I have a friend who felt called as a young person to be a missionary. Over the years he wondered where he would serve and how that weighty decision would be made. After seminary he applied for and was accepted as a missionary candidate. The director of the mission asked him and his wife where they wanted to serve. They said they didn’t know. The director looked at some papers on his desk and said, “How about the Congo, we need missionaries there?” They looked at each other and said “Sure.” That was it. He smiled as he told me this, because he had thought it would be a bit more dramatic or spiritual in some way. It was where they were needed at the time that answered his question.
Sometimes we over-think and over-spiritualize things. When it comes time to Bible study the first question is “What do you want to study?” If you have a burning desire to study a topic like future events or wisdom literature, then by all means study that. If you don’t have a specific topic in mind then start with something simple. Study through a book of the Bible.
[Tweet "The most basic kind of Bible study is to study a book of the Bible."]
When you study a book of the Bible you aren’t choosing what topics to study. You study and learn what each passage in the the book teaches. As you move from passage to passage you’ll cover a wide range of topics.
The primary advantage of this method is that you’ll study topics you wouldn’t normally choose. You will soon see you can learn from all of the Bible. It will also lead you to study topics that you might otherwise avoid. We all have topics we’d rather not talk about, don’t we?
[Tweet "Studying through a book of the Bible will expose you to topics you might not normally choose."]
Step 1. Pray and ask God to speak to you as you study.
Step 2. Read over Mark 1:1-8 several times. It’s okay if you read more, even the whole first chapter. Just be sure to read this passage at least 5 to 10 times. Think about passage.
That’s it! Let me know if you have any questions.
Biblical Advice About Tithing Today I got an email asking about tithing. It’s such an important question that I’m going to devote this post to it. Here’s the question: I would like to understand the commandment in Malachi 3:10 about tithes and offerings. Is God only going to bless me when I tithe and curse
Read More
Digging Deeper Into the Law Of Moses In my last post I pointed out that the term “Old Testament Law” is generally used in four ways. For the sake of this post we’re going to use it by its most common meaning. Let’s agree (for this post) that the term “Old Testament Law” refers to
Read More
The Old Testament Law Is Not For Today, Or Is It? The Old Testament Law is a confusing topic for many people. I first learned about it as a boy going to Sunday School. The main emphasis was on the Ten Commandments but it wasn’t limited to that. It’s funny how things stick out in
Read More
