#0 - Get Rollin'!

What is the purpose of God’s Quad Workshop?

1. To show the Bible to be the pinnacle computing manual for every age.
2. Salt their scripture oats.

Why is GQW so desperately needed?

1. There are no books that truly link scripture, technology, and missions, where scripture is boldly given the preeminence.
2. No “computer manuals” that emphasize the highly probable addiction to computers that diverts the user’s conscience from any accountability to God.
3. Church leaders and parents need GQW lessons to teach others the “alls” of 2Tim 3:16, 17 really deliver on their promise.
4. We have the authority and responsibility to teach others God’s Word as best we can.

Creation gives us plenty of examples that:

#1 is a good number to represent LEADERSHIP

#2 is a good number to represent FELLOWSHIP

#3 is a good number to represent STRENGTH (triangle, Trinity)

#4 is a good number to represent PROGRESS (advancement)

So lets get thing Rollin’ looking at a really cool movin’ machine, the “Quadrunner” ATV.

Note:

2007 Wycliffe Bible stats: (pick choose and include)

Of the 6900 world languages, 1168 have the New Testament and 438 have the whole Bible

The Bible continues to be the most translated book in the world.  (from wikipedia)

#1 - Get Runnin'!

Four is a good number to associate with progress, vehicles, travel, etc. Thrill junkies often find themselves on a quadrunner ATV. They’ll get you about anyplace except up a waterfall or the top 3% of your Algebra class. Quads are used for farming, cattle ranching, off-road hunting, off-season dog-team training just for starters. (exercise)

Interestingly, quads(4 wheels) are composed of a quartet (4 again) of systems. Each system is unique yet it must work in harmony like a singing quartet. Rom 14, 15

The quartet of quad systems contains Mechanics(motor), Pneumatics(tires), Electronics(GPS), and Hydraulics(shock absorbers).

• Briefly, the MOTOR delivers the POWER and requires clean fuel, lubricants, must be balanced, and the right size to fit the rest of the quad and rider.
• The TIRES provide the CONTROL of the quad including the starting, steering, and stopping. Key to their best operation is tread design, size, air pressure etc.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) uses orbiting satellites to provide NAVIGATION along with other sensors.
• SHOCK ABSORBERS are seldom seen or heard from, but provide crucial SAFETY to the vehicle and its rider (back and neck injury etc.)

Discuss the strengths, limitations, protection, and maintenance of each of the preceding.

There is a powerful quartet(that’s 4, remember?) that contains good advice for anyone wanting to progress safely…The fun thing is that it’s found in the Bible in Psalms 119:105… but you have to look closely. The verse says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

“Thy Word” means the Bible. “A lamp unto my feet” helps me:

1. judge if I am on the path and
2. the condition of my vehicle, whether it’s jogging shoes, or a quad runner. The “Light unto my path” says that God’s Word (Bible)
3. shows me the direction of the path God wants me to take. It also promises to
4. show me what dangers may lie along the path.

So we see then:

For a quad runner to operate, it takes, power, control, navigation, and safety.

For the rider to progress safely, he/she must consider their location, vehicle condition, direction, and dangers. Both of these quartets must never be forgotten or neglected.

#3 - Get Rewarded!

Everybody wants to win at whatever they’re doing!

It thrills you to cross the finish line with no one ahead or beside you. The crowd roars as you raise your hands in victory, and maybe carry the checkered flag for your victory lap. Could it be that in only moments you’re visualizing your name and record data printed in the Guinness Book of Records? You’re the best. The spotlight is only on you. How sweet it is…

The awards in the Olympics begin with the Bronze Medal. Next above that is the Silver Medal, and the very top is the Gold Medal. You’re on the top step with everyone looking up at you. Television cameras are blasting your image across the globe. Whew!

But did you know there’s a level of winning that’s even above the gold?!

There definitely is. It’s described in only one place on the planet Earth; nowhere else except in God’s Precious Word, the Bible. So we know it’s true; it’s not a hoax. The amazing truth in Romans 8:37 says, “…MORE THAN winning.” It says to be more than a conqueror; more than a winner; more than a victor. It’s a rather odd concept to wrap your head around. I ask myself, “How can I become ‘better than the best’?”

The first step is to key in on the next phrase in the verse, ‘through Him that Loved us.”

What two important facts does the phrase tell us?

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

Answers:

(1) Our ‘more than conquerors’ status comes from someone (not an action) outside ourselves.
(2) We see a special characteristic of that someone: He loves us.

Because our victory – our more than victory is dependent on someone else, we don’t have any reason to boast about ourselves. Boasting is certainly a trait God has given to us, but He wants us to boast about Him and His incredible love for us. This special love accepts and protects us just as we are; with all our imperfections.

1. We seek to build others up with our abilities and gratitude “to Him who loved us.”
2. We win but don’t become egotistic braggers.
3. We recognize that man’s victories are fleeting.
4. We see first hand God’s strength made perfect in our weakness.
5. Our reaching for the prize is not a ‘do or die’ or ‘stepping on others’ process.

