Basic Tools for Bible Study

 

The best way for spiritual growth is to study the Bible. The study of God’s Word is an individual task. This task will affect your whole being – who you are and what you do.

Have your own Bible

The first and foremost tool to study the Bible is of course, you need a Bible. It will be helpful to have more than one version of the Bible so you can compare the wording of difficult passages of scriptures. Now it is easy to get the versions as all are available freely on phone apps.

The Bible expresses all of God’s revelation to man. It tells you all you need to know about your new life in Christ and your eternal life in heaven. The more you read the Bible, the more you understand its meaning. Bible is its own best interpreter.

Your eyes and mind

Physical sight is closely connected to spiritual sight, which is knowledge or insight into the hidden truths of God. Scripture uses the word “seeing” to mean “knowing spiritual truth”. In 2 Corinthians 4: 4, those who do not believe the gospel about Christ are blinded by Satan so they cannot see the light that comes from God’s Word.

You can have the mind of Christ if you allow the Holy Spirit to make the Word clear to you (1 Corinthians 2: 16). The goal of your study is to have spiritual sight. Through careful study you will receive knowledge of the Bible’s teachings about your new life, and you will be better prepared to reject false teachings (Ephesians 4: 14).

Write

Third tool is a pen to write notes as you read the Bible. Writing helps you to remember things. As you write repeated words or ideas that are mentioned, you will see more of what the writer wrote. You can write questions or thoughts that come to your mind as you read. Later when you read over notes, you will understand the Bible better and you can answer some of your questions.

Other tools

You may be able to use a Bible Concordance, which lists in alphabetical order all the words of the Bible and their Scripture references. Some Bibles have a small concordance in the back.

Bible dictionary is a tool that provides definitions of difficult words and information about biblical times, places, culture and people.

Bible commentaries are books written by various Bible scholars who share their own understanding of the scriptures based on their long and intense study.

Whatever tool you have in your study time, only Holy Spirit can reveal the meaning of the Word. May The Spirit of God help you to understand the Bible as you submit yourself for the study, Amen.

Promise Verse

 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

(Proverbs 1: 7)

Promise Verse

 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,

    who walk in obedience to him.

(Psalm 128: 1)

Promise Verse

 The Lord gives strength to his people;

    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

(Psalm 29: 11)

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

 Whoever loves God is known by God

(1 Corinthians 8:3)

Promise Verse

 May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;

    may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

(Psalm 20: 1)

Promise Verse

 The law of the Lord is perfect,

    refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

    making wise the simple

(Psalm 19: 7)

Conversion of St. Paul

 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

(Matthew 10: 22)

Promise Verse

 Show me your ways, Lord,

    teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are God my Savior,

    and my hope is in you all day long.

(Psalm 25: 4, 5)

Promise Verse

 Even though I walk

    through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

    for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me

(Psalm 23: 4)

Promise Verse

 Start children off on the way they should go,

    and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

(Proverbs 22: 6)

Message - Repent and Believe

 

“The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe is the good news” – Mark 1: 14.

To be a follower of Jesus, you need to understand, believe and accept that all are sinners.

How to enter into the Kingdom of God if you are a sinner?

You need to repent your sins, and that is the only way to accept Jesus in your life and enter His Kingdom. Even John the Baptist who Jesus proclaimed as the greatest prophet born, calls everyone to repent of their sins. (Matthew 3: 6)

Repentance means you need to change your actions as well as your thought and language. Lots of people claim that they are born again. But when you look their life, you can see nothing changed in their character. Born again in not only to accept Christ as the saviour, even Satan believes Jesus is the saviour. The difference between a man of God and Satan is that we repent and accept Christ as our saviour.

To repent you need to accept that you are a sinner.

How you are going to know that you are a sinner?

Of course, if you have done adultery or get involved in a crime, you know that you are a sinner. But an ordinary person who goes to church regularly he/she does not feel that their life is full of sin. They just see the law in a high level and does not go deep into it to find the real truth.

That is the reason of a deep Bible study. We are living in the New Testament world. But why is Old Testament given to us? Yes, we need to study the law and understand that we are breaking it every day and because of that we need to have repentance. 10 commandments, when you read in a high level, you will feel that you are not touching any of it. But we need to study in deep. For example, in Lutheran church they have a small catechism where it will teach thoroughly the commandments, with supporting verses from Old and New Testament. Once you read it, you will understand that you are the greatest sinner in this world.

Try and study the meaning of each commandment. The commandment – do not steal, in a high-level means that we should not steal. But when you study deep inside, you will understand we are stealing time and money God gave us. We are stealing from the God or we are not using the blessings God gave to us with the same seriousness what it meant for.

