1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,840 Well, praise the Lord, thanks for being with us. 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,280 My name is Thomas. I'm the pastor here at Portland 3 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,800 Gospel, and I'm so thankful for those songs, man, I just love 4 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,640 our music every week. So thankful for that. 5 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,640 Thankful for the truth in those songs as well. 6 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,880 We're going to continue in something that we kind of 7 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,480 started last week. So last week you can go back on 8 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,680 our YouTube or Spotify or Apple, wherever you want to find 9 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,800 things. And we did how to Read the Bible 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,200 and we started a new Bible reading plan together. 11 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,640 And as a church, it's our goal to just be a part of reading the 12 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,560 scriptures and to have accountability and discussions 13 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,040 around God's word. So there's 2 tracks. 14 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:40,840 There's a New Testament only plan. 15 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,160 If you want to read the New Testament in one year, it's 16 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:46,400 about 5 chapters a week, less than 1 chapter a day. 17 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,640 You can totally do that. If you want to be a big boy or 18 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,360 big girl, you can also attach the Old Testament to that. 19 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,240 We have both of those on our website, portlandgospel.org. 20 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,680 And I think it's also in your bulletin thing that's now one 21 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,080 page for you. You're welcome for that and 22 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:02,920 trying to get everything onto one page for you. 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,880 So we did how to read the Bible and I gave you some steps just 24 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,640 for how you can approach the Word of God and how you can hear 25 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,280 from it for yourself. Today we want to continue in 26 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:20,040 that same vein and look at how to study the Bible now, as David 27 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,600 already gave us some handles on our Bible studies. 28 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,800 There's a lot of things that we could say and do in this time. 29 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,800 The the Bible's a big book and there are some principles for 30 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,480 understanding it that we would teach and what we would call 31 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:39,520 like a homiletics class. Homiletics would be, I'm sorry, 32 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,680 hermeneutics. These two words are very 33 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,400 similar. How to interpret the Bible 34 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,400 essentially today. We won't be getting deep into 35 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,200 that. I just want to give us a basic 36 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,520 substance and really this is going to help us kick off our 37 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,560 Bible studies this week. We're going to begin in the book 38 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,200 of Colossians. So I want to encourage you to be 39 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,240 with us. But, but let's maybe ask this 40 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,040 question first. Why? 41 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:09,199 Why do we study the Bible? You don't have to have an answer 42 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:11,280 for that. It's OK, I'll, I'll say it for 43 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:12,720 you if you're not ready for that. 44 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,640 By the way, we have notes if you want to follow along. 45 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:17,040 There's some papers in the back of the room. 46 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,080 If you didn't get one of those, they'll be helpful for you to 47 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,120 have cross references and that sort of thing. 48 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,720 But let's talk about why we studied the Bible in the first 49 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,560 place. Well, I'm going to give us 2 50 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,800 reasons. There are many more. 51 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,000 Certainly I could talk a lot right now, but to keep them 52 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,760 simple, I would say let's start first with the lost. 53 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:46,200 For the lost to be saved. We just sang those songs about 54 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:51,360 being saved to sin no more. And I what a friend we have in 55 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,040 Jesus. But that's not true for 56 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:59,360 everybody. Not all of the world are saved 57 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,840 Christian people. And oh, by the way, I'm sorry I 58 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:04,600 forgot to dismiss the kids. Thank you. 59 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,080 My bad. Why? 60 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:11,800 They get to have pizza tonight. So they're like, ready. 61 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:21,120 I know Watson was ready to go. But it might be easy to look on 62 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,400 America or other places. Doesn't say there. 63 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,800 There's a lot of Christian people or Christian things, but 64 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:32,960 as far as God is concerned, man is essentially lost until 65 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,240 they're saved. The Bible says something like 66 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,080 this. All have sinned and fallen short 67 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,840 of the glory of God there. There is no man that sinneth 68 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,160 not. We've all done things that are 69 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,000 wrong. The Bible says the wages of sin 70 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,880 is death, and what we inherit because of our sin is eternal 71 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:52,680 damnation and separation from God. 72 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,120 But the Bible says that God commended his love toward us, 73 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,840 and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 74 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,160 And what Jesus did on the cross was paid for the sins of the 75 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,000 world, so that whosoever believes in him would be saved. 76 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,080 To be saved, to sin no more, to have their sins washed away and 77 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,279 being made new and have a home in heaven, to have a 78 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,480 relationship with God. And that comes at a time that we 79 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,480 choose to put our faith and trust and what this book has to 80 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,760 say. This is the only place that 81 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:33,280 you'll find what I just shared with you, that Jesus saves, that 82 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,960 he rose from the dead, that he paid for the sins of the world, 83 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,080 that you're a Sinner and that God wants to save you. 84 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,840 You won't find this and anywhere else outside of this book and 85 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:49,160 this book is going to have a lot to do with you being saved. 86 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,560 This might sound crazy, but it's not possible to be saved without 87 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,160 the book. Peter says being born again. 