If someone dropped you off in the middle of the woods, you would want to have a compass. That compass would be the key to helping you find your way to your destination. It would be a source of authority for you. It would be far more reliable than what you think or feel. Without it, you could easily get lost. With it, you can easily find your way.
God’s Word is the compass we need to navigate life. It is the way we find our way in this world. It is reliable, and it is one percent trustworthy. It is the single source of authority that we need to find our way in this life. How you feel and what you think will be sources of authority that will get you lost quickly. What God says will get you exactly where you need to go.
Every church should hold to the value of Scriptural authority. It is our compass for navigating the world we live in. We do not need the opinions of man; we need the truth of God. I tell the congregation where I pastor, “If I don’t open the Bible in the first few minutes of the message, something is wrong.” The source for a sermon and everything else we do in ministry should be based on God’s Word. If we can’t find it in the Bible, then we need to ask why we are doing it.
Speaking of the Bible, Jesus says in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” If Christ’s words do not pass away, the Scriptures are a pretty good source of authority to live by. My ideas will pass away. My opinions will pass away. My feelings will pass away. It would be insane to live my life based on how I feel or what I think rather than on what God says.
I can tell you that I have had more and more people coming to our church in recent years, telling me they are just looking for a church that teaches the Bible. Every time I hear that statement, I am blown away. If a church is not teaching the Bible, what on earth are they teaching? The church should teach and hold to the value of Scriptural authority because “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We need nothing more to guide us in faith and practice than the Word of God. We don’t need business or pop psychology to give us the agenda for doing God’s work.
The world we live in needs the truth of God as much as ever. People genuinely do what is “right in their own eyes” and do not care much about what God says. The world needs churches living by the value of Scriptural authority and churches that hold fast to the Word. The world needs a church that will say, “Thus says the Lord!”
Disciple-making churches result from a church that holds Scripture as the ministry’s authority source. At Impact Discipleship Ministries, we aim to teach what the Bible says about disciple-making. It is clear from Scripture that the church should be helping people become fully trained disciples. If Impact Discipleship Ministries can help you learn more about disciple-making, don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can serve you. You can reach us at impactdisciples.com.
This post originally appeared at: The Value of Scriptural Authority – Impact Discipleship Ministries