Arrow 2

Introduction

I was reading a study last night on the a particular youth ministry page that I follow and it was about how to engage the next generation with what matters (the Bible) and some of the results helped confirmed to me why we are doing this study together. Kids who are in their Bibles at least weekly are 31% more likely to engage in non-service church activities, they are 28% more likely to participate in bible studies, and 21% more likely participate in youth group activities like where you are tonight. 97% of parents are satisfied with their child’s spiritual development but 59% of young Christians disconnect either for an extended period of time or permanently from church life after age 15. Children who regularly missed church more than once a month were much less likely to want to attend in their teen years. Regular church attendance in childhood plays an important role in young people’s long-range faith picture. THE NUMBER 1 PREDICTOR OF SPIRITUAL HEALTH IN A CHILD OR STUDENT IS THAT THEY READ THE BIBLE REGULARLY. YET WE SEE ENGAGEMENT LESSEN AS KIDS AGE. Guys…this is important. What we are teaching through these next few weeks is so important that you take notes, soak in the information, and use these tools to help in bringing the Bible to life, making its reading more profitable for you, and help with the intimidation of Scripture.

Cross References

These references can be helpful in learning how an author used another passage of Scripture (especially a N.T. writer using an O.T. quote). These references can be references to specific words or phrases, where the reader can find texts that have the same theme, where the reader can find additional information about a theme, and direct quotations.

When studying the Gospels because the cross references can indicate where the same story can be found in another gospel (like Matthew, Mark, and Luke). And if the passage is not found in another Gospel pay close attention to that story because it will have special significance to why the author included that instance.

Most useful is quotations ( Scripture affirms Scripture) Biblical writers were students of the word too. NT writers will allude to OT Scriptures that affirm their teaching.

and Mary and Joseph’s obedience and faithfulness to God’s law with Jewish ritual cleansings of Jesus (Circumcision on 8th day and rite of ritual purification). Also, their holy consecration of Jesus as the firstborn son was significant because it was a reminder from and 13:12 as a reminder that God saved them from the plague that killed the firstborn sons throughout Egypt before their exodus to the Promised land.

These cross-references are helpful guides that add depth to our understanding of the Bible.

Maps

Maps can also help our understanding of biblical texts and why Jesus did certain things in certain places.

For instance, Jesus tells certain people in the book of Mark to go and tell of his miracles and some he tells them to keep quiet…why? Well, Jesus is on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee (Gentile majority area) where he heals a man of Legion (demon) and tells the man to go and tell everyone in Decapolis about what Jesus did and they all marvelled, but Jesus crosses to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (majority Jewish area) and raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead () but here he tells them to never say anything about what he did… but why? Well that claim in Decapolis (Gentile area) was not a big deal because declaring that Jesus was the Messiah wouldn’t cause too much trouble, but in Galilee (Jewish area) this would make people think Jesus had come to defeat the Romans with military might (Jewish misunderstanding of Messiah’s purpose) and could have caused people to revolt.

Bible Dictionaries

Bible dictionaries can help us find the answer questions like what does that word in the Bible mean? What does a particular place look like today? Want an overview of a book in the Bible that you are about to study? what about the overview of the life of a character that you read in the Bible? (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, Joseph, etc.)

Ex. Word: Danarii from feeding the five thousand “After going into town, could we buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them to eat?” looking in a bible dictionary (or looking online at biblestudytools.com and studylight.org) you will find that a Denarius was the daily wage of a worker…so the disciples are being sarcastic here saying “It is impossible for us to buy this much food for all of these people…what are we going to do?!” This isn’t necessary for understanding Mark’s main point that Jesus is God and only he could multiply resources like that but it gives us more vividness to what we are reading.

Free resources online: biblestudytools.com and studylight.org

O.T. and N.T. Surveys

Provides an overview of background information (the author of book, date of writing, setting, purpose, etc.) In most study bibles you will find a brief explanation of all of this information at the beginning of each book in the Bible, but O.T. and N.T. Surveys give more information than what is in your study bible.

Free tools: Bible.org, biblestudytools.com, youtube channel “The Bible Project” (what we watch on Sunday before we start a new book of the Bible)

Commentaries

More in depth study material for each passage of Scripture for that specific book. You should try to use when you are confused about a passage, or to have by your side during your Bible study.

“Sometimes diving into a commentary can be intimidating. Typically, a commentary should be used as a reference book and should not be read from cover-to cover apart from your own study of the Bible itself. Commentaries should be used as a tool to add depth to your study of individual passages. Commentaries also serve as a safety net to protect us from falling into interpretive error.”

“Commentaries can provide lots of useful information that can offer a more robust understanding of a particular passage. Use them wisely as you study, but never let them become a substitute for reading God’s word.”

Free tools online: desiringgod.org, bible.org, biblestudytools.com, studylight.org

Homework

Go to on google and look up “Historical Context on the book of ephesians biblestudytools.com” and read that information and go to youtube and look up “The Bible Project Ephesians” and watch the video.