88 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,240 That's what happens at the moment we choose to trust on 89 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,480 Christ, ask him to save us and forgive us. 90 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,880 It says by the word of God, which liveth and abideth 91 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,360 forever. So born again is what happens, 92 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,840 like I said, when we choose to believe that Jesus died on the 93 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:19,680 cross and make him our Lord, and that happens when we receive the 94 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,920 word of God. So the Scriptures are incredibly 95 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,120 important for anyone coming to faith in Jesus. 96 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,880 Jesus says it this way. He says in this parable of the 97 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:33,040 soils, he says the seed is the word of God. 98 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,040 And if you're familiar with this parable, the the seed was sown 99 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,440 on different kinds of hearts, the different soils, and the 100 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,120 seed, the Bible frequently interprets itself. 101 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:47,000 The seed is the word of God, which is sown upon the heart. 102 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,120 Paul says it this way. He says that faith comes by 103 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,040 hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 104 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:00,320 So if we want the people in our lives to have faith, they have 105 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,520 to hear from the word of God first. 106 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,880 Paul also says to Timothy that of Timothy's childhood, he said 107 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,440 from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures which are able 108 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:19,400 to make the wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ 109 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,320 Jesus. Now not everybody is going to be 110 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,560 raised in church. Praise God for those of us that 111 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,760 were that even whenever we weren't like willingly learning 112 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,440 the Bible, Maybe there is something that happens that 113 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,320 we're able to become wise unto salvation because of our 114 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:41,640 exposure to the Word of God. I remember being in a church 115 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:45,960 basement and Rush Township and people teaching a punk kid who 116 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,400 just want to kick back up on the chair and play with my friends. 117 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,680 I don't remember what I learned in those moments, but I know 118 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,080 that there was some transmission. 119 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,440 I was gaining some kind of knowledge and it was much later 120 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,520 that I decided to choose to believe that for myself. 121 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,880 But Paul says to Timothy from a child thou hast known the Holy 122 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,880 Scriptures. So I read to my kids almost 123 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,680 every night. The Bible has many, sometimes 124 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,080 harrowing stories of death and that's the I boys. 125 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,960 So that's the stuff that they like some pretty wild and crazy 126 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:21,400 stuff. And I'm just trying to get as 127 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,640 much in there as I can so that they can become wise to 128 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,400 salvation. So I put it to you this way, 129 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,000 opening the Bible with the lost allows them to hear from God. 130 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:43,560 Because like I said a moment ago, it's not possible to be 131 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,880 born again without exposure to the Word of God. 132 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:50,960 Now, you might let your mind drift, and we can't get too far 133 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,320 off with this, but what about the guy on a mountaintop? 134 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,160 What about the guy in North Korea or the gal in another 135 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,720 country? Well, God is good. 136 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,200 He's not trying to trick anyone. He knows all things. 137 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:06,440 He sees all things, but they have to have a messenger, they 138 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,440 have to have the words of God to be able to be saved. 139 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,360 You can't get saved from nature. You need a revelation. 140 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,520 The Scriptures. David quoted this earlier in 141 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,360 Romans 10. It says how shall they call on 142 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,720 Him and whom they have not believed. 143 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,400 You cannot look at a tree or a mountain or a river and come to 144 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,240 understand that God put on human flesh and took your sin on on 145 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:33,039 the cross and was buried and rose again. 146 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:36,080 You just cannot have that kind of revelation from being in 147 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,120 nature or from any other book. You need to have someone come 148 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,880 and share with you. It says, how shall they believe 149 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,840 in whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a 150 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,560 preacher? So here at this church, as 151 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:54,880 Tucker said, we want to equip you to believe, live and share 152 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,640 the good news. We want you to be a messenger of 153 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:01,520 the gospel that you're our Bible studies would be places that 154 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,520 people can come and learn from the Scriptures, hear from God 155 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,080 and choose to follow Christ. But that's just one application. 156 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,720 That's to the lost. The second one is for the saved 157 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:18,880 to be edified. For the saved to be edified. 158 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,120 There are just so many things in the Bible that the lost man will 159 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,840 never understand. The lost man can probably learn 160 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,280 about as much as that he needs to be saved. 161 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,880 Beyond that, there is a spiritual comprehension required 162 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,200 to learn all of the Bible. So don't expect in your Bible 163 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,440 studies that lost people are really going to be hanging in 164 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,320 there. They're going to get something 165 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,840 hopefully, and you just need to get them to the gospel whenever 166 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,160 you can. First Corinthians chapter 2 167 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,000 tells us that the natural man receiveth not the things of the 168 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,120 Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. 169 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:04,840 You know people like this this week, Nathan, who we were with, 170 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,720 we had a group of guys from our Bible study this week passing 171 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:09,800 out Flyers in the city to say, hey, we're starting a Bible 172 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:10,840 study. Come and join us. 173 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,600 And I had some guy say, well, you really think there's 174 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,240 something up there like I do you want to come to Bible study? 175 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:22,160 And you know, he kept walking. But the natural man, the the 176 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,080 person that's not born again, they haven't trusted Christ. 177 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:29,080 They don't have the Holy Spirit. He thinks it's foolishness. 