Leading Attenders to Meet God in Bible Study, Part 5

How does a teacher lead his/her attenders to obey God's commands? I understand that adults can take knowledge to convert it into action. But without encouragement and/or positive accountability, many adults merely learn history lessons, factual content, or moral lessons from Bible study without changing their thoughts or actions. In other words, many adults miss the step of listening which is necessary before obedience. After all, how can we obey if we don't listen?

But some do listen to God's still small voice in Bible study, whether in Sunday School, worship, or personal quiet time. And some do make commitments in those times of Bible study. In my experience, however, the problem is that promises are made to God and not kept. If we tell God we are going to do something in Sunday School, during the invitation in worship, or during private devotions and we do not do what we said, that is called a "lie."

How can we help ourselves as teachers as well as help our attenders keep their commitments? We need to ask ourselves this question: What did I do as a result of what God said? Now, that is a strange question to ask at the moment of the encounter with God in Bible study. In fact, it cannot be answered immediately since we have not had time to obey.

How can we hold ourselves and attenders accountable to keep our promises to God? I can think of at least two helpful methods: (1) spiritual journals where we write the date, scripture passage, and answer the four questions checking back on how we are doing in obedience every few days and (2) asking other believers to check on our commitments/obedience. What are some other ways to lead us to actually do what God told us to do?

Leading Attenders to Meet God in Bible Study, Part 4

In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), Jesus commanded His disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations." Then he defined how that can be done: baptizing and "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." While God desires a relationship with us that is real and personal, one of the ways His disciples can express that relationship is through obedience.

God desires even more from His disciples than Bible study (listening to Him) and prayer (talking to Him). In the effort toward the obedience He desires, commitment to God, His will, and His way is required. Thus, the third question that needs to be answered is this: Are you willing to do what He wants you to do?

If you have been listening, His personal message to you calls you not only to agree with Him (prayer) but to commit to obey. A commitment is needed in response to God's still small voice that can be heard in every passage of His Word. If God expects commitment, how can a teacher help attenders respond appropriately to God? Since His message to each attender will be unique, how can a teacher lead attenders to make the specific commitment He desires?

Leading Attenders to Meet God in Bible Study, Part 3

Leading attenders to listen is so important. But a relationship with God demands listening and talking, it is a conversation with Him. A marriage that involves only talking or only listening is in trouble; the same is true of our relationship with God.

The truth is that when God speaks, He expects a response every time. When we open His Word, He speaks and expects a reply. How can we do so? We reply in prayer and in obedience. The second question that leads us to fully encounter God (before we lead attenders to do the same) is this one: What is our response to what God has said to us in Bible study?

I find many classes on Sunday morning as well as many Christians in private devotions who separate Bible study and prayer. Bible study and prayer are two halves of the whole of a conversation with God. They need to be done together. When God speaks, we need to respond.

I know American society has led us to feel time pressures, but why is it that we rush through our relationship with God, through our conversation with Him, through Bible study and prayer? One fault I find with Sunday School is that we try to cover so much scripture that we fail to reflect on it at any depth, and more importantly we fail to complete the conversation in prayer. How could we lead our classes to personalize and not rush the experience? How could we train attenders to ask this question in class and private devotions?

Leading Attenders to Meet God in Bible Study, Part 2

With all the preliminaries stated previously, there are four questions which need to be addressed in Bible study in order for a teacher or preacher to lead attenders to meet God in Bible study. This post will focus on the first question: What did God say to me in this verse/passage?

This question assumes a lot. It assumes an understanding of the background for the verse. It is important to make sure that the verse is not taken out of context. So it is important to know what the verse said to the first hearers. This helps us to get at the truth of the verse. But I believe God speaks to individuals today through his Word as well. This means that when you open His Word, God speaks a personal message of truth to you. I may hear a different facet of the gem of truth than you do because God knows I need to hear that facet.

The trouble is that it is so hard to stop long enough to listen for His still small voice. We are often so busy. We fill our lives with constant sound. And we rush through Bible reading and devotional to check it off our lists when God is after a personal relationship and has a personal message He wants us to hear.

If we fail here, all the rest of our attempts to move toward response, commitment, and obedience will be shallow, incomplete, and selfish. How can we train ourselves to listen to Him? What do we need to do to hear what He has to say to us? And how can we lead attenders to do the same?