Observation

Introduction

Pop quiz

Did the sun or light come first? light

Genesis 1:3-5

Genesis 1:3–5 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

How many animals of each kind did Noah take on the ark? 7 clean pair, 2 unclean pair, and 7 bird pairs

Genesis 7:2-3

Genesis 7:2–3 ESV

Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

Tonight we are starting a series on how to study the Bible. We will spend a couple of weeks on this. By the end of this series you will be able to get deeper in your study. For us to get some practice in with studying we are going to use Matthew 8:1-4. I am going to show you what i like to do when studying to help me understand what i’m studying.

How to Read The Bible

Like a Love Text

When you have a crush on someone or dating someone do you usually read the same? No

You gonna be like what they mean by that. Were they asking a question or saying a statement. You read with excitement and eager for more

Prayerfully

We have spent weeks talking about prayer. Prayer is a vital aspect of studying the Bible. You need to be communicating with God as you study. Put into the practices you have learned on prayer the last few weeks. One thing I want to stress tonight though is evaluate your life for sin. Sin is one of the biggest hindrances to Bible study. Sin blinds. Amos 8:11 says:

Amos 8:11 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

The Israelites were receiving this warning because of a life in sin. Rebel long enough and God is gonna hand you over to your sin to give you a wake up call.

Pray for guidance and clarity.

What is one of the biggest hindrances to Bible Study? Sin (Amos 8:11)

Context

Context is vital. People take Scripture out of context all the time. You can take pieces out and twist it to mean whatever you want it to mean. I could read from Matthew 18:3 and tell you, “Children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” If that is all i read, what conclusion would you come to? the whole passage says this:

Matthew 18:3 ESV

and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:1–4 ESV

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Now what conclusion do you come to? humility and admittance of dependence are characteristics of those truly saved. Big difference is it not? i Know this is a radical example, but people are guilty of taking Scripture subtly out of context to promote big lies.

My prefer method of studying Scripture is studying a book at a time, That way you get the context within the book as a whole. Also when studying a passage use the 20/20 (read 20 scriptures before and after the verse you are studying) method is a pretty good rule of thumb to be sure you get the context of a particular scripture.

20/20 method helps get the context of a scripture.

What does the 20/20 method teach us about Matthew 8:1-4?

We learn that Jesus just finished a sermon and in 7 we see the tail end of that sermon. The 20 after show us this is the first healing Jesus makes after the sermon that is a part of a series of healings, this was not an isolated event. So not only was Jesus meeting people’s spiritual needs deeply, he was meeting the physical. He talked the talk and walked the walk.

Repeatedly

When studying a passage you will not always get what you need out of it from reading it once.

Scripture you can wade in or dive into. Scripture can benefit you by just glancing and you can gleam wisdom, but their is so much wisdom to be gained from diving into it and choosing to swim around in one spot and explore. A college professor uses Acts 1:8 in a Bible interpretation class and he has had 600 things observed from this one passage.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Are you gonna find 600 things about this passage from one reading?

Sometimes it helps reading in different translations. Sometimes it helps ad some more insight. Sometimes other translations may word it a little clearer.

One translation i cannot stress enough to stay away from is The Message. it was translated by one guy (While the ESV was translated by 100 people), which is always a red flag. He took a lot of liberty to adding to. So how does that compare to everything you have read? He gets a little loose.

Meditatively

We get this from Joshua 1:8.

Joshua 1:8 ESV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

What does it mean to meditate? Deep reflection

We should be passionate about scripture and steadily processing it. Memorization is a big part of meditating, which Scripture memorization is something we will start back up 8/11.

Read Imaginatively

Put yourself in their shoes.

Try to imagine how you would have felt to be the leper in this passage. The symptoms are

reduced sense of touch, pins and needles, numbness, Weakness in the hands and feet, joint pain, skin sores, weight loss, eye damage, and hair loss.

After researching leprosy how does that affect your reading of this Scripture? You realize how hard it would be for the former leper to not tell people because his physical life was complete transformed and was going to be obvious to all. If you were healed from something so terrible yo would want to tell everyone who done and tell all your leper friends.