178 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,280 You mean you believe in the a book, you believe God became a 179 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,680 man. You believe that there's 180 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:38,640 something up there. It goes on to say neither can he 181 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,360 know them because they are spiritually discerned. 182 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,880 So Christian, there is truth in this book for you that the rest 183 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,960 of the world does not get. Isn't that amazing? 184 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:56,040 You can think about just so many wonderful truths that the lost 185 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:00,560 world cannot process. But unfortunately for many 186 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:05,840 Christians, most Christians end their Christian life at the born 187 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,400 again experience and they never grow beyond what the Bible calls 188 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,360 a babe. When we're born into God's 189 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,320 family, we're born a spiritual baby. 190 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,760 Paul writing to this church in Corinth described this whole 191 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:27,480 church in this way. He said, y'all are so immature. 192 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,280 He said, an I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto 193 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:36,680 spiritual like, hey, I have things I want to tell you, but 194 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:41,800 as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you 195 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,360 with milk and not with me. For hitherto you were not able 196 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,520 to bear it neither yet now are you able. 197 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,520 So you'll find that many things in this book are only going to 198 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,560 be exposed to you as you grow. At first you just need a bottle, 199 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,560 you need to be nursed, you need someone to spoon feed you. 200 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,600 What does the Bible say and help grow you up? 201 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,280 But you don't want to stay in that state. 202 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:14,840 So in God's Kingdom, time in the Kingdom does not equal maturity. 203 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,680 Doesn't matter how long you've known Christ, that doesn't make 204 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:23,840 you any more mature if you're not in God's Word and walking 205 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,640 with him. And Peter says the antidote is 206 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:32,840 to, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that 207 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:37,200 you may grow thereby. You need to have a desire for 208 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,200 the word of God. You need to be nursing on the 209 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,920 words of truth, to grow up and understand what does it say and 210 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,560 what does God want me to do? Paul says to Timothy to be 211 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:54,840 nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, So 212 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:56,920 you, you have to be in God's word. 213 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:03,280 The author of Hebrews compares these two different types of 214 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,240 people the the spiritual babe and the mature and he uses these 215 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:13,160 two types of food to describe the word of God, milk and meat. 216 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:18,560 It says for when for the time you ought to be teachers. 217 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,160 So this group of Hebrews Paul says you all should know this 218 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,000 stuff by now. He says you have need that one 219 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,720 teach you again the 1st principles of the oracles of God 220 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:35,080 and are become such as has have need of milk and not of strong 221 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:39,560 meat. Now, if I were like a a better 222 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,120 illustration pastor, I would have someone come up here and be 223 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,080 drinking a gallon of milk during the entire sermon and you know, 224 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,080 see how things go by the end of the sermon. 225 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,320 As you're probably aware, you can't drink a gallon of milk in 226 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,320 under an hour and keep it down right As an adult, you, you 227 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,880 can't be nursed in a bottle all day long. 228 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,800 It's actually not it's not going to be good for you right. 229 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:06,600 You you need to move on from that, he says for everyone that 230 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:11,280 uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is 231 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,040 a babe. So just like you would not trust 232 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,080 a child to to develop a real skill and learn how to do 233 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,920 something. The same is true for Christians. 234 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,640 There is a skill in Bible study and understanding it, he says, 235 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:29,240 but strong meat belonging to them that are of full age. 236 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,720 Now that's that's not just old, It's developed, brought to 237 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:38,280 maturity in Christ. Even those who by reason of 238 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,400 their use have their senses exercised to discern both good 239 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,640 and evil. See what a comprehension of this 240 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:51,560 book does is it enables you to have a sense about you, a 241 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,000 discernment for good and evil. You know what's right, you know 242 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,320 what's wrong. You hear God's voice and you can 243 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,960 say that ain't right and I'm I'll tell you why that ain't 244 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,920 right. But if you're a babe, you you 245 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:05,680 just need someone else to spoon feed you. 246 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:10,320 You do not know on your own. So I put it to you this way in 247 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:15,720 your notes, you will grow in direct proportion to your time 248 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:28,600 spent in God's word. Not everybody's spiritual growth 249 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,520 is the same. Some people seem to have 250 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,080 accelerated growth and for those, that's usually the people 251 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,440 that are giving themselves to this book, to understand it, to 252 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,360 hear from it, to let it reprove and correct them and direct 253 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,160 them. How about you? 254 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,520 Have you been acting like a spiritual baby? 255 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:54,600 I mean, maybe you are. If you are, praise the Lord, 256 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:56,400 there's a place for babies and families, right? 257 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,080 We love them. They're cute, they're wonderful. 258 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,480 When you get past the baby age, you're like, oh, could we maybe 259 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:06,680 have another one? We're we can't, we're not, we're 260 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,400 not going to, we can't. There's so much work. 261 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:11,920 But they're cute, right? We love babies. 262 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,960 There's a place for that. If you just got saved, man, 263 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:15,960 there's no judgement. We're not mad at you. 264 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,240 Just like I'm not mad at my now 6 year old child for being six 265 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:21,080 man. We're thankful. 