Kyle Goen Blog

Session 3 – Interpretation

A.  Three Keys to Interpretation

1.     _________________– raw content of the passage

2.  __________________ – what comes before and what comes after

Several types of Context

a.  ___________________

b.  ___________________

c.  ___________________

d.  ___________________

e.  ___________________

3.  __________________________– Scripture with Scripture

Resources

1) Study ______________________

ESV

HCSB

NAS

NIV

2) _______________________

Use same translation

3) Bible ___________________

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Revised and Expanded

The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Revised and Expanded

4) Bible _____________________ – smaller version of a Bible dictionary

The Holman Bible Handbook

Halley’s Bible Handbook

The MacArthur Bible Handbook

5) __________________– book of maps

Holman Bible Atlas

Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps & Charts, Revised and Updated

Holman Book of Biblical Charts, Maps, and Reconstructions

6) Bible __________________________

Holman Old and New Testament Commentary Boxed Set, 32 Volumes

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set, 28 Volumes

The NIV Application Commentary, New Testament Set, 20 Volumes

7) _______________________ – Greek and Hebrew words

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words

The Complete Word Study Old Testament Spiros Zodhiates Amg Publishers / 1994 / Hardcover

The Complete Word Study New Testament

Websites

http://www.biblestudytools.com/

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/Bible.org

http://www.desiringgod.org/

http://www.gty.org/

http://www.ligonier.org/

To listen to the teaching click here.

A. What is                                         ?
Introduction

1. The primary task of any teacher of Scripture is to explain the text. (Psalm 119:34)

We received this from our Team Bangkok leader Bret Cox yesterday. He has asked that we pass the note along to the church.

Dear LifePoint Church,

I am sorry this has taken so long to get to you. We have been balancing reading, class time, ministry, and personal time with our Lord. That really isn’t an excuse though as you dropped everything to rise up and meet our needs. Team Bangkok was completely and totally amazed at the response from our church when we had to relocate to unfurnished apartments. The body went above and beyond by supplying all our needs right down to forks and spoons! This was a picture of how Biblical community is fleshed out as modeled in Acts 2. Since we don’t know who made all the donations, maybe this can be posted on the website. We truly want everyone to know how much we appreciate our Church and their heart for missions.

A special thanks to Pat, Tim, Leslie, Jason and Witt for their sacrifice of time and energy to make the trip to Atlanta and work tirelessly to get the furnishings from the truck to each apartment, then make the late night drive back to Smyrna. What a long day for them! As we are learning in our training, we are blessed to be a blessing and you have certainly been a blessing to us. We LOVE each of you and look forward to all the glory God is going to receive through our faithful body of believers. With sincere love, Team Bangkok

Team Bangkok

Bret and Susie Cox

Seth Hood

Brandon and Crystal Hathcock

Steve and Tiffany Van Dyke

Brett and Beth Clark

Kyle Tanner

Last night at LifePoint I began a new teaching series using “Living By The Book” by Howard Hendricks. I am posting the note-taking sheet here and you can access the audio portion of the teaching through our media player. My hope is if you are in Smyrna you will make it a priority to be involved for the next three weeks as we learn how to study the Bible so we can be well equipped as a Christ follower.

SESSION 1: OBSERVATION

A.  The                      of

1.  Psalms 119:18

2.  “You see, but you do not observe.”  Sherlock Holmes

Learn to ___________________

1.  As you read, pay attention to the ____________

2.  Read God’s Word as for the ____________________

3.  Read the Bible as a ______________________

B.  Six                      of Observation

1. ____________

a.  The names

b.  What is said about the person?

c.  What does the person say?

2.  _____________

a.  What is happening in the text?

b.  What are the events and order?

c.  Some cases:  What is the argument, point, question, answer?

3.  _____________

a.  Location

b.  Where are they from and where are they going?

c.  Where is the writer?  Where were the original readers?

4.  _____________

a.  Time

b,  In relation to this, when did other events in Scripture occur?

c.  Mark 1:35

5.  _____________

a.  unlimited number of questions

b.  examples: Why here?   Why not there?  Why does it lead or follow?  Why did they say that?  Why are they silent?

c.  Why questions dig for meaning.

