Over the years, it has been my experience that there are two kinds of Bible studies. The best, in my opinion, is a discussion style Bible study where we sit as a group, take a chosen Scripture passage or chapter, and read through it verse by verse - discussing each verse as we move through that Scripture passage.
Why is this method best? Simple, the whole group can participate. Each of us takes our turn reading the next Scripture verse and sharing our thoughts on what we believe the original writer is telling us. That most often will lead to others in the group offering either a confirmation, or another thought on the meaning. That can lead to good discussions - in which the Bible study leader should participate, allowing the discussion of that verse to continue as long as the discussion stays on or near the subject.
When the discussion starts to wander, sometimes going off on a different tangent - that is when the study leader needs to bring the group back on track. In such a study it is best to not be dogmatic about finishing "x" number of verses, or a whole chapter, in one evening. The study leader's responsibility is to keep the discussion on track and moving forward.
If we discuss a smaller number of verses - but the group has participated in meaningful and productive dialogue where we all have learned - that should be the main goal of our Bible study. At the end of the Bible study we should all walk away with new insight, new learning from the Scripture passage studied and discussed that evening - and not a concern for the number of verses finished.
The other kind of Bible study is the devotional, presentation, or sermon type of Bible study. The downside of these types of studies is that the group typically just sits and listens with no participation. That is much like a Sunday sermon where we only listen to our pastor's teaching. The teaching might be from topical sermons or expositional sermons. Topical sermons can often be easier for the teacher - but there is a downside.
I recall reading Pastor Chuck Smith's article where he told about his early days as a pastor. His sermons were all topical and he worked diligently to prepare a repertoire of good topical sermons. At the first church he pastored, he was able to put together about fifty good topical sermons - enough for one year. His problem? At the end of his first year, he had two choices: (1) start over, repeating the same fifty sermons he had crafted, or (2) move to a new church and there present his fifty sermons to new ears.
That is when Pastor Chuck Smith decided that the most effective sermons were those taught expositionally, i.e., verse by verse through the Bible. That method produces two positive results. First, by teach expositionally, verse by verse, a pastor or church cannot skip verses or passages which disagree with their predetermined theology. Second, the pastor never runs out of new material - for he is teaching directly from God's Word, verse by verse - and he has 66 books to teach through. In his book "Expository Sermons On Revelation" Dr. W. A. Criswell said it took him 17 years to teach from Genesis through Revelation.
But, back to the three types of Bible studies which I call "pulpit led" Bible studies: devotional, presentation, and sermon. Devotional and sermon styles automatically put the group into a "listener only" state of mind. Whereas the presentation style can get the group involved - but not nearly as well as the "verse-by-verse" discussion style Bible studies.
By now you may be asking yourself, "Why is Bill going into such detail about types of Bible studies?" Glad you asked.
At times there are Bible studies which tend to be so deep that a verse-by-verse study could take years. A study of End Times prophecies is such a deep study. Years ago we decided to do an expository study of the book of Revelation in our home Bible study group. We made it through Revelation in about two months. But that was because the leader chose to read and explain each verse himself, without allowing time for a group discussion or comments on the verses or passages.
Yes, we went through the book of Revelation - but did we really get that much from it? If he had allowed discussions - it may have taken us a year or more to finish the book. But we would all have come away from our Bible study with a deeper understanding of End Times prophecies.
A good example: Dr. W. A. Criswell, was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for fifty years (Billy Graham became a member of his congregation in 1953)and was twice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the 1960s, he decided to teach expositionally through the book of Revelation. He spent several years, Sunday after Sunday, teaching through the book of Revelation, with side trips to other books as necessary when teaching about End Times prophecies.
Did that concentration on the book of Revelation and End Times prophecies cause folks to stop attending church or to switch to a more "user friendly" church? It is my understanding that the First Baptist Church of Dallas continued to grow - spiritually and numerically - throughout the tenure of Dr. Criswell.
His Revelation / End Times sermon teachings were transcribed and published in a series of five volumes. I am fortunate to have the complete set in one precious book. By the way, that book is about two inches thick. And that is two inches of inspired knowledge and teaching, a true treasure.
In the foreward of the first volume Dr. Criswell wrote: "These are sermons, not lectures. They were preached extemporaneously, not written out and read. They were delivered without notes, in a way I have sought to preach throughout the years of my ministry." If you ever have a chance to add this book to your personal Christian library, I highly recommend you do.