266 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,640 We just want to help him grow to the next thing in his life. 267 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:33,240 Do you know the scriptures? I mean, I think of it like this. 268 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,160 Could you take the Bible and lead another person to Christ? 269 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,640 If you can't do that, don't tell me you're spiritually mature. 270 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:50,120 If you can't lead a Bible study, I'm not mad at anybody. 271 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,320 We're not upset. We're talking about the 272 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,720 difference in grown and not grown. 273 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,280 So we have a couple Bible studies coming up. 274 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,720 Monday nights the ladies meet in Southwest PSU, man, Praise God 275 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:08,920 meets on Tuesdays at 4:00 and then in my office in the city we 276 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,359 meet at 6:00 on Thursdays. Man, we would love to have you 277 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,599 join us for Bible study. It's a goal of mine that our our 278 00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:20,160 whole chart church starts to get plugged into these Bible studies 279 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,599 and they become a midweek kind of fellowship for us. 280 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,040 So those are two reasons why to study the Bible. 281 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,080 So the loss can be saved, so the saved can be edified. 282 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,720 But now let's look at more specifically how we looked at 283 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,760 why. Let's look at how. 284 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,840 And again, I'm not going to give you all of the Bible study 285 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,320 principles. We have a class after personal 286 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,920 discipleship that will teach you all kinds of things like 287 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,320 context, the rule of first mention, comparing Scripture 288 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:58,440 with scripture, all kinds of wonderful things. 289 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,880 And you'll learn some of that as you attend a Bible study. 290 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:06,520 But for now, I think if we're using the word study, let's go 291 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,360 to where the Scriptures use the word as well. 292 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,120 So if you have a Bible, turn it to Second Timothy 2:15. 293 00:18:25,790 --> 00:18:30,510 The word study shows up three times in the King James Bible. 294 00:18:33,990 --> 00:18:39,120 Only three. Today in Second Timothy 2:15 295 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,520 we'll look at man a verse that you ought to memorize. 296 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:49,520 It says study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman 297 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:54,960 that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 298 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,880 truth. This is an absolutely critical 299 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,840 verse for us and our understanding of the Bible and 300 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,520 what Christian people should be doing. 301 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,200 There are so many things that churches could and should be 302 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,760 doing, but we definitely should be a people that are studying 303 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,400 the book. So I broke this down and just to 304 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,680 just a few points for you and how to study. 305 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:18,920 First is that we've got to do the work. 306 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,600 Do the work. That's your blank and point A is 307 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,520 do the work. You see it. 308 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:32,440 The Bible uses this word study in this other word, it says a 309 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:37,040 Workman and that that means to us that we're going to need to 310 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,840 apply some kind of effort. You've probably never 311 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,240 accidentally studied for anything in your life, right? 312 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,320 Like when I went to college, I had to learn that you really 313 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,320 actually had to study things. I didn't really want to do that. 314 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,480 But if you don't study, you don't pass and you have to 315 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,480 actually apply yourself to learn some things. 316 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,920 Merriam Webster uses this is his definition for study. 317 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:04,800 He says to apply the mind to. To read and examine for the 318 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,560 purpose of learning and understanding. 319 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,880 This is the kind of effort that takes work, a Workman kind of 320 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,320 work. This doesn't mean that we're 321 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,280 going to beat our beat each other up in Bible study and make 322 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:24,880 it super intense, but it's not going to be casual either. 323 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:32,640 This kind of effort is lacking today in applying your oneself 324 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,200 in a trade or a skill learning the guitar. 325 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,200 We often quit. We're becoming weak. 326 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,440 We don't want to do anything difficult because now we just 327 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,640 have. You'd probably know what this 328 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,040 is, right? We have these prompts that just 329 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,480 say the Bible is TLDR ChatGPT. Just tell me what it says, 330 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,800 right? Maybe if you're over 30 you're 331 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,360 not doing that, but everyone under 30 is Definitely. 332 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,360 This is the prompt. I don't want to read it. 333 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,000 I just want to have this much information to be able to make a 334 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,440 decision on. And you'll just never learn the 335 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,120 Bible that way. It'll never happen. 336 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:19,800 You'll learn a few facts about the Bible, and ChatGPT is never 337 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,200 going to give you objective truth because it's designed not 338 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,240 to tell you that Christianity is the only way. 339 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:33,680 The Bible says in Isaiah 28, whom shall he teach knowledge 340 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,040 and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? 341 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,680 Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. 342 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:46,000 Knowledge and doctrine. That's something that we have to 343 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,320 apply ourselves to. And maybe you've never weaned a 344 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,600 child, but the weaning process isn't super simple. 345 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,880 It takes a little bit of effort. We kind of want to go back to 346 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,880 those things that make us feel comfortable and safe, but we 347 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,040 have to grow. So I put it to you this way, if 348 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,760 you want to study the Bible, you'll have to actually apply 349 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:19,440 yourself. Have you ever woken up one day 350 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,320 and got to the end of the day and realized I accidentally 351 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,920 studied the Bible today? That's never going to happen. 352 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:31,920 It's going to need to be intentional. 353 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,920 So let me ask you, where is it on your calendar? 354 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:38,960 Maybe it's personal study at home. 355 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,560 Maybe it's a group that you want to come to. 356 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:44,960 We would love to help you get started. 