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How To Know The Bible · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  And I'd like to begin with a word of prayer. Father God, You are holy and righteous, yet we are sinners. We confess that we do not deserve Your love and Your grace, but yet You give it to us. And You've given us Your Word, Lord, so that we might know You and know what You require of us. So I pray that You give us understanding, both tonight as we look at these verses,
• 0:29
  through this week as we complete these studies, I pray in thy name. Amen. Did anybody listen to the sermon this week? Our God-breathed Bible. Did anybody listen to it? I listened to half of it. Anything strike you from that? What did you learn or what you thought was really needed? Just have a couple people share. Your mind's blank right now?
• 1:14
  Read it. Okay. It helps us, helps us grow. Anything you remember or struck you from that? Just share one thing. I just loved his explanations of some of the prophecies and went through how they came true and just the detail, the historical background. I was really struck by the one on Tyre. Do you remember the prophecy about Tyre is near the end? You might not have got to that one.
• 1:47
  In the book of Ezekiel, he prophesied that Tyre, which was a strong city with a big fortified wall. I forgot the dimensions, 120 feet tall, maybe 15 feet thick. And it was right on the Mediterranean Sea. And Ezekiel prophesied that the city of Tyre would be overthrown, it would be destroyed, tore down, and all of it would be cast into the sea.
• 2:14
  And it would never be inhabited again. And that was an amazing prophecy for a major city. But what had happened is during the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar came up against the city and laid siege to it. And he ended up overtaking it and destroyed the city. But the people in Tyre, they took all their valuables.
• 2:40
  Everything wealthy in the city and that got in boats and went to an island a half mile out in the Mediterranean Sea. And Nebuchadnezzar had no navy, so he couldn't get out there. He tore the city down and apart and it was just all rubble. But he got no loot out of it, and Ezekiel prophesied exactly that. You won't get any booty out of the city in that. But what about the city to be cast into the sea? Well, years later, Alexander the Great came up with his army.
• 3:10
  and he was marching to Egypt and wanted to attack Egypt, so he sent a message to the Tyrrhenians on the island out there and wanted to give me some support for my cavalry and my army and help me on my way, and you'll be all right. And they said, ha, ha, ha, you know, we're a half mile out in the ocean, or in the Mediterranean Sea, you can't get to us. No, we're not going to help you. Ticked Alexander the Great off, so he had his army.
• 3:37
  pick up all the rubble from the old city on the mainland and threw it into the ocean and built a causeway out there to the island and marched his army out and took the city and all the booty and that. And Ezekiel's prophecy was fulfilled to the letter that no one ever lived there again and now they just dry fishermen's nets on the rock where the city of Tyre used to be. Go back and listen to that sermon. There's a good sermon. Okay.
• 4:09
  Tonight, we're going to look at some of the reasons for knowing God's Word. Well, what would you come up with? Why should we know God's Word? Why should we study God's Word? We have many, was it ten different reading programs out there? If you want to get in the Bible this year and read it through, why would we want to do that? Emma?
• 4:39
  Gives us instructions on how to live with that. Why else should we build God's Word into our life? Why, why, why? To know God. To get to know Him. Better? Yeah? It's for our spirit. For our what? For our spirit. For our spirit. Okay. Alright. Any other ideas? In your lesson, I'm not going to go through this lesson because ideally...
• 5:30
  You would have answered these questions already and it would be in your book. And so I could ask you to share what you got from it and that. But some of the things are, it's for our growth. It's our spiritual food so that our spirit can grow. Emma was referring to that. Helps us defeat sin. I mean, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, how did Jesus fend off Satan? He quoted Scripture. He knew Scripture. So it helps defeat sin. Prepares us for service. It helps us.
• 6:01
  To be blessed. Happy. There's happiness comes from when we study God's Word and build it in our lives. It helps us to help others as well. Now, and we should... In your book, on the first page of that, they actually gave five ways to build God's Word in your life. Do you see that? I don't remember what page it's on. Page 16. There's a list of five ways to build it. And that is...
• 6:31
  It comes from an old Navigator illustration, which I learned. And you can do this. I used to have people trace their hand on a piece of paper or something like that. There's five ways to really build God's Word into your life. What's the first one on there? What's the first way we get God's Word into our life? Here. Usually you hear the Word. You hear it through sermons. You hear it through the radio. We ask you to listen to a sermon on that.
