Why Study the Bible

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Why Study the Bible

• Dr. Joy Moore
• Wednesday Word and Worship
• CECF
• September 3, 2008

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STUDY

• application of the mind to the acquisition of
  knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or
  reflection
• research or a detailed examination and analysis
  of a subject
• a well-defined, organized branch of learning or
  knowledge.

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STUDY

• a personal effort to gain knowledge zealous
  endeavor or assiduous effort
• to apply oneself to the acquisition of knowledge,
  as by reading, investigation, or practice.
• to think deeply, reflect, or consider, to observe
  attentively scrutinize, to read carefully or
  intently

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STUDY

• to endeavor to learn or memorize,
• to consider, as something to be achieved or
  devised.
• to think out, as the result of careful
  consideration or devising

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Why Study the Bible

• The study of the Bible matters!  God even
  commands us to study His Word as the priority
  before we do anything else.

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Deuteronomy 6 6-9

• And these words, which I command thee this day,
  shall be in thine heart And thou shalt teach
  them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
  of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
  when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
  down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt
  bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they
  shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And
  thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy
  house, and on thy gates.

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Why Study the Bible

• We must study the Bible because it is the
  foundation for life.

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2 Timothy 315-17

• And that from a child thou hast known the holy
  scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
  salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
  All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
  and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
  for correction, for instruction in righteousness
  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly
  furnished unto all good works.

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Why Study the Bible

• God has given His Word preeminence over all
  things, even His name.

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Psalm 138 2

• I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise
  thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
  truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all
  thy name.

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Why Study the Bible

• It is the means by which God has chosen to reveal
  Himself to us.
• God wants us to know His Word because He wants us
  to know Him. 

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Hosea 46

• My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
  because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also
  reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me
  seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I
  will also forget thy children.

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Proverbs 17 and 910

• The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
  knowledge but fools despise wisdom and
  instruction.
• The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
  wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is
  understanding.

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Benefits of Bible Study

• Blessed (benefiting you)
• Bear fruit (benefiting others)
• Stability
• Guidance
• Protection

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The Bible is a mirror

• James 1 22-25
• But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
  only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a
  hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like
  unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass
  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and
  straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
  liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
  forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this
  man shall be blessed in his deed.

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The Bible is a seed

• Mark 420
• And these are they which are sown on good
  ground such as hear the word, and receive it,
  and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some
  sixty, and some an hundred.

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The Bible is a rock foundation

• Luke 647-49
• Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings,
  and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is
  like He is like a man which built an house, and
  digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock
  and when the flood arose, the stream beat
  vehemently upon that house, and could not shake
  it for it was founded upon a rock.  

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Luke 647-49 (continued)

• But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man
  that without a foundation built an house upon the
  earth against which the stream did beat
  vehemently, and immediately it fell and the ruin
  of that house was great.

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The Bible is a light

• Psalm 119105
• Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
  unto my path.
• Psalm 119 130
• The unfolding of thy words gives light it
  imparts understanding to the simple.

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The Bible is a shield

• Psalm 119 114
• Thou art my hiding place and my shield I hope
  in thy word.

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Who Should Study the Bible

• 2 Corinthians 41, 2
• Acts 171- 34
• 2 Timothy 215

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Ministers

• 2 Corinthians 41, 2
• Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we
  have received mercy, we faint not But have
  renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not
  walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of
  God deceitfully but by manifestation of the
  truth commending ourselves to every man's
  conscience in the sight of God.

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New Believers

• Acts 1711
• These were more noble than those in
  Thessalonica, in that they received the word with
  all readiness of mind, and searched the
  scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

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Mature Believers

• 2 Timothy 215
• Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
  workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
  dividing the word of truth.

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How to Study the Bible

• More than just reading the Word
• Read it, apply it, do it
• Bible Study Methods 

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Eisegesis

• an interpretation, esp. of Scripture, that
  expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or
  the like, rather than the meaning of the text.
• personal interpretation of a text (especially of
  the Bible) using your own ideas 

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Topical or Thematic

• References and cross-references on a particular
  word, subject, person, theme
• i.e. prayer, faith, comfort, encouragement, women
  of the Bible, kings of Judah, kings of Israel,
  worship

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Inductive

• to use logical induction and reasoning by
  examining the particulars, facts, and essence of
  a Bible text first before making any conclusions

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Exegesis

• critical explanation or interpretation of a text
  or portion of a text, esp. of the Bible

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SUMMARY

• THE BIBLE IS GODS LOVE LETTER TO YOU!!!
• We need to get into the Bible ourselves. The
  Bible is read much, but studied little!
• Be the person who reads and studies it, and apply
  the precepts to all aspects of your life!