Saturday, November 7, 2015

Take A Chapter At A Time

Record Your Bible Research
     Recently I have started to take a book to study. I look at how many chapters the book has, as this is how many weeks ( I use this method a chapter a week) and start in to read that chapter five times.
    I find this starts verses popping out to get my interest. Sometimes it will be on another day of the week reading it through five times that a verse pops out at me.
    I note that verse and set about memorizing it. This is the verse I have decided is useful for discussion with others. I may just feel that it in one that I will need later to meditate on. "Study to show yourself approved." "Thy word I have hid in my heart that I may not sin against God."  "There is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
     Just one chapter a week. This is in addition to the Bible reading and the sermon. Don't worry iof one week a verse doesn't pop out. That week may not be the week you need the verse. Just keep repeating the verses you have been able to glean. Be faithful to this practice. You will find your whole circumstances soothing out. You will find things don't bother you as much. What you are doing is allowing the Holy Spirit to work with the verses you have memorized.
     Start small and work up.
     Let me know how you are doing.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Timing Of Studies


If you have been reading the last two posts and the earlier postings on Bible Study Method, you may be wondering just when are you going to find the time  to do all this. After all, you still have to go to work and earn a living. You still have to shop. And so on.
   None of these methods are meant to be a 24/7 program. They all take a scheduled period of time.
   I would suggest you have a period of time set up when you can be alone with your Bible and pad and pen or pencil. You need to open with prayer.."Open my eyes that I may see what you have in this passage for me.". or something like that. Remember, it is a period of time you are setting aside to hear what God is saying to you.
    Application is the goal here. What does it say? What is going on? How can I apply it?
    Don't worry if it doesn't grab you. The idea is that you are dedicating this period of time to this discipline. It is your faithfulness God is looking for.
     Have a set portion to read. You may only be able to dedicate this time once a week. Or maybe twice a week.   If that is all you are able to do, that is all that is required. As time goes on you will find you need to spend more time on it and when that time comes you will adjust..

Monday, September 14, 2015

Devotional Study


As in the previous Bible Study Method we must prepare ourselves for the study. Clear your known sins away by starting with confession. 1John says if we will confess our sins God will be faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. .
  He is able to do this because of the cross. When we become Christians our sins are nailed to the cross with Jesus who has become our sin bearing lamb.
   Which means the best way to study the Bible and understand it is by first acknowledging Jesus as the son of God who bore our sins and the penalty of sins on the cross. He collected the wage so you don't have to. That wage being separation forever from God.
    Our first Bible study method would be the devotional method.
   The goal of all Bible study should be application. But before application we have to do some reading and questioning. So we will start out by praying for insight on how to apply the portion of scripture to our life. The next big step would be to locate that passage we want to study. Once located we should make an application and record it. Lastly we must within the passage we have selected to study and apply we should memorize a verse which we have decided is key.
   The secret to knowing the scripture is the applying of scripture.
    Application is hard work. It should be personal, practical, possible and provable.
    Let me know how you are doing.
    As I said, feedback or I won't know if you are enjoying and wanting what I can offer you.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Back on Study Mode

Bible Study
 
  It seems the readers of this blog gravitate to the section long ago concerning the Bible Study Methods such as ABC method or the chapter summery or topical.
    I need feedback and input this time around. Treat me as your guide.
    A method that I have run across is one which needs no tools other than a Bible and a notebook to jot down ideas.
    It is not completely a book study. Even if it is suggested you start this method with a book like the Gospel of John or Acts, or Romans.. maybe a psalm or proverb.
    Read a portion such as a chapter five (5) times. Maybe even once aloud to get the flow. Next you name the section.. in this case a chapter.
     John  One. beginnings .Just a suggestion. Name it so you will remember  what you read there so you can tell others in conversation the main idea of that section. And also to bring it to memory.
     Always look for a verse in that section to memorize.
     Or maybe you enjoy writing and would like to do a general narrative.
     I am doing one blog that reads like a general overview of the stories and characters in the Bible. 
     As I said, just an example of what can be done.
     In postings to come , if I can generate an interest, I can help you in your Bible Study Methods.
  

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Can God Be Known?