And even better, you don’t have to own a quad runner, all the expensive clothing and tools, or risk breaking your neck every day to qualify. Even quadriplegics (people using a mouth stick or a head mouse to use their computer) can become MORE THAN A WINNER. Isn’t that neat? We’re not blowing smoke here. One of the famous ones is Joni Eareckson Tada that paints, composes, and many other things. But what really makes her more than a winner is that her goals and efforts are all focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:14-15 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

The Apostle Paul wrote that his prize; his goal was ‘the high calling of God’. This prize is in the person of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. BUT A CAUTION is added, “[if] ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Now is that accountability or what?

Maybe we can say the added prize is to be a RULER over many things. The verse says: Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

#4 - Get Retreavin'!

So far we’ve been looking at safely getting the most out of quadrunners with a lot of noise thrown in. Now we’re going to switch to a machine that is far more captivating, even on rainy days.

Along with all the needful and fun stuff that God has given us, you and I are glad He included technology… the fancy word for computers and cellphones. We have Him to thank for the Internet, GPS, text messaging and all the rest. The Bible tells us more than once that ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’ John 1:3 The ‘him’ referred to is Jesus Christ.

The reason for these lessons of God’s Computer Manual is to see that God has done more than just provide all the things that are made. More clearly, in His infinite wisdom He has provided us a ‘How-To’ manual to use all His creation in a safe way that honors Him… That ‘how-to’ manual is the Bible… all of it… to be used in all things… by all of us.

Here’s the problem…

Most people visualize Jesus Christ as a person with beard, long hair, robe, sandals, and maybe a shepherd’s staff in hand. But we have to learn that He knows more about us than we do. When we sit at the keyboard in spirit, He’s there too.

You and I are pictured in scripture as sheep continually needing the fellowship and strong leadership for us to grow well.

Reading scripture is a daily reminder of His loving leadership amid this world’s evil ways.

Check out the church people in Berea. They lived in southeast Europe during Bible times. This one verse says tons about their actions each day.

Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

1. All readiness of mind – they were anticipating goodness from God’s Word
2. Searched the scriptures – They didn’t scan or skip through scripture
3. Daily – Feeding on scripture MUST be a DAILY process. It regularly washes out the evil ideas that satan tries to seed in our mind.
4. Whether those things were so. – they were validating what they heard by God’s Word.

List reasons below, why you see the Berean actions above would also be important for you.

#6 - Get Ready!

DO or DIE! Your quad engine is giving everything it’s got, as you blast up the take off ramp toward a new state Quad-Jump Record. With your heart pumping as hard as the engine is, your front wheels leave the ramp when your mind flashes you the question, “Did I tighten my steering bolts last night like I talked about doing?The above may not seem like a good example for the importance of keyboard preparation, but it is, in more ways than one.

Someone once said, “The most important part of computing is what is done before you touch the keyboard.” He was referring to preparation. A crucial part of that preparation is called, Computer Grace.

Planning and preparation are actually a little different but cause deadly results when neglected.

Table grace has become an important prelude to our meals. It is a systematic reminder to us and the rest of our family of our gratitude for God’s provision. We practice table grace because Jesus Christ did. He taught His followers this crucial beginning to every meal. Take a moment and review the reasons why you practice table grace.

Now. For the very same reasons, and more, we MUST practice Computer Grace. Scripture makes it very clear that technology comes from God and we are to use it to honor Him as we carry out the Great Commission. (John 1:3) And then in 1^st Tim 3:16, 17 we see our operating manual on how to do this is scripture itself.

Our computer grace prayer to God would include:

• Praise to Him for His Goodness and Who He is.
• Thanks to Him for His gifts of technology and talents to use it.
• His leadership in us not wasting our keyboard time and His provisions.
• To tithe part of our keyboard time to evangelism and our local church.
• Focus and determination to see the project through.
• His blessing on the results of our work.

Along with Computer Grace preparation, your computer will never work better than when you keep a Keyboard Bible open next to the keyboard. What follows is a description of the second half of this great Dream Team.

Crucial Equipment for Invading Computer Land

Even though your computer may have installed an electronic Bible including many powerful search features, a keyboard Bible is still required for security and research. This keyboard Bible is just like your favorite Bible with all its paper pages of God’s great promises. It is always open and always within inches of your computer keyboard.

1. The nearby Bible is a reminder that God’s Word is chock full of principles for efficient computing. It stimulates creative thinking and planning in ways only its Author can.
2. It is a sentinel or supervisor to guard against computing sessions that are wasteful, lustful, or dishonoring to God in several other ways. Note: Remember the builders of the walls in Nehemiah 4? They worked with their sword by their side. You should too. Yours is the sword of God’s Word.
3. It is a reminder at the end of your project to ask the Creator of computing to use and bless your efforts. And certainly to reminds you to give Him the glory in your computing. end

#7 - Get Real! - A

Why the Bible is the supreme computer ‘How-To” manual.

( tie in trivia and principles to keep it all savory.)

