June - Studying the Bible to Know God’s Will
These points are given to allow you a comprehensive study of the New Testament in a panoramic, or entire, reading.
As you plan to study the Word of God, consider these truths - God is our Absolute Authority, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. He gave a covenant for the Jewish people the Law of Moses (the Old Testament); then He ‘gave Jesus’ to fulfill that covenant and ‘nail it to the cross,’ abolishing it. Then He gave the entire world of human beings - including the Jews, who would believe Jesus Christ - a covenant, the Law of Grace (the New Testament). The Old Testament is for our learning, while the New Testament is for our LIVING.
From the New Testament we learn a lot of things that has bearing on our lives today. It teaches us all we need to know about obeying and serving God so as to be able to be Christians and to live eternally. The New Testament teaches us basically these kinds of things:
- what to think
- what to believe
- what to be
- what to say
- what to do
- what to expect
There are the 27 New Testament books from which we get all that. Some are a bit harder to understand than others, namely Hebrews and Revelation.
But, all of it is for us to learn so that we can know the will of God and live to obey that will.
BEFORE you read each day pray for understanding.
Allow me to number the points I want to make about Studying the Bible.
1…As Christians we should concentrate on studying the overall message of the New Testament beginning with Matthew and following right on through the New Testament to get an overview or a survey of the entire book written for Christians.
2…Select one version to read through from among your favorite versions, for example, consider the ASV, NKJV, or NASV. One of these may be your favorite, and they all are near the true word as the Greek language was used in these translations. They are not paraphrases; they are versions. Choose one you want to read every day for almost two months.
3…If you will read about 5 chapters EVERY MORNING (get up an hour early!!) from your chosen version, you can read the entire New Testament in about 50 - 55 days.
4…Try to read early in the morning, before your day’s activities begin and when your mind is at ‘peak performance.’
5…Read quietly with the attitude that “I want to know what God intends for me to know about the New Testament.” Avoid reading as an obligation or to prepare for a lesson or to repeat….just read for “what God wants you to know.”
6…Avoid getting “hung up” on a passage that is not quickly understood - read on. Get what you can from the reading. You want a good “overview” of the New Testament in this “read through in less than two months.” Details can be studied later as you try to really learn the harder passages. (If you desire, keep a note pad near where you read, and make notes of verses you want to go back to and study more in-depth later.)
7…Try to determine to whom the passage you are reading is addressed, note who wrote the verses or book you are reading, and discern who is speaking when a quote is made. Red letter editions let you know, at least, when Christ is speaking.
8…Realize that God had the Holy Spirit direct the writing, and it is written for us to learn to live in a way that we will be able to please Him and live with Him forever.
9…You should plan to buy a good set of commentaries on the bible written by good, solid church members. Burton Coffman has written a good set. You might want to check with one or more of the ministers or one or more of the elders…or other good bible teacher, to see what they would recommend.
10..After you have read the New Testament for “overall comprehension,” then read from the Old Testament, looking for the scriptures pointing to Christ and the Christian Age.
11..Keep in mind that THIS study is one to learn the content of the New Testament for yourself. It is not to prepare a lesson for teaching. You will need a good grasp of the entire New Testament to be a good teacher. This method presented here will give you a good, strong idea of all that is in the New Testament. Then, when you do want to concentrate on some specific topic or passage to learn more deeply or to teach to another you will understand better the ‘context’ of the writing.
AFTER you read each day pray for application.
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