As a side note, Dr. Criswell wrote the foreward for the 1980 second printing of "Building A Soul Winning Church" by Dr. Bob Davis. Bob has been my life-long friend, high school classmate, and after graduation in 1955 four of us (Bob, Willy Joe, Cortez, and myself) from Sheffield High joined the Air Force together. After his tenure in the Air Force, Bob went to seminary and eventually got his Ph.d.
For a number of years he was pastor of Southern Baptist churches in Virginia - and then about 40 years ago decided to transition into full time evangelism, founding the Bob Davis Evangelistic Association in Lynchburg, Virginia, and traveling extensively speaking at evangelistic and revival meetings.
All of this is a lead-in to my main purpose for this blog. For two weeks at International Bible Baptist Church of Riverside I have led our weekly Bible study using my PowerPoint Presentations titled: "END TIMES Bible Study - Week One" and "END TIMES Bible Study - Week Two." I know, very original, right?
Because of time constraints, these studies could only be done as an overview of End Times prophecies - for, as I mentioned earlier, a verse-by-verse discussion style study could take a year or more. In our Bible studies we must keep moving forward toward greater knowledge of God's Word and, at the same time, working toward greater maturity in our Christian walk for all of us. That is my goal in creating these presentations and my main reason for sharing them with you.
I have also taken my PowerPoint Presentations and converted them into YouTube videos. You may view the PowerPoint Presentations slide by slide - or you may choose to just watch the short videos and stop them when you want to ponder a point.
For your convenience my END TIMES Bible Study Week One and Two PowerPoint presentations are included in this eNewsletter as attached PowerPoint PPT files. But for Friends who do not have PowerPoint I have also saved the presentations as Adobe Reader PDF files with URL links.
First, let me give you the URL links to my PowerPoint Presentations converted to PDF format. When you click on the link that will open the presentation as an Adobe PDF document which you can scroll through, slide by slide. Or you can click the Download button and download the document into your Adobe Reader to be viewed and/or archived.
Or, you may view the same presentations as YouTube videos with soothing background music:
All comments, suggestions, and suggested corrections will be appreciated. I pray this will be useful to you in your own personal Bible study and in your corporate studies.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Why is this method best? Simple, the whole group can participate. Each of us takes our turn reading the next Scripture verse and sharing our thoughts on what we believe the original writer is telling us. That most often will lead to others in the group offering either a confirmation, or another thought on the meaning. That can lead to good discussions - in which the Bible study leader should participate, allowing the discussion of that verse to continue as long as the discussion stays on or near the subject.
When the discussion starts to wander, sometimes going off on a different tangent - that is when the study leader needs to bring the group back on track. In such a study it is best to not be dogmatic about finishing "x" number of verses, or a whole chapter, in one evening. The study leader's responsibility is to keep the discussion on track and moving forward.
If we discuss a smaller number of verses - but the group has participated in meaningful and productive dialogue where we all have learned - that should be the main goal of our Bible study. At the end of the Bible study we should all walk away with new insight, new learning from the Scripture passage studied and discussed that evening - and not a concern for the number of verses finished.
The other kind of Bible study is the devotional, presentation, or sermon type of Bible study. The downside of these types of studies is that the group typically just sits and listens with no participation. That is much like a Sunday sermon where we only listen to our pastor's teaching. The teaching might be from topical sermons or expositional sermons. Topical sermons can often be easier for the teacher - but there is a downside.
I recall reading Pastor Chuck Smith's article where he told about his early days as a pastor. His sermons were all topical and he worked diligently to prepare a repertoire of good topical sermons. At the first church he pastored, he was able to put together about fifty good topical sermons - enough for one year. His problem? At the end of his first year, he had two choices: (1) start over, repeating the same fifty sermons he had crafted, or (2) move to a new church and there present his fifty sermons to new ears.
That is when Pastor Chuck Smith decided that the most effective sermons were those taught expositionally, i.e., verse by verse through the Bible. That method produces two positive results. First, by teach expositionally, verse by verse, a pastor or church cannot skip verses or passages which disagree with their predetermined theology. Second, the pastor never runs out of new material - for he is teaching directly from God's Word, verse by verse - and he has 66 books to teach through. In his book "Expository Sermons On Revelation" Dr. W. A. Criswell said it took him 17 years to teach from Genesis through Revelation.
But, back to the three types of Bible studies which I call "pulpit led" Bible studies: devotional, presentation, and sermon. Devotional and sermon styles automatically put the group into a "listener only" state of mind. Whereas the presentation style can get the group involved - but not nearly as well as the "verse-by-verse" discussion style Bible studies.
By now you may be asking yourself, "Why is Bill going into such detail about types of Bible studies?" Glad you asked.