• 6:59
  Romans 10, 17 says, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. What are some ways that we hear the Word? Come to church Sunday. You hear Pastor Danny preach the Word. Attend a Connect class where they're studying the Bible. What else? On the radio? In the car? Yeah, especially if you have any kind of a commute at all. Well, I got real familiar with...
• 7:28
  Before I retired, I was working at the Fed Center and I could just listen to Alistair Begg on the way to work every day. I really liked him. There's a lot of good preachers on there. Hearing the Word of God. What's the next way? Read. Blessed are those that read the words of this prophecy. We read the Word and so there's some good reading programs. I hope you are in some kind of a reading program.
• 7:57
  even if it's not as ambitious to read the whole Bible through in one year. What's another way? The next way we build, study God's Word. We're going to talk a little bit about how to study tonight and do a practical exercise on that. And then the next way on there, memorize God's Word because we build it into our life. And then the fifth way is meditate on it. What is meditation? Consider and think about it. Consider and think about it.
• 8:30
  It is not like the Eastern religions that want you to vacate your mind and think of nothing. Meditating on God's Word and that is thinking about it and dwelling on it. When you memorize it, it helps you meditate on it when you're repeating it over and over in your mind. My way that I memorize verses is I take business cards. Anybody have business cards?
• 8:58
  And people that have business cards always want to give you business cards. Take them. And then your next memory verse, write it on the back, see? Fits in your pocket really well. And whenever I'm standing in line at a grocery store, Walmart, or in the waiting room at the doctor's office, I've even been known to do that on red light, sitting there on red light, or train going by in the tracks. Pull out, review your verses, and as you turn it over in your mind, you're meditating on it.
• 9:29
  Build God's Word into your life. And, you know, the thumb works with all of those. You can meditate on it. And the thumb is what gets you a really good grasp of God's Word. If you don't use that thumb, you don't really meditate on it. It's kind of hard to hold on to anything. You know, if I was swinging a hammer without my thumb, I'd be flying out. Look out. Get out of the way. So there's five ways that we build God's Word into our life.
• 10:07
  Let's see what I'm doing here. Okay, I already talked about that. We talked about the ways that we get to know the Bible. Okay, there is a process on how to study the Bible. And we're going to kind of focus on that for the rest of our time tonight. How do we study the Bible? Actually, my wife, I was a youth pastor at a church for a number of years. And I was discipling some young men in the church.
• 10:39
  in the church and one-on-one and teaching them how to study the Word and pray and we just had some good times together. And my wife, who grew up in a very legalistic church, okay? You knew you were a Christian by what you didn't do instead of what you did do. Do any of you know what I'm talking about? And she felt that she didn't know how to read the Bible or study the Bible herself.
• 11:08
  And she would come and ask me, I want you to teach me how to do that. I wasn't very good at teaching my wife how to do that. And I thank God that she finally learned, but she didn't really learn it through me. I had problems teaching my wife how to do that. But a lot of people can be in the church for years and years and not really know how to study the Bible. So that they really get something out of it, so that they grow thereby in that. But there are...
• 11:37
  formal rules for studying the Bible. And that is actually called, the study is called hermeneutics. It's a theological term that you get in Bible schools and seminaries. That's the name of the rules for how do we study the Bible. The rules of hermeneutics allow the text, the Bible itself, to speak to us. And if you don't follow those rules, you end up reading into the text what you want it to say in that. When I was in...
• 12:07
  many, many years ago in the early 70s. I know some of you don't remember that far. I was in Southern California and I came out of the shopping mall and found on my car windshield under the windshield wiper a pamphlet from a group called the Children of God. It was a cult. And the leader of that cult, he gave himself the name of David Moses or Moses David. I forgot what it was now.
• 12:38
  He quoted Scripture in his pamphlet. Okay? And this is the hippie generation. You know, the hippies who are for free love and all this stuff. And he quoted, you know, God is love. Therefore, the more you make love, the more of God you have in you. So, let's make love with everybody and anybody. It's kind of popular with the young people at that time. You know, free sex and that.
• 13:09
  That is not Bible study. No one studied the Bible that believed what he was saying because the Bible doesn't teach that. We need to allow the text to speak to us instead of reading into the text what we want it to say, what we feel that it is. So there's some steps in Bible study. And the first one is preparation. And this will be on page 18 of your books, I believe. So you need to prepare yourself.