Hope we are serious about our repentance, our salvation and understand the word of God in depth so that we can boldly say that we are born again and do things that are right and pleasing to God. May God bless you!

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

 Trust in him at all times, you people;

    pour out your hearts to him,

    for God is our refuge.

(Psalm 62: 8)

Promise Verse

 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

(Psalm 20: 7)

Promise Verse

 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,

    and he will reward them for what they have done.

(Proverbs 19: 17)

Confession of St Peter

 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved

(Acts 4: 12)

Bible Study - Literature Study

 

The writers of the Bible chose their words and arranged them to fit their purposes. You’ll be better able to see the main idea in a passage of scripture and better understand the writer’s purpose when you can identify the style or manner of expression.

Literal Language

The writers wrote about reality, and most often, they used language that is literal or factual.

When we read, “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray” (Luke 6: 12), we know that this is literally or actually what He did. When He ordered the fever to leave someone and it lift (Luke 4: 39), this is the literal truth.

Figurative Language

Figurative language is made up of figures of speech. These are words or phrases that help us understand something hard to explain by relating it to something we know about. John gave us a mental picture of Christ as a lamb being offered on an alter for our sins. This helps us understand Christ’s purpose in coming to the world.

Jesus compared himself to life-giving water. He also compared himself to bread, light and a shepherd. These figures of speech help us to remember particular truths.

Christ often used figurative language when He talked to His followers. He told them simple stories to help them understand important spiritual truths. Christ tells the story of the lost sheep (Matthew 18: 10-14). In comparison He teaches that He is as concerned about each one of us as a shepherd is about a lost sheep.

Symbols

Some figures of speech are called symbols. They represent truth about something. The words light, salt and sheep are symbols of Christians. In the Lord’s supper, the bread and cup are symbols of Christ’s body and blood. They remind us of Christ’s death and suffering for our salvation.

May The Lord help you to find literal and figurative language while you study the word, and let it open doors for you to explore more about the real meaning and truth in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Promise Verse

 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;

    turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

Show me the wonders of your great love,

    you who save by your right hand

    those who take refuge in you from their foes.

(Psalm 17: 6, 7)

Promise Verse

 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

    apart from you I have no good thing."

(Psalm 16: 2)

Promise Verse

 Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord,

    and humility comes before honor.

(Proverbs 15: 33)

Message - Second Sunday after Epiphany

 

“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you” – John 1: 43-51.

The verse mentions Nathaniel and his calling.

When you are born again and get the desire to serve God, you may think you are going to do a great job to the kingdom of God. But by this verse we can understand that it is not you who is doing the work, but it is God who called you for the work. Yes, God called His servants even before they were born (Jeremiah 1: 5)

So, if you feel good hearing that God called you before you were born, just a second. Even Satan understands you are called for a purpose. So, what happens in your life will be a mixture of God’s plan, help and guidance vs Satan’s attack.

From your childhood, devil will try to attack you. In your teenage, you will be shown with worldly lust. In your adulthood, the worldly riches and evil will be kept in front of you for you to take a choice between God and world.

Even in these times, when you are a born-again believer, God will help you to come out of this problem once you go through tough times. Yes, you have to face difficult time, but God will make a way for you.

Then one day, you will take things seriously and try to serve God, that will be the time you have to face opposition and embarrassment from the so-called spiritual people around you. They won’t help you or lift you up because they fear you might go ahead of them.

Just focus on your call and be faithful to the one who called you. He will make a way.

When Samuel was sleeping God called him. Samuel answered and God told him about the revelation about his teacher Eli’s sons (1 Samuel 3: 1-10).  Yes, Samuel kept everything with him and saw himself in God’s faith and became one of the most celebrated Prophet and Judge of Israel.

May The Lord be with you as you keep your faith and focus on your calling even if the near ones or the world makes your life disastrous. Just see and enjoy God making the way.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

(1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20)

Promise Verse

 But I trust in your unfailing love;

    my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing the Lord’s praise,

    for he has been good to me.

(Psalm 13: 5, 6)

Promise Verse

 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe

    and will protect us forever from the wicked

(Psalm 12: 7)

Promise Verse

 For the Lord is righteous,

    he loves justice;

    the upright will see his face.

(Psalm 11: 7)

Bible Study - Facts about The Bible

 The word “Bible” came from the Greek word biblia, which means “book”.

We can receive blessing and instruction from reading the Bible, even though we do not understand it completely. But the full joy of the Bible knowledge comes only with serious study. Therefore, we need to have some basic information.

Who wrote the Bible?

About 40 men wrote the Bible during a period of about 1600 years. Even though different writers were involved, Bible tells us that supernatural God guided or inspired the men to record His dealings with humanity.