This is a big question most have. Can God be known. From this we can also ask can God be defined?
Even as I contend the Scriptures to be the exact words of God to us to explain Himself to us, I realize this is not an answer to those who don 't feel God has revealed Himself.
This is where your view of the  66 books known as the Hebrew Christian scriptures comes to play. Is it what it says it is, the word of God, or is the book only another collection of so called holy writings?
two avenues to explore. And is is one area to be explored as you do Bible Study.
You will need a good translation of the writings. You will also need a concordance. You will be looking up words and phrases. Don't forget the notebook you are jotting your observations in.
First of all you must understand the Bible doesn't try to explain where God came from. God has always been and you must accept this as the first premise . Since God is He must exist. God told Moses His name is I AM.
God reveals Himself through actions. People you know reveal themselves through actions.
 God can be known by what He creates. Men are known by what they create. God created the sun, the moon, the stars,  these things seem to show that God has more power than man in the creation realm.
Can He be defined so to be controlled- kept in a box?  No, in that sense God can't be defined. But He can be defined by what He does and by what He has revealed. He is not silent. He is not way off. He did not create man and everything and then back away as the deists hold.
 --please comment and direct the discussion--

Monday, May 18, 2015

People...This Is A Bible


People. See this book I am holding up? It is a Bible.  This book is a lens, so to speak, from which we view the world.
  We all have view points we use as lens to interpret things around us and things happening to us.
  Only this one book gives us a view of the world and the activity around us that is pleasing to God.
    If you are a Christian you are obligated to study the Bible to understand God's will for your life. And we are all existing according to God's will but not all are doing the will.
    There are principles in this book  that must govern our lives. We don't have to fully undertstand or fully like what it teaches us.  
   When I write it is the exact words of God and tell us what HE wants to say to us I am not saying it is a book of suggestions. It claims to be the Word of God and invites you to let it rule and guide every aspect of your life. Since it is authoritative it possesses the right to direct our life.
   God's way is far above ours. You can only find out what god's ways are by reading and studying and allowing this book to mold you. This is why I write and post so much on Bible study techniques.
    Please feel free to respond to my posts. Let me hear from you. Let's dialog. 

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Righteous Anger- Is There Such A Thing?


  You hear people tell you this-- be angry and sin not.
  Anger. It is narcissistic. All about your own rights.
   Do we have the right to be angry?
   Looking to the Bible to see what it says about the issue, I can not find a right.
   All I find is that we are to forgive when people wrong us. To forgive we have to give up or forfeit our right to anger-- or even to be offended.
   Talk about offense.. we have offended God who created us to be with Him forever, but Adam, who I believe was our first parent and stood as a representative of all his offspring to come, disobeyed God.
   Talk about offense. If anyone was offended it was God. He created something and gave it the ability to make decisions and it made the wrong choice.
    In anger, God could have wiped out mankind. He, not having sinned, would be the only one who had the right to anger. He would have been righteous. He almost did it during Noah's day. remember?
   The Bible tells us there is none righteous.
    Therefore, we have no rights.
    I submit that we have no right to anger...ever.
    God is allowed anger. When we get angry we stand as guilty as the one we are angry at. God is sinless. He alone is perfect. His character allows for judgement. Anger is judgement.
     Face it, God loves us and thinks we are special. But we are not God,

     Yes, you say, but Jesus got angry. Yes, Jesus also is the God/man. He alone could be angry and sin not. Which is another quote people throw around.


      To read the review click here.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Ask Yourself, Would God Want Me To Be Doing This

 
 Today being Sunday and today being a day I attend services at my church, the sermon was centered on Romans 12:2. Submitting your body as a form of sacrifice.
     It is simple. Ask yourself if what you are doing is pleasing to God. Would God actually want you to be doing what you are doing?
    And in personal affairs, are you humble? Do you allow God to use you?  Working through you?
   Do you handle your temper? There is a book out, which I will review soon in my blog that states we shouldn't be angry at all. It isn't our right or position to do so. To leave the anger up to God.
   But that review hasn't been written yet nor has the book that is about that subject been read. It is only April 26 at this moment.
   Getting back to what I was saying,  Others are watching you, if you state you are a Christian, and are prejudging what they falsely call 'Christian' activities. That word used as a descriptive adjective or an adverb is the wrong use. Christian is a noun. A person. Not a state of being, in my opinion
   Only a Christian is able to present their body as a living sacrifice.
  Ask yourself, would God want me to be doing this?
   Likely the answer would be no.
 

