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?
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