Inspiration, in reference to the Bible, is the actual “breathing in” of God’s Spirit to guide the thoughts of the writers. (“All scriptures are God-breathed” – 2 Timothy 3: 16). Some did not fully understand what they wrote, especially concerning prophecies yet to be fulfilled, others studied their topics. They even wrote about their own experiences. (Ephesians 3: 3,5).

When we accept the authority of God’s Word, we can study it with greater understanding. We no longer just say it is God’s Word and forget about it, we respond to it as the real, living Word of God, which transforms our lives.

How it started?

Before there was no written word, God spoke to people. He called Abraham and told him that through him and his descendants all the world would be blessed. Out of that nation God chose certain men to write His revelation.

God inspired Moses to write a revelation that would explain the creation of the earth and gave laws, promises and prophecies. Thus, Moses wrote a set of books to which other holy men of God added writings. Many copies of the first writings do exist today (stones, clay tablets, skins, scrolls).

God wants us to understand His message. He had the Old Testament writers use Hebrew so that Hebrew people could understand them. The New Testament writers used Greek, which was the common language of Jesus’ day. Today, the Bible has been translated into more than 1300 languages, so that more people can understand the message of God.

They work in Unity

The 66 books of Bible (not Catholic Bible) are divided into the Old Testament with 39 books and New Testament with 27 books. Yet they are one history and one story.  The main idea of each book is God’s plan of redemption for humanity. The Old Testament predicts what will happen in the New Testament and the New Testament explains and fulfils the old covenant. Thus, they work in unity. Both were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The central figure of both Testaments is Christ. Each book shows Him in a special way.

The word testament means “agreement”. Old Testament reveals God’s agreement with man about his salvation before Christ came. This was based on the laws God gave Moses to write down. New Testament is God’s agreement with humans after Christ came. It is based on God’s grace, which is His complete love for humanity. God sent His son to die and rise again so that we can have the gift of salvation.

In Old Testament people had to sacrifice animals each year to keep paying for their sins (Hebrews 10: 4-7, 10, 14)

In New Testament Christ was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and Christ paid it all fully. There is no need for any other sacrifice. All we have to do is accept God’s gift of His son Jesus Christ (Galatians 4: 4).

Bible also shows us the beginning with the creation of world and man and ends of with revelation of ending the life on the earth. Between these two books is the story of how God worked out humanity’s salvation so that we can enjoy eternal life. This is also called Progressive Revelation.

Pray and try to study this Book and see how the history progresses from sin to salvation and to eternity. May The Spirt of God guide you in your study.

Promise Verse

 I lie down and sleep;

    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

(Psalm 3: 5)

Promise Verse

 Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

    protect me from the violent,

    who devise ways to trip my feet

(Psalm 140: 4)

Promise Verse

 Surely I was sinful at birth,

    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;

    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

(Psalm 51: 5, 6)

Message - Baptism of Jesus

 

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” – Mark 1: 7, 8.

John – the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. We can see in the scripture, until Jesus came in the picture, it was all about John. John was preaching about salvation and repentance. He was preaching about water baptism.

But the moment he saw Jesus, he started talking about Jesus and introduced Jesus to the world.

We see lots of preachers and evangelists now a days glorifying about them and their ministries. Specially since its new year, every where you can find preachers giving promises and prophecy about the year. They brag about their ministry or themselves. At this time, we always need to see John the Baptist.

John had lots of disciples. But still when he saw Jesus, he started glorying Jesus instead of him.

This is what we need to have this year. Just glorify Jesus. We might see miracles in our life. There will be temptation to brag about how we overcame the odds. But just brag about Jesus, because the greatest help Jesus did for us is He gave His life for us.

Don’t forget your salvation and through whom you received. May God bless you!

First Sunday after the Epiphany

 The Lord gives strength to his people;

    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

(Psalm 29: 11)

Message - Epiphany - Celebrating Jesus Christ

 

Today the world celebrates Jesus, His baptism and ministry. We celebrate Jesus who is the saviour of all people and generation.

Remember the wise men who came from east to see and worship Jesus. They saw the shining star and followed it to see the king of Jews who was born. We need to understand they saw Jesus not in manger, but in the house where He was staying. They knelt down and paid homage and presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh before him. (Matthew 2: 1-12)

Epiphany means shine through. It symbolizes the light of our saviour. He is the light in darkness who brightly shined and brought salvation to the world. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” – John 8: 12.

More than everything, Jesus is a marvelous gift to the gentiles. Gentiles means whoever is not a Jew. In the Old Testament, God called a man called Jacob, the grand son of Abraham, to be His chosen people. Jacob was named as Israel and was called as Gods possession. Throughout Old Testament God’s chosen people were Israel. But He had a mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in those generations.

