You Are Already Equipped For Bible Study

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In Bible study as in life, there is always “more than meets the eye.”  Many people make poor judgements by following their first impressions and instincts without taking the necessary time and effort to fully observe what is happening around them.  Likewise, lack of careful Biblical observation has led to much false teaching and poor understanding of Biblical truth.

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“Never trust general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Biblical observation is not difficult, it just takes a little time and attention. The average Christian may feel under-prepared for the task, but the simple truth is you already possess the two most important tools in Biblical observation and other helps are not difficult to obtain and use.

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Help When Bruised and Burned Out

If you are like me, you encounter a lot of hurting people – people ready to give up, give in, or give out. Life has a way of sucking the wind right out of the sails that navigate us through the sea of life.

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In Matthew 12:15-20, Matthew – under Holy Spirit inspiration – applies prophecies from Isaiah to Jesus. In once such prophecy from Isaiah 42:3, Matthew (12:20) says if Jesus,

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench.”
– Matthew 12:20

He will not finished off the bruised and He will not extinguished the burned out. Bruised and burned out. Every felt that way? I have.

The good news is that if you feel bruised and burned out, Jesus has not forsaken you. He will not trim you away or douse the last ounce of flickering flame left in your soul. He will set things right again. His work may not be completed until the Last Day, but rest assured, weary pilgrim, that work WILL be complete. (Philippians 1:6) So what can you do in the meantime?

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4 Things Everybody Needs to Know about God

People know a lot of information about a lot of things – some knowledge is trivial, other is vital for life.  The most important knowledge you need however is not necessarily limited to “head knowledge;” it’s not just knowing about, but experiential knowledge – know of something, or more precisely someone.  God.  Of all the things you can know, knowing God is of utmost eternal value, and WHAT you know about God will determine how you approach HIM and what you think about HIM.

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We like to talk a lot about what we know, and that knowledge often makes us feel pretty good about ourselves.  Through the prophet Jeremiah, however, God reminded us what knowledge is most important. Read More

Why We Fail to Listen to God

While not everyone suffers with hearing loss, we all suffer from time to time with “listening loss.”  We fail to pay attention, we miss an important announcement, we disregard a warning siren and all of a sudden we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an otherwise avoidable mess.  We need to make sure we are listening…ESPECIALLY to God.

listening-dogThe good news is that God speaks to us and personally interacts with us; the bad news is sometimes, we fail to heed His voice. The Bible includes many accounts of persons who either disregarded or ignored God’s instructions and subsequently suffered the consequences.

In His landmark book and Bible study, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby shares four ways that God speaks to us. Read More

How to Begin Investigating the Bible for Yourself

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The Bible is a literary masterpiece, written in fine literary fashion, and worthy to be studied by students of literature.  It serves a much higher purpose, however, in the life of a believer.  When a believer reads the Bible, he or she reads an message from God applicable to that particular believer in his or her current life circumstances.  The Bible is God’s living specific truth that speaks into people’s lives today as much as ever.

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I cannot tell you the number of times a specific passage of Scripture has come to life when I read it and that God used it to instruct, challenge, encourage, inform, or convict me as I read it.  Sometimes I feel “ambushed” by God because I read a passage of Scripture only to have the Holy Spirit speak – silently yet loudly – right to a current situation in my life.  That can happen to you as well if you approach the Bible to hear what God wants to say to you!

Last week I encouraged you to develop an intentional plan for reading both larger and smaller portions of Scripture on a regular basis, and for probing a smaller passage on a daily basis.  I believe that best way to study the Bible is through what is called the Inductive Study Method, which consists of three parts: Read More

How Your Ears Can Speak Volumes

One of baseball great Yogi Berra’s famous quotes was “you can observe a lot just by watching.”  I like to paraphrase his quote by saying, “you can hear a lot just by listening.”  Listening is a lost art.  We all want to be heard, but no one wants to take the time to genuinely listen.  Yet, listening can make our speaking so much more effective.