6. ______________

a.  What difference would it make if I were to apply this truth?

b.  Do something, respond, action

C.  Practice with a verse:

1.  Who/Names (people involved)

2.  When/Cause and Effect

3.  What/Terms/Context

4.  Where/Places

5.  Why

6.  So What

Each year our Helping Hands Ministry sponsors an Angel Tree. Ray King, who leads the Helping Hands ministry, has pre-screened applicants that have children and need help purchasing gifts for Christmas. This year our church has already sponsored 150 children from the Angel Tree. Thank you for helping these kids during the holidays.

But…..there are 150 children still on the tree who need a sponsor. This coming Sunday (Dec. 13) is the last Sunday to pick a child from the tree. I am asking you to jump in and help. The Helping Hands team suggests purchasing a set of clothes and a small toy, nothing elaborate. You can stop by the church office this week and pick up a name also at your convenience. Let’s make sure these kids are sponsored.

Ray King can give you more info @ rking[at]raymondkingjr.com.

The Sending Church Campaign is about to close. We have been in a very unique series for the past 3 weeks @LifePoint Church where Pat has challenged us to be active in the sending process as a church (corporately) and as individuals by giving financially above and beyond our tithe. People have responded overwhelmingly in a positive way with comments about finally realizing the importance of sending to international cities where Christ is not recognized Lord.

One question that continues to be asked and I want to help answer concerns financial partnership with individual missionarieschurch planters from our church. The question has been phrased like this, “If my family is giving to support/partner with a certain family will that money be counted toward the overall goal of $1.5 million dollars the church is raising?” This is a good question and I have a very short and easy answer.

YES!!

Any financial partnership that a LifePoint member/attender makes with one of our church planters on the Bangkok or Belgium teams will be counted as part of the overall goal of $1.5 million. Please make sure and write the family name and country on the commitment card so the financial office can make sure it is directed as desired. You also need to let the church planting family know of the partnership you are desiring with them.

The dollars that are committed to a LifePoint church planting family is designated to that family as salary support. Any dollars that are committed to The Sending Church Campaign that are not designated to a church planting family will go toward ministry budgets and the planting of future local and international churches/campuses.

I am looking forward to turning in our family’s commitment card and bringing an initial offering this Sunday. Join with us as Lifepoint “sends the church to be the church where there is no church.”

Sometimes pictures say more than words could express.

The Church of St. Nicolas sit on the corner of a plaza in Brussels. The back side of the building where this picture was taken is now filled with shops, pubs and sidewalk cafes attached to the church building. Upon entering the building we found it empty except for the few people who were looking at the extravagant art that was displayed.

St. Micheal’s Cathedral is a huge structure built in the 13th century. Today it is mostly a tourist attraction with art displays. It does hold prominent funerals and a small mass.

The congregation is mostly non-existent, similar to this picture.

An elaborate pulpit area that has no life or authority in the lives of people.

We had the opportunist to visit one of the very first evangelical churches in Belgium built in traditional western American style design. A small contingent of people were practicing music for the 50 or so people who will so up on Sunday. The auditorium holds probably 400-500 with the balcony.

Pray that we will be able to help people move past a building to a community of believers. We will seek to disciple young believers in Biblical community and relational evangelism. We desire to model a faith that is alive and vibrant and walks with God and other believers in a way that is inviting to a lost world.

Alos, pray for the beleivers who are in Belgium today seeking to be the salt and light of God. May we be a breath of fresh air to their spirit and may we learn from them how to persevere in the face what is a seemingly dry and parched land.They, the M’s, are in need of co-laborers who will plow, pick rocks, weed, water and live faithfully.

Remember there are no God forsaken lands, just church forsaken lands. Therefore we must go.

Our day began with a 7 a.m. Metro (subway) ride to the train station for an 8 a.m. train to Namur in the French region of Belgium. After a one-hour train ride our partners and friends in Namur met us to transport us to their new home. We spent the morning talking and praying together about what is happening in their lives and how life has changed since moving to Namur. The major differences are being away from team members who speak English and living in an all French-speaking region. Major adjustments to say the least are happening in their home.

After a time of talking about what we could possibly expect to go through in our transition to Belgian life the ladies on our team walked with E to the local school their children attend. Wednesdays are half days for school age kids in Belgium. We had a great meal together and then prepared to go into town to walk, pray and meet new friends.

Namur is what I would call a quintessential European town. The buildings are close together with narrow alleyways that open into courtyards with cafes and sideway tables filled with people gathering to meet and discuss. People where moving everywhere. As we walked along the streets we did attract onlookers as we spoke an entirely different language that isn’t often heard on these streets.

