____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ October 15, 2006 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) The A,B,C's of Bible Study (Warren E. Berkley) 2) Is the Bible Sufficient? (Wayne Chamberlain) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- The A,B,C's of Bible Study by Warren E. Berkley ATTITUDE. If you have a strong desire to find out what's right, and to live as you should before God, that attitude will serve you well as you read and study the Bible. This desire becomes the motive that keeps you "on task," as you seek to discover the right way of the Lord. "Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart" (Psa. 119:2; Jas. 1:21). BALANCE. You should give attention to all the Word of God. There may be certain topics you develop a special interest in, and some passages may be especially relevant to current needs. But you need to have a good, overall knowledge of all the Word of God (Acts 20:27). COMMANDMENTS. In your study, you will come across commandments; imperative statements which require action, and originate in divine wisdom. Carefully look into the context, and discover who the commandment is directed to. If the commandment applies to you, decide right then that you will obey (Psa. 119:4; Rev. 22:14). DILIGENCE. Diligence means great effort and care. If you read the Bible carefully, and study the context, define words and consult references ... that requires effort, but pays great dividends. Pray as David did: "Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law" (Psa. 119:18). EXAMPLES. All through the Scriptures, there are examples. We read of people who did good things, and afford us excellent illustrations of what's right. There are also stories of good people who took wrong turns and sinned against God. In other words, there are good examples and bad examples. We should study these, and let them instruct us (1 Cor. 10:6; Phil. 4:9). FAITH. Effective Bible study requires belief in God, trust in Jesus, and full confidence in the truth of God's Word. Mere intellectual or academic interests will never yield the fruit that is generated by faith (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 11:6). GOD. One vital accomplishment of Bible study is to learn about God. There is really no other way to find out who God is, what He is like, how He reacts, and what He has promised, except in the Scriptures (Rom. 11:22). HELP. Don't ever hesitate to ask for help. Have you ever been in a preacher's office? The walls are lined with hundreds of books, and their purpose is to help the preacher understand the Bible. Dictionary books, concordances, commentaries and reference works simply imply that we may need some help. There is no shame in asking for help (Acts 8:30,31). IMPLICATIONS. As you go through the written Word of God, not only will you learn from examples, and find commands that apply to you, there are also implications. Don't call just anything an implication, but when the information in the text leads to a conclusion, accept it and consider it to be part of God's revelation. JESUS. "...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...," and this good news is the theme of the Bible. Look for this everywhere! In Old Testament prophetic passages, the psalms of David, the institutions of the Mosaic system, the gospel accounts, Acts, the epistles and the Revelation of John ... Jesus is everywhere. Look for Him, and let every new experience of Bible study bring you closer to Him (John 3:16; Col. 1:18). KNOWLEDGE. Your object is to acquire a knowledge of God's truth. LOVE for the truth. Paul spoke of some who would perish, and he said they were deceived "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10). Therefore, a love for the truth is an essential quality of a good Bible student. MATURITY. Growth to maturity in Christ can never be realized, apart from Bible study. As you learn of Christ, and study His will and apply what you learn, you involve yourself in a process that produces maturity (Col. 1:28). NOURISHMENT. Understand, that you cannot have spiritual life without the divine food that sustains that life. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4; see also, Heb. 5:12-14 & 1 Pet. 2:1-3). OBEDIENCE. Honoring Christ and pleasing God by obeying the Word of God ... let that be your constant object (Matt. 7:24-27; Heb. 5:9). PATIENCE. Do you sometimes think it would be great to sit down with your Bible today and have complete knowledge by noon tomorrow? That's not reality. Be patient with yourself, keep studying, and you'll add more to your store of Bible knowledge after every session (Phil. 3:15). QUESTIONS. Use questions to learn about a text. "Who wrote this ... Who was it written to ... What was the historical circumstance ... Are there any other passages that will help me understand this ... What is there in this passage that I need to apply ... How does this passage help me understand other parts of the Bible ?? etc." REVIEW. Don't ever finish or "get through" with any portion of Scripture. Go back and review. Start over again with key passages, and you may learn something you missed before (Phil. 3:1; 2 Pet. 3:1). STUDY. There is a difference between reading and study! When you read, that's your first contact with the information. Next, you should think about that information: "What did it mean to them? What does this mean today? How do I apply this today? How does this passage or teaching relate to other parts of the Bible." When you study, you apply the mind God gave you to the book He gave you (Eph. 5:17). TRACKING promises and prophecy. When you find a promise (Gen. 3:15), or a prophecy (Isa. 53) in the Old Testament, follow those passages to their fulfillment. UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES. Especially when you read the stories in the Old Testament, don't just regard those passages as historical narratives. Look for underlying principles that transcend dispensational boundaries (Rom. 15:4). VERSIONS. Bible bookstores' shelves are running over with all sorts of different versions and translations of the Bible, some good and