NIV, Life Application Study Bible Footnotes for 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17
The Bible is not a collection of stories, fables, myths, or merely human ideas about God. It is not a human book. Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed his person and plan to certain believers, who wrote down his message for his people. This process is known as inspiration. The writers wrote from their own personal, historical, and cultural contexts. Although they used their own minds, talents, language, and style, they wrote what God wanted them to write. Scripture is completely trustworthy because God was in control of its writing. Its words are entirely authoritative for our faith and lives. The Bible is "God-breathed." Read it, and use its teachings to guide your conduct.
The whole Bible is God's inspired Word. Because it is inspired and trustworthy, we should read it and apply it to our lives. The Bible is our standard for testing everything else that claims to be true. It is our safeguard against false teaching and our source of guidance for how we should live. It is our only source of knowledge about how we can be saved God wants to show you what is true and equip you to live for him. How much time do you spend in God's Word? Read it regularly to discover God's truth and to become confident in your life and faith. Develop a plan for reading the whole Bible, not just the familiar passages.
In our zeal for the truth of Scripture, we must never forget its purpose -- to equip us to do good. We should not study God's Word simply to increase our knowledge or to prepare us to win arguments. We should study the Bible so that we will know how to do Christ's work in the world. Our knowledge of God's Word is not useful unless it strengthens our faith and leads us to do good.
Have you discovered anything interesting about this verse that you would like to share?
Visit the blog at www.biblechallengeblog.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Christian Equipment
All scripture is God-breathed 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. 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17
The children and I were discussing our new verse at lunch today. I try not to take for granted that the younger children in our family understand all the words in our verses so we talk about each one and their meaning. When we got to the word "equipped," we started talking about equipment and used the analogy of a farmer and his farming equipment. When he has his "equipment" (among other things) he is "equipped" for his farming job. Of course, that lead to many other things that we need equipment for, i.e., camping equipment for camping; sports equipment to play sports, etc.
So, we determined that scripture, which is God-breathed, is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness AND our necessary "equipment" for Christian living because it equips us for every good work!
Don't forget to use your Christian equipment and use it regularly!
Do you have any stories to share? Has God used any of the memory verses in a unique or powerful way yet? Let us encourage each other with our testimonies and praises!
Visit the blog at www.biblechallengeblog.blogspot.com
The children and I were discussing our new verse at lunch today. I try not to take for granted that the younger children in our family understand all the words in our verses so we talk about each one and their meaning. When we got to the word "equipped," we started talking about equipment and used the analogy of a farmer and his farming equipment. When he has his "equipment" (among other things) he is "equipped" for his farming job. Of course, that lead to many other things that we need equipment for, i.e., camping equipment for camping; sports equipment to play sports, etc.
So, we determined that scripture, which is God-breathed, is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness AND our necessary "equipment" for Christian living because it equips us for every good work!
Don't forget to use your Christian equipment and use it regularly!
Do you have any stories to share? Has God used any of the memory verses in a unique or powerful way yet? Let us encourage each other with our testimonies and praises!
Visit the blog at www.biblechallengeblog.blogspot.com
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Week 5 - 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17
All scripture is God-breathed 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. 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17
The Word
One of the ways, we maintain our personal relationship with God is through the Word -- one of the vertical spokes on our wheel. God's Word to us is our spiritual food, a lamp to our feet, and the Spirit's sword for spiritual battle. It is the foundational spoke for effective living in Christ.
We've already learned one verse dealing with this "spoke" of the wheel: Joshua 1:8, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then, you will be prosperous and successful."
For the next 6 weeks, our verses will focus on the Word of God.
Enjoy your time in the Word this week as you meditate on and memorize 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17!
The Word
One of the ways, we maintain our personal relationship with God is through the Word -- one of the vertical spokes on our wheel. God's Word to us is our spiritual food, a lamp to our feet, and the Spirit's sword for spiritual battle. It is the foundational spoke for effective living in Christ.
We've already learned one verse dealing with this "spoke" of the wheel: Joshua 1:8, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then, you will be prosperous and successful."
For the next 6 weeks, our verses will focus on the Word of God.
Enjoy your time in the Word this week as you meditate on and memorize 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Crucified with Christ
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
All Footnotes taken from NIV, Life Application Study Bible.