Jordan and Cassi had the assignment to try and engage people for directions to a local attraction, the Citadelle. Each one of them took off and walked up to people and began trying in their best English to communicate with locals who spoke French. People were very friendly and helpful even though there was an obvious communication gap. They both overcame the gap and found out how to get to where we needed to be as a team.

After along walk (which we have had each day) we reached the overlook of the city from the Citadelle and we took time to pray a blessing over the city and ask God to move powerfully.

On another note, our team was able to reconnect with a friend we made on our last journey to Namur in March. Some of our team members have been communicating with her back and forth through Facebook. They were able to meet and spend a few hours together meeting face to face and then I had an opportunity to see her also. What a great time of being able to develop our friendships through technology and also seeing each other again in person. I am praying we get to see her again soon.

Great day. Continue to pray for us.

Our day has been spent walking the streets of two different communes (neighborhoods) that we are surveying. During the times of survey we are looking for points of interest such as where people will gather and trying to find clues as to who might live (groups of people) in the communes.

One of our team members was able to begin a conversation with a mom from the Ivory Coast as she was waiting to pick her child up for the lunch break at a local school. We took time to prayer walk a local park where families gather and asked God to give the M’s that live in that neighborhood influence and the ability to connect with people for God’s glory.

It has been very important for the people on this trip to see what life will be like when they re-locate here in Jan. 2011. So, we went through a local grocery store and priced common items and noticed the differences in taste. Del Haize is one of the local grocery stores people shop in Brussels. Del Haize also happens to be the parent company for Food Lion.

We have been able to see into a few apartments and get a glimpse of what life will be like once we move here. The apartment we were in today was 120 sq. meters (approx. 1200 sq. feet) and the monthly rent is $1200.00 Euros or around $1680.00 US dollars. We were able to see another apartment in a separate area of town yesterday that was around 90 square meters (appox. 900 sq. feet) for a monthly rent of $1100.00 Euros or around $1540.00 US dollars. Our team members have been asking God to help us find the right places to live and at prices that are affordable. Please add this to your list of prayer request for this team.

While passing through the communes today we passed a very large Catholic church that averages less than 100 parishioners with lass than 10 people under the age of 65. The average age of a Catholic priest is 67 years old in Belgium and there are no replacements in sight. The younger generations have no desire to attend Catholic churches. We are asking God to give us an ability to connect with college students and young adults with children in culturally relevant ways so as to help them understand the need for a relationship with Jesus. The average person here does not understand a relationship with Jesus. We must help people understand the Bible as relevant and our relationship with Christ is real.

We are sensing the Holy Spirit at work in this city but we know greater things are yet to be done. So, tonight as you pray remember Jordan, Tim, Cassi, Dan, Elizabeth, Rob and me before the Lord and ask Him to pour His Spirit out on this country and would He use us in His plans.

Sorry about not updating on Sunday.We were so tired from flying all night and then staying up all day that we went to bed as soon as we could. We attended church on Sunday morning at Vineyard Brussels. There was a wonderful time of worship and then we were off to try and stay awake for the rest of the day so we would not fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon.

One really cool thing happened last evening (noontime for Middle Tennessee) was to have small group experience online from Belgium back to Smyrna, TN. Our small group meet yesterday afternoon and the other half of the small group is with me in Brussels. We talked about Sunday’s message, talked about our day here in Brussels and then those of us in Belgium prayed for our small group folks back in TN and the folks in Smyrna prayed for us in Belgium to have a productive trip. Incredible to see each other through Skype and then talk, pray, and encourage on another. Thank you Lord for technology.

Today, we have had team meetings (nothing new for Monday’s), meet with other M’s and prayer walked a neighborhood that could be a possible spot for our team to live. We purchased cell phones for our team to communicate with as we divide up and cover more territory. We went to a local gathering place for people (a mall) and divided into 3 teams and engaged locals in conversation about spiritual things so we could  begin to learn about their worldview and their ideas about spiritual topics. We ended our day with a tour of a huge cathedral that is basically a tourist spot.

Please pray for us as we IPOC, I pray, I observe, I connect. We are asking God to grow our vision, grow our passion, and break our hearts for the people of Brussels. He is at work in this country and we want to be used by Him for His glory.

(You can see pictures on www.facebook.com/kylegoen)