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Why studying the Bible Study is important? (Not exhaustive)

1. Knowledge of God o To learn about our God in Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)

o To know/follow His ways/will (James 1:22-24)

For example, “I want to know gods will for my life” ... do the “seen” will and he will reveal the “unseen” will…

2. Knowledge of Self o Even the demons believe in God (James 2:19)

o To grow (Heb. 5:12-14)

3. Discernment of Truth (John 4:23-24)

o Gives us appropriate world view For example, what do you believe in your bones? Is God all-powerful? Is God good? If yes to both then the world changes… not just “the” world but “YOUR” world!

o To detect false teaching/teachers (2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Peter 1-3, 1 Timothy 1:3-4)

4. To Act and Communicate three items above to others o To give account for our hope/faith (1 Peter 3:15)

o To guide yourself and others (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Useful Links bible.crosswalk.com Online Study Bible

Bible In A Year Interlinear Bible/Parallel Bible Commentaries Concordances Dictionaries Encyclopedias Lexicons History Sermon Illustrations

christiananswers.net Good start for commonly asked questions – somewhat basic watchman.org Solid resource to learn about other faiths sermonillustrations.com Quotes and stories sorted by topic to help you prepare lessons biblegateway.com Best site to look up bible verses (various translations/languages)

and can view in rows or columns to compare passages biblebb.com/tnivarea.htm Search for bible verses by topic freewebs.com/tonycosta Apologetics resource site thinkchristian.net Great site that has blogs and current affairs and discusses issues

that show critical thought in understanding our faith in this world. Highly recommend signing up for emails.

Types of resources - Lexicons

o Provides the ability to look up words in one language by derivation from another. For example, you are able to look up the English word “Love” and see how that word is derived from Hebrew or Greek and also if there is an equivalent. You may also look it up the other way and find the Greek/Hebrew word and find the English meaning or if that word is made up of a compound. This helps tremendously in understanding the meaning and depth of the words used in the Bible for 2 main reasons: (1) We understand actual words as intended when used by writer (not dependent on translation) (2) Full meaning of word in rich language of Greek/Hebrew is understood thoroughly (e.g. Love has 20+ Greek words for variations of this). N.B. Lexicons often also tell you where in the Bible the word is used so you can ensure that specific word was used in the passage you are studying.

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- Strong’s Numbers o Mr. Strong spent many years working on his concordance, and he assigned each word in the

original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic a number. If you know the number, you can turn to the dictionary at the back of his concordance and find out more information about the original word. Most Bible study tools today are keyed to the Strong's Numbers. Even those books that don't use Strong's Numbers (e.g. NIV Exhaustive Concordance) will have a key to allow you to look up the Strong's Number.

- Commentaries o A Bible commentary is a book about the Bible. It tells us what the Bible means. Of course, since

commentaries are written by men, they will have their biases. Commentaries are useful to make sure you haven't severely misunderstood a passage, and they are also useful to make sure you haven't missed an important point, but you should only read a commentary after you have studied a passage for yourself.

- Concordance o A concordance is one of the most valuable Bible study tools available. It lists the words in the

Bible alphabetically, and then lists verses that use that word. For example, the first word in most concordances will be "Aaron", and the following will be listed:

Is not A the Levite thy brother...........Ex 4:14 And the LORD said to A, Go into......Ex 4:27 Moses told A all the words of the......Ex 4:28 etc.

o So, the first reference in the Bible to "Aaron" is Exodus 4:14. The second is Exodus 4:27, and so on.

How can I use a Concordance? • There are several ways you can use a concordance. First, if you remember part of a verse in the

Bible, but don't know where it can be found, you can look it up under one of the words. Secondly, a concordance is useful if you want to look up every reference to a particular word. This is the start of a word study, which is one of the most common types of Bible studies. Thirdly, many concordances have a numbering system to tell you what this word is in the original language. For example, several different Greek words are translated "love" in our English Bibles. The most common numbering system are the "Strong's Numbers".

Are there different types of concordances? • Yes. An "Exhaustive" concordance lists every reference to every word in the Bible. A "Complete"

concordance doesn't list every word in the Bible, but those words it does list, it gives every reference found in the Bible. A "concise" or "compact" concordance simply lists some of the references to some of the words in the Bible.

- Topical Bible o A topical Bible lists references to ideas and themes, regardless of whether the actual words are

mentioned. A topical Bible can be used with any translation, although some topical Bibles will not just list references to verses, but will actually write out the whole verse in a particular translation.

- Other Resources: o Interlinear Bible, Bible Dictionary, Bible Atlas, Web Sites (be critical/cautious), Illustrations (little

stories that illustrate a point), Study Bibles Where can I buy these resources? Ask your pastor or another mature Christian and they can recommend some good Christian bookstores to purchase books. Be critical as you purchase books to ensure they are accurate doctrine (note: some books have some truth and some mistruth – not always clear cut) What is the best way to learn? Ironically enough, the best way to learn is to teach. Teaching will require you to think dynamically about a topic, research it thoroughly, anticipate questions/challenges, compare to conventional understanding and then process that information to teach it effectively. Remember, to teach a little you must know a lot!