Servant School – Bible Study Prep
Servant
School
June
2, 2022
Introduction
Welcome to our Bible Study Preparation Class.
Whether you are someone who hopes to teach the Bible in front of church,
lead a small group Bible Study, or who just wants to know their Bible better,
it is my prayer that this class will help you to sharpen your skills at
studying your Bible as well as growing in how to communicate what you’ve
learned.
Each week we will start with a few minutes looking at…
Why Study the Bible?
Why? Because God speaks through it.
I think that many of us realize that we need help.
We would like to make the right choices.
We would like to choose the right paths.
We have a lot of places that we could go to for help and wisdom, but some
of those sources of help only cause more problems.
When young Rehoboam took over the throne from his father Solomon, he was
faced with a group of people asking that he ease up on the hard labor that
Solomon had forced on the people.
Rehoboam wisely chose to ask the people to wait for a couple of days while
he asked for counsel.
The older counselors from his father’s court suggested that he lighten up
on the people.
The younger counselors that were his age suggested that he get tougher on
the people.
So what did Rehoboam do?
He chose the wrong path and went with the younger counselors.
And the kingdom split. Ten tribes
rebelled.
The best advice we could ever get would be the advice that God would give.
Now I’m not saying that every problem is going to have an easy answer in
the Bible, but more often than not we will indeed find
the best counsel in the pages of Scripture.
Why? Because God speaks through the
Bible.
The prophet Jeremiah lived in a day when there were all kinds of sources of
bad counsel, including men who claimed they had “dreams from God”. God said this,
(Jeremiah
23:28 NKJV) “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a
dream; And he who
has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is
the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.
Chaff is like the “husk” on the wheat kernel. Does chaff have any nutritional value? No.
Nothing compares to the value of God’s word.
Sometimes it’s the principles in the Bible that will give us the answers
and direction we need.
Paul told Timothy:
(2 Timothy
2:22 NKJV) Flee also youthful lusts…
Am I in a situation where I am making the choice of putting myself in the
way of temptation? I probably need to
get out of that situation.
That’s what God would say to me.
The Psalmist wrote,
(Psalm
84:11b NKJV) …No good thing will He withhold From those who
walk uprightly.
I might be wondering why some certain thing is being “withheld” from
me. Yet if I am doing my best to stay
close to Jesus, then I can trust that if something is being “withheld”, perhaps
it wasn’t such a “good thing”.
Sometimes it’s as if God’s word leaps off of the page, and seems to speak directly to my situation.
Many years ago my wife and I were in the process
of selling the condo where we lived and buying a house big enough to fit our growing
family. I was terrified that I had made
the wrong choice and was going to put my family into too much debt. And then these words leaped off the pages of
my Bible …
(Deuteronomy
1:21 NKJV) Look, the Lord
your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as
the Lord God of your fathers has
spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’
Now I know this was meant for the Israelites and their promised land, but
on that day many years ago, those words were also meant for me and my family.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time, but it does seem to happen
when I’ve needed it.
The bigger lesson from God’s word is that we learn the principles to guide
our lives.
The Psalmist wrote,
(Psalm
119:105 NKJV) Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to
my path.
And that’s why we study God’s word.
He speaks through it to guide me.
Today’s Bible Study Prep topic is about…
Resources
The Bible
You’ve heard Pastor Caleb say many times that the best commentary on the
Bible is the Bible.
The more you read your Bible, the more you will realize the connections and
explanations throughout the Scriptures.
Sometimes your Bible will have cross references that will give you some of
those connections, but those aren’t always complete and sometimes the cross
references aren’t correct – they are one editor’s idea of what is helpful but it might not always be the correct connection.
Let me talk a minute about…
Different Bible Versions
When you understand how Bible versions work, you will be able to use them
to help your study of God’s word.
Types of translations:
Word for word
The idea is that you try and translate a passage in a manner so that every
Hebrew or Greek word is translated into an appropriate English word. The benefit is that you get a translation
that’s very close to the original text.
The down side is that these translations are
usually harder to read because the language is a little choppy and doesn’t flow
very well.
