Thursday is my long day. We have a Bible study at 0600 with three men who went through DTTB about two and a half years ago. There were 7 when we started. Some have started other studies and life demands have moved others out of that study. At 0800 I meet with a Moroccan pastor online. Like the earlier study we are in Acts. Right around lunch I meet with a guy who went through a half day workshop 4 or 5 years ago, he wanted to go deeper so we are working through the studies that we cover in the 10 week workshop. Finally, at 2100 we had the last of the 10 week workshop online with some men in Russia and Kazakhstan. It is Thursday evening for me and different times on Friday for them.
I am continually blown away by what we can do now with video conferences. Thursday covers three continents.
But that is not what strikes me about Thursday. Each of the men in those four meetings have been believers for some time. Each of them have learned from our time together how to dig into the Word of God for themselves. The tools that they have accumulated are really pretty simple. But for the most part they were new to them.
The intriguing thing in working through this with this diverse group of men, is to see a similar reaction on three continents. When a man can take a simple tool and use it to pry open his Bible and study it perhaps for the first time without someone leading him through the process, it is literally life changing. Men see things they have never seen or thought they could see in the Word, and they did not use the notes in a study Bible or a commentary on the book to get it. It is theirs. Each and every time they light up.
So that experience each Thursday spanning about 17 hours, validates again that if you give someone a set of tools, their Bible, and get out of the way, what Jesus promised actually happens. The Holy Spirit shows up and leads them into truth, John 16:13.
The question I keep asking is why it is so difficult to get men engaged. There is another question, but I will leave that one unasked…
I am continually blown away by what we can do now with video conferences. Thursday covers three continents.
But that is not what strikes me about Thursday. Each of the men in those four meetings have been believers for some time. Each of them have learned from our time together how to dig into the Word of God for themselves. The tools that they have accumulated are really pretty simple. But for the most part they were new to them.
The intriguing thing in working through this with this diverse group of men, is to see a similar reaction on three continents. When a man can take a simple tool and use it to pry open his Bible and study it perhaps for the first time without someone leading him through the process, it is literally life changing. Men see things they have never seen or thought they could see in the Word, and they did not use the notes in a study Bible or a commentary on the book to get it. It is theirs. Each and every time they light up.
So that experience each Thursday spanning about 17 hours, validates again that if you give someone a set of tools, their Bible, and get out of the way, what Jesus promised actually happens. The Holy Spirit shows up and leads them into truth, John 16:13.
The question I keep asking is why it is so difficult to get men engaged. There is another question, but I will leave that one unasked…
I realize more and more from this perspective of my life how I have minimized the role of the Holy Spirit in my own life, and thereby hinder His impact on others. Why does it take SO long to learn...?
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