SWYC 2009: Watch and Pray

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GYC Southwest

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

Adam Ramdin

How to Preach: Preparation and Delivery of the Message

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

Nelson Ernst

Seventh-day Activism

How to Study the Bible, Part 2

Father in heaven, Lord, we pray that as we spend these next few moments meditating and talking and discussing how to study the Bible, such an important subject, we ask, Lord, for your spirit to guide us.

We ask, Lord, for your spirit to speak to each and every 1 of our hearts.

And I pray, Lord, that you may instill within each and every 1 of us a deeper desire to study your word.

You know, yesterday, the message that I gave in the morning was entitled, Watch.

And I started the message and I said that today we live in a now generation and today we also live in a what other generation?

Now maybe generation now, a Google generation.

Meaning that we like to put a question in and we like an answer spat out right away.

Unfortunately, when you come to studying the Bible, it's not quite as simple as Google.

It's not just like, okay, look, here's how you study the Bible, just done.

And God just gives you an answer like this, this, this, and this, and this.

When you're studying the Bible and when you're committing to study the Bible, in a sense you have to view it as you're in it for the long haul.

That it may not just be a quick snappy answer, you have a question, you study, you get the answer, you read a passage of scripture, or let me read John chapter 5, oh boom, there we go, I understand the whole thing, done.

It's not always as straightforward, as simple as that.

You have to kind of view it as a long haul that God may teach you over a period of hours, maybe weeks, maybe even months on a particular passage.

And the way that we study the Bible is not the same way that we would study Shakespeare.

It's not the same way that we would study a history book in your school, it's not the same way you would just study for a mathematic exam where you get the formula and now you can do it, done, answer, move on.

It's a little bit different, and so I'm gonna be sharing some principles of Bible study.

What, why, how, which is the most important word?

I think God is more interested often in teaching us the why's and the how's than He's always in giving us the what's.

God wants to teach us how, He wants to teach us why, hence how to study the Bible.

I just learned I can control my slide presentation from my phone.

So please don't get distracted and think I'm like sending text messages to my family.

I thought it was pretty cool, I found out yesterday.

It says, whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand?

Doctrine, them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear a little and what?

Those that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the?

Those that are no longer depending upon somebody else to be fed, but those that can now feed themselves will be those that God is able to teach.

We need to pray that we're in a spiritual condition, that we're not always depending on other people for our spiritual nourishment and strength, but we are moving on.

And that's why I believe you've come here to this workshop, to find out how you can feed yourself.

That all your spiritual food does not come to you via listening to a sermon you hear someone else preach.

But now you want to be able to dig for yourself and find some of the answers for yourself.

Notice what Daniel chapter 12 verse 10 says.

It says, many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall do what?

None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall do what?

Those that God is able to teach are those that have been weaned or drawn away from human dependence for their spiritual food.

Those the Bible says are those who are wise.

So as we approach the Bible, as we sit down, as we get ready to study the Bible, what should our mindset be as we are approaching and studying the Bible?

The Bible tells us, Ezra did certain things, says he did this.

For Ezra had, number 1, prepared his heart.

To Seek the law of God and to do it and to teach.

What are the key words in that verse, would you say?

The third word that is a key word in that verse is?

He prepared his heart to seek, then he wanted to do it, then he wanted to teach it.

4 principles you can glean that we can apply in our Bible study.

As we're opening the Bible to study it, we need to prepare our hearts that as we seek God's law and what is found in the scriptures, We are not just doing it for theoretical understanding to know something clever, but we're studying the Bible so that we can also then do what we study, and not only just so that we can do it and so we can know it for ourselves, but the final step is a key 1 that we can also teach other people.

It is by teaching other people that you really learn things the best for yourselves.

You've heard that you learn, you remember, I forget exactly.

If you teach somebody though, the percentage goes up to like 60 or 70%.

You remember what you've taught, about 60%.

On the best ways to study the Bible, to learn the Bible, to know the Bible, the final step is to teach it.

You know, how we study the Bible is very, very important.

Wrong method of studying the Bible gives us wrong conclusions.

If we have a wrong method, we're gonna have wrong conclusions and we're gonna have inconsistencies as we study the Bible.

If the Bible is inspired by God, should it therefore be consistent, yes or no?

If we're studying the Bible and we come to inconsistent conclusions, We do not conclude that the Bible is not inspired.

What I would suggest to you is if you come to inconsistent conclusions in your study, maybe the methods you're using for your study are not correct or consistent with each other.

Hence you're kind of firing in the wrong direction.

So, a fancy word for the study of the Bible, methodology, hermeneutics.

Maybe you heard people talk about that word before.

Hermeneutics, the hermeneutics, how to study the Bible, the study of the methodology definition of interpreting the Holy Scriptures.

In short, you could say it's the science and art of the correct interpretation of the Bible.

The basic task when you're studying the Bible is to do 2 things.

Number 1, to determine what God said in the Holy Scriptures, and number 2, to go on from that, what it means for us today.

Series

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

God's Ordained Order

God’s Ordained Order - Part 5

56m

Prophecy Seminar

The Gospel of Judgment

1h 13m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

07 The Altar of Incense

1h 11m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

06 The Table of Showbread

1h 8m

iShare 2012 Seminar: How to Study the Bible

How to Study the Bible, Part 3

42m

How to Study the Bible and Empower Your Devotional Life- Part 2

58m

Bible Study Methods

47m

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

It’s Wartime - Part 3: Wartime Communication

58m

Seven Trumpets and the Role of Islam

Seven Trumpets and the Role of Islam- Part 4

1h 16m

The Parables

The Rich Man and Lazarus

43m

The Almost Overmastering Delusion

54m

Soul Thirst: Going Deeper with God

Sword or Sawdust

1h

Sound Doctrine