Examples of this are: King James,
New King James, New American Standard, ESV, CSB
Phrase/idea translation
The idea behind this translation philosophy is to try to look at an entire
phrase as you are translating. It’s hard
to put Hebrew thoughts into English in a word for word translation and still
come up with the flow or thought that was intended. The benefit of this method is that the
reading is generally easier to understand and flows better. The down side is
that the translation may not quite accurately represent all that was
intended. Sometimes it will lean towards
one particular idea that a passage conveys,
but do it in a way that sacrifices other thoughts that also may be
conveyed in a passage.
Bibles: New International Version,
NLT
Paraphrases
These are not strictly translations.
An author or editor will take a passage and put it into his own words,
elaborating when needed to help explain a little more what is being talked
about.
Bibles: Living Bible, The Message
Example of comparing different types
of translations
Word for word –
(Isaiah
30:33 NKJV) For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the
king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much
wood; The breath
of the Lord, like a stream of
brimstone, Kindles it.
Phrase translation –
(Isaiah
30:33 NIV) Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made
ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance
of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
The second sentence is reworded to read a little more
smoothly, instead of “He has made it deep…”, it’s “Its fire pit has been made
deep…”
Paraphrase –
(Isaiah
30:33 The Message) Topheth’s fierce fires are well
prepared, ready for the
Assyrian king. The Topheth furnace is deep and wide, well stoked
with hot-burning wood. God’s breath, like a river of burning
pitch, starts the
fire.
Note the addition of the “Assyrian king” to explain the
terms that might be questioned. The
problem is, these are an individual’s interpretation, even if it’s
mostly correct. “Topheth” is a “place of
burning”. But for which “king”? It could be the “Assyrian” king, but it also
could be the antichrist, which you wouldn’t see if you were just limited to the
Message paraphrase.
Books
Of course this is a broad category.
Fifty years ago, a pastor’s library consisted of nothing but books. These are some of mine.
When I used to study, I’d get out all the appropriate books and spread them
out all over my desk, sometimes needing to stack them up so I could get to them
all.
There are a couple of books that most Bible students will want to consider
purchasing.
Halley’s Bible Handbook
Pastor Chuck used to recommend this to all students. It has brief outlines of all the books of the
Bible as well as when they were written and all sorts of interesting tidbits.
About $25 on Amazon.
Bible Dictionary
A Bible Dictionary is almost more like an encyclopedia than a
dictionary. It’s not about defining
words, but rather about giving you historical and cultural information about
various topics.
Even though there are some older “dictionaries” available for free, I’d
recommend something more modern so more recent archaeology is included.
The “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary” looks good, and
is $26 on Amazon.
I remember one of the best investments I made in my early years was the
Zondervan Pictorial Bible Encyclopedia.
Six volumes. Pictures. About $250 on Amazon today (I paid $120 forty-five
years ago).
Another section of resources are
Commentaries
Of course this is a subset of “books”.
Unless you get some of the more expensive computer software packages, you
may end up buying commentaries a bit piecemeal.
The classic “one-volume-commentary” on the entire Bible is the Matthew
Henry Concise Commentary. It was perhaps the first commentary I ever
bought. It’s not to be confused with the
full version (six volumes). The one
volume version is $20 on Amazon. (The six volume
version is $100)
I think a better investment is the two-volume “Bible Knowledge
Commentary”. Two volumes for $55.
There are thousands of commentaries, many on just a single book of the
Bible.
I have several book cases of commentaries.
Computer resources
Word Processor
One of the first things I’d encourage you to do as you are learning to
develop Bible Studies is to master the use of a good word processor, whether
it’s Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or Google Docs.
Using a word processor allows you to organize your notes, shift things
around, and edit so your final notes aren’t a bunch of hand-scrawled chicken
scratches on multiple slips of paper.
Bible Hub
This is a good web based resource.
If you have the internet connection, you will have free access to most
modern translations of the Bible, as well as Greek and Hebrew resources.
They also have quite a few commentaries, some of them pretty
solid, all tied to the verses you are studying.
BlueLetter Bible
Another web based resource
The BlueLetter Bible is like Bible Hub, except it
was created by Koinonia House, which was founded by Chuck Missler, a fellow
with strong Calvary Chapel ties.
