Moments of Quiet Truth

      Last time, we looked at some questions to ask when we looked at a text, in order to understand the meaning of the text. This time we'll be looking specifically for the "who" and the "what" of each of the members of the Godhead in a passage in order to understand who They are and what They do better.      For this lesson, we're going to go to Ephesians 1. There is SOOOO much in this chapter and most of it (vv. 3-14?) is one long, run-on sentence in Greek. We're going to focus in on the first 14 verses of chapter 1 and see what we can find out about this amazing God!       To set the stage, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus, around 60-62 AD. You can read of his time there in the book of Acts, chapters 18:18-21 (Paul's second missionary journey) then in chapter 19 (his third missionary journey). The city of Ephesus was filled with idolatry, sexual immorality, and witchcraft. The epistle teaches us how to live out the gospel and...

      In our last lesson, we talked about how to find key ideas by looking at the repeating words in a passage. This allows you to have a decent idea about the main idea of a passage at a glance (providing you mark the repeating words/phrases in the text). In this lesson, we will begin to ask the 5 "w's" and 1 "h" question (who, what, when, where, why, and how) to determine the key information of a text. We'll use the same text we did last time and dive in. Materials you will need: 1. Holy Spirit 2. Prayer 3. A copy of the text 4. A place to make notes      As always begin your time in the Word asking the Spirit for His help. It would also be a good idea to read the text several times before you begin to tackle the questions.  1 Corinthians 12:1-14 (NASB) " 1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. 2  You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. 3  Therefor...

      Now that we have laid the foundation for understanding how to find the meaning of words, let's apply that knowledge so as to learn the meaning of a passage. One thing my father taught me to do is to mark up a text. Some do not wish to mark up their Bibles, so I would suggest printing out a copy of that passage that they can mark up. My dad and I both enjoy using color but pen or pencil work just as well. I would recommend either mechanical pencils, as they have a finer point, or Micron artist pens, as you can get them with very fine points as well. These pens work especially well when you don't have very large margins. The benefit to marking up the text in your copy of the Scriptures is that you have all of your notes right there, at a glance. You won't have to go searching for loose pieces of paper or that particular journal, should you ever want to revisit what you learned at a later point in time. The downside is, depending on how much you mark up the text, the w...

      My dad's quote will never get old to me. "You will never know what the Bible means until you know what it says." Understanding it is foundational to know how to approach studying the Bible. You have to know what it actually says!!! I know I keep harping on this but it is sooo crucial! I want us to be grounded in the Word and more loyal to it than to any Bible teacher of any age. I want us to be so loyal to it that we are willing to dismiss and let go of teaching that does not conform to the words in its pages. Now, no preacher will get it right 100% of the time and we shouldn't flush the entirety of their teaching because we find a mistake here or there. If they, generally speaking, are clear, solid, and Biblically grounded teachers who preach the Word of God and hold it up over every other man's (including their own) opinion, then they will be worth listening to. Fill your minds with Biblical truth and grow in your understanding of how to seek it out and fi...

      Ok, so at this point, we have a list of references and a definition. I have to write everything down in order to keep it organized (or copy and paste it into a document). The question now is, what do we do with said information. I know it can look daunting, but let's take it a step at a time, shall we? The definition I found that corresponded with the Strong's number H2451 in the concordance was:  - skill in war; in technical work - wisdom in administration - shrewdness - wisdom, prudence (in religious affairs)  - wisdom, ethical and religious        What can we gather from this definition? (Don't be afraid to pull out a modern dictionary if the words are unfamiliar. Strong's definitions were written at an earlier point in time, so their vocabulary was a little different - we don't use some of the same words today.) What can we learn about wisdom? How would you put these different aspects of this word into your own words? I would say th...

      For those of you who have made it this far without giving up hope, thank you! I have done this for a long time and this is something I am passionate about and am prone to pour out vast amounts of information on it at any one given time. I know it can be overwhelming, especially as you are just starting out. Studying the Bible this way consistently will create a habit that will make it easier to do as time goes on.       Let's begin.       The easiest way begin to structure a word study is to use the 5 "w's" and 1 "h" questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Let's start with "what." How do we find out the "what" of a particular word? Another way of asking "what" is asking for the definition of a word. If you're using a paper-bound copy of a concordance, open to the section that is for the first letter in the word (example: "wisdom" - "w" section). You should find a list of references on ...

      Word studies - they are an excellent means of finding out what the Bible says about a particular word, theme, idea. What you are doing when you do a word study is finding the definition, the part of speech, how the word is used (along with its context) and organizing that information into a manageable format that you can take and work from. It allows you to compile the information so that you can then teach others what you have learned and your only source (outside of a Bible dictionary, concordance, and possibly lexicon) is the Word itself. I was walked through how to do this as a teen and was assigned word studies in college, in the hopes that I would be able to take the information I gleaned and teach from it, if necessary, down the road.       Doing this well takes much practice, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't all fall into place on your first try. Start small and grow from there. Even when you don't have all the answers, don't be afr...

       If someone were to ask you what the Bible has to say about a particular topic, word, theme, idea, etc., would you know how to answer them? Would you know how to go about finding out the answer if you didn't already have a solid grasp on it? My dad says that you will never know what the Bible means until you know what it says. Do you know what it says? Do you know how to find out what it says? Do you know what questions to ask to find this out, what tools you'll need to do this? Do you know which resources to pull from and which to avoid? Once you have gathered the information, do you know what is next - what to do with it to arrive at a solid, Biblical conclusion?       I'm teaching my way through the spiritual gifts with my ladies on Thursday nights. Part of my heart in teaching them is to equip them to find answers directly from the Word themselves. Part of my teaching is training them what questions to ask, what resources to use, how to ...

  "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the dea...

      My daily Bible reading has me in Genesis 12-15. I'm struck with Abram's erecting of altars and calling on God's name. An altar was a place of worship through sacrifice and a monument of remembrance. Twice the text references a location as the place Abram built an altar (13:4, 18).       We, as New Testament believers, are commanded to offer to the Lord sacrifices of praise (Heb. 13:15). We are told to give thanks in every situation (1 Thess. 5:18). We are told to submit our eyes, ears, mouths, fingers, and feet to the Holy Spirit in obedience to Him (Rom. 6:1-14; 12:1-2). Are we not also commanded to sacrifice and remember? The hymn goes, " Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither to thy help I'm come. . . " (Come Thou Fount). An Ebenezer is a stone of remembrance. It is a monument to the working of God in one's life that can be returned to over and over and over again as a reminder. The history of the nation of Israel was something that was repeated ove...