sufficiency of the Bible.\u00a0 Is the Bible enough to prepare the child of God for \u201cevery good work.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s the battle today because you can walk into a church and they can be pursuing a totally different ministry philosophy and I\u2019ll show you why they\u2019re pursuing that ministry philosophy in just a moment, and they will tell you they believe in the inspiration of the Bible; they will tell you they believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.\u00a0 Then what\u2019s the problem?\u00a0 The problem is a disagreement over the sufficiency of the Bible.\n\n2 Peter 1:3-4, 2 Timothy 3:17 are making a claim of sufficiency, that the Bible is enough \u201cfor every good work.\u201d\n\nLet me give you some examples.\u00a0 The Bible is enough to tell you how to get to heaven; if you want to know how to get to heaven when you die you don\u2019t need to consult a bunch of theologians and Popes and priests and Monks from the past, and a bunch of church traditions.\u00a0 There\u2019s no hole here that has to be plugged up; you simply consult the Word of God, interpreting it accurately.\u00a0 Do you want to know where everything came from?\u00a0 How do we get here?\u00a0 The Bible tells you.\u00a0 Genesis 1-11 explains where we came from.\u00a0 It\u2019s astounding to me how must\u2026 not most buy many evangelical Christians don\u2019t believe that.\u00a0 The Bible has a hole there, they say.\u00a0 Well, how are you going to get to the truth?\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to plug up that hole with the thinking of man, a little bit from Charles Lyell a little bit from Charles Darwin may help, and let\u2019s mix the whole thing together.\n\nThat is an assault, that mindset is an assault on the sufficiency of the Bible.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need Charles Darwin because the Bible tells me where everything came from.\u00a0 In fact, if I needed Charles Darwin what does the church do for 1859 years?\u00a0 Charles Darwin published his book, The Origin of Species<\/em> in 1858; what did the church do for 1859 years before Charles Darwin came along.\u00a0 That\u2019s the silliness that we gravitate towards when we take the thinking of man and put it on some kind of pedestal.\n\nWhat about emotional health?\u00a0 Do you know what I\u2019ve discovered as a Christian?\u00a0 This book has done for my emotional wellbeing than any other single source.\u00a0 It\u2019s helped me with anxiety, a destructive emotion, it\u2019s helped me with worry, a destructive emotion, it has helped me with bitterness, with a destructive emotion, and today I\u2019m a\u2026 you know, a fairly normal person.\u00a0 Don\u2019t push that too far, I\u2019ve got some growing to do as we all do.\u00a0 This book has liberated me emotionally and once I began to discover that I began to discard the thinking of Freud, Skinner and\u00a0 Young, most of whom hated God\u2019s guts.\u00a0 Carl Jung even had his own spirit guide named Philemon, who I believe was a demon, giving him insight into human behavior.\n\nWhat about the issue of spiritual warfare?\u00a0\u00a0 You know, you talk to different Christians and they\u2019re involved in all kinds of practices that you don\u2019t find in the Bible: praying down territorial spirits, binding Satan.\u00a0 Why would I bind Satan when the Bible says he\u2019s not going to be bound until the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 Why would I have in my prayer life \u201cSatan, I bind you?\u201d\u00a0 Some people, I\u2019ve talked to them and they\u2019re very deep into spiritual warfare and they will actually tell you the names of the demons they\u2019re fighting.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see that in the Bible.\u00a0 What I see in the Bible is sufficient information for engaging in spiritual warfare.\u00a0 Ephesians 6:16 says, with \u201cthe shield of faith\u201d we are \u201cable to extinguish\u201d what? \u201call the flaming darts of the evil one.\u201d\n\n1 John 2:14 says, \u201cI have written to you, young me, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and\u00a0 you have overcome the evil one.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because of \u201cthe word of God.\u201d\u00a0 These are all sufficiency of Scripture issues that I am articulating.\n\nWhat about money?\u00a0 What is your philosophy of money?\u00a0 Finances?\u00a0 Debt?\u00a0 Revenues?\u00a0 Taxation?\u00a0 It\u2019s fascinating to me how Christians will flock to some speaker somewhere with limited biblical credentials, if any, to teach you how to line up your finances.\u00a0 Did you know that the Bible says more about money than any other single issue.\u00a0 Before faith, before heaven, before hell the Bible is talking about money.\u00a0 If you want a great book that articulates a biblical philosophy of money I would encourage you to read the book, Money and Possessions in Light of Eternity<\/em> by Randy Alcorn.\u00a0 As a new Christian I devoured that book.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it wasn\u2019t filled with a bunch of human wisdom.\u00a0 The whole thing is exegesis of Scripture.\u00a0 It deals with every Scripture\u00a0 you can imagine in the Bible dealing with money.\n\nWhat about church management?\u00a0 Well, God has given us some books on church management.\u00a0 There\u2019s three of them: 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy, and Titus.\u00a0 But beloved, that\u2019s not where the church leadership is today in many places; it\u2019s Peter Drucker, Steven Covey, and Abraham Maslow.\u00a0 And in fact, I have been handed books by people related to the subject of church management that I will not touch with a ten foot pole.\u00a0 Let me tell you why I don\u2019t touch them with a ten foot pole: because I can look in the index and I can ascertain where is the wisdom being pulled from to produce this book.\u00a0 Many times you have no references to the pastoral letters in these books; you have a lot of references to marketing management, secular thought, Steven Covey, Peter Drucker, whoever, but we\u2019ve forgotten that the Scripture is sufficient in this area of managing a church.