Prove Yourself Personal Bible Study The Keys Opening the truths in God's word Prove Yourself Personal Bible Study God both wants and expects you to study his word. There should be a natural desire in the Christians heart to know and serve the Lord better. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to learn as much about the Bible as possible. This is what God gave us as our road map to eternal life. By studying this great book, and applying it to your life, you are proving to God that you want to serve him; and he will approve of you. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 6/28/11

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11(NIV) If you simply take the minister at his word, rather than searching it out for yourself, the law of averages says that you will be misled. To search it out for yourself shows your commitment and desire for the full truth in your life. Note that the Bereans received the Word with eagerness. They weren’t listening with a judgmental or ‘we’ll see about that’ attitude. They were excited to hear the Word and then dived into it themselves to glean even more.

consider right or good“ Approve… Study to shew thyself approved… "Regard favorably; consider right or good“ American Heritage Dictionary According to the American Heritage Dictionary, approve means to "Regard favorably; consider right or good". It would only seem appropriate that we as Christians would desire that God regards us in this manner. If we don't already have this desire to study His Word in our hearts, we should study anyway, and pray that God gives us that desire.

Methods of Study… Subject This is probably the most common form of Bible study. Choose a subject that interests you and find out as much about it as possible. Cover every scripture that you can find. The purpose of this lesson is to give someone that is not familiar with Bible study some pointers on where to start. Fist off, we should consider different methods of studying. The most common method is probably subject based study. All of the lessons in this course are by subject.

Methods of Study… Section Choose a book, chapter, or any other section of the Bible and study it thoroughly. Endeavor to master it.

Methods of Study… Biography Choose a person in the Bible and follow his/her life through the scriptures.

Methods of Study… Memorization There is nothing like having God's word hid in your heart. Select key verses that mean a lot to you, and put them to memory. If society takes our Bibles from us, how much of His Word will you have hidden in your heart? Enough to faithfully serve Him in truth?

Study Aids… Bible The Bible itself should always be your main source of information. Other sources can help immensely but you always need to take that information right back to the word of God. Secondly are study aids that one can use to help them in their studies. The Bible itself should be your first and foremost study aid. Only the scriptures, as far as we know, are divinely inspired by God. Other documents were written by man, and can be misleading or incorrect. Many Bibles themselves have excellent study aids in them. A Thompson Chain Reference Bible being one of the elite. Electronic Bibles also have some excellent features.

Study Aids… Concordance A concordance lists each word found in the Bible and where that word is found. They do not always cover every word or scripture, so as a general rule, the larger the concordance, the better. Many concordances also offer Greek and Hebrew dictionaries.

Study Aids… Commentary A Bible commentary goes through the Bible and explains the meaning of each passage. They generally go by chapters or sections of verses.

Study Aids… Dictionary Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias can be excellent study aids. You will often find that a standard English dictionary can also make a big difference. Greek and Hebrew dictionaries can help the more in depth Bible student get back to the original text that the Bible was translated from.

Many study aids can be found in electronic format. Computer Many study aids can be found in electronic format.

Study Aids… Internet The internet is both a great place and a terrible place. Be cautious to use reputable web sites. Anybody can post anything on the web at practically no cost.

Study Aids… Miscellaneous Books Tracts

Study Aids… Pastor/Church One of the pastor’s responsibilities is to guide you in truth. If you have questions, or are having trouble understanding something, go to your pastor. This is also a good reason to do your best to make it to every service. Not only do the sermons bring scriptural truth to you, but it is often coming straight from God, as he uses your pastor as His mouth piece.

American Heritage Dictionary Translation… “To express in another language, systematically retaining the original sense.” American Heritage Dictionary To look into the history of the Bible itself can also be a very interesting study. The most accepted English translation of the Bible is the original King James Version. It has been the version of choice for over three centuries, which is one reason it can be hard to comprehend. Newer versions, while trying to make the Bible easier to understand, may also lose important truths in their translations. We recommend using a number of translations, as you study, but to stick with the original King James version as your focal point.

Correct Interpretation… In order to properly interpret the scripture there are some basic things that must be considered… Thirdly we must be careful to interpret what we study correctly. It’s easy to think you understand something and to be wrong about it. Consider the following…

Correct Interpretation… ATTITUDE You must approach the scriptures with a desire to know the truth. If you are merely trying to prove what you believe, you will find proof, but you may still be wrong. If your goal in Bible study is not finding truth, but rather proving what you believe, then chances are you’ll get out of your study exactly what you expected. Where is your heart?

Correct Interpretation… Author/Subject Who wrote the passage that you are reading. Who is the author writing to, what is the subject, what surrounds this passage of scripture? It is very easy to take a verse or verses out of context and misinterpret the original intent. Know who was writing, who they were writing to…

Correct Interpretation… Dispensation "a period of time under which mankind is answerable to God for how it has obeyed the revelation of God which it has received". Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary …and the dispensation that the passage was written under. Theologians divide the Bible up into what is referred to as 'dispensations of time'. There are many opinions as to how many dispensations there actually are, or should be. A new Christian would probably be best with breaking the Bible up into two dispensations as they study: The Old and New Testament. As Bible knowledge increases, an actual study of dispensations would be a good idea. It is not the dispensation that is important. It is the fact that you are taking into account the time period, in which the scriptures that you are studying, were written. The following is a widely accepted set of dispensations of time found in the Bible.

Dispensations… Innocence From creation to the 'fall' of Adam and Eve - They were innocent of evil. They did not realize right from wrong. A good example of misinterpretation due to not understanding dispensationalism is to say that public nudity is ok since Adam and Eve were never clothed originally. They did not have lustful desires so modesty would not be applicable.

Dispensations… Conscience From the fall to Noah - Man's conscience told them what was wrong and what was right. There is no documented 'law' from God yet.

Dispensations… Human Government From Noah to Abraham - Man is now responsible for governing the earth for God

Dispensations… Promise From Abraham to Moses - God chooses a specific group of people, the Jews, or descendants of Isaac. He promises to make a great nation of Isaac.

Dispensations… Law From Moses to Christ - God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. The Jews are supposed to live by the rules that God lays down for them. It is not until the time of the Exodus that we see God document His law for the people.

Dispensations… Grace From the death of Christ until his second coming - We live by Grace. God will punish those who do not live for him after death. A good example of misinterpreting dispensations would be to say that animal sacrifices are still necessary for salvation. Since Exodus is so early in the Bible, the two main dispensations in the Bible are Old and New Testament (Law and Grace).

Dispensations… The millennial reign of Christ on earth for 1000 years Kingdom The millennial reign of Christ on earth for 1000 years The final dispensation is yet to come…