How Should I Study The Bible?

HOW SHOULD I STUDY THE BIBLE?

INTRODUCTION

1. Most dads have done it

a. Children get a toy for Christmas or birthday that needs “some assembly”

b. We are smart enough to figure it out so we start that light assembly without the directions

c. Hours later when the toy is not finished, does not resemble anything from this world and there are more parts than room, we finally take our the directions

d. As Christians we are building our lives, we have the directions, if we want to resemble what God intends we must consult the directions, the Bible

2. There is no set style for study

a. Outlines

b. Topically

c. By paragraph

d. Main thing is find a style to study

3. There are three adverbs we all need to add to our study style, we must study:

a. Prayerfully

b. Purposefully

c. Persistently

4. Understand John 12:48, “The one who rejects me, and does not receive My saying has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”

5. The most important thing you will ever do is pick up and study the Bible as it instructs you in the manner of Christianity

TRANSITION: The first thing to consider when studying is that study must be done:

I. Prayerfully

A. Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”

1. We try to ingest all the Bible we can and admire those who can quote long passages of the Bible

2. It is good to have the Bible memorized and to read as much as possible, but understanding is the primary objective of Bible study

3. Keep God active in your study process

4. Who would you rather have as a study partner, the world, your family, or God, the author of the book?

5. The Bible helps to build your relationship with God

6. Ask for His help in learning of Him and He will assist you

B. Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. 25 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. 26 "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. 27 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."

1. When you build your house you are to build on God’s foundation

2. When working construction we had blueprints to follow, the greatest asset in interpreting those blueprints was the one who drew them, if he was available to help understand the job was much easier

3. Pray for success in studying, for His help in understanding and you will be preparing on the proper foundation

4. John 14:13-14, "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

5. Sometimes I think we make life much more difficult on ourselves because we do not ask in prayer

6. Pray to God and see if He is not true to His word

7. He challenged Israel like this in Malachi 3:10 to test Him in this way and see if He is not faithful

C. Study God’s word prayerfully and allow Him to guide your through the pages of the Bible and see if prayer pays off

TRANSITION: Many times we pray and expect God to do the rest, when we pray we also need to be ready for our part. Part of this is to study:

II. Purposefully

A. One purpose of our study is to please God

1. Ephesians 5:8-10, “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord”

2. Paul talks here about how darkness displeases God

a. As we live our lives on earth we are groping in darkness

b. We are lost and alone

3. The Bible shines the light of God on those miserably dark lives

a. When going through Northern Kentucky on I-75 you go through a dark pass and on the other side are the lights of Cincinnati announcing its presence

b. The Bible is that light of God in our lives announcing the presence and grace of God