Imagine trying to find a specific place in Scripture during a sermon without them. Three vital responses in application are (1) Response of confession: The Word of God is like a sword (it penetrates), like a mirror (it reveals), and like a critic of the heart (it judges and reproves or exposes our attitudes and actions). All action presupposes prayer, and all prayer ought to lead on to action. (Ed: And I would add that the Word of Truth ALWAYS has something to say to our heart! Were so used to being exposed to chapters and verses that we lose sight of an authors intention for the whole book. While there are several great methods of studying the Bible, heres a simple method one can follow: Observation, Interpretation, Transformation and Application. (Jas 4:17+, cp Lk 12:47, 48+, Jn 9:41). In a very real sense we are giving our brain a bath; we are washing it in the purifying solution of Gods Word. Samuel addressing King Saul after his serious "miscalculation" (sin) said "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? He had put into practice (applied) passages from God's Word, proving that they work which of course they always do! The proper spirit for profitable Bible study is a tender, teachable heart willing to obey the truth and the fruit of this humble approach is an eternally changed life lived to glory of God. Woe! He had the "truth" but never acted upon it. Help others in their faith journey through discipleship and mentoring. Its the shortest of the Gospels, and you might have noticed that Mark seems focused on the action and hitting all the significant points. Avoid the temptation to try to make the text mean anything just yet. With Logos Fundamentals, youll find the truth for yourselfno matter what questions arise as you study the Word. 0000060059 00000 n Striving to see Christ-followers on every team, in every sport and in every nation. Ezra (The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word), Jesus explains that relationship (and importance) between knowing God's Word and doing God's Word, declaringIf (If = 3rd class condition = possibility / probability but not a certainty! Life Application: What joy is experienced when deliberate Bible study moves from a 'have to' to a 'want to!' Men may have in their study of the Scriptures other ends also, as the profit and edification of others. It is more needful for you to hear God's words than that God should hear yours, though the one will always lead to the other. Why are we deluded in this way? When you take a book like Romans one piece at a time, you can miss the forest for the trees. Pretend youre an investigator and youre just gathering the facts. Showing God in action in and through His people. Apply: How do I respond to what God is saying? View our top Cru resources in more than 20 languages. And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. God make us holy; sanctify us, spirit, soul, and body, and then we shall be made finely serviceable both to the Church and to the world. endstream endobj 64 0 obj <>>> endobj 65 0 obj >/PageWidthList<0 612.0>>>>>>/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/Properties<>>>/Rotate 0/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 66 0 obj <> endobj 67 0 obj <>stream The old saying regarding application is true that the same Word that afflicts the comfortable, also provides comfort for the afflicted! Be careful not to simply amass the kind of knowledge that puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1). These divisions are tools that help us read Scripture; theyre not an actual part of it. (Josh 1:8-note). Precept Ministries International was founded by internationally-known Bible teacher Kay Arthur, along with her husband, Jack, with the vision to establish people in Gods Word. A Is there an Attitude to change or guard against or an Action I need to take? You may study it your whole life, and you will never be able to absorb all that it has to teach. (Ps 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148 - see A Primer On Biblical Meditation). The Bible helps you understand God and His relationship with humanity. Memorizing God's Word - Why? (John Calvin), Gods Word can only produce growth in soil "fertilized" by obedience. What is awe? Acts Thirdly, we seek to link the spirit of the passage with our own personal experience of things human and Divine. We need to be honest with ourselves at this point. Fourthly, we seek to stir up our soul to notes of praise and thanksgiving, delighting ourselves in God's Word, rejoicing in the prospect it presents, yielding ourselves in joyful submission to its precepts, and at the same time searching ourselves in the light of its cautions, humbling ourselves over our past coldness or doubtsfor most of our failures come from doubting God. What is the clearest meaning of this text? You should desire to know Gods Word better so it can change you. How about Son of God"? In the margin of many pages in D. L. Moody's Bible, he wrote the letters T and P, meaning "Tried and Proved." Goldsmiths keep bottles of acid by which they test everything that is offered them for sale, whether it is gold or merely tinsel, and the Christian should keep Gods word near at hand and treasured in the soul, to test thereby all that he hears. Believe it to be safe Below I have written a simplified step-by-step guide . To which he responded "Yes, she translated the Bible into her life, and was the most powerful translation I've ever seen!" in my teaching, visiting or mission work? Isaiah It is thework of applying something (I like that -- it make take a little "holy sweat" to apply what we have learned, but it is worth the effort exerted! HLTkXw: Read and practice; but we shall only be able to do this, as God the Holy Spirit shall help us. Revelation, Search Wikipedia using spiritual discretion, Authority of God's Word - study on 2Timothy 3:16-17, Ezra 7:10 - Exposition of the "Ezra 7:10 Principle", A Primer on the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation. Grasp these sweet promises. 0000008074 00000 n Obadiah (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson). 1ICR, And its in this phase we start to look at what the text means. Amos It isthe act of bringing something to bear; using it for a particular purpose. As a result, that man became a Christian. This is a motivating truth that you can trust and which you should welcome and willingly acknowledge. And the botanist had a big notebook under his arm and a great big magnifying glass. To an active mind knowledge gives pleasure. Identify chapter themes They were the local authorities. Micah For example, in a court of law, jurors are asked to reach a verdict based on the evidence presented to them. Inductive Bible study is a practical, relevant, and time-tested approach to interpreting Scripture. Coleridge once said that, if we wish to make old truths fresh, we must turn them into action. Can abide while we trust and obey. Not to make us smarter sinners Now that youve come up with questions, its time to do research. Sow a character, reap a destiny! : an American History (Eric Foner) Civilization and its Discontents (Sigmund Freud) The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Max Weber) Interpersonal Communication (Kory Floyd) Chemistry: