Nothing has changed my life more than the Word of God. Nothing. I am not alone in this either. The people who have had the greatest impact on my life have all been people who consistently, and regularly spend time reading and studying the Bible. I have read many biographies of brothers and sisters in Christ who have faithfully followed Jesus and a love for reading and studying the Word of God is a common theme amongst all of them. If I could give people only one suggestion about how they can grow in their faith my answer would simply be, read and study the Bible regularly and consistently. Read carefully what Hebrews 4:12 says about the word of God. "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart"
Most people who are followers of Jesus, and those who are exploring Christianity, know they should study the Bible. However there seems to be a disconnect for many people between knowing what they should do and actually doing it. Part of the reason for the disconnect is people simply not knowing how to study the Word of God. Yesterday at Bethel we were looking at Mark 12:28-31, "And one of the Scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing them he answered them well, asked him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, 'The most important is, Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.'" As we looked at loving God with our minds we focused in on the importance of studying the Word of God. In hopes to help those who have never been taught how to study God's Word, or to simply provide a refresher for those who have fallen out of practice, over the next five days I will be walking us through one method of Bible study that you can use to dig into the Word of God.
Read carefully this passage from 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." The Bible contains the very words of God, Scripture is breathed out by God, they come from Him, and it is the primary way that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. When we read the Bible we are actually reading the words of God. Notice how these two verses ended... "that the man (and woman) of God may be compete, equipped for every good work." That is how important the Bible is. The Bible functions in our life for the purpose of making us complete and equipped for every good work. Everything we need to know about God, ourselves, Jesus, faith, and following Him are in the Bible. Do you want to grow in your faith? Be in the Bible. Do you want to love God more? Be in the Bible. Do you want to know how to treat others? Be in the Bible. Do you want to trust God more? Be in the Bible. Do you want to know God more? Be in the Bible. Do you want to know the Holy Spirit more? Be in the Bible. Do you want to better understand grace? Be in the Bible. Do you want to know how to fight sin and temptation? Be in the Bible. My hope for you, my prayer for you, is that in the coming days, weeks, and month you would come to drink regularly from the Words of God and through that you would see yourself becoming complete and equipped for every good work.
The path ahead. We are going to be looking at the COMA method of Bible study (terrible name, I know) over the next four days. In this method we will begin to learn how to determine the Context of the text, make Observations about the text, determine the Meaning of the text, and Apply it to our daily lives. For each of the next four days we will explore each of these one day at a time. In addition, we will be studying through a specific text together. So tomorrow we will explore how to determine the context of a passage and you will be given a passage to begin applying what you are learning about determining the context of a passage.
I hope you will join us this week as together we look at how to study the Bible.
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