How do I study the Bible? // Grounded // Part 3 (5pm)

It's it's to repent. It's to say, God, you said that this is wrong, and I'm sorry because I've been doing it. Amen. And so, God, where do I need to turn some things around in my life? What needs to be confessed? What needs to be surrendered? What what do I need to just cut out of my life completely so I can walk holy and upright in your eyes? How can I walk in freedom? So we're gonna look for a sin to avoid or confess. Is there a promise to claim? Because the Bible is filled with amazing promises. Like, what do I need to hold on to today? What do I need to believe in today? Scripture is filled with promises that are meant to anchor our faith in difficult moments when we're facing weakness, when we're afraid, when we're uncertain. And a promise found in scripture doesn't always change your circumstances, but it will always change how you face your circumstances. [01:04:46] (49 seconds)  #PromisesAnchorFaith

Is there an example to follow? Is there a person or a pattern in the passage that shows me what faith looks like in action? Like, sometimes scripture teaches by instruction, and sometimes it teaches by illustration. And so as I'm watching how Jesus responds to a group of people or how the apostles live or how this man or this woman walks with God, what can I learn from their behavior? What does obedience look like, in my life based on what they're doing? So, like, if you're reading about how Jesus is moved with compassion when he sees the crowd so that he goes and he does something about it, maybe that's that's teaching me that I don't need to just feel sorry or feel bad for people when they're hurting. I I need to feel what they're feeling, but then I need to do something to help. And real faith is when I step out and I do something tangible to help others. [01:06:03] (51 seconds)  #CompassionInAction

Right? Or, like, Luke wrote it, but it's in red letters. Jesus is the one speaking. Like, we wanna know who's actually speaking in the passage, and we wanna know who is the audience. Who are they talking to? Because before you were reading it, it was written for someone else. And there's a purpose that's found when you understand who was this originally written to because that helps you interpret scripture correctly and keep it within context because it's probably not talking about you and your Tesla since there were no Teslas in the Old Testament. Okay? So, like, you gotta you gotta understand who was really written to first to help you interpret it correctly. And these three questions, you'll be amazed at how much these three questions can actually help you understand context and purpose of the text you're reading. [00:55:52] (45 seconds)  #ContextMatters

And finally, is there knowledge to gain? Because sometimes the passage is teaching you about God, showing you who he is, his character, how he works. Not every passage gives me something to do immediately. Some passages reshape how I see God so that I live differently. That knowledge will lead me to worship, to trust, to deeper faith. And when I read about God's faithfulness to Israel in the wilderness, I'm reminded that he is patient and that he's dependable and that he's faithful. And so I can read that, and then I can go to God in prayer and say, God, if you were faithful to them, I'm trusting that you're gonna be faithful to me now. Amen. [01:07:44] (41 seconds)  #ScriptureShapesFaith

And then what I do is I'll read it, and if I'm journaling, I'll just write down maybe in that whole chapter, maybe there was one verse that really spoke to me today. And so in that that journal, I'm gonna write down what that one verse is, and that'll be my scripture that I move to these next steps with. So we go from scripture to observation. Observation is what does the text actually say? And that begins with carefully reading the passage and rereading it. It may mean reading a little bit around it. Even if you had a whole chapter, you may wanna read the chapter before, the chapter after. If there's a reference to the Old Testament, you might wanna flip back to where that actually took place so you can read that in context. Like, when in Matthew four, when when Jesus says, it is written, where is that written? It's actually in Deuteronomy. And so I would go back to Deuteronomy. I wanna read it in context, and so I highly recommend doing that. [00:53:31] (48 seconds)  #JournalAScriptureVerse

And this time, we pray that God would help you understand what you read if it was confusing. You you ask him to to help you actually live it out if it's challenging. Like, sometimes it's easier to say I'm gonna apply this scripture than actually apply it. So if it's challenging, help me with that. And you can even ask, God, remind me of this passage when I need it most. Because I know that I'm gonna get busy. I'm gonna get distracted. I'm gonna be living my life. I'm gonna be doing things, and I am gonna need this verse to come back to my memory. [01:14:56] (27 seconds)  #PrayForUnderstanding

And it's it's knowledge to be gained. So here's our spec. Sin to avoid, promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey, knowledge to gain. And I I recommend just writing that in, like, the corner of your bible somewhere so you can always come back to that. Because if you're reading your bible and it never leads to repentance, obedience, or worship, then you're doing something wrong. K? You're reading, but you're not studying because it should always lead to one of those things. [01:08:25] (23 seconds)  #BibleLeadsToChange

and that's the word SPECK, s p e c k, SPECK. And and so after I've made my observations, how can I apply it to my life to make me more like Christ? And to do that, we ask five questions. Is there a sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, a command to obey, or knowledge to gain? Speck, s p e c k. Alright. We're gonna break this down one at a time. You ready? [01:03:21] (27 seconds)  #SPECKStudyMethod