One Man's Journey Of FaithSample

THE OWNER'S MANUAL

Every single new vehicle has one of these. It’s found in the glove compartment of your car - an owner’s manual. And if you thumb through this, you’ll see all kind of insight about how to care for your vehicle, about how to service your vehicle, about how to drive and operate your vehicle, about how to read all the signs and the symbols on the dashboard, how to use your entertainment system or info system. It’s all right there in what is called an owner’s manual.

But here’s what’s interesting about these owner’s manuals. Hardly anyone ever reads them. As a matter of fact, I bet you there are folks here today that have bought a car in the last two or three years and you haven’t looked at the owner’s manual one time.

Well, human lives are a lot more complex than any car. And God, who is our designer, has given us an owner’s manual and we call this the Bible. We call it the Word of God. And what’s so interesting is that so many leaves this owner’s manual that God has given us about how to live our life to the fullest—it sits on the shelf. It’s hardly ever read. It’s kind of like an owner’s manual in the glove compartment of the car.

But the fact is, this wonderful owner’s manual, this Word of God has the power to transform lives. So, what is the Word of God? The Word of God is Jesus. And the Word of God is also the Scriptures. Some of you are thinking, “Well, he’s given us a double meaning here. The Word of God is Jesus. The Word of God is the Bible. How do we put that together?”

Well, we are directly dependent on the written Word of God to have the perfect picture of the ultimate Word of God, that is Jesus. In other words, we don’t worship the Bible. We worship Jesus. But the way we know to worship, trust, and believe in Jesus is the written Word of God. So Jesus and the Bible are like two sides of the coin. They’re inseparable. You really cannot know one without the other.