357 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,880 We would love to help you understand. 358 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,480 So please come to Bible study. All right, Next is you need to 359 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,040 have God in mind. So if you're going to study the 360 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,800 Bible, you need to do some work. You're going to apply yourself 361 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,680 and you're going to make sure to have the author of the 362 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,480 Scriptures in mind. This was critical if you can 363 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,280 remember from last week. If you just want to read the 364 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,760 Bible and get anything out of it, the first thing you do is 365 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,000 pray. I need to have an open heart. 366 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,640 OK, God, what do I need to see? Teach me, show me. 367 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:25,840 Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 368 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:31,800 This book claims to be given life from God himself. 369 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,880 It's not just an ordinary book. So we need to consult the 370 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,520 author. We can't just neglect him and 371 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,160 look at it scientifically or look at it historically. 372 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,440 We need to look at it as if it was written by God. 373 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,440 The Bible tells us also that the Holy Spirit called by Jesus in 374 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,760 John 14, the Holy Ghost is the one who will teach you all 375 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,360 things. So you're never just going to 376 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:02,680 learn this book like a robot. You need to spend time with God. 377 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,440 Consider the author and he will teach you and it says here 378 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,360 there's a relationship that God has with the person that studies 379 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:16,720 his word first. It says that God trusts approved 380 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:26,120 ministers, approved ministers. The Bible says study to show 381 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:32,040 thyself approved unto God. Now, this type of approval, this 382 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,160 is not salvation. OK. 383 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,560 The songs that we sang, the blood of Christ covers our sin 384 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,520 belief. Faith in the gospel saves us 385 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,960 from our sins. So it's not that we studied the 386 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,440 Bible to go to heaven, but we have a relationship with God and 387 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,320 we don't want to be infants the rest of our life. 388 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:56,640 Many people though, they think that time in the Kingdom equals 389 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:05,760 maturity and they end up unapproved, unequipped 2nd 390 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,360 Corinthians 10, the Bible says not he that commendeth himself 391 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,160 is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. 392 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,000 So if we're just looking at that word approved study to show 393 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,560 thyself approved unto God, it this isn't something that we get 394 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,720 to do to say look, I'm approved, I'm wonderful. 395 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:24,720 Look how good I am, look how smart I am. 396 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:32,040 We know also that studying the Bible, as we'll see in a moment, 397 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,000 it's going to protect us from false teaching. 398 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,360 It says of these that were approved in the Corinthian 399 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:45,680 church, it says there must also be heresies among you, that they 400 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,040 which are approved may be made manifest among you. 401 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,920 There are heresies among us as well. 402 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,200 I just last night ended up on a Portland church's website. 403 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:01,800 I don't even know how I found it on accident and was reading 404 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,240 their doctrinal statement and you're just like, what is wrong? 405 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,760 How do people come to how do you believe this? 406 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,000 That's not every church. And I'm not better than anybody 407 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,960 else. But heresy is a deviation from 408 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,920 the true understanding of the Bible, the actual truth of it. 409 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,520 But if you study it, you can be approved and it says here you'll 410 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:29,240 be made manifest or made known. You'll stick out when you have a 411 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,360 full understanding and mature understanding of the Bible. 412 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,320 You're going to be sticking out around you. 413 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:44,560 So I put it to you this way in your notes, If we cannot handle 414 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,720 the Scriptures, why would God trust us with anything else? 415 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:05,080 Many people want to be leaders. They want to be on the worship 416 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:06,720 team. They want to make disciples. 417 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,360 They want to be promoted. I've been here long enough. 418 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,520 I got my dues. I've been paying my tithes. 419 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:19,920 I deserve to be wherever. But at least in this church, if 420 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,760 you don't have a decent comprehension of the Bible, you 421 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,560 can't be a leader. I don't know what I would have 422 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,120 you lead or do almost everything that we do. 423 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,920 I would need to entrust you with rightly dividing the word of 424 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,800 truth. So the requirements for leading 425 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,680 a Bible study in this church, we have people leading our Bible 426 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:44,800 studies. I think I put these on the 427 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,440 screen for you. These, these leaders are 428 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,520 approved. They're trusted, OK? 429 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,840 They are members in good standing of our church. 430 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,480 They have completed a one-on-one personal discipleship 431 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,480 relationship, being mentored by somebody else in the Scriptures. 432 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,960 That doesn't mean they're a Bible scholar, but they know the 433 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,480 Bible a little bit. After that we have a class. 434 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,120 It's a 16 week class that we call How to Study the Bible that 435 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,680 will teach you principles for how to interpret it and 436 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,200 understand it for yourself. And then lastly there we have to 437 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,280 give the thumbs up. So just taking a class doesn't 438 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,000 mean you can lead a Bible study. So I want you to trust whoever 439 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,280 it is that's leading the Bible study, that you're a part of 440 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:30,920 you. You can trust them. 441 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,360 They may not have all the answers. 442 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,520 They can go home and study and bring them back and answer your 443 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,160 questions later. But you can trust these people. 444 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,560 And in some ways, leadership needs to be approved. 