With an English Eye

When i say this i mean like the school subject English. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, etc. If you can diagram, a diagram may help. Let us look at verse 4. So breaking down into a diagram can be confusing. but it can be helpful, at least a basic one.

Conjunctions are important to look for, primarily: and; but, are important words to look for in Scripture.

And shows their is two parts to something that is equally important needing to be paired with what was just said. let us look at our passage in verse 4.

Matthew 8:4 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

Here we see that the leper was suppose to show and act in gratitude. What can we take from this verse?

But shows their is an exception or condition connected to the first phrase you read. let us look deeper at verse 4 again.

Matthew 8:4 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

So the leper wasn’t suppose to tell anyone besides one person. Why was that?

Some other important words are therefore and if.

If kind of sets a condition to what is going on with the sentence. We see if mentioned in verse 2.

Matthew 8:2 ESV

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

The leper did not command Jesus to heal him. He asked with great faith. and said “if you will.” The leper only wanted to be healed if it was the will of Jesus. He knew Jesus had the ability.

Therefore is like a listen up phrase because you about to get some application. And different books have different key phrases like that. John is Truly, truly. 1 Timothy is The saying is trustworthy. Example of the importance of therefore can be found in Titus 1:13

Titus 1:13 ESV

This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

True testimony needs to be stood up for and false testimony needs to be stood against.

Important words to look for: and, but, therefore; if

Questions to Ask When Reading

Their are six good questions to ask while studying the Bible that help you really break down what your studying.

Who?

Who are we reading about? What does Scripture tell us about this person?

For the passage we are doing tonight who do we read about?

Jesus- What do we know about Him?

leper- had faith

crowd- just listened to Jesus preach

priest- the priest of Jesus time always had it out for Jesus and would even plot to kill Him (Matthew 26:3) . Were religious hypocrites (Matthew 23:27).

Moses- led the Israelites out of Egypt. The law was given to the people through Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24)

You start diving into these people and you start getting a lot more depth on what is going on in this passage.

What?

What is going on? What just happened?

We answered the what when we done the 20/20 method. Jesus had just finished preaching and we now see Him acting on His words. He did’t just teach truth he lived truth.

Where?

Geographical setting, building, etc.

Where of this passage is at the base of a mountain, probably right outside of Capernum the verses following say he entered the city and lepers usually were right outside the city. Do you think the leper was up on the mountain?

One Scripture that location plays a big role in understanding is John 4. John 4 is about the Samaritan woman and Jesus at the well. What is so significant about he where in this passage?

When?

What time of day? What day of the month? What year?

You can’t always find these details, but when you can it proves very helpful.

Pop quiz: What year was Jesus born? Between 6 to 4 B.C. He was born during the reign of Herod (Matthew 2:1) whom died in 4 B.C.

the passage we are using right now time doesn’t really have much of an impact on the interpretation of the passage. But a lot of times learning the year one of the books was written and in what area helps you understand some of the issues being faced, bring clarity to some of the stuff wrote.

Mark 1:35 gives us an example in scripture of time being important.

Mark 1:35 ESV

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

When did Jesus pray? How should we start our days off? If you read the preceding verses you learn even more. Mark 1:29-34 says:

Mark 1:29–34 ESV

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Also again context. When is the passage listed. What details come along later or before.

Why?

You can ask why to anything.

Really every word in Scripture you can go why is this word used here. I go through passages and circle and underline words I have whys about. And then i go back and investigate the words that peaked my interest. The more you study the more why’s you gonna learn you have. I’ve spent like 5 years in school studying theology and I feel like i know even less than when i started because I have so many more questions.

What is a why question you could ask about tonight’s passage?

So What? (Application)

Apply the truths you learn to your life.

Now you have read all this and digested all this info, what are you going to do about it? How do you apply this info to your life? What are you going to do different now that you have learned these truths?

Applications from the passage tonight are: submitting to the will of God, showing action of your faith, having an attitude of gratitude, etc.