#1 - Cost / Accessibility

1. Cheap doesn’t describe them. With the powerful study add-ons of today’s digital Bibles, you could rightly say they’re cheaper than FREE!
2. You are expected to share its verses with others.
3. 

   Most translations of any book
   1. 6 ½ Billion people in the world
   2. 6912 languages spoken in the in the world today (2007)
   3. 438 have whole Bible 1168 have just the new testament
   4. www.wycliffe.org
      
      
4. But the big scarcity of scripture that we CAN do something about is in our neighborhoods and cities. There are so many people that feel they can’t understand scripture,
   or that it’s for preachers about long-ago generations and far-away lands.
5. We (and church leaders) must develop a hunger; an appetizer, inducement, a carrot for scripture with a promise of satisfaction.
6. Consider also those with health reasons, who have a hunger for hearing the word, but need someone like you to share it with them.

List below some ideas or ways to be able to share God’s rich written promises with others.

Be creative. Think outside the box.

Where could you find neat ways to spread the word?

End of lesson

#7 - Get Real! - C

Why is the Bible the supreme computer ‘How-To” manual?

Let’s use a short story to help make this point.

#C - Credibility

Look What’s Missing.

“Clubhouse Special Presentation By Gramps and Marci, Saturday 9am” was what the sign on the door of the old building said. Even before 9am the crowd of kids was easily twice the size of its membership. Grady was the owner of the condemned building clubhouse. The kids affectionately called him “Gramps.”

Grady’s wife Marci came in and both silver haired folks sat at the table in front of the clubbers. Marci placed her picnic basket on the table as though it was plumb full of fresh eggs.

Gramps then told his audience some of his funny experiences he’s had as a computer programmer. Using both hands, he held up a computer “How-To” book for his favorite computer program. He showed it had over 1293 pages. He continued with, “Clubbers, I want you to look in the back of my programming book here. The authors of the book couldn’t get all the explanations and pictures in the book so they had to include this CD. If the CD became damaged or missing, I’d be in trouble.” He then nodded to his wife Marci.

With all the gentleness used for moving fresh eggs, Marci opened the basket and covers inside. She slowly lifted out the oldest looking Bible you’ve ever seen. The cover had come loose some years before and the ragged pages looked like they had been through the fiercest of wars. Using both hands, Marci laid the Bible on the table and opened the back cover. Gramps and Marci made sure all the audience saw there was no CD disk in the back of that old Bible – because none was needed.

The clubbers would say, “WOW!” and “Isn’t that great?” and other kudos. Marci told the clubhouse kids that the Bible is really the greatest of computer books, if you can imagine that. It’s the greatest because it tells where computers came from and what their most important purpose is. Gramps knocked on the table to get everyone’s attention. “But that’s not even the best part!” he said as he raised his computer book still showing the CD in the back.

“Can you see here? This is a website address that I am supposed to get all the corrections for my computer book.” Then with great emphasis Marci and the children looked in the back of the Bible and didn’t find any place to send for corrections for the Bible. Can you guess why?

With great care, Marci moved her fingers over the Bible and said, “Boys and girls, God has given us this most important of books to help us learn about His love for each of us. In a way it’s just like my cookie jar to be opened and enjoyed. Some Bible verses we won’t understand right away. But we can read some every day. You could say we should feed on what we read. The shepherd boy, David, that killed the giant, said,

‘How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’” Psalms 119:103.

“David would read some of God’s Word and then say, ‘Mmmmm boy. I sure enjoy reading God’s Word.’ The Bible tells us Who loves us just the way we are, with nothing left out and without any mistakes.

(End of story)

#7 - Get Real! - D

  #D - Supreme with no close seconds

God’s Precious Word, the Bible, has and always will be, the supreme how-to manual for all good work. That certainly includes our computing. That promise is in 2^nd Tim 3:16, 17.

The value of a fort or army post is often determined by how many soldiers and equipment are assigned to guard it or how hard an enemy tries to destroy it. We know that God’s Word continues to be attacked in little country churches, large nonspiritual colleges, and by Satan himself, for centuries.

It’s reported that Voltaire, a French author and atheist (1694 - 1778), held up a copy of the Bible in the air and smugly proclaimed, "In 100 years this book will be forgotten and eliminated...". Shortly after his death, Voltaire’s private residence became the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society and became a major distribution hub for the very Bible he assigned to extinction.

None of man’s computer manuals contain lessons that promise life, love, peace, and purpose.

The supremacy and credentials of God’s Computer Manual, the Bible, are so much more powerful it includes two warnings in the closing four verses. Just think of it, a computer manual that pronounces plagues and devastation away from God’s provisions, for anyone that tampers with the contents.

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Rev 22:18,19

Other books explain the purpose of the Return key on the keyboard. But doesn’t say anything about why God has given mankind it in the first place.

So critical are its principles of life and computing, that God has given us a part of Himself, the third person of the godhead, the Holy Spirit to teach us and participate in our ‘on-the-job’ training.

Why do you think it’s so important not to add to, or take away any words of the Bible?