The Central Science (Theodore E. Brown; H. Eugene H LeMay; Bruce E. Bursten; Catherine Murphy; Patrick Woodward) 15.). The bottom-line question to ask is, How do the divine truths and principles contained in any passage apply to me in terms of my attitude and actions? Jesus made this promise to those who would carry their personal Bible study through to this point: If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (John 13:17, cp Jn 15:14, 14:15, Lk 11:28, Jas 1:22+, Jas 1:25+, Rev 1:3+) Bible study is not complete until we ask ourselves, What does this mean for my life and how can I practically apply it? We must take the knowledge we have gained from our reading and interpretation and draw out the practical principles that apply to our personal lives. Application brings us into this sphere of abundant life in the Spirit. ", Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote that "It is a good thing to be a student of the Word, but only in order to be a practiser and experiencer of the Word.". When Dr. Houghton became pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle in Atlanta, a man in that city hired a private detective to follow Dr. Houghton and report on his conduct. Job In Bible study, application is putting truth you've discovered (through observation and interpretation) to use in your life with the ultimate goal of transformation or life change. The Word is both a glass to show us the spots of our soul and a laver to wash them away. When you become a Christian, you enter into an exciting, lifelong relationship with the Bible. What does the term Messiah mean? ( Ro 12:2 - note) Application answers the question, Interpretation is not necessarily a separate step from observation, for often, as you carefully observe the text, you begin to see what it means at that very moment. Until all on the altar we lay; I have known some rejoice greatly in the doctrine of election who never were elected, and some who were very pleased with the doctrine of justification by faith, but who had no faith by which to be justified. Jeremiah Connect each passage back to the gospel and the broader message of the Bible. Inductive Bible study draws its conclusions from the text, not our assumptions. This is not the fruit of slavish fear, but of holy love; it is not afraid of the Word, but delighting in it, as it discovers the mind of God to us; as in the next verse it is written, "I rejoice at Thy word." Sow an action, reap a habit. Skip Heitzig writes that "The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody made a habit of carrying a notebook to record what he learned as he read the Bible or listened to a sermon. The real authority of their view is always some single leader who has his or her ideas in writing. Now that weve observed and interpreted what the passage has to say, its time to talk about what it means for us. The word of God reveals to us our true selves. and how much we really believe what we have observed. Leviticus EP !HOz Leading from values so others will walk passionately with God to grow and bear fruit. Matthew Henry adds: Every gracious soul stands in awe of the word of God, of the authority of its precepts and the terror of its threatenings; and to those that do so nothing appears, in the power and wrath of man, at all formidable. He now teaches two courses: "Bible Study" and "Advanced Bible Study." "All of my courses are built on the basic pattern of observation, interpretation, application and correlation (or . A person may study some branch of sciencesay electricityfor the enjoyment the knowledge gives him, without the least intention of applying it practically. BGEA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. A Silly yet Serious Never fear, only trust and obey. (Ps139:23, 24+; cf. Then when you read descriptions of the human heart, and the fall, the corruption, and the depravity of our nature, look, and see yourselves as in a looking glass, and say of each man as you hear of his sin, I am such a man as this was, and if I do not fall into precisely the same sin, yet the possibility and peril of it is in my heart, and I should do so, but for Gods restraining grace. Take the very histories home to your heart, and find a point in them, either of encouragement or of warning for yourselves. The OIA Bible study method consists of three parts. 1 Chronicles To be sure our first goal should be to get into the Bible and then to allow the Bible to get into us. Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? This is always the most challengingportion of Bible study, which most people give only cursory attention to (unfortunately).The key to doing Bible study is . 3:7f+, He 4:2+), (3) Response of obedience: Genuine faith will obey. Application takes place as you are confronted with the truth and you respond to that truth in obedience (in faith). In Gods mind, knowledge without obedience is sin. Therefore, it is vital that you develop observation skills which might, at first, seem difficult, laborious, and time-consuming. Thus, interpretation flows out of observation. Inductive Bible study is (Col 1:28, 29-See notes Col 1:28; 1:29), The basis for application is 2 Timothy 3:16. When the global church comes together then powerful things can happen. 9. (John 7:17). trailer Internship opportunities with Cru's ministries. If you do not this, you are reading to your own condemnation. The tireless runner is a picture of what Application should look like in each of our livessobrethren, beloved of God, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world for so great a salvation, filled with His Spirit and controlled by the love of Christ "let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith" (He 12:1-note, He 12:2-note) pressing "on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Php 3:14-note) disciplining ourselves "for the purpose of godliness for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Some people say they cannot meditate; they do not know what it means, or they have no time, or they go to sleep when they begin. Often, its helpful to put chapter and verse breakdowns out of your mind as you dive into Scripture. Must you become a better person so that God will accept you? Inductive Bible Study Observation Interpretation And Application Through The Lenses Of History Literature And Theology is additionally useful. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201 In fact, Logos even has an Inductive Bible Study Workflow built right in to guide you through these steps. Truth revealed brings responsibility to respond. How do I propose to carry out these changes? So if youre studying Mark, start by reading the entire book. Application begins with belief Thus, we are called and encouraged to new labour in prayer, whilst we have a new example in Him Who prayed, and wept, and bled. His Word from day to day, Sometimes its beneficial to ignore them and consider other ways you might divide the text. The world will learn better, and will more likely be brought to know Christ when the lives of Christians are better, and when the Bible of the Christian Life shall be more in, accordance with the Bible of Christian doctrine.
example of bible study: observation, interpretation application
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