How have we been crucified with Christ?
Galatians 2:20 Footnote:
Legally, God looks at us as if we had died with Christ. Because our sins died with him, we are no longer condemned. Colossians 2:13-15 says, "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
Colossians 2:13-15 Footnote: Before we believed in Christ, our nature was evil. We disobeyed, rebelled, and ignored God (even at our best, we did not love him with all our heart, soul, and mind). The Christian, however, has a new nature. God has crucified the old rebellious nature (Romans 6:6) and replaced it with a new loving nature. The penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross. God has declared us not guilty, and we need no longer live under sin's power. God does not take us out of the world or make us robots -- we still feel like sinning, and sometimes we will sin. The difference is that before we were saved, we were slaves to our sinful nature but now we are free to live for Christ.
Relationally, we have become one with Christ, and his experiences are ours. Our Christian life began when, in unty with him, we died to our old life. In our daily life, we must regularly crucify sinful desires that keep us from following Christ. This too is a kind of dying with him. Luke 9:23-25 says, "Then he said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?'"
And yet the focus of Christianity is not dying, but living. Because we have been crucified with Christ, we have also been raised with him. Legally, we have been reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:19) and are free to grow into Christ's likeness (Romans 8:29). And in our daily life, we have Christ's resurrection power as we continue to fight sin (Ephesians 1:19, 20). We are no longer alone, for Christ lives in us -- he is our power for living and our hope for the future (Colossians 1:27).
Colossians 2:13-15 Footnote: Before we believed in Christ, our nature was evil. We disobeyed, rebelled, and ignored God (even at our best, we did not love him with all our heart, soul, and mind). The Christian, however, has a new nature. God has crucified the old rebellious nature (Romans 6:6) and replaced it with a new loving nature. The penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross. God has declared us not guilty, and we need no longer live under sin's power. God does not take us out of the world or make us robots -- we still feel like sinning, and sometimes we will sin. The difference is that before we were saved, we were slaves to our sinful nature but now we are free to live for Christ.
Relationally, we have become one with Christ, and his experiences are ours. Our Christian life began when, in unty with him, we died to our old life. In our daily life, we must regularly crucify sinful desires that keep us from following Christ. This too is a kind of dying with him. Luke 9:23-25 says, "Then he said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?'"
And yet the focus of Christianity is not dying, but living. Because we have been crucified with Christ, we have also been raised with him. Legally, we have been reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:19) and are free to grow into Christ's likeness (Romans 8:29). And in our daily life, we have Christ's resurrection power as we continue to fight sin (Ephesians 1:19, 20). We are no longer alone, for Christ lives in us -- he is our power for living and our hope for the future (Colossians 1:27).
All Footnotes taken from NIV, Life Application Study Bible.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Pass the Verse
A fun way for families or groups to practice verses:
Form a circle, one person starts the verse and you go around each taking a turn saying the next word in the verse.
You could also add a small ball or bean bag to this game. Form a circle, toss the ball or bag around the circle, whoever catches it says the next word of the verse.
Form a circle, one person starts the verse and you go around each taking a turn saying the next word in the verse.
You could also add a small ball or bean bag to this game. Form a circle, toss the ball or bag around the circle, whoever catches it says the next word of the verse.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
I am the vine.....
We have been camping at the river for the last five days. We haven't delved into our new verse too much yet but we've practiced our old ones. This one seems to be Lydia's favorite right now!
Uncle Jeff took the "bigs" (a/k/a the big kids) on a hike down the river and they discovered a big tree with a vine growing around it which reminded them of John 15:5. We also talked about the river current, which really wasn't that strong but yet strong enough to carry the children down a few feet, and how powerful the Great Flood must have been! It's hard not to be reminded of the Creator when you're surrounded by His beautiful creation!
How is your week going? Any thoughts on Galatians 2:20?
Friday, July 20, 2012
Week 4 - Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Remember the Wheel? Christ is still the focus of our memorization and meditation this week. Christ is our "hub" and apart from him we can do nothing!
Remember the Wheel? Christ is still the focus of our memorization and meditation this week. Christ is our "hub" and apart from him we can do nothing!
Remain in Him this week!
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