• 13:41
  That starts with prayer. And mine is on page 36. So, what should we do when we approach the Scriptures? Anybody know what 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2 says? Nobody can quote it? Okay, somebody look it up. Whoever has it, 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2. 1 Peter 2, 1 and 2. What should we do before we approach the Scriptures? To put away all malice and all deceit.
• 14:15
  in hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. So what does that say? When we approach the Scriptures, what should we do first? Not you, you know. We've talked about this. What do you think of that verse? I actually did it in my prayer when we started off tonight. And Peter's saying, put away.
• 14:51
  These sinful things. We should confess our sins. When we come to God, if we have any conscious sin in our lives that we haven't confessed, let's confess our sins. Break down any barrier that might be blocking us from seeing God. Our sin doesn't block God from us, but it blocks us from seeing God. And we should pray. The next one there, what should be our prayer? Well, Paul's prayer there is for...
• 15:20
  Wisdom and understanding. Paul's prayer for the Colossian church was that I pray that you have wisdom and understanding. When you go to study the Word of God, spend some time in prayer. If the Holy Spirit brings any sin to your mind, confess your sin and ask the Holy Spirit to show us wonderful things from His law to help understand it. Then the second step.
• 15:49
  in the Bible study process is observation. That's just asking questions. What's taking place in the passage? What do I see? Ask questions as you read. Those of you that are in the Bread of Life Connect class Sunday morning, there's only a couple of you, I guess, you'll know that's what we're doing right now. We're kind of doing this. Our whole course is...
• 16:19
  What we're going through is questions. I'm asking you questions to make observations. And what do you think about this? Write down the questions. Who, what, where, when, and why. It's really interesting. I struggled for years with Ahithophel. Who knows who Ahithophel was? Anybody? Ahithophel was one of David's counselors. King David.
• 16:47
  And he was so wise that the scripture actually says, anyone who sought counsel from Ahithophel, it was just as if they were seeking counsel from God. He was so wise. And what troubled me about Ahithophel, and see, when you read through scriptures, you ask yourself these questions. If he was so smart, why, and you read through in 2 Samuel, I think it is. Yeah, 2 Samuel 16, when Absalom,
• 17:17
  was rebelling against David and wrote against him, why, if Hithophel was so smart, why did he side with Absalom instead of David? Doesn't he know that David was a man after God's own heart and he was a good king and that? Why would he do that? Hmm. And that bothered me for years. Until, as I go through my readings, I start asking other questions. For example, in 2 Samuel 23, it lists David's mighty men.
• 17:48
  Okay, that's kind of just a list of names. Okay, I don't get anything out of that, right? When you're reading through that. But I challenge you, if you skim through that list, if you see a name that you remember or something like, I've heard of that before, stop and maybe look up cross-references and see who it was. In 2 Samuel 23, one of David's, the top 37 of his warriors was named Eliam. Okay?
• 18:17
  Eliam was the son of Ahithophel, this great counselor. Okay, so big deal. Yeah, but if you go back and when you read through 2 Samuel chapter 11 verse 3, there is a beautiful woman named Bathsheba who was the daughter of Eliam. Ahithophel, that makes him Bathsheba's grandfather. Why would he side with Absalom against David?
• 18:46
  Because David messed up his family royal. Ahithophel knew what David had done. And so when Absalom was revolting against him, he sided with Absalom against, even though he's so wise, he sided with him against David. And you just get that by, when you read, ask yourself questions. Like, why would he do that? And later on you say,
• 19:13
  Oh, Eliam was the son of Ahithophel. I know who Ahithophel was. And the later you light on it, oh, Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam. And it fills in the blanks. That also explains why Bathsheba was able to live in a house so close to the palace that he could really gaze on her beauty. Because the higher up in government you were, the closer you got to live to the palace. It's kind of a hierarchy thing.
• 19:44
  Ahithophel was a trusted counselor, so he had a house real close to the palace. Eliam was one of the 37 top warriors, as was Uriah. He was one of his best 30 warriors, too. And so they were able to have a house close to the palace, and that led to the story we all know. Anyway, ask questions. Pause and ask questions. When you read, don't read so fast that you don't just...
• 20:14
  Skip through things. Try to put yourself into that scene and go, I wonder why they did that. Or who, what, where, when, and how. As you observe the passage, look for key words, key subjects and commands, particularly verbs, action verbs. Look for warnings. Is this listed in yours? Do you have what I'm reading there in your book there? Okay.
• 20:46
  Repeated words or phrases. That helps you understand what's... I mean, the author's really trying to get something apart or heavy. Like, I think of Revelation chapter 4. What do we find in Revelation chapter 4? What's that about? Anybody know? You got a Bible in front of you? It's the throne room of heaven. And the word throne... I think the word throne occurs 11 times in just short verses.
• 21:18
  And thrones, pearls, two more times. It's about the throne room. And one of the key subjects in Revelation 4 is the throne. God's reign in that. So, repeated words or phrases help emphasize words. Questions and answers given. And, oh, note anything that's unusual or unexpected. You know, I put myself into the scene when I'm studying the Bible.
• 21:47
  Something happens that I wouldn't have expected or I certainly wouldn't have done. Then I paused and think about it. Why did this happen? How did that come about? The third step in Bible study is interpretation. What does it mean? Scripture can be clear because God has given us someone to teach us. Who has He given us? 1 John 2.27. Or you could answer, if you know, the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2.27. He's given us the Holy Spirit. Someone read it? Do you have that, Nathan?
• 22:20
  But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and it is true and no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. Okay. So we have the Holy Spirit to help us understand God's Word. And pray and seek the Holy Spirit's understanding. Ask interpretive questions.
• 22:50
  Like what is the importance of a certain word, especially verbs there? What is the importance of a given phrase? What's the importance of names or titles? Like Pharaoh, that's not a name, that's a title. Many people think Abimelech was not a name. It may have been a name or it may have just been a title. Those of us that are going to be studying Esther here pretty soon and Nehemiah, King Artaxerxes.
• 23:20
  There's a number of Artaxerxes, and that could be a proper name, but also the name means mighty warrior or conquering warrior or something like that. So it might just be a title too. We really don't know for sure. But ask, what is the meaning of names and titles? What about dates? One of the things that I've enjoyed doing lately is trying to figure out dates and years. For example, how old was Isaac when Abraham took him up on the mountain to sacrifice him?
• 23:51
  You got to do math because you got to figure out how old things are and that. The Bible doesn't say he was so old. But do you know how old he was? You know, you start figuring years and dates and that. Isaac was actually 15 to 18 years old. Now, can you picture? He wasn't a little boy that dad grabbed him, tied it up, laid him on there. He had to willingly submit to his father because his father was what? He was 115 or 118 years old. And Isaac probably could have taken him.
• 24:24
  That kind of changes the story, doesn't it? When you picture him as an 18-year-old instead of a 9-year-old. Jacob, how old was he when he traveled to Haran, fleeing away from Esau? His mom sent him to Haran to maybe find a wife there. He was 40 years old already before he had a wife. Now, his twin brother Esau already had two wives, and they were a nuisance to mom. But Jacob was...
• 24:54
  40 years old. So how old was he when he married? You don't remember the story of Jacob and how long he had to work for his beloved wife, Rachel? How long he had to serve Laban? Seven years. Okay, I'll help you out. He had to serve seven years. So he was 47 years before he was ever married, you know. I used to always just picture him as, you know, 20-something or, you know. 47 years old before he got married.
• 25:27
  And then he had to work another seven years there. And then he worked another six years for Laban. And he kind of got all, God bless him, and he kind of got most of Laban's flocks and that before he fled. That means when he returned to Esau and his company, his oldest son Reuben would have been, I know he kind of did it.
• 25:58
  I always kind of pictured them as they were maybe grown up already, you know, and they could help with fighting stuff. No, Reuben, his oldest son, couldn't have been any more than 12 or 13 max. So he had 11 sons and a daughter that were 12 and under when he traveled back home. I mean, when you ask yourselves these questions and put yourself in it, it really fills it in and makes the Bible a lot more exciting in there. Mindset number five is others.
• 26:28
  That's other references. Do cross-references. Look up words, how they're used in other places or that subject. Where else is it talked about? Look up for the meanings of particular words. What did the Bible say about that? And then find the answers to your interpretive questions. You've got to use the context because verses taken out of context are a pretext. Just like Moses, David took, you know...
• 26:57
  God is love, so the more you make love, the more God you have in you. That's really out of context. But look at definitions of words, grammar, and sentence structures. There's Bible study tools, Bible dictionaries, concordances, handbooks, encyclopedias, and commentaries. Lots of helps. A lot of online helps. Something someone showed me I just learned. It's really kind of cool. How many of you have the Bible app on your phone in that?
• 27:26
  And I go in there, and if you click on a verse, it highlights it, right? Then at the very bottom down there, there's some options. And one says compare. Have you ever tried that? What that does, that gives you, you've probably already preselected it, but it gives you other translations of that same verse. So you can look up five translations right there of that one verse. How did other translations have that? That's really neat. Someone just showed me that last week.
• 27:55
  And I started using that. That's kind of neat. Using other translations. When interpreting, remember that all Scripture does agree. It does not contradict itself. And there's a quote that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. When I'm going through, if I'm teaching the book of Revelation, I can't teach that without going through Daniel and Zechariah. Have you ever linked Zechariah with Daniel in Revelation?
• 28:29
  I mean, you need to study all three of those, and that will really solve a lot of the questions. Like, what does that mean? And what's going on here? It really helps you. So the Bible is its best interpreter of itself. And it's important to remember, there is only one correct interpretation for any particular passage of the Bible. And that's the author's original intending. There's only one correct interpretation. It really bugs me when someone says, well, what does that mean to you?
• 29:00
  Well, there's really only one correct meaning that the author intended. Now, there can be many applications, because we all apply it to our lives differently, but there's only one correct interpretation of Scripture. And we're going to talk for a second about application, and then I'm going to give us a practical exercise to do, so that we put this into practice. Application. Ask, what effect will this have on my life?
• 29:29
  If you don't apply the Bible to yourselves, you'll be just like James said in chapter 1. He said, you'll be like the man that looks in the mirror and says, oh, that's nice. And you go your way and forget what he looks like. Okay, that's probably me. My hair's probably all messed up. I forgot what I looked like because I looked embarrassed. Don't be like that. You need to do what the Word says and apply it to our lives. Once we've heard God's Word, what should our response be? James 1.22.
• 30:00
  James 1.22 What should we do once we have heard the Word of God or read it or studied it? Do it. Yeah, don't deceive your... be a fool of your own self. You can deceive yourself into thinking it says something that it doesn't. That requires action. Actually doing it. And one thing I've been convicted of quite a few times actually and I see it all the time in church that people
• 30:39
  Really believe that once they know something, they've done it. You know? You hear a good sermon on, oh, yeah. Well, let's just say, you were encouraged to read the Bible through the years. You know? I'm just pulling that out of the example. We should do that. And I agree with that. Once I agree with it, I feel good that, and I might not ever do it, I feel good. Or, go love your neighbor.
• 31:11
  Oh, okay. I do that, you know. I love my neighbor in that. And when we just give mental assent to it, so many Christians, and I've been guilty of this myself many times. I feel, yeah, I believe that, okay. And I don't actually do it. Don't be fooled into thinking you're obeying the Word by just, I agree with everything the pastor says. But that's not doing. James said, if you...
• 31:40
  are not a doer of the word, you deceived your own self. Here is a nice tool to help apply God's words. He says, put on your specs. Specs is glasses so you can see clearly. And this should be on page 21 of your books, I think. Put on your specs. Does this passage that I've just read have a sin I should forsake? Does it have a promise for me that I can claim?
• 32:10
  Does it give me an example to follow? Is there a command to obey? Is there a stumbling block to avoid? That's putting on the specs. There's only one correct interpretation, but there could be many applications. And studying the Bible is a repetitive process. And as we study, you should be doing over and over steps two, three, and four of this. Asking the questions.
• 32:42
  looking for the interpretation, your observation, asking questions and answering them, the interpretation of what is the author really saying to me, and then applying it to my life. Do those over and over. Observe, interpret, and apply this as we go through the Scripture. And when we study the Scripture, we will be blessed. Anybody know what Psalm 1, 1 and 2 says? Anybody memorize that in Awanas or anything?
• 33:12
  Oh, come on. Blessed is man. Who is like a tree planted by streams of water. Ruth something. Please do not weather. Okay. Okay, what does blessed mean? What does it mean, blessed? You're blessed. It means you're blessed. I like what the Amplified has to do with that. Anybody have an Amplified translation here? The old Amplified, not a newer version of it, said,
• 33:52
  Blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied is the one who has God's Word and he's keeping God's Word in his life. Happiness comes when we study the Word. If you see a Christian that's miserable, you ever see a Christian that's miserable? I'll guarantee you they're not really studying God's Word in their life, not building God's Word in their life. Because there's a blessing that comes from that.
• 34:25
  On the same hand, if you're on the same hand, if you are personally feeling down and a little depressed or something, get into God's Word. And study a portion of it. And you will lift your spirits. Okay, we're going to do an exercise. Turn to page 22. And they have in here Matthew 6, 33.
• 34:53
  They have a worksheet. And they give us some examples to get us started. He says, but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6, 33. So, they have a chart there and it's partially filled out to give you an example. And I would like you to work with the people at your table so each table can work together. Yeah, even if you're married, that's okay. Yeah, you can work together. We won't split you up.
• 35:22
  But, well, let's read this. Here's some examples of observations, and they get us started on the first half of the verse, and I'm going to have each table work on it themselves, okay? But, so, the verse, observation, the verse starts with the conjunction but. Well, what kind of interpretive question? Well, why does the sentence start with but? And the interpretation is, well, it links it to the previous verses, and you have to read verses 31 and 32 to get the context.
• 35:51
  Because it starts with but and it links it to it. Next, there's a key word. Here's a key word, seek. What does seek mean? What action does seek require? And the answer is, well, it means to pursue or search. And also, it's a command. It's in the form of a command. It's an imperative verb. The verb seek is also in the present tense, number three there. What does present tense indicate? Well, it's now.
• 36:20
  Don't do it in the future. I seek now. Note the use of the word first. Following seek. What is the importance of first? Well, it implies priority. Must seek as a top priority. This is the first thing a Christian should do. It's the top priority. Next key word is kingdom. What does the word kingdom signify? It's an interpretive question. And it is a sovereign rule or dominion over a specific realm or region.
• 36:50
  That's rule or dominion over a specific realm or region. The word kingdom is preceded by the personal pronoun his. Whose kingdom is identified? To whom does his refer? Well, we go back to verse 32 and it refers to the Father. It's God's kingdom. So, I want you to take about eight minutes and finish that verse. Work as a table. Work together.
• 37:16
  I already did it on my own. I filled it out, see, so I got what I think. But you'll have some different interpretive questions, maybe, in different things. So, go ahead and do that now. Okay, even though you probably haven't finished the verse, I think you've got it away. How about one table sharing what was the seventh observation you made for number seven? Okay, this table wants to do it. What did you observe?
• 37:45
  His righteousness? Okay. And what was the interpretive question your table came up with? Okay. And interpretation? What did you fill in? God is righteous? Okay. Alright. How about this table? What's another observation you made? Okay. And all things? All these things? Okay. All these things? Uh-huh. And the interpretation would be what of all these? And the interpretation was?
• 38:36
  Search for? That's right. You had to go back to context to see what does he mean by these things. All these things. What things? Well, what he had been talking about in verse 31. Emma? Okay. These things are referring back to things that people worry about for their necessities of life. It does not mean all these things like a corvette and a yacht.
• 39:21
  That's not included in all these things. Because that's not what's in the context. Okay? But all these needs. Okay? Good. This table, did you come up with another observation? We looked at added to you as a phrase. Okay. Added to who or who is you. Alright. Those of us who see that. Okay. Now you get that and see and you can take the same observation added and when I did my interpretive question and I go like, well, added to what?
• 39:59
  What's he added to? Of course, my interpretation then is, well, the food, drink, and clothes plus God's kingdom and righteousness. He comes along with God's kingdom and righteousness. Okay, this table here. Another observation? That wasn't covered yet? No? Okay, you guys up here in the front row.
• 40:30
  There's a reference to Solomon asking for wisdom, God promising wisdom, because he would not only get that, but more as a connection to the all things. He added to it, didn't he? I like that thought. The Mark passage is a Mark passage that's cross-referenced as well, and at the end, through that passage, there seems to be a promise of the blessings and the things that can come from following after, or relationships between.
• 41:03
  Okay. So do you have any questions on what you just did? The thing that strikes me the most is when you're studying, not reading. When I read and I'm going through the Bible in a year, I move pretty quick. But when I'm studying, the key thing that strikes me out, go slow. Ask questions. Then you'll make observations about it and go slow and look for the answers. Emma?