Many of the commentaries you will find on BlueLetter
will be by Calvary Chapel authors.
This is one of Pastor Caleb’s go-to resources
Online Bible
This was one of the earliest Bible programs that I worked with.
This is a computer program that you install on your computer.
Once it’s installed, you don’t need an internet connection, the program is
completely on your computer.
The “starter set” is free, and comes with a King James Bible, Greek and
Hebrew dictionaries, and quite a few commentaries that you can download for
free.
Here’s a picture of what it looks like on my computer.
You can do a lot with this.
You can also purchase a DVD with more than 30 English Bible versions
(including most of the modern ones), along with dozens of commentaries for $40.
Logos Bible Software
This is the crème de la crème of Bible Software.
This is my main Bible program.
Whereas the Online Bible program isn’t going to cost you more than $40, the
basic Logos package starts around $300 and you can
spend thousands and thousands on this software. I know. I’ve spent a few dollars on this over the
years.
There is a free version of Logos available that comes with about 30
resources, and I’ve put the link in my notes.
Here’s a peek at how Logos looks like on my computer.
Whereas the Online Bible has commentaries that are in the “Public Domain” (meaning
they are really, really old) and are now free, Logos
carries most all current publishers and their books. So
when you purchase their books or “libraries”, you are getting the latest most
up to date books.
Even though you might salivate at my paper book collection, in my Logos
collection I have nearly 7,000 books, and they are all searchable with the
computer and accessed instantly.
This is just some of the books my Logos library has on the letter to the
Romans.
Over the years, I’ve made sure that the best books in my paper book library
are now all in my Logos library, and accessed on my
computer and even available on my phone or tablet.
Just a note, whether it’s paper books or computer books, these aren’t
something you acquire overnight.
Rich’s Study Notes
Over the 25 years I taught at Calvary Fullerton as Senior Pastor, I posted
all my notes online.
They are there free for your use.
Let’s say you want to study something in Leviticus. From the “index”, click on “Leviticus”, then
choose which study you’d like to look at.
Some books of the Bible have more than one set of notes depending on how
many times I’ve taught through it.
Finally a loving reminder: Nothing in your library, whether it’s on a
bookshelf, on a hard drive, or online, can help you in Bible Study preparation
like being on your knees in prayer and simply reading the Word.
Illustration
The great Bible Teacher Harry A. Ironside told of visiting a godly
Irishman, Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious
illness. Though quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the
deep truths of God in a way that Ironside had never heard before. Ironside was
so moved by Frazer’s words that he asked him, “Where did you get these
things? Could you tell me where I could
find a book that would open them up to me? Did you learn them in some seminary
or college?” The sickly man gave an
answer that Ironside said he would never forget. “My dear young man, I learned these things on
my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There
with my open Bible before me I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the
Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my
heart. He taught me more on my knees on
that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges
in the world.”
My friends, as you study, don’t neglect the discipline of prayer, seeking
God, asking His help, and relying on His Holy Spirit.
I hope that helps
In Class
We’re not going to tap into the worship feed tonight because I want to
spend a few more minutes with us sharing and discussing, and the video is a
little longer than usual (25 minutes)
Let’s share our homework.
You were all assigned a paragraph from John 6.
Share one observation-interpretation-application from your paragraph.
Half of you were going to do the “Feeding of the Five Thousand” and the
other half were going to do “Walking on Water”.
Your assignment was to …
1.
Read the paragraph at least three
times. Write your pericope.
2.
Make an observation,
interpretation, and application.
3.
Find a verse that supports your
“application”.
4.
Find an illustration that gives us
a better idea of how to do your application.
Play Video by 7:45pm
Any comments from tonight’s teaching video?
Questions?
Caleb – could you describe your “process” of preparing your sermon? How do you “study” your Bible?
Class: What is your favorite version
of the Bible? Why?
Do any of you own “Halley’s Bible Handbook”? Do you use it?
What is a “commentary”? Do you own
any commentaries?
Homework
No more homework! This is our last
class!
May God help you in your journey to study the Bible!!