Study?

Have you closed the Bible, sat in your chair for a minute, and then wondered what exactly you just read? I don’t know how many times I’ve done that. I’ve read so much, but never understood what I was reading. I’ve always wanted to know though. I’ve made a few weak attempts at “studying” the Bible, but most of the time I just gave up. It was so frustrating! What was the point of reading if I couldn’t understand it?

This week we did -Inductive Bible Study- on the book of Philemon. Now, in our reference guides for our DTS it said we would be doing this, so I had a head’s up. Also, the girls in my flat were talking about it before the lectures started. I don’t know about you, but Bible study hasn’t really been on my personal Top 10 things to do, so I wasn’t too excited about this week. All of these girls though were so excited for Bible Study, and I couldn’t figure out why! So Monday morning comes around, and our speaker hands out these booklets. They have the book of Philemon in it, along with methods for reading the Bible, and a whole load of context about Philemon. He asked us to read the book and summarize what we thought Paul was saying in this letter, so I did. Let me tell you, by the end of the week we had ripped that book to pieces! We learned context, we learned how to read OUT of the passage, rather than read INTO the passage, and we learned what Paul was teaching Philemon, rather than what he was telling him. After this week, I have such a huge desire to know what the Bible is talking about, not just read it. If I’m reading, I would love to be able to get something out of it, and I think that’s God’s hope for me to. SO! I’ve decided to read the Bible in a year. Did you know that only 20% of Christian’s have read the entire Bible? Jonathan, our speaker asked us these questions this week.

Do you believe the Bible is truth? (Yes)

Have you read the whole Bible? (No)

How do you know it’s truth, if you haven’t read the whole thing? He really challenged us to know what we are saying before we answer those questions. So I’m hoping to make it into the 20% category by next year. Want to join me? I’m interested in starting a Bible study when I get back, but if anyone wants to start it before I get there, I’m fine with that too! Message me if you’re interested in either of these things, it doesn’t matter where you’re from! Any church, any town, any age. God wants to impart knowledge to all his children.

So on Saturday we are leaving for our first outreach! How crazy is that? I’ve been here for 8 weeks, and they already want me to do something! Ha, just joking, but really, we leave in the morning, and we’ll be driving about 5 hours north of Townsville to a city called Cairns. (pronounced caans) Cairns is a real tourist city, so we’ll be doing a bunch of evangelism with the backpackers that run through the city and the beach area. We’ve been invited to a few churches and schools also to speak, so I’m getting nervous! In one of the schools though we’ll be making breakfast for the students and then we get to hang out with them and talk to them, so that’s pretty sweet. I’m just really looking forward to seeing the doors that God is going to bust open for us! Oh! And here’s a story to let you in on how crazy our God is! Roger, one of the guys on my outreach team, was stressing out a bit Thursday night because our outreach fees were due Friday. If we didn’t get our money in, we wouldn’t be able to go, and Roger didn’t have any of the money he needed. All glory to God though, Roger made one phone call, and BAM, all of his outreach is paid for!! The couple he contacted told him that God had told them to stop giving money to the church they regularly donated to, and to save it for something, but they didn’t know what. They knew that someone would need that money, and when Roger called them to ask, they felt God releasing them to do that for him! That’s $3500! How awesome is God eh?!

Thanks so much for reading! Don’t forget to drop a comment too, alright? I like to hear your hearts just as much as you like to hear mine, so speak up! Oh, and don’t forget to feed your souls this week!

“The Lord says, ‘I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honour them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation’.”  Psalm 91:14-16

Shine!

With Strength that is not my own, Sam