445 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,600 Paul wrote to the church in Rome. 446 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:52,200 He said salute apeles approved in Christ, salute them which are 447 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,640 of Aristobulus household, etcetera. 448 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,480 So he gives a a long list of names and he calls this man the 449 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,360 the word approved is used many times, but he says this man is 450 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:06,360 approved in Christ. So your leadership needs to say, 451 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,760 yeah, you you should be leading a Bible study. 452 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,200 That would be good. But let's look next. 453 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:23,040 That study produces boldness. So our verse and Second Timothy 454 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:27,520 215 study to show thyself approved unto God a Workman that 455 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:38,040 needeth not to be ashamed. The opposite of ashamed is 456 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,680 shame, right? That's what the enemy of God 457 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,920 does to make us feel bad, to expose us, to make us guilty and 458 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,720 miserable. But if we study the Scriptures, 459 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:54,360 we needeth not to be ashamed. We'll find an interesting 460 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,960 result. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, 461 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:03,400 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I may that I be 462 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:08,640 not ashamed. Psalm 119 uses different words 463 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,760 for the Scripture, like statutes, judgments, precepts, 464 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,680 etcetera, but all applying to the Word of God. 465 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,000 And so if our heart is sound in the Word of God, it's going to 466 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:23,640 produce in us a lack of shame. A couple other examples. 467 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:28,960 Paul says to the church at Rome, I am not ashamed of the gospel 468 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:33,040 of Christ. He says in Romans 5 that hope 469 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:39,080 maketh not ashamed. So I put it to you this way. 470 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:44,360 Confidence in God's Word causes us to share it boldly. 471 00:30:50,650 --> 00:30:56,570 Have you ever found this to be true, that when you're ignorant 472 00:30:56,570 --> 00:30:59,650 on a subject and someone asks you a question, you're not very 473 00:31:00,410 --> 00:31:04,050 bold or you shouldn't be? You don't want to be a fool. 474 00:31:05,890 --> 00:31:08,730 Well, I am not really sure. I'm going to have to go check 475 00:31:08,730 --> 00:31:12,200 that one out. And that's, that's an OK. 476 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,800 If someone asks you a hard Bible question, that's an OK response. 477 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:20,320 Don't, don't make things up. But when you've been in God's 478 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,000 word and someone has a question about it and you're like, yeah, 479 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:23,920 I'm in. Let me show you. 480 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,600 There's some kind of boldness that we have. 481 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,120 We're not ashamed. And some of that only comes from 482 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:36,800 study time in the Scriptures. Roman says that whosoever 483 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,320 believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 484 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,000 God wants you to be bold. The righteous are bold as a 485 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,920 lion. But that only comes with knowing 486 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:52,400 what you're talking about. Let's look next at rightly 487 00:31:52,400 --> 00:32:02,330 dividing. So when we're studying the 488 00:32:02,330 --> 00:32:04,530 Bible, we're going to apply ourself. 489 00:32:05,850 --> 00:32:09,690 We're going to keep the author in mind and let him approve of 490 00:32:09,690 --> 00:32:12,130 us and grow in our boldness and our confidence. 491 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:14,840 But then we've got to make some divisions. 492 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,920 This verse says rightly dividing the word of truth. 493 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,600 So if you do it right, if you apply yourself, you seek the 494 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,960 Lord, you find your proper divisions in the Scripture. 495 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:34,280 What you'll walk away with the Bible says, and I quote, is the 496 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,360 word of truth. And that's what we want. 497 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:44,080 We want the truth. Jesus said the truth is the 498 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,840 thing that makes you free. Thy word is truth. 499 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:53,600 Jesus says in John 17, we need the truth. 500 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,680 Solomon said that we can know the certainty of the words of 501 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:03,360 truth. So if we rightly divide, meaning 502 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,600 that there are divisions in this book, we said this last week, 503 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,320 not everything in the Bible applies to you today. 504 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,880 You're not under the ceremonial law, you're not in the Book of 505 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:16,800 Revelation. There's a place and time in 506 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,600 history, and there's a way in which this applies to you, and 507 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,680 you've got to make right divisions. 508 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:28,760 You need to understand it. Isaiah says that precept must be 509 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,120 upon precept. So the Bible builds upon itself. 510 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,520 You need to understand line upon line. 511 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:41,280 Here a little, there a little. We compare Scripture with 512 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,160 Scripture. Paul says that the result of 513 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:50,680 good teaching would be this, that we be no more children 514 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,640 tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of 515 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,320 doctrine by the slight and cunning craftiness whereby they 516 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:03,040 lie and wait to deceive. Ephesians chapter 4. 517 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,920 It right before this, it gives you pastors and teachers and 518 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,280 then there's a church and a place for you to belong and 519 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,960 there's a protection that you get spiritually when you expose 520 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,719 yourself regularly to teaching of God's Word. 521 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,159 But there is every wind of doctrine. 522 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:24,320 This world blows with a lot of weird and strange stuff. 523 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:27,440 I mean, there's just some wild things. 524 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:29,920 I started to make a list and I thought that's probably not very 525 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,880 helpful for me to just call out a bunch of false teaching. 526 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,120 But whenever you're scrolling, you got TikTok theology. 527 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,480 Yeah, that sounds good. Oh, yeah, that one's good. 528 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:41,719 Oh, yeah, that one's good. Oh, yeah. 529 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,080 That. And I'm just going to tell you, 530 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:50,080 a lot of these podcasts, YouTube people, they're not approved in 531 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,679 the sense that they don't, they're not a pastor. 532 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,159 They've not been trained. There's not a person that laid 533 00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:59,080 hands on them and said, we ordain you to this ministry. 534 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,360 They just got a camera and started talking. 