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I have a friend who will ask you a question, but before you have the time to answer it completely he asks another – sometimes totally unrelated – question.  Really, a conversation with him can be quite exhausting and usually seems unproductive. Because of this scenario, our conversations are mostly superficial and we never discuss deeper topics and issues.

I believe that God created us with design and intention, and as a result He purposefully gave us 2 ears and one mouth.  How would our conversations be different if we listened TWICE as much as we spoke?  Consider James’ admonition to us: Read More

4 Things Everybody Needs to Know About the Bible

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i-knowWhen I think of all the important theological truths that we Christians need to understand, I have to begin with teaching about the Bible. If we know the textbook well, even have it memorized, but the textbook has errors, then our knowledge is flawed.

So as we begin this journey on Fridays looking at essential doctrines about which believers should be knowledgeable, we begin with the Bible. God’s Word is our standard for truth and there are four things about the Bible we need to understand before we can learn about the other important truths.

  1. The Bible is the Word of God.

The Bible is not just a word from God, it is the word of God. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul tells us that all Scripture is inspired by God. To day God’s Word is inspired is not to say that it inspired like a modern work of art, poetry, or song. The word literally means to be breathed out by God. God is the source of the Bible.

The Bible contains 66 books written over a 1600-year span by 40 authors from 3 different continents. These authors include shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, a priest, a butler, and a even a military general. In spite of all of that, the Bible maintains a unique unity from beginning to end. It is a redemptive story from creation, through fall, and continuing in redemption, leading up to our ascension to Heaven.

All the words and each individual word in the Bible comes from God.

  1. The Bible is our ultimate source of authority.

In 2 Timothy 3:17, Paul asserts that the Bible produces a mature person, perfectly equipped for EVERY GOOD work. The Bible’s teaching is comprehensive. It contains all we need to know to live obedient lives and in obeying it, we are made complete and enable to handle what comes our way in life.

  1. Bible truth is timeless and always relevant.

In Psalms 119, David tells us that the Bible will keep our way pure (vs 9), keep us from sin (vs 11), and give direction and guidance (vs 105).

Isaiah 40:8 reminds us that unlike flowers and grass, God’s Word does not fade, go dormant, or disappear.

While others claim the teaching of the Bible are foreign to today’s culture, we realize that the Word should inform, instruct, and guide our living in our contemporary culture. What God said was TRUTH then is still TRUTH today.

  1. Obeying the Bible leads to a successful life. (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 19:10-11, Matthew 7:24-27)

Self-proclaimed secrets to success change with every generation, but God’s Word has stood the test of time. We can trust God’s Word to guide us directly down a path to the success that God has for us.

Our knowledge of God, His Son Jesus, and all other important Christian doctrines are only as reliable as our source for that knowledge. You can trust that we have a sure and certain Word of God that reveals all He desires us to know.

Fan or Follower?

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For several weeks, I have been thinking about how often we “play” at our Christian discipleship. We believe in Him, and we claim to be His, but do we actually follow Him? We are big fans of Jesus. We like what he does for us; we like that when we die we can go to heaven, but are we truly His disciples? If we are following Him we are living the way He would prescribe, we are following HIS steps.

In Mark 8:34, Jesus said,

…“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

This week I had the privilege of teaching a seminar on team building to a group of Community Ministries Directors from across Georgia. During the second day of the seminar I greatly enjoyed the presentation by Beth Ann Williams, Executive Director of the Woman’s Missionary Union of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. As I continued to think about one of the handouts she shared, I am reminded I cannot follow Jesus until first I take up my cross and deny myself.

Read carefully the excerpt below from the handout Beth Ann gave us.

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Now read Galatians 2:20 and Romans 12:1.

Challenging isn’t it?

Are you merely a fan of Jesus, or are you ready to be a follower?

Jesus doesn’t call fans. He calls followers.