Do you want to get more out of your personal bible study time? Have you ever wondered how it is that some Christians, pastors, or bible study leaders seem to be able to identify so much more truth in God’s word? Well, there’s a three step process that can put you on a path to understanding and applying God’s word to your life. This will help you to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only (James 1:22).
Here are the three steps of inductive Bible study:
1). Observation: What does it say?
This first step is a simple one. Read the text carefully a time or two in a Bible version that you can understand. (There are many great versions and translations available. The one that I use personally and recommend is the NET Bible. If you want to know why I like this one best, ask me some time.) As you read, look for the following things:
Are there any commands?
Are there any promises?
Are there any repeated words or phrases?
Are there any results or conclusions (look for therefore or so that)?
What is the main idea of the passage?
2). Interpretation: What does it mean?
This can be a challenging step, and it’s the one that people sometimes fail to carry out correctly. To perform this step, you may need to seek out a few Bible study tools (commentary, concordance, etc.). But, don’t get too intimidated at this step. Simply, consider the following questions:
Are there any terms, words, or phrases that need to be defined?
How does the passage fit into the broader context of the chapter & book?
What was the author of this book trying to say?
What did the audience understand the author to have been saying?
3). Application: What does it mean to me?
Now, it is time to apply the timeless truth of the passage to life. Though all of the Bible may not be written directly to us, it is certainly written for us. And, we must ask a few questions to learn how this passage should change our lives:
What attitude does this passage instruct me to have?
What action does this passage instruct me to take?
What does this passage instruct me to believe?
What does this passage instruct me to avoid?
At this step of application, also look for the How and the Why. In addition to telling us what to do, believe, and avoid, the Bible also frequently tells us how and why to apply the truth of the passage. So, look for that.
Certainly, this is not an exhaustive guide, but it should be a great start to helping you learn more from your Bible study time. So, try taking these steps sometime this week, and let me know how it goes. And of course, feel free to ask me any questions that arise from your personal study of the Bible.
When you’re in a relationship long enough, you can look back at it and kind of track its progression through various stages. In an ideal romantic relationship, couples tend to experience different types of attraction – physical, emotional, spiritual. Titles come with that too – girlfriend, wife, lover, mother of your children, friend. I was recently reminded that we approach God with titles too – healer, savior, refuge, father, friend, et cetera – but I was also challenged to consider what titles I have especially approached God with. I came up with a few – Savior, Lord, Father, Friend, Master, and Employer – in that order.
Coming to Christ, it’s easy to be grateful and remember He’s the One who saved you from your sins. This gratefulness leads you to address Him as “Lord” and afford him the loving respect and obedience He deserves. As I obeyed Him, I realized He is not just a Savior and wise Lord, but a loving Father who can be trusted. So I listened with gratefulness and joy to hear what my Father would say. Then I learned He could be my Friend – that I could dialogue back and forth with Him about any and everything.
Then somehow it went wrong.
Being involved with God to that extent, you get excited, you want to be more and more involved. Unfortunately, that can translate into more and more DOING – which invariably leads to burnout. So I started resenting God, forgetting God the Father and Friend, only seeing the Taskmaster who would not give me a break. This even clouded my vision of God the Savior. And when you forget where you’ve been saved from, you forget that your obedience TO God doesn’t do anything FOR God. He doesn’t NEED me, I’m not His employee, helping Him out for payments of His favor.
But the thing is, He wants our love. Out of a heart filled with true love for God will flow everything He wants from us – it is not the other way around. How do you refer to God? Who do you see Him as? And what does that mean for the way you relate to Him?
What you will see below is the video testimony of Zac Smith. It was taped while he was on the staff of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. It’s a powerful story that teaches us that regardless of what happens to us in life God is still God, and God is still Good.
Please take a few minutes to really think about life and the Goodness of God. Below is the Zac Smith story and a video follow-up from his wife, Mandy.
Save-the-Date! The producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants will be releasing a new movie on September 30th. It is called Courageous! Check it out the trailer below and plan to go see it. And by the way, here’s the movies official website: http://CourageoustheMovie.com/
On Father’s Day, we showed one of the four messages on the Man Code DVD at our weekend service. Mark Driscoll delivered a powerful message that our people will be talking about for quite a while.
At the service, we also gave away copies of the Man Code DVD to all of the men in attendance, but we soon learned that many of our attendees wanted a few extra copies to send to their sons and son-in-laws who did not attend our Father’s Day service in Sanford. Because of this, we ran out of DVDs. BUT, we have replenished our supply!
So, join us this weekend at Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church, and pick up the extra copies of the Man Code that you were hoping to get. And, if you happened to have missed last weekend’s powerful service, here’s a glimpse of what you missed. Be sure to grab a DVD this weekend!
The men of our church got together this past Saturday for some good ol’ fashion fellowship and a seafood feast. We enjoyed more than 150 pounds of fish, plus hush puppies and other sides! It was a great time for everyone. And, we’d like to give a special shout-out to all of our cooks who spent much of their Saturday prepping and cooking the great catch of fish: Don Ador (and Yvonne Ador, she helped at home), Harry Unsworth, Shane Stewart, and Travis Hansen.
The kids had a blast this week at kids Camp! This year we went to Trinity Junior Camp in Keystone Heights, FL again. The kids went swimming every day, participated in exciting outdoor games, and most importantly the kids learned more about God and grew in their relationship to Him.
On a spiritual note, we have great news…two of our campers expressed faith in Jesus Christ this week! They decided to become Christ Followers. We are so happy for Kelsey Ramos and James Padgett. If you know them, please congratulate them when you see then next. And, plan to encourage them in their new relationship with Jesus.
To see pics and a few short videos from camp visit our church’s Facebook page. Particularly, be sure to check out the 2011 Kids Camp Album.
Thanks to everyone who prayed for our kids while they were away, and thanks to those of you who give to the Victoria Memorial Fund, which allowed many of these students to have a partial scholarship so that they could attend.
Here is the video from our disaster relief efforts in Alabama. Thanks to all who supported us on mission.
And, a special thanks to all who traveled with us:
Don Ador, Austin Adcox, Sandy Adcox, Bruce Collett, Austin Dickson, Carlos Duncan, Semaj Eaton, Tony Fidel, Hal Fues, Chris Gardner, Kolbi Ivey, Mike Jackson, Jason Jenkins, Louis Loudermilk, Joe Ortkras, Dalton Murphy, John Sexton, Ed Smith, Brittany Unsworth, Doug Ward, Jason Williams, Pastor Williams, Zach Winfrey
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them. 28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,
“Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”
Proverbs 3:27, 28
A principle our church runs on is helping those who we can help. The sad reality is that we cannot help everyone in the world, but those whom we can help WE ARE GOING TO HELP! Part of our philosophy at Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church is to live a life of purpose, to intentionally live on mission and help those around us.
If you are part of our local, faith community, we want to challenge you to go out on your own and help those around you. PABC holds special projects through out the year, but generosity is not something we turn on and turn off. It is who we are. Take your generosity with you everywhere you go. Live a generous life!
Do you want to get more out of your personal bible study time? Have you ever wondered how it is that some Christians, pastors, or bible study leaders seem to be able to identify so much more truth in God’s word? Well, there’s a three step process that can put you on a path to understanding and applying God’s word to your life. This will help you to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only (James 1:22).
