Bible Study
What’s that all about? Anything
with the word study in it
sounds boring to me.
I think the reason it’s called
Bible Study is because no one
knows what else to call it. The
Bible is not something to be
studied in the way you study your
boring Biology textbook. It is something to be explored.
Hey, that’s it. Bible Surfing. That’s what we will call it.
It is no longer Bible Study; it is now Bible Surfing.
Bible Surfing.
The Bible is an adventure. In it you will find sex, violence, hate, greed, love, power, forgiveness, compassion, winning the game against all odds, fighting ‘til you can’t fight anymore, even saving a little boy from a government death warrant. It’s all there.
In the middle of all these stories is a common theme, “Become Christ-like.” The more you study – uh, I mean surf – the more you surf the pages of the Bible, the more you understand about God.
THE WORD
Read Hebrews 5:11-6:3.
Get out the Word and read it!
This pretty much lays it out. When you are a new believer you
need milk – and you need someone else to feed you. Hebrews
said that when you first begin surfin’ the Bible, it is okay to count
on church pastors and Bible teachers to show you what’s in there.
But notice that it is also quick to say that you need to learn to feed
yourself. You need to get into the Word on you own and stop
being a baby.
So how do you do that? How do you start Bible Surfing on your
own? People do it many different ways. I’ll throw a few at you
and you find what works for you.
No matter how you surf, always start in prayer
asking God to show you His truth in His Word.
Topic Hopping
Think about a topic you are interested in: Love. Friends, Sex.
Forgiveness. Hope. whatever you want to know more about.
Pick a topic. Then find as many verses talking about that topic as you
can. Look in the concordance. (It should be in the back of your Bible.)
There are also lots of sites on the internet that will give you verses
about topics. Karen or I would be glad to help you find a book that has
topics connected with verses. Look up all the verses. Read what the
Word says and write down what you get out of the verses. See how
you can apply it to your life.
Book Review
Pick a book in the Bible you want to surf through. Start at the
beginning of the book. Find out who wrote it. Why did he write
it? Where was he? (Some books were written from jail!) Start
reading through the book asking questions about what’s going
on. If something catches your eye, look at it closer and find
some other Scripture that tags that same issue. Read the whole
book as a… wee, as a book. don’t try to take one little piece
and figure out what it means. Read it all so you can understand
what is really going on.
People Watching
Heard any interesting stories of people in the Bible? Look’em up. Get to know
them. How about David? He was a murderer, sexed up another dude’s wife, got
her pregnant, and was a poster boy for lying, yet God called David a man after
His own heart. Why? How about a trash-talking donkey? It’s in there. Look up
their stories. Learn from the lives of Bible people.
Head Games
Hey, this is important – memorize Scripture! When you
see a verse that just rocks your world write it on a card.
Get it in your head. This will help you in your real life.
God uses those verses that you learn. He will bring them
into the front of your brain when you need them. Don’t ask me how it happens. It’s a God thing, and He is in control of your circumstances and your thoughts. That is what the LIFE LINK! is all about. Getting the Word connected to your life.
DON’T GET IN A RUT. MIX IT UP TO KEEP IT FRESH.
Whichever way you are surfing through the Bible, constantly ask yourself questions:
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Ask those about the author. Ask about what’s going on. We miss a lot of what is going on in the story because we just read the words. Use your imagination. Try to see everything that is going on. Put yourself in the scene. If you were there, what would you be doing? How would you be acting?
Read the Bible from different perspectives.
Like the parable of the lost son who comes back home, read
it as if you were the son leaving. Try to see what he was
feeling and thinking. Then read it from the dad’s point of
view. Then read it as the son who stayed behind. Feel the
way he felt. Then maybe read it from the view of the ser-
vants who worked for the father. There are so many view-
points in every story. see them all.
MAKE IT FUN. SURF THE BIBLE. RIDE THE
ADVENTURE. KNOW MORE ABOUT WHO GOD IS AND
WHO HE WANTS YOU TO BE.
Start now. Every day do some kind of Bible Surfing. It may be a little
weird at first. But, like the Word says, it is like learning to feed yourself.
You’ve seen a baby when he is just learning to use a spoon. Not the most
graceful thing. But he’ll get better and so will you.
Write down a short prayer about Bible surfing. Ask God to help
you do it, show you cool stuff and make it fun.
Start surfin’ the adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment