Summary: BIBLE READING AND BIBLE STUDY – EPISODE 3<br> IN THIS EPISODE…<br> <br> 01:04 We discuss today’s topics –<br> <br> Bible Reading and Bible Study<br> We start off with some assumptions we hold. As followers of Christ, we believe Scripture is:<br> <br> Inspired – the Holy Spirit didn’t tell the writers what to say, as He worked through the personalities and writing style of the prophets and apostles.<br> Inerrant – Chicago Statement of Inerrancy<br> Infallible – The Bible is incapable of teaching error.<br> Sufficient – The episode verse of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows how Scripture is profitable so that the man of God may be complete.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 05:07 Segment 1 begins<br> <br> Why do we study the Bible?<br> <br> Our ability to disciple is rooted in God’s Word. We want to see people grow in the image of Christ and that image comes from the Bible.<br> <br> <br> Some shocking statistics are thrown out.<br> <br> Only 11% of Americans read the Bible daily.<br> Only 18% of Born Again Christians read the Bible daily.<br> 23% of Born Again Christians claim never to have read the Bible.<br> <br> <br> Through experience, we notice a correlation that our ability to deal with the struggles in life is directly related to our time in the word.<br> The team discusses that if a mark of saving faith is a love, and hunger for God’s word, can that hunger and love go away? Revelation 2:4 may give us some insight into that.<br> If we are not diligent and don’t have encouragement we can fall away from any of the spiritual disciplines. We should force ourselves to do it even if we don’t feel like it. We try to interpret the high number of professing Born Again Christians that claim to have NEVER read the Bible. Are we distracted too much? Perhaps a lot of professing believers are not true believers.<br> We move on to discuss why should the Bible be a priority. We focus on Scripture to give us our answers.<br> <br> Bible is applicable to all parts of our lives.<br> The Word makes us pure.<br> God’s Word strengthens us.<br> By hearing God’s Word and acting on it, we are building a firm foundation.<br> God’s Word points us to Jesus.<br> When confronting sin in ourselves and others, the Bible is a sword.<br> <br> <br> We discuss the difference between devotional reading and a deeper study.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 19:59 Segment 2 begins<br> <br> We start to put the pieces together by seeing where Bible study fits in with Discipleship. We need to encourage each other to read the Bible. It’s important to read the Bible and pray that God gives us a heart that delights in His Word.<br> John J tells a story of Bible reading during a difficult time in his life. In difficulties the Bible helps us to reorient our thinking toward God.<br> We then probe more deeply what Bible reading does for someone during difficult times. John J. takes a shot at Christian movies and how it seems that when people get right with God in those movies, everything starts to go right. That is not how it happens in real life.<br> James begins a discussion on how we have wrong thinking about man in relation to God. Reading the Bible helps to correct that. We also learn from Bible study that trials that come into our life are for our good.<br> Using the story from John J., John C. expounds upon three types of Bible readers/studiers. There are those that read the Bible all the time. Then, you have people that read the Bible when things are going badly. Finally, there are people who read the Bible when things are going well. We then try to figure out why.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 33:30 Segment 3 begins<br> <br> The team spends time discussing how we go from just reading the Bible to doing a deeper study.