helpful; others, twisted and inaccurate. Consulting several English translations can be helpful, but don't get too far away from the standard translations {King James, New King James, American Standard, New American Standard}. WORDS. Don't deceive yourself into thinking that "word studies" and definitions are boring or unnecessary. The fact is, God has chosen to communicate with us through words. We need to know what those words mean. Use a good Bible dictionary, consult references, and respect the Biblical significance of the words you read (1 Cor. 2:13). X marks the spot. Systematic reading all the way through the Bible is a great help to your understanding. Read a portion; mark an "X" in the margin, or put the date, then continue at that place next time. YOURSELF. We may be tempted, in our Bible reading and study, to immediately think of others -- how they need this; how others have violated what the passage says. Our first concern must be, self-examination (2 Cor. 13:5). ZEAL. As you read and study and gain knowledge, be sure that knowledge is accompanied by the zeal to teach and practice the truth of the gospel (Rom. 10:1-3) -- Via Monday Messages ____________________________________________________ -2- Is the Bible Sufficient? by Wayne Chamberlain The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (II Tim.3:16-17). In a word, Paul is saying, "The Bible is sufficient." It is all we need. People indicate their lack of faith in this passage when they say such things as, "Well, my church teaches...", or, "In our last council, our church decided to allow...", and, "We follow the Bible and our church traditions." In dealing with the Pharisees on one occasion, Jesus addressed such attitudes when he said, "...you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'" (Matthew 15:6-9). Either God's word (the Bible) can equip man with all he needs for "every good work" -- or we need modern-day revelations; and, therefore, God's word is not sufficient. If God's word is not sufficient -- then neither can it be trusted. WHY? Because the Bible tells us that it is sufficient. Therefore, if it is in error concerning that issue -- it will certainly be in error on many other issues. If one believes the Bible is sufficient, they will then believe that creeds and man-made doctrines are prohibited. Where is the justification for them? Can you find justification for creeds in Galatians 1:6-9, "...if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed"? Can you find justification for creeds in II John verse 9, "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God"? What about Deuteronomy 4:1-2, "...listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live...You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it..."? If creeds just restate what the Bible says, why have them? If they say more, or less, than what the Bible says -- they are condemned by God's word (II John 9, et. al.). Yes, the Bible teaches that it is sufficient. If we believe the Bible, then we must also believe its claim of sufficiency. If a child is obedient only when the parents' rules are suitable to the child -- the child is not obedient at all. If we believe the Bible only when it suits our purpose -- we don't really believe it at all. If that is true of us, we must realize that we are cheating ourselves out of the very thing we desire. In John chapter 6, we have a record of many disciples turning away from Jesus because of a difficult teaching He was presenting. Jesus then turned to His twelve apostles and said, "Do you also want to go away?" Peter's answer was what ours should be, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:66-68). It is only those who believe and respect God's word enough to abide in it, who will have a hope of heaven (Mt.7:21-27; Jn. 8:32). ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes The surgery for Luther Shuff went well; and his foot is healing nicely, though there is still some soreness from his leg where the skin graft was taken to be transplanted at the bottom of his foot. He has been back home for several days, but will be seeing his doctor Monday and Tuesday for an update on his condition. Let those of us who are Christians be praying for a good report. We want to also continue praying for R.J. Evans. Originally, he was to be in the hospital from about 7 to 10 days, following his 4-hour surgery on Friday; but by the fourth day, he returned home that evening. R.J.'s tumor, his gall bladder, and four small "spots" on the surface of his liver were successfully removed. His wife Jackie writes, "RJ's surgeon received the pathology report from his surgery a day early [Oct. 15] and came by his room this afternoon to tell him the results. We were so thankful to hear that the spots discovered on the liver were not malignant but were something like calcium deposits. He said everything else was as expected -- 10 out of 20 lymph nodes were positive for cancer. This means that he will definitely have chemotherapy, but we feel so much better that the liver was not involved. They took out all of the fatty tissue containing the lymph nodes, so hopefully all of the cancer has been removed. The chemotherapy is supposed to take care of any microscopic cells that may be in the body. "We are both feeling better after hearing the report -- since the first one had been so grim. RJ has been in good spirits all along and is recovering well. He walked down the hospital corridor this afternoon and is slowly beginning to drink broth and other liquids. "Please continue to pray for him and give thanks to God for the good news. It means so much to us to know that there are so many people praying for him and interested in his welfare. We love you all and are so thankful for your love and kindness to us." The following day after the above letter, R.J. was released from the hospital. He will be returning October 23, however, to have the staples removed from a 12" incision. In an earlier message from Jackie, chemotherapy for R.J. might begin in about 6 weeks. So let us continue praying that all will go well for him. ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________