Monday, April 20, 2015

Our Instruction Guide


It always is a wonder to me how a God who is afar off can be so near and concerned about His Creation. So concerned that He communicated and had spiritually prepared people record His words and deeds and preserve them through the ages to what we have today known as a Bible.
   Yes, it is God communication to us.
    We do need a good translation since the original is in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek... for sure not languages that we read everyday, unless we are in areas where these languages are spoken. And even then you still need to have the communication interpreted for you.
     I prefer my translation to be in my mother tongue,which in this case is  English.
     Let me suggest if you need to purchase a good translation you can click here and be sent to a place where you can acquire a Bible and some study aids.
     As I said, God has communicated. He is not silent. He is an invisible God, that is true. But He is not silent. There are things He wants us to know.
      I have a page in WordPress where I presently am telling the story contained in the pages of the book. Go and like it.
     Even though Adam sinned and all born after him are born in sin, God cares enough to communicate.  He cares enough to preserve His communication.
   
    

Monday, March 9, 2015

Faith Is Important


 What ever we ask for in prayer we should do in faith.
  Faith is not a hope for or something added on to make the request holy.
  In Hebrews, one of the epistles located in the Bible, we are told faith is needed to get things done. All the eleventh chapter is packed with people of faith.
   Faith has a paradox to it . We are believing on the basis of what God has said that we have what we ask for. It is not a magic formula. We need faith because life is messy and God is mysterious. We come to realize that faith  is often confusing
   God tells us to ask and believe when we pray. When we trust and obey that is when faith happens.
    Therefore, faith is a process not a product. It is journey.
    Faith is important because God is important. God is not absent. God wants to provide for His followers.
     Sometimes God waits before answering. Faith is needed to beleive that He hears and He is willing to provide your request. But you have to make the request.
    If you are a parent you no doubt want to provide all needs of your child. But you are waiting for the child to request the need before you release the answer. God may be like that also. He has what you need but He will not force the provision on you if you don't request it.
    Let me know how you are enjoying these posts.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Let's Talk About Deacons


 You hear about deacons if you are in the church. No matter what type or branding of church you belong to, there may be a deacon board or just a group of deacons.
  Just what is a deacon?
  That is simple. A deacon is a helper. A table waiter. He pops up in the book of Acts, the sixth chapter.  There was a disagreement in the new church over ther serving of the new Jews, the group of new believers in Christ. They were saying they weren't getting their proper amount of attention or food.
  So James and the apostles got together and said, "It is not right we serve tables. We are called to give you the word of God and to pray for you. You select spiritual people, seven men, and let them take over the office."
   Deacons today are to do the business of care for the church and meet the needs of the people. They are to allow the pastor, who has been called to lead, to do his study and preaching.
  They are to free up the pastor from doing mundane things. Not that a deacon is less in the body but are important to the proper running of the congregation.
   But they are not the people called to run the church. They are called to help the church function.

Further In And Higher Up-


 The title of this post is a phrase used by C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia series. It meant to get to know a deeper truth better.
  For us when we study the Bible we are going further in and higher up.
   God wants to communicate and He has done that through the Bible. Those 66 books are a unit and are God allowing us to see Him.
    We, like gold hunters, must dig and pan out what is there.
     We do that through the right study techniques. I have discussed this earlier in this blog and you will have to do a bit of hunting through the table on contents.
     What ever you do and how ever you do it, you will need a good Bible translation. That you can find at  the book store I recommend. Just click on the colored words in the last sentence and you will be taken there.
       With this translation ( We don't have the orogianl manuscripts, but these translations found at the store are fine to use) you will also need a notepad to jot down insights to the reading you are doing.
   As you read you will be asking, what is this passage saying? To whom is it addressed? (Hint, we are not the primary people being addressed.)  Who is speaking?  Why is it here?  Are there other places this incident is spoken of?
    Of course you will be using Bible aids as you explore. You will need a Bible history book, a concordance, a writing instrument to write with.
   Much prayer is called for. Wait for the answer. You might not get the exact meaning. You may need to ask your pastor or gifted teacher in the fellowship to help you.. 
    Once again let me say you are digging. A good study will take time.
   Don't be afraid to mark your Bible. There may be passages you want to memorize. Please do so.. This will make it easier for God to speak to you. He only speaks what the Bible speaks since it is what He has revealed to us about Himself. He does not and has never spoken outside what is already written in the Bible. He is not revealing new truth. Be careful of people who tell you otherwise.