I often hear people say that they "don't understand the Bible." If you are one of those let me give you some advice - take on the responsibility of teaching the Bible to someone else; a Sunday school class, a study group, a school group, Church group, family member, peers, anyone. The best way of learning something is to teach it to others. If you are responsible for it, it will force you to learn it. I'm living proof. In fact, my very first excuse to God for not teaching Sunday school, preaching, and leading the singing was "I don't understand it." Twenty two years later and I still don't understand it all, but by the Grace of God I'm learning every day! There are a lot of great free resources out there for people to use. Two of my favorites are e-sword, and Precept Austin. If there was one set of commentaries I would recommend for a beginner or someone newly teaching it would be J. Vernon McGee's, Thru the Bible Series, mainly because of their simplicity. So, don't be afraid of the Bible. The Lord intends for us to read it and understand it. You can do it if you just put forth effort. After all, I'm living proof!Read more...
I was so thrilled to start Wednesday evening Bible study at the church last night. I'm not sure when the tradition of preaching a sermon on Wednesday nights started but I felt like the church would benefit more from sermons on Sunday's and Bible studies on Wednesdays, so that's what we did.
I've always loved to teach and I have spent many years studying the life of the Apostle Paul so I can't think of a better subject to start out with. Tonight I taught the first lesson in a series on the Apostle Paul. I could have talked all night about Paul but I somehow managed to limit it to around 30-minutes. I didn't want to wear everyone out on the first night! I covered his ancestry, family, upbringing, childhood, early years, vocation, and education. I felt like everyone enjoyed the study and there were several questions at the end and lots of good comments after the service.
I'm excited about teaching again next Wednesday. If you would like to listen to last night's lesson, you can click on the audio or the video below and give it a listen/watch.
