Saturday, August 14, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Tools for Bible Study (T T W W T #1 D)
Bible - get a translation, not a paraphrased version.
Good to compare different versions - http://www.biblegateway.com/
Bible highlighters and pen - make a color chart:
I use green = prophecy, pink = promises, yellow = general important and blue = doctrine
Adventist prophecy series DVDs and Bible study guides. These are a great source of information to help you lay the basics. Remember though, the idea of this series is to learn how to dig for yourself so don't be lazy...get your Bible out and prove to yourself that the Bible study guide is accurate. Trust God only, do not rely on others for your salvation.
History resources - there are many of these on the internet. Google away but be careful that you are finding accurate resources and not just opinions and interpretations of others. One history website I like is http://www.flowofhistory.com/ and another is http://www.bible-history.com/.
Good to compare different versions - http://www.biblegateway.com/
Bible highlighters and pen - make a color chart:
I use green = prophecy, pink = promises, yellow = general important and blue = doctrine
Adventist prophecy series DVDs and Bible study guides. These are a great source of information to help you lay the basics. Remember though, the idea of this series is to learn how to dig for yourself so don't be lazy...get your Bible out and prove to yourself that the Bible study guide is accurate. Trust God only, do not rely on others for your salvation.
History resources - there are many of these on the internet. Google away but be careful that you are finding accurate resources and not just opinions and interpretations of others. One history website I like is http://www.flowofhistory.com/ and another is http://www.bible-history.com/.
Why Study Prophecy (T T W W T #1 C)
Why do we need to study our Bible, didn't we learn all this stuff before? Or maybe you are thinking, I don't want to embarrass myself and admit I don't know how to give a prophecy Bible study and I've been an Adventist all this life.
Knowledge won't save us, but remember that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Knowledge helps us learn from history and it helps us prepare for the future.
Why do we need study prophecy? Read 2 Peter 1:19
Knowledge won't save us, but remember that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Knowledge helps us learn from history and it helps us prepare for the future.
Why do we need study prophecy? Read 2 Peter 1:19
How To Study The Bible (T T W W T #1 B)
ALWAYS be sure you are reading within the context meant. If you are reading a text, or someone uses a single text to try and prove a point, STOP and backup. Read the surrounding texts. Be sure you understand who is talking and who their audience was. A good example of this is Paul's writings. Paul writes to many different churches in his time and has specific messages for them. A good example of this will be given when I discuss justification in a later lesson.
Don't skip the boring stuff. A good example of something many of us skip over is the genealogies of the Bible. All those begats just seem useless. The reality is that they are a timeline. They help lay out the "when" of Bible history and at times are proof of the prophecy. A perfect example of this is how Luke 3:1 gives the exact time in history of Jesus' baptism, correlate this back to the 70-week prophecy in Daniel for proof that Christ is the person being talked about in the prophecy and that the prophetic timeline was perfectly on time.
Don't skip the boring stuff. A good example of something many of us skip over is the genealogies of the Bible. All those begats just seem useless. The reality is that they are a timeline. They help lay out the "when" of Bible history and at times are proof of the prophecy. A perfect example of this is how Luke 3:1 gives the exact time in history of Jesus' baptism, correlate this back to the 70-week prophecy in Daniel for proof that Christ is the person being talked about in the prophecy and that the prophetic timeline was perfectly on time.
Why Am I An Adventist? (T T W W T #1 A)
The first question is "Why am I an Adventist?" You might be wondering why I start with this question. It's important! Your answer might be, because I was raised this way or I know they teach the truth found in the Scriptures. Two year ago, that was my answer too. Then God really convicted me that type of answer simply isn't enough. Knowing that Sabbath is on Saturday and going to church each Saturday isn't going to save me. Knowing that we don't go to heaven when we die is Biblical truth, but knowing that won't save me. The only thing that will save me is my willingness to 100% commit my will to God's will and allow Him to control my life, to accept by faith alone the gift of the cross and accept Christ's death and resurrection in place of my own inability to live the life required for eternal life.
I'll get more specific on those topics in later sections. For now, I just challenge you to really determine for yourself, why are you an Adventist.
First, we are going to look at prophecy and study our Bible. The Adventist church has done a terrific job of being willing to tackle the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation during evangelistic meetings. If you were raised an Adventist, there's a good chance that you went to some of these when you were young or perhaps you studied this stuff during school. However, I'm convinced that most life-long Adventists have not sat through an entire evangelistic series or if they have, they didn't do it with fresh ears of trying to understand why ti's so important to their Christian walk. Rather, they perhaps are just curious to see if there's some new break through theory on how close we are to the Second Coming.
I'll get more specific on those topics in later sections. For now, I just challenge you to really determine for yourself, why are you an Adventist.
First, we are going to look at prophecy and study our Bible. The Adventist church has done a terrific job of being willing to tackle the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation during evangelistic meetings. If you were raised an Adventist, there's a good chance that you went to some of these when you were young or perhaps you studied this stuff during school. However, I'm convinced that most life-long Adventists have not sat through an entire evangelistic series or if they have, they didn't do it with fresh ears of trying to understand why ti's so important to their Christian walk. Rather, they perhaps are just curious to see if there's some new break through theory on how close we are to the Second Coming.
The Truth We Were Taught - Introduction
As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to start a new Bible study group with a small group from my church. I had been asked by someone who was raised SDA, "how do we know that what we were taught is the truth?" Well, that is an excellent question for someone raised SDA to ask. Do we just assume it's true because our parents, teachers, and pastors told us so? That is dangerous because look how many good meaning Christians go to church on Sunday because that is what they were taught and yet nothing in the Bible supports that day of worship as being sanctified by God. We need to dig out the truth in the Bible for ourselves. I have not come across anything on my "dig" that has contradicted what I was taught growing up Adventist, now I know it for myself that The Truth We Were Taught is the Bible truth. I will post out bi-weekly studies on my blog to share with you. I will label them numerically so you can follow them in the proper order. God bless your journey as He has mine.
(To help you read them in order I will use T T W W T in the titles of this series so I can post the topic also and a lesson number and section letter. For example, the first lesson will be #1 and the different sections will be noted A, B, C etc.)
(To help you read them in order I will use T T W W T in the titles of this series so I can post the topic also and a lesson number and section letter. For example, the first lesson will be #1 and the different sections will be noted A, B, C etc.)
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