535 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,360 Have they studied? Do they? 536 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,640 Are they rightly dividing? Every wind of doctrine blows and 537 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,280 you better believe it's all around the Internet. 538 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:16,160 So be careful who you listen to. But your last blank for this 539 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:20,680 section is that rightly dividing will protect you from false 540 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:33,610 teaching. By the way, our Bible studies 541 00:35:33,890 --> 00:35:37,530 being led by our Bible study leaders that are trained, our 542 00:35:37,530 --> 00:35:41,200 Bible studies are all going to operate under our doctrinal 543 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,680 statement. You can go to our website and 544 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,920 look at our beliefs and see what we believe about God, Jesus, the 545 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:49,280 Bible and all that sort of thing. 546 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,120 Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about that 547 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:53,400 stuff. We'd love to talk about it. 548 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,560 But our Bible studies are not going to deviate from our 549 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,760 doctrinal statement. So they're just some things that 550 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,360 we're not going to come to the same conclusion on for other 551 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,800 people. And again, I'd love to help you 552 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:07,000 if you have any questions with that. 553 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:11,320 But let's look next at our process of Bible study. 554 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,440 So this is going to be brief. This part I don't have any 555 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,400 verses for. I just want to share with you 556 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,760 what we're going to be doing in Bible study. 557 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:26,760 So earlier in the the end of last year, we did Bible study a 558 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,600 certain in a certain kind of way with some columns and that is 559 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,240 fine and good. But we're going to move on to 560 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:33,800 something a little different for this year. 561 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,480 So I just want to go over that with you. 562 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,200 I also wrote this and put it on our website. 563 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:42,440 If you go to our Bible study page, you can go and read 564 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,560 everything that I'm sharing with you right now. 565 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,320 So our process is going to look pretty simple that I put this in 566 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,880 your notes. OK, so we want to first start 567 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,920 with the time of greeting. It might sound weird, but you 568 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:57,440 know, just hey, how are you doing? 569 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,200 How's your family? Haven't seen you in a week. 570 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:02,200 How's that thing we prayed for? OK, cool. 571 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,960 Now let's let's jump in and let's move on. 572 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,280 But we need to get to know each other. 573 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,280 If there are any guests, we want everyone to feel welcome to say 574 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,600 hi. Maybe we can explain how we do 575 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,800 what we do, tell them, hey, we're a part of a church, come 576 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:16,880 and hang out with us on Sunday, etcetera. 577 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:19,600 The next is that we want to read. 578 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:24,640 And I know last week this was a point as well, like at some 579 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,160 point we just have to do the work and read it several times. 580 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,280 So you're going to probably read it at least three times before 581 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,720 you study it because you need to have it in your mind and in your 582 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:38,560 heart to know what you're even thinking about before you start 583 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,400 dissecting it. So you'll read it independently 584 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:45,720 and silently to yourself. Then we'll go around in a circle 585 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:47,960 and read it. Then we'll read it again. 586 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:50,680 Because especially if you've never read it before, you just 587 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:54,840 got to get it in there. By the way, this is a good time 588 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:59,200 to just say that the the version of the Bible that we use is 589 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,400 important. You're welcome to bring any 590 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:03,000 Bible that you want to Bible study. 591 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,680 We're going to ask that you use the King James Bible if you're 592 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,720 willing, because the way we do cross references, like maybe if 593 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:10,960 you have a different version of the Bible, that verse in second 594 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,040 Timothy 215, the King James says study. 595 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,760 Almost every English version of the Bible does not use the word 596 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,680 study right there. So when we're cross reference 597 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,280 referencing and we're saying, where else does the word study 598 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,040 show up in the Bible, We're going to come up to different 599 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:28,880 conclusions. If we're not singing from the 600 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,760 same sheet of music, you can bring whatever Bible you want, 601 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:37,160 but as a church that's we use the King James next is the 602 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:41,680 theme. So we say hi, we read and then 603 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:43,880 we want to just say, what, what are we reading? 604 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,960 Like if I was ChatGPT and I said, hey, what did that? 605 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,640 Just tell me? Like say it to me in a sentence, 606 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:54,560 right? Maybe you've got 5 or 10 verses. 607 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,920 OK, what'd you just read? Let's just summarize it. 608 00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:58,320 OK? Yeah, that's a good summary. 609 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:00,400 The summary has to come from the contents, right? 610 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,680 OK, yeah, that's a good summary. And what that's going to do is 611 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,640 help you stay focused for the rest of your study. 612 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,880 You're not getting wild and crazy over here with did Adam 613 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,080 have a belly button? You're you're focusing on the 614 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,120 theme of where you are in the moment. 615 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,520 So you can for the theme, look for repetitive words. 616 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:26,560 Ask simply what is it saying, or try to summarize it into one 617 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,880 sentence. After you do that, you'll get 618 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,240 into dissection. This is the part that we often 619 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:34,600 want to jump to. What does it all mean? 620 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,800 But before you can do that, the Bible says that God is not the 621 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:46,240 author of confusion and that believing in the Scriptures and 622 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:48,800 having the Holy Spirit, you can have a sound mind. 623 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:55,160 So that means that God's word is intuitive, it can be broken up 624 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,880 and it's organized into intelligent chunks. 