\n\nIn fact, what runs most churches today is not 1Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus; it\u2019s a man named Abraham Maslow, who developed what is called The Hierarchy of Needs<\/em>, first you get your\u2026 at the bottom of the pyramid your physiological needs, then your safety needs, then\u00a0 you move up the list to your social needs, to your esteemed needs and finally you reach some point of self-actualization.\u00a0 I used to teach marketing in the community college in California, I know all about Abraham Maslow, one of my majors in college was marketing.\u00a0 Marketing is built around Abraham Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy of Needs<\/em> where you produce a marketing mix or a product that appeals to somebody\u2019s needs in one of these five areas and they\u2019ll buy the product.\n\nAnd how discouraging it was for me as a\u00a0 young Christian to get into the seminary and to take a class on pastoral leadership only to find the same philosophy at work with maybe one or two verses thrown in.\u00a0 In the pastor\u2019s coffee today we\u00a0 were talking about how churches you go to them and\u00a0 you feel like you\u2019re hearing the same message over and over and over again.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Abraham Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy of Needs<\/em>.\u00a0 As people have brought this into the church you pick sermon topics around one of these needs and anything that doesn\u2019t fit into one of these needs, like heaven, hell, angels, demons, salvation, you just discard.\u00a0 So what you\u2019re getting is a canon within the Canon, where certain Bible verses are recycled over and over and over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s related to Abraham Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy of Needs<\/em>.\n\nSadly I\u2019ve taken classes where people say you\u2019ve got get people\u2019s right personality types identified and they have different animals for the different personality types.\u00a0 Sadly I even took a class at my Alma Mater dealing with that.\u00a0 If that issue was so significant why aren\u2019t an analysis of our personality types found in the pages of God\u2019s Word?\u00a0 How about family?\u00a0 Marriage?\u00a0 Child rearing?\u00a0 Where do you go for that kind of information.\u00a0 Do you know where most of the world goes in Christianity?\u00a0 They go to a psychologist.\u00a0 One of them is very popular, he\u2019s on the radio quite a bit.\u00a0 You listen to him talk, he\u2019s borrowing from secular psychology.\u00a0 He\u2019s bringing it into the Christian world as some sort of tool to help people with marriage and family.\n\nAnd oh how different our lives would be if we took our cues from the Word of God.\u00a0 If we went to Ephesians 5:22 and read it as a family down through chapter 6 verse 4 you would find instructions from the God of heaven who has told husbands what they\u2019re supposed to do, wives what they\u2019re supposed to do, parents what they\u2019re supposed to do, children what they\u2019re supposed to do.\u00a0 How about employee\/employer relations, the ancient labor\/management conflict.\u00a0 Where do you get\u00a0 your analysis for handling those problems.\u00a0 I get mine from Ephesians 6:5-9.\u00a0 That will tell you more than any other single source related to how you should behave as a boss and how you should behave has an employee.\n\nAnd how we are being bombarded today with extra-biblical revelation.\u00a0 The Mormons, not if but when they show up to your door will tell you that what you have in the Bible is incomplete,\u00a0 you need these other books; you haven\u2019t heard about Jesus and His presence here in North America?\u00a0 These other books, The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine of Covenants<\/em>, will tell you about it.\u00a0 And how sadly so many Christians will not make a move in their personal life unless they have some sort of dream, some sort of vision or some sort of subjective experience from God.\u00a0 Beloved, what does 2 Timothy 3:17 say.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d]\n\nI\u2019m not against dreams and visions if that\u2019s what God gives you but your authority is not some dream or vision or premonition or experience.\u00a0 The Word of God is sufficient to equip you for every good work.\u00a0 How do you vote in elections?\u00a0 I\u2019m not getting into Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about when you go into a voting a booth and you pull a lever for someone what are you thinking about?\u00a0 Do you know what I\u2019m thinking about?\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking about the Bible.\u00a0 You say well, that\u2019s weird, what about your party?\u00a0 I\u2019m a Christocrat anyway not a republican or a democrat.\n\nI\u2019m thinking Bible because God has revealed issues in the Bible related to foreign affairs, related to finance, related to domestic affairs.\u00a0 He has spoken on these issues and I want to know, does Mr. and Mrs. So and So for such and such an office that I\u2019m voting for, do they line up with the way God thinks?\u00a0 I don\u2019t vote the way my parents voted, I don\u2019t vote the way my party tells me to vote.\u00a0 I don\u2019t vote whether if I vote for this guy then my office is going to get some new contract from government.\u00a0 I\u2019m not thinking about that at all.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking God, because that\u2019s what the Scripture will do for you if you give it a chance.\u00a0 You guys are pretty quiet, I told you I\u2019d step on a few toes.\u00a0 That\u2019s my challenge to you.\u00a0 You may not agree with every little jot and tittle with what I said; that\u2019s fine, we\u2019re still friends at the end of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 I would just challenge you with every issue in your life, and we\u2019ve covered many, is the Scripture the authority.\u00a0 What\u2019s the Word of God going to do for you?\u00a0 A lot.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this small verse at the end of a chapter reminding us, bringing us back to basics, what the Scripture can do, how it will adequately equip us for every good work and we will be careful to give You the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t