Why Study the Bible Yourself

Two weeks ago, today, on our church's website and on Facebook, I shared why it is critical for each of us to study the Word of God ourselves.  Let me know what you think.  It is less than 30 minutes long.  It was too big to upload so click here to play.  Note the player is muted when it starts click on the speaker icon on the bottom of the video frame to turn on the sound.  Come back here to comment please.

Two Things

First, today 37 years ago my wife said I do – so did I.  She got a whole lot more than she bargained for; at least on the sickness and health front.  We have four kids who are walking with the Lord, married to believers, four grandchildren, currently, who are being raised to follow Christ.  We are engaged in helping others in the Word.  Not sure how it can get better.

Second, last month when the docs told me I had cancer, while I knew that it was just the next segment of the journey, there were at least a couple of realities that kicked in.  My oldest grandchild is four and a half.  The youngest is 7 months.  The reality is that if Christ chose to call me home, they would not have any memory of me other than photos.  So…  What do you do about that?

I shared a couple of months ago that recently, nearly every time I am around the four year old she begins to ask questions about some character in the Bible.  Some of those conversations have been really long especially for a four year old.  That gave me an idea…

Why not record a series of videos in which I tell the current and theoretical future grandchildren stories from the Bible?  So in my journal I began to list what those could be…  That list gets long fast.  Today I came to the conclusion that it would probably be just as effective to start in Genesis and start telling the story.  One or two a day…  It will take a long time.  I may not finish.  If I don’t start, that’s a given.

Someone telling you that you have cancer can probably have a number of impacts.  For me, it was focus.  I was not going to change the trajectory of what I was doing, I know that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do.  But, with regard to my grandkids, what can I leave them that will draw them into what I passionately love, the Word.

It would have to be the videos.  So I will start…  The implicit message here is do not wait for a cancer diagnosis to get focused.  Build your legacy for your grandkids now.

Over

In a few minutes 2014 will be over.  Looking back on the year, how was it?  Can you point to specific areas where you grew in your faith?  Can you measure that your trust in Christ increased?

How did it go with your family?  How was the time with your wife?  Your kids?

I do not usually share other’s stuff but this one is worth you taking a look at.

How will you apply that?

How do you evaluate your year with Him?

Bible Study Demo Part 8

Working through the last of the 5 conditional statements in 1 John 1:6 – 10.

This may be the end.  I may come back and show you how to use interpretive questions on a couple of verses.  May not…  What do you think?

Posts in this series
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 7

Working through the first of the 5 conditional statements in 1 John 1:6 – 10

Will finish the conditional statements tomorrow

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 6

Continuing to work through 1 John 1 focus on 1 John 1:3 – 5

Tomorrow we will make more detailed observations on the conditional phrases in 1 John 1:6 - 10.

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 7
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 5

Yesterday I mentioned that I would show you the finished product today.  As I have thought through that it was basically a reaction to the awkwardness of talking and typing at the same time.  The videos on this are about 20 minutes right now.  Part of what I want to show you is that you can do this in a short amount of time and get a lot more out of your time in the Word.

So for at least a few more days I am going to continue to work through 1 John 1.  You may have noticed that I missed some repetition yesterday.  I will start with that today.

Tomorrow I will share some more observations on verse 3.

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 4

Fourth demo on 1 John 1.  Focus on making more observations.

Next time I will show you essentially the finished product and make some observations from that.

Please let me know if this is helpful in the comments.

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 3

The focus today is the five conditional statements in 1 John 1:6 – 10.

Tomorrow we will begin to work back through the text making more observations.  Most of us move past this stage of our Bible study too quickly.  In fact as I was reviewing this section this afternoon I saw several things that I had not seen in multiple previous passes through this section.

There is a lot here.  I will point some of them out as we go and suggest ways to capture what you are seeing as we work through this.

I am working in Microsoft Word 2013.  I do most of my Bible study in Word.  If you get lost in how I am using Word let me know and I will tell you in more detail how and why I am doing what I am doing.

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 2
Part 1

Bible Study Demo Part 1

Post updated 5/18/2014 to match video with the other posts in this series.

I am going to try something different.  I am going to use a video to show you how I work through a passage.  I start by highlighting the structural markers in the passage.  I have mentioned this before but here is the list of structural markers you might want to have it handy as we work through this.  I will be working through 1 John 1.

That is the start.  Tomorrow I will show you how I use the structure to make observations.  Let me know how this works for you in the comments.

Posts in this series
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2