• 41:40
  I'm not going to give you a rule that you have to follow. You can do one word at a time. If I was taking a passage or like a paragraph, I would definitely not do every word. But if you were going to do a devotional to a group of kids or men's devotional or something like that,
• 41:59
  and you wanted to just take one verse, I would probably try to focus on every word in that to get the most out of that verse as possible. But depending on the size of the passage that you're studying. Okay? Now, just the last minutes left. The next step is application. What from your observations and interpretations did the Holy Spirit tap you on the shoulder and say you need to apply this? So let's just...
• 42:27
  verbally anybody's sharing? What applications do you see on this verse now from the way we studied this? Not to worry about these things. God's going to meet your needs. Okay. Is that promise to everybody? Everybody who seeks his kingdom first and his righteousness. Hopefully you've dealt with what does...
• 43:04
  Seeking his kingdom and seeking righteousness means. It means I'm trying to live a holy life like God lived and what he wants me to live, you know. I can't live any way I want and then expect God to give me those things. How would you apply it? What would you find? Jill? What I do is a openness part. When I pray, when I'm having these feelings, I always ask God to please let me know the Holy Ghost is with me.
• 43:36
  know if this is proper, but if the Holy Ghost is with me and then I'll make right decisions on what the matter is that I'm having a problem with, please help me with that. Have the Holy Ghost in my heart and help me with it. Does that make sense? And you get that application from seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness first. Good. Good. I like that. Okay. It reminds you to always pray first and seek God. How about another application? Is it something that you need?
• 44:27
  Okay. Clear to me, but it makes sense to you, I can tell. So the application is for you. Yeah, you don't do an application for me necessarily.
• 44:39
  One more. Anyone get an application from studying this verse? We just did this little exercise. Going to that reference to Kings, I was convicted about the way I find myself praying often. Asking, you know, I want to seek the Lord, but I can find myself sometimes being more anxious in my prayer life, seeking the things that ease my physical.
• 45:09
  rather than seeking the Lord and asking for Him. So it was a neat connection going back to that. Okay. On the bottom of page 23 there, you have the application for this whole study. We've all been given 168 hours in our week. How do you invest it?
• 45:37
  They want us to write down a goal. What are you presently doing in these five areas of hearing the Word, reading the Word, studying the Word, and memorizing the Word? What are you presently doing? Maybe you're doing a lot in reading, and we hear the Word, but you're not doing much study or memorizing. And then set a goal. What do you want to accomplish this year? And I'll guarantee that you will always reach that goal if you don't make one.
• 46:05
  You know, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take when I think Gretzky said that, you know, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. Set a goal for yourself for this year. How do you want to grow? What do you want to do in each of these areas? Hearing the word, reading the word.
• 46:24
  I've committed to reading the Bible through in a year, and I'm doing the Kronos plan. I've never read through it chronologically, and I thought that's really interesting. So I'm doing something new I haven't done before, even though I've read through the Bible in a year quite a few times already. So set a goal, and you fill that out for you, okay? For next week, here's what I want you to do, is even if you haven't done lessons one or two or anything, I want you to...
• 46:52
  Read through and work through Lesson 3. Okay? And look up the verses and answer the questions there. Memorize 1 Chronicles 29-11. And hopefully you can find some time to download and listen to the sermon, God, What Is He Like? It's 54 minutes. I'll tell you right now. It's 54 minutes long. And work that in. Hey, if you've got an hour commute to work, it's perfect. Download it and listen to it.
• 47:22
  Oh, on the way back. Then finish it up on the way back. Danny's going to be walking us through this lesson next week. Anything you want to say to everybody to get ready for next week? No, just try to work through your workbook. My technique, because I have so many answers, so if there's an extra book, I'm going to take one so I can actually work through it as a student and help me prepare for it a little bit more. Okay. But I'm actually excited.
• 47:53
  Bring this to you guys next week. We're talking about the attributes of God. And that's what this is going to be about. And I think that's exciting. Do lesson three first. And then if you've got time, go back and work through one and two again, okay? We covered two fairly well tonight. But there was so much in lesson one. I would encourage you, if you get the chance, go back and do lesson one. There's so much information in there that we didn't have time to focus on.
• 48:23
  You guys were great students tonight. Thank you for working on that. And I hope you are not just hearers only, but you're doers of the word. Lord God, thank you for what Dr. MacArthur has put together to help us build your word into our life. Lord, help us as we hear and read, study and memorize the word, that we would see you in all the scriptures that we study, and that we would...
• 48:53
  truly seek to apply them to our lives. May we be doers of the Word, not hearers only, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.