The mystery is that through the gospel of Christ, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3: 1-13).

That is why Epiphany is considered to celebrate Jesus who came to the world, obeyed the laws, died for the sins of all the people so that we will be pure and holy in the presence of God and be His chosen ones along with Israel whom He chosen first. So, the promises God gave to Abraham, Issac and Jacob are being inherited upon us who believe in Jesus.

One of the promises God gave Israel is that world will be blessed because of them. Now when you see the inventions of the world, almost all good ones have come from a Jew. The blessing continues.

We celebrate Jesus because through Christ we also inherit the blessings given to Jacob and we are going to be a blessing to the world. More than that the greatest blessing we received from Christ is the salvation from our sins.

Hope this day you remember the works of Christ, read the gospel, surrender your life to Him and have peace and hope in your life that through Him you can be a blessing.

May God bless you!

The Epiphany

 Mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus

(Ephesians 3: 6)

Promise Verse

 Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord

(Romans 8: 38, 39)

Promise Verse

 Lord my God, I called to you for help,

    and you healed me.

(Psalm 30: 2)

Bible Study - Why you need to study the Bible?

 

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding-indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord” – Proverbs 2: 1-5

What is God’s will for us?

God’s will for us is that we love Him above else. When we truly love someone, we want to know about them more. Same way when we truly love God, we want to spent time getting to know Him. One way to do this is by reading and studying His Word.

Our relationship with God depends upon our obedience to His commands. The only way we can obey Him is to know what His commands are.

To do God’s will we need to have wisdom and understanding and for that we must study His Word. Studying God’s word is easier when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. “When He, The Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come” – John 16: 13

What are our needs?

Since God made us, He knows our needs better than we know them. We always need repairing, teaching, correcting and reshaping. The Word of God is the only instrument equipped to make the repairs. The teachings of the Bible guide us in our growth and describe God’s will for our daily living.

Word of God helps us know the truth about our salvation. It teaches us what our heritage in Christ is. It gives us strength and power through Christ. It discusses how to be filled with the Holy Spirit and provides joy and peace that come from God. It directs us to live holy lives.

Word of God shows us when our desires are against God’s will. It helps us shape our thoughts to be like His. The more we read and study the Bible and listen to the Holy Spirits teaching us, the more we are able to know and do God’s will. As we study, we take off our old self with its practices and have put on the new self (Colossians 3: 1-10).

How are you going to approach The Word?

We must approach God’s Word in an attitude of obedience. Our attitude must include discipline. We cannot expect God to reveal things to us unless we make a real effort to learn. We need to spend time in careful study. For our study to change our lives, we must be teachable and be willing to receive our heavenly Father’s instruction. When we are teachable, we approach God’s Word humbly.

We can never learn everything in God’s Word, but as we continue to learn, Holy Spirit reveals God’s truth to us. Hope you will spend time to pray before reading so that the Spirit of God, the author of Bible will be able to help you according to your need.

May God bless you.

Promise Verse

 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved

(Psalm 10: 9)

Promise Verse

 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you

(Psalm 32: 8)

Message - Happy New Year

 

  In this New Year, may the Lord’s Grace and mercy be upon your life.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies” – 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

When you look on the past year, you might be having some pleasant or unpleasant memories. But whatever may be, consider this new year as another day in your life and move on.

People take resolutions and plans for the year, but it may fade within some days. Consider this year as one in which you can manage your time properly, do some daily physical workouts and load food into your body at proper time.

 If you manage your time, you will be able to do some workouts daily. There is no need to enroll in a gym or running club. Just some basic full body workouts which you can get from YouTube will be fine.

  Taking food at right time is very challenging. But once you do it, you will be energetic to go forward without any tiredness, which will ultimately help you to achieve your goals for the day.

As the verse mentions that our body is the temple of God, we need to keep it well physically and spiritually.

Keeping our body physically fit is a challenge to everyone as you need to reserve time for exercises and be disciplined in your diet.

Keeping Spiritually fit is the very easiest job you can ever do. There is no need to do any physical activities to reach God. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, just repent your sins and accept the fact that your sins were carried by Jesus Christ on the cross and when you confess Christ as your saviour you are forgiven and made new.

  When you accept Christ as your saviour and decide not to sin anymore, your spiritual refreshment works powerfully and you will stay strong spiritually. This need to be done every day because your enemy, the devil will always plan and plot to push you into sin.

So, this New year, take the decision to be blessed physically and spiritually. Manage time to have a talk with God, do some physical workout and have a disciplined diet.

May this year be a blessed one for you and your dear ones. A Very Blessed New Year.