Last Night's Message..

(I was so honored that Rob asked me to share my bible study techniques with the youth group. And I was greatly inspired last weekend by the singularly amazing Suzanne Cox. I really felt a freedom to speak last night, it was probably my favorite preaching experience to date!)

How to Read the Bible For All It’s Worth (props; toilet paper, Purpose Driven Life, Word for Today, deodorant, life savers)

A daily Bible study is like toilet paper. It’s necessary. Whatever you used yesterday isn’t going to do you one bit of good today.

1) Remove yourself from distractions. Have a special time and place that you meet with God. Keep this appointment. Consider how it feels when a friend stands you up.

2.) Come with the right attitude. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% the attitude you have. Prepare your heart to receive what God has for you.

3.) Have a plan of attack. Hunt and peck scriptures are great for getting a good nugget of truth, but it makes it hard to see the big picture. Explain my bible study method. Consider a One Year Bible Study plan. Or pick one book of the Bible and start there. Or you can find a good devotional book and use that as a source, but still refer to your Bible and read the passages of scripture pointed out in your text. I recommend “Purpose Driven Life”. Or you can do the daily devotional on the national youth department’s site, which is called Firestarters. If you don’t have access to a computer, you can use Word for Today, which is a free publication the church puts out. Also you can download uVersion from Lifechurch.tv to your phone or touch and there is a daily read button on that ap.

Another great aspect of bible study is scripture memorization.

4.) Ascertain truth for yourself. You may consider yourself a strong Christian; experiencing God in great altar times, receiving a lot from Sunday and Wednesday messages, loving times of corporate worship. But if you aren’t seeding your faith in the word, it will likely fall away. (read Luke 8:5-13, the story of the seeds) Your relationship with God cannot last if it’s based purely on emotion or other people’s connection with God rather than truth. The only way to gain truth for yourself is through the word of God. Also, reading God’s Word yourself will guard your heart and mind against heresy, or false teaching.

4.) Repetition breeds results. What you do over and over again equals who you become. Decide who you want to become and create a plan of action. Like working out; I don’t want to be normal weight obese. I’ve decided I want to be in shape, so I’m working towards it. I want to be a Holy Spirit filled, set apart for Jesus, scripture quoting Christian, so I’m taking steps towards that. Don’t miss your appointment. Yesterday’s Bible study is like yesterday’s deodorant. It was good and necessary for yesterday, but it simply isn’t going to cut it for today.

5.) Compounding Interest. Age is in your favor. Consider if you invested $100 a month from the time that you are 18, stopping at 28. Leave that money be, and you will be a millionaire by the time you retire. The same principle works with your quiet time now. You have an opportunity to make a greater investment now than any other time in your life. I guarantee that the spiritual investment you are making will have a far greater return than any financial investment you can ever make. Daily quiet times are the difference between serving God for a life time and serving God for a season.