QUESTION: How is the Word of God to be read and heard?
ANSWER: With diligence, preparation, and prayer; so that we may accept it with faith, store it in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.
ANSWER: With diligence, preparation, and prayer; so that we may accept it with faith, store it in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.
WARM-UP
Would you consider yourself a “reader” or not (perhaps you used to read but life circumstances have interrupted that habit; perhaps reading wasn’t much of a value growing up; maybe it was a big value for you and you love it)? Does reading bring you joy or does it feel like work? For those who follow Jesus, part of discipleship is growing in our relationship with the Scriptures themselves. Do you feel like your experience with reading in general impacts how you read the Bible?
WORD
BIG IDEA
READ
Would you consider yourself a “reader” or not (perhaps you used to read but life circumstances have interrupted that habit; perhaps reading wasn’t much of a value growing up; maybe it was a big value for you and you love it)? Does reading bring you joy or does it feel like work? For those who follow Jesus, part of discipleship is growing in our relationship with the Scriptures themselves. Do you feel like your experience with reading in general impacts how you read the Bible?
WORD
BIG IDEA
- We read the Bible to have an experience with God.
- Not every experience with God while reading the Bible is the same, but it all works to our spiritual nourishment.
- The Bible gives a path to fullness because it points us to Jesus.
READ
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
WATCH/LISTEN
OLD SELF
NEW SELF
WORLD
This week, notice how people generally relate to the Bible. Imagine how lives could be different if they experienced the Bible as a way to engage the Living God.
PRAYER
Giver of the Word, help up to treasure your Scriptures as our most precious possession. May it be in our minds and on our lips. Let it transform our thinking and reform our living. Make us attentive students and devoted servants of your perfect Word. Amen.
- Briefly describe your experience with the Bible. Has it been mostly positive, negative, or indifferent?
- What barriers or obstacles tend to come up that interfere with your experience with the Bible?
- Is the idea that you “read the Bible to experience God” an encouraging concept to you? If that is true, how could that reality impact your Bible reading/listening experience? How might that alter your posture towards Scripture itself?
NEW SELF
- Paul says that the Scriptures are “profitable” in our lives for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Describe how the Bible has done one of these four things in your life. Have you also noticed resistance to these things as well?
- The Bible is “God-breathed” which means that the Holy Spirit uniquely inspired the writers of these Texts. The Holy Spirit who indwells every follower of Jesus is the same Holy Spirit who breathed out the Scriptures. How could knowing this reality transform your Bible reading experience?
WORLD
This week, notice how people generally relate to the Bible. Imagine how lives could be different if they experienced the Bible as a way to engage the Living God.
PRAYER
Giver of the Word, help up to treasure your Scriptures as our most precious possession. May it be in our minds and on our lips. Let it transform our thinking and reform our living. Make us attentive students and devoted servants of your perfect Word. Amen.