This past weekend we began a new teaching series at our church around the Da Vinci Code stuff. We are not teaching the book, we are teaching the Bible, but we are trying to help people understand the fallacies of the story by pointing them to what the Bible teaches. On Wednesday evenings I am teaching how to actually study the Bible. My hope is that people will begin to study the Bible and learn to discern truth from junk (another word for heresy).
On Wed. evening after giving some basic questions that people could ask of the text they are studying I had a young lady approach me to ask a question. She has not been a part of our fellowship for very long, only a few weeks. She is not a follower of Christ yet, but the Lord is definitely drawing her to Himself. She explained to me that she had trouble knowing how to even use a Bible. I had given an assignment that involved Acts 1:8. She had written down Acts chapter one verse eight. I helped her to understand what the characters in Acts 1:8 meant. It was an aha moment for her. I asked her if she owned a bible. She told me that she had recently purchased a NV something Study Bible. I asked her if she meant an NIV Study Bible, she said yes. She told me she had a real struggle finding the passages in the Bible. I showed her the Table of Contents, she told me that she was embarrassed to use it in church. I responded that it why it is there and not to worry about needing it. She has a second grader and they are trying to read a children’s Bible story book together and the stories are all new to her. I just tried to encourage her that I was so excited and proud that she was there. We are getting some of our ladies around her to help her grow and walk through the struggles she is having.
I am so thankful for the people that the Lord is bringing to our fellowship. I am also very humbled that He is entrusting them to us to lead, nurture and disciple. God is definitely using this body to reach our region of the state. My prayer is that we will continue to welcome those who are far from Him so that they can one day be very close to Him.
God, keep us welcoming, humble and attentive to teaching your Word and discipling those you bring here.
I am sorry that it has been a few weeks since I last posted anything. It has been a little crazy and I am still figuring out how to accomplish everything and write a little bit each day.
Over the past couple of weeks in our Ministry Leadership Class we have been discussing how to study the Bible. As leaders in ministry we must learn how to study the Bible, there are Bible studies to lead, classes to teach and not to mention proper feeding of our own spiritual walk. We have been concentrating on learning to observe scripture and looking at how to do that without study materials. (ie) (commentaries, dictionaries and lexicons) We will get to these valuable resources, just not yet in the process.
I would love to know what you are doing for Bible study? When is the best time for you to study the Bible? What book in the Bible are you studying?
Someone has asked what type of study resources I use when I am preparing a message or studying for a seminar. I utilize Quickverse Professional as one of my key resources. It has several Bible translations, several conservative commentaries, dictionaries, maps, lexicons, and many other tools to help me in my preparation. The days of needing to purchase sets of commentaries and multi-volume resources are gone. It isn’t cost efficient. You are able to buy a CD resource much cheaper and receive twice the amount of material. I also have a CD version of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology textbook, this is a really good resource in my opinion. He helps greatly with understanding the doctrines of the faith.
I also use several websites to help in my studying. I go to Crosswalk.com, desiringgod.org, biblegateway.org, bible.org, dictionary.com, and other trusted pastor’s recommendations. The wealth of reputable material on the web is incredible. I always try to back something up a couple of times if I get info from the web, I want to make sure it is correct.
