COV LIFE BLOG

The Church Learns Together – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

You’ve learned Scripture from somebody. The Scriptures have been taught to you by people whose lives are of such a quality that the message was underlined, because the person who taught you had so obviously encountered God. When we see a life that has the wisdom and power and authority of God in it, and that person is telling us what the Bible says, we’re much more inclined to hear it with power ourselves.

Now, it has occurred at times that people will get a Bible completely out of the blue, dropped out of heaven into their life. Perhaps a page of Scripture blowing down the street attached itself to their leg, and they picked it up and read it and were converted. But that’s rare. Most of the time, people hear the words of God from someone else. It’s possible, in addition, for a Christian community to exist without [having a copy of] the Bible, for people to love one another and to grow in the conviction and the power of God. But that too is very rare.

What mostly happens is that believing people gather around the Scriptures, and they learn together, from one another, what the Bible has to say. As I see conviction from God in your face, I am convicted. When I see tears of joy in your eyes, I am able to hear the words of joy from Scripture myself. When I recognize that you are becoming strong where you were weak and hopeful where you were frightened, and when I hear you testify to what God has done for you, then I believe the words myself and I offer testimony to someone else, and they believe.

Paul has a great sense of history in this book. In chapter 1 he talks about Timothy’s being his son, and then he says, “I had forefathers generations before me. The prophets, Moses, Abraham, and David in their generation trusted God. I trusted God in mine. Your grandmother and your mother love the Lord and taught you the Bible. You learned it from good people. Now you should trust God in your generation. Teach it to those who will learn it from you as a good man.”

Steve Zeisler

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Heart Preparation
Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Notice in verse 16 the four aspects where the Word of God profits in the life of the body. Which of these activities can be done alone? How can the Spirit grow you in living out these four aspects in the life of the body?

Song of the Week
Show Us Christ by Sovereign Grace Music