625 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,640 So what you're going to do in dissection is try to discover 626 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,800 the the thoughts. What, what is, what are these 627 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:08,040 few verses saying? And then we move to the next 628 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,960 few, what are these few verses saying? 629 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,640 And we can take those logical breaks in the sentences. 630 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:20,240 Sometimes punctuation helps us to discover OK a period. 631 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,760 Ends of thought and now we have the beginning of a new thought. 632 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,600 Or we have a word like therefore that says what is this referring 633 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,080 back to? So we just dissect and break it 634 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:35,960 into a few sections and then spend the rest of the time 635 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,240 looking at the words and understanding what the sections 636 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200 say. So dissection will probably be 637 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:48,760 the biggest use of your time to just study out the words and see 638 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:52,400 what it says. But #5 is after that, we want 639 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:56,040 some application. We don't want to just study it 640 00:40:56,720 --> 00:41:00,280 like you would study for a test, get it in your brain, and then 641 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:04,800 dump it later. The Bible's a lamp to your feet, 642 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,240 a light to your path. This is how you hear your 643 00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:13,440 shepherd's voice. You want to know what God's 644 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,520 voice sounds like. It sounds like your Bible. 645 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,920 This is how when you read another religious text like the 646 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:24,520 Quran or even the Apocrypha, you just say that ain't right, that 647 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:30,440 isn't alive, that's not Jesus. He's here in your Bible. 648 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,480 So we need, when we show up to the scriptures, we need to apply 649 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,640 it to our life. We're glad to help you with 650 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,520 that. We can maybe ask some questions 651 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:42,720 like, is there anything you read that that was interesting to you 652 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,720 or maybe has an impact on your personal life? 653 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,120 Do you maybe feel weird about something like, ah, man, maybe I 654 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,320 shouldn't be doing this and I need to start doing that. 655 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,520 That you can share at your own discretion as your group grows. 656 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:01,480 So maybe your vulnerability can grow over time. 657 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,800 So we'll let you. We're not going to expose you or 658 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,160 make people feel bad right away. We want people to come and 659 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,080 participate as much as they want to. 660 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:13,040 But then lastly, we want to end with prayer. 661 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,880 Prayer will help unite our group back together into a fellowship 662 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:20,560 setting. If anybody had application, we 663 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:23,120 can say, well, let's just pray for that right now. 664 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:28,840 We'll just take some time and pray together and then conclude. 665 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,440 So this is what our Bible study process is going to look like 666 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,000 for this semester. We'll begin this week in the 667 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,040 Book of Colossians. I hope you'll join us. 668 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,920 And we're just going to be figuring it out together. 669 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,360 So I'm super excited for that. But now that we reach the end of 670 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:49,240 our preaching time, let me ask you a few questions. 671 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:58,560 In the beginning, we said our very first point was that the 672 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:05,920 Bible helps the lost be saved. If you're here today and you 673 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,000 haven't had a time in your life that you chose to believe Jesus 674 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,080 as the Lord, that you're a Sinner and his death, burial, 675 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:16,520 and resurrection paid for your sin, if you haven't made him 676 00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,600 your Lord, that's the place to start. 677 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:21,640 That's how you unlock your Bible. 678 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:28,120 But if you're here and you're saved, have you put any effort 679 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:34,200 into the Bible to study? Have you ever applied yourself 680 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:40,040 to figure it out? Are you a part of a community of 681 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:48,200 people studying it together? Today we can choose to invest in 682 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,200 our own spiritual growth by applying ourselves. 683 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,760 Just show up and we'll help. We'll help you with 684 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:58,320 accountability to do the work. But now, as we conclude, then, 685 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,680 before the kids come in, I'd like us to break out into 686 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,920 groups. This isn't common for us on a 687 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,120 Sunday, by the way. This is a good time to say our 688 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,440 Bible studies are going to break one time a month. 689 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:13,400 This is the plan for now. We'll meet whenever you meet. 690 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:18,600 But the first week of the month, I have it wrong in your notes. 691 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,640 It should be February 4th. I think the first week of the 692 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:24,240 month, we won't have Bible study. 693 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,200 We're going to come into this room instead, and we'll have 694 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:30,360 music. We'll have a little bit of 695 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,360 teaching, and then we're going to have times of prayer 696 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:33,920 together. We're calling it a prayer 697 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:36,320 service. So as we're reading, as we're 698 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,160 studying, we'll just come together, take a break. 699 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:42,640 We can share, we can pray. So be the first Wednesday of the 700 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:44,360 month. We're coming here. 701 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,440 If you need rides, we'll get you rides, but come here and now 702 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,040 we're going to practice what we'll do then, which is to break 703 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:52,600 out into groups. If you're not comfortable 704 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,800 praying out loud, somebody else to pray for you, no big deal. 705 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:00,240 But I'm going to ask you to get into groups of two or three and 706 00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:02,840 pray for our upcoming Bible studies. 707 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:08,200 One of the things David said in Psalm 127 is the Lord builds the 708 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,320 house. If we want to reach people or if 709 00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:15,080 you want to grow, we need God's help to do that. 710 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,840 So I want us together tonight to seek the Lord as we begin this 711 00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:22,880 week and pray for those things. Will give us about 7 minutes or 712 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:26,040 so. And then after that we will 713 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,600 conclude with a song. Right sweet. 714 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:29,960 All right, let's pray.