Life’s Reliable Guidebook
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© June 28, 2020
Scripture Reading:
2 Timothy 3:1-5; 14-17
Every worthwhile endeavor has healthy Regulations, Restrictions and Reward.
Building a House!
Anyone that has enough drive and revenue can build his or her own house – but that does not mean their house will be safe from burning down, collapsing in, or having sufficient protection from the cold and heat. The wisest home builder uses certified and sound architectural plans and builds with proven materials and skilled builders.
Fishing!
You cannot safely or legally go fishing on your boat without having a fishing license, a properly licensed boat, enough life preservers and follow the State guidelines of what you can or cannot catch. If you go fishing without following the Regulations and Restrictions, then you will not healthily enjoy any Reward.
Sports!
Your favorite football, baseball, basketball, soccer or hockey team cannot play even one game that will give them the possibility of the Reward of winning and be enjoyable to all of their fans unless they follow the mandated Rules of the game, with the understood Restrictions.
1919 Black Sox Scandal – gambling and game-fixing – in the 2nd year of the World Series.
“Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
2014 Deflategate – “allegation that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for four games; the team was fined $1 million and forfeited two draft selections in 2016.” – Wikipedia “Deflategate”
2019 Washington Nationals and Houston Astros World Series
“After gathering all the information from many sources, Washington came up with its own complex sign system [to counter the Astro’s cheating in banging on a trash can to tap out the coming pitch]. WN Pitchers had five different sign rotations, according to the Post report, and the Nationals catchers each wore a wristband on their arm to remember, similar to a quarterback wearing a wristband with the plays on it.[1]
Driving!
You cannot drive a car or truck without learning the regulations, passing the test and following the rules of the road…and the expectations of other drivers – or be ready to experience the wrath of road rage…or perhaps get a stiff ticket.
Strict Laws and Principles Govern Each Part of our Universe!
· There are strict laws and principles governing each of the Laws of Physics and Chemistry.
· There are Profound Laws governing our Solar system. God’s laws have ruled since Creation and through the equations from those laws we can find precisely where the exact placement of each star has been or will be, anytime over thousands of years.
· There are specific laws ruling each dynamic of our planet.
· God’s protective atmosphere wraps protectively around the earth following God's specific Regulations and Restrictions giving oxygen, air, weather and many, many other life-sustaining blessings for everyone on earth.
· Without our sun there would be no life. Who created the sun to be so hot? “Temperatures range from 1.7 million degrees F (1 million degrees C) to more than 17 million degrees F (10 million C).” Who could have made the Sun this hot to give the earth just the right temperature when it is 93 million miles from earth? Our sun is huge! “1.3 million earths would fit into the sun.” How did the sun get so big, be so violent, and become so astounding and life-giving in our universe?
· There are specific laws regarding the magnetic shields around our earth that protect the earth from destructive radiation from the sun.
Our Human Body!
Anyone could choose a host of physical and spiritual elements to represent the amazing human body, soul and spirit. Today we are choosing the examples of four small muscles to represent God’s profound creation:
“The sphincter muscles”
· “The sphincter pylori, a thickening of the middle layer of stomach muscle around the pylorus (opening into the small intestine) that holds food in the stomach until it is thoroughly mixed with gastric juices.
· “The sphincter pupillae, a ring of fibres in the iris that contracts the pupil in the eye in the presence of bright light.
· “Sphincters that are involved in excretion of waste:
o the sphincter ani externus keeps the anal opening closed by its normal contraction
o the sphincter urethrae is the most important voluntary control of urination.”[2]
No human being would wish to go anywhere without God’s creation of those seemingly insignificant sphincter muscles. All of His Creation is awesome, in every part of the human being. We are Created in His Likeness. His Creation of our body, soul and spirit is absolutely profound.
Living a Life!
Are there good and best ways to build your life, and poorer or bad ways to undermine and destroy your life?
Whether you are building a house, going fishing, watching your favorite sport, driving a car, star gazing, or being happy your body is alive and well, you can know for certain that everything in our universe has healthy standards and definite regulations so we can continue to live and mature on this earth.
God’s Handbook for Humans!
Since God has grafted His Laws, Regulations and Guidelines into all of His Creation, without exception, doesn’t it seem reasonable to you that He would also provide for us His Handbook for Salvation, Survival, Spiritual Growth and Eternal Life? Our world is plagued with depravity, fatally full of human “autonomous zones,” where people reserve the right to do what is right in their own eyes – live by their own rules, sometimes with violent consequences, with little thought of honoring God in their lives.
God has also given us His Guidelines in the Bible regarding how individuals should live honorable lives and relate to those around them. When His principles are disregarded, given time, disaster looms, and those disasters can cycle again generation after generation.
2 Timothy 3:1–5; 16-17
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them…
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
God’s Word is Not something that man made up
Galatians 1:11-12
11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 1:1-2
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
2 Peter 1:19-21
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 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.
The Day is Coming and maybe Now Is…
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Simple, Elegant, True and Profound
Salvation - Transformation - Empowerment - Maturity - Eternal Life
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…
Careful Attention counters Fatal Ignorance
Hebrews 2:1-3
1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
The Power of God’s Word
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Knowing God’s Word allows one to be Thoroughly Equipped
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Foolishness vs. Power
1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Dealing with Sin and the Importance of Truth “According to the Scriptures”
1 Corinthians 15:3–4
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
Salvation through Christ
Romans 10:13–15
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Faith and Hearing
Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Eternal Life and God’s Word
1 John 5:11–12
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
“New Birth” according to God’s Enduring Word
James 1:18
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
1 Peter 1:23-25
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
Dying to Sin
James 1:21-24
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Non-conformists to the world
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Built on The Rock
Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Matthew 7:24–27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Since God has grafted His Laws, Regulations and Guidelines into all of His Creation, without exception, doesn’t it seem reasonable to you that He has also provided for us His Handbook for Salvation, Survival, Spiritual Growth and Eternal Life?
God’s Handbook for Salvation, Survival, Spiritual Growth and Eternal Life is found in His Word, the Bible.