At times there are Bible studies which tend to be so deep that a verse-by-verse study could take years. A study of End Times prophecies is such a deep study. Years ago we decided to do an expository study of the book of Revelation in our home Bible study group. We made it through Revelation in about two months. But that was because the leader chose to read and explain each verse himself, without allowing time for a group discussion or comments on the verses or passages.
Yes, we went through the book of Revelation - but did we really get that much from it? If he had allowed discussions - it may have taken us a year or more to finish the book. But we would all have come away from our Bible study with a deeper understanding of End Times prophecies.
A good example: Dr. W. A. Criswell, was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for fifty years (Billy Graham became a member of his congregation in 1953)and was twice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the 1960s, he decided to teach expositionally through the book of Revelation. He spent several years, Sunday after Sunday, teaching through the book of Revelation, with side trips to other books as necessary when teaching about End Times prophecies.
Did that concentration on the book of Revelation and End Times prophecies cause folks to stop attending church or to switch to a more "user friendly" church? It is my understanding that the First Baptist Church of Dallas continued to grow - spiritually and numerically - throughout the tenure of Dr. Criswell.
His Revelation / End Times sermon teachings were transcribed and published in a series of five volumes. I am fortunate to have the complete set in one precious book. By the way, that book is about two inches thick. And that is two inches of inspired knowledge and teaching, a true treasure.
In the foreward of the first volume Dr. Criswell wrote: "These are sermons, not lectures. They were preached extemporaneously, not written out and read. They were delivered without notes, in a way I have sought to preach throughout the years of my ministry." If you ever have a chance to add this book to your personal Christian library, I highly recommend you do.
As a side note, Dr. Criswell wrote the foreward for the 1980 second printing of "Building A Soul Winning Church" by Dr. Bob Davis. Bob has been my life-long friend, high school classmate, and after graduation in 1955 four of us (Bob, Willy Joe, Cortez, and myself) from Sheffield High joined the Air Force together. After his tenure in the Air Force, Bob went to seminary and eventually got his Ph.d.
For a number of years he was pastor of Southern Baptist churches in Virginia - and then about 40 years ago decided to transition into full time evangelism, founding the Bob Davis Evangelistic Association in Lynchburg, Virginia, and traveling extensively speaking at evangelistic and revival meetings.
All of this is a lead-in to my main purpose for this blog. For two weeks at International Bible Baptist Church of Riverside I have led our weekly Bible study using my PowerPoint Presentations titled: "END TIMES Bible Study - Week One" and "END TIMES Bible Study - Week Two." I know, very original, right?
Because of time constraints, these studies could only be done as an overview of End Times prophecies - for, as I mentioned earlier, a verse-by-verse discussion style study could take a year or more. In our Bible studies we must keep moving forward toward greater knowledge of God's Word and, at the same time, working toward greater maturity in our Christian walk for all of us. That is my goal in creating these presentations and my main reason for sharing them with you.
I have also taken my PowerPoint Presentations and converted them into YouTube videos. You may view the PowerPoint Presentations slide by slide - or you may choose to just watch the short videos and stop them when you want to ponder a point.
For your convenience my END TIMES Bible Study Week One and Two PowerPoint presentations are included in this eNewsletter as attached PowerPoint PPT files. But for Friends who do not have PowerPoint I have also saved the presentations as Adobe Reader PDF files with URL links.
First, let me give you the URL links to my PowerPoint Presentations converted to PDF format. When you click on the link that will open the presentation as an Adobe PDF document which you can scroll through, slide by slide. Or you can click the Download button and download the document into your Adobe Reader to be viewed and/or archived.
END TIMES Bible Study Week One - 7-21-18 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WLYFAUUpPOcFnUhUkuvq01zOOTVsUI_9
END TIMES Bible Study - Week Two - 7-19-18 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TV4UWdoE2m7wmKC_hjy9HdGIbHLYLF4H
INAUGURAL CLASS - WE BELIEVE - 7-21-18 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q68oDE4p-JgMQCh_eeCi5QpUSGjTZHOz
IT ALL BEGAN WITH CREATION_7-21-18
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CznlWkc1HyeFVArHPAsbV2nyYyYPDjqF
Or, you may view the same presentations as YouTube videos with soothing background music:
BIBLE STUDY 2018 - BILL GRAY (YouTube Playlist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUwF_igeTQk&list=PL_YT3RttutrhPFj_GxNr9bXqlaei7eJaQ
All comments, suggestions, and suggested corrections will be appreciated. I pray this will be useful to you in your own personal Bible study and in your corporate studies.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment