Chapter 8: Practice What We Preach

 Chapter 8: "Practicing What We've Preached": This chapter opens with "Knowing how to study the Bible is on thing; doing it regularly is something else!"  How very true.  Many people talk about studying the Bible, but how many of us actually do? (Many are called…few are chosen? ) And in case you're wondering, I'm talking to myself here as well.  At any rate, in the book… Skip then provides the passage concerning Jesus at the well, and our tasks is to use what we've discovered about study.  Remember to:

1. Practicing your observation skills:  Who, What, When, Where, How, Why?
• Dig Deeper:
• Are there any repeated words of phrases?
• Are there any peculiar words of phrases?
• Are there any comparisons and contrasts?
• Are there any figurative expressions
• Is there anything strange in this passage?
• Picture yourself in the scene.

2. Practicing your Interpretation:
• What is the context?
• What do the words mean?
• What does the Grammar show?
• What is the background?
• Does your interpretation balance with the rest of Scripture? 

3. Practicing your application:
• How does this scripture apply to your life?
• In light of the truth in these verses, what changes must you make?
• How will you carry out these changes?
• What will be your personal prayer concerning this truth?
• Which verse or verses should you memorize?
• What illustration or Word Picture will help you remember what you've read?

4. You're on your way!  Well, this is the last chapter of the book and now it's time to FINISH STRONG by following the books guidelines in closing.
• Observation: This book is written by a person very knowledgeable about scripture, and is willing to share what they have learned.  The book's title is very attractive to anyone looking to improve their study skills.  The book is short enough to be a manageable read by most people.
• Interpretation:  Overall the book is probably better than average when it comes to explaining a course of study for many people.  I'm personally not a fan of some of the author's tendency to want to over explain by providing long examples, but that's just me.  I think it would be a great reading experience for 75% of it's readers.
• Practicing: I'm going to create a template using the author's methods.  I'm going to use those templates in my studies for the rest of this month (March 2012).  I will try to make a comment when I'm done with that part of this project.  Putting it onto action!!!

Mabel White Baptist Church

In 1900, a group of members of the old Waverly Baptist Church on Hanson Street bought a lot for the site of a new church. Ground was jointly broken by Waverly Baptist and their sponsor, First Baptist Church of Macon, Georgia (pastored by Mr. Jacob L. White).

However, before church construction could be completed, Dr. and Mrs. White suffered the tremendous loss of their twelve-year old daughter, Sara Mabel White. She died on December 24, 1902, from complications of an appendectomy.

Prior to her death, Mabel White had already committed her life to missions. In honor of her legacy, the new location was officially re-named Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church.

The inaugural building remained in its original location on the corner of Second Street and Piedmont Avenue from 1906 until construction of a new facility in 1942. A large new worship center with Sunday School space, kitchen, and fellowship hall was built in 1958.

In June,1999, Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church relocated to its present home at 1415 Bass Road.

Chapter 7: "Application: Opening Your Heart"

Chapter 7: "Application: Opening Your Heart": This chapter starts out with a real bang for me. First of all though, let me say that I did pray the prayer outlined in Observation Chapter 4 and prayer works. In the opening paragraph Skip quotes Vince Havner "We are afflicted with rocking chair religion and shade tree theology". That's really powerful stuff, especially in today's time. Very few people (myself included 'sometimes') are willing to stand up for the truth today. Whether that truth be something involving politics… or even defending themselves because of the way they feel about themselves. That could be because as a general rule, our houses aren't built on a firm foundation AND WE KNOW IT. Skip points out in this chapter that the goal of studying the bible isn't in observation or interpretation… but rather it's application. What good is it if you should have this large pool of knowledge, but no place to use it. In order to put this in to practice, Skip suggest there are Three Necessary Conditions Of The Heart. Those conditions are:

1. We Must Be His.. Basically means that if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your saviour, now would be the time to do it. If you haven't done this, it will be very difficult to apply the things that you will be learning in this chapter. 
2. We Must Be Hungry… You can make the best apple pie in the world, but if there's no one around that wants to eat… it will just sit there. Scripture says that God rewards those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:16). 
3. Responding Boldly to God's Word: Skip provides an acronym for what that means: BOLD =

1. Believe God's declarations of truth - The Bible is full of declarations that are unencumbered by any promises, conditions, warnings or challenges. 
2. Obey His Commandments - "Many times in the Bible, God commands us to do something or avoid doing something.  If we fail to obey, we suffer the consequences.
3. Learn from examples in Scripture. -  Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
4. Declare God's promises as our own - There are two kinds of promises : unconditional and conditional.  Conditional consists of two parts: God's and ours.

Transforming your Quiet Times of Study :

1. How does this passage apply to my life?  How does it apply to my family, my job, my nation and my other relationships?
2. What changes must I make?  In light of the truth in these verses, is there something I must start doing or stop doing?
3. How will I carry out these changes?  What is my plan of action?
4. What will be my personal prayer concerning this truth?
5. Which verse of verses in this section should I memorize?
6. What illustrationor word picture will  help me remember what I've read?

Tim Price - IronMen Ministries

On August 12th, 2000 at a men’s retreat in Norman Park, God made it perfectly clear.Tim had denied Him; his whole life and He was not going to allow Tim to be a father at all if he was not going to be a GODLY father. In a little prayer chapel, early on that morning, Tim gave everything to Jesus Christ.

He is Tim's ROCK and SAVIOR. Since that time, God has done so much in and around Tim's life. He has allowed Tim to minister through teaching and speaking. He has given Tim the great privilege of serving my church as a teacher and the leader of its men’s ministry.Come hear Tim as he changes his life and the other lives around him.

Chapter 4: "Observation Opening Your Eyes".

  This chapter starts with the quote "Scripture knowledge is the candle without which faith cannot see to do it's work. - Anonymous.

•  I'm not positive that I agree with that statement at this point.  I think it's still possible to have faith without having tons of scripture knowledge. It may be called "Blind Faith", but it is faith none the less.  Looking back on my first read through of this book, I think this chapter is the one that caused me to lose interest in the book.  This time through, I'm trying to read with a more open mind and use the three methods that Skip suggest… Observation, Interpretation, and Application.  In fact, I used this method to write this area of this book's review!  I observed that statement, I interpreted it, and then the application is my comment!   
• The second quote I observed is "There's a big difference between mere owning a Bible (or two) and allowing the truth revealed in it's pages to have an impact on your life. "  This quote did open my eyes more to what the author is saying in this area of the book.  Honestly, I began to allow negative thoughts to creep into my brain concerning the book.  By interpreting it's content more openly I was able to see and can work on it's application.  When we learn how to examine the text and retain what we see, and then use that information to help us interpret and apply what we've read, our Bible study experience becomes much more enjoyable.  I know that is true in everything.
• Open my eyes, Lord:  Here is a prayer the author suggest beginning your study period with.  Lord, I submit myself to You as Your servant.  I pray that You would speak to me personally as I now open Your Word. Sharpen my powers of observation and open my eyes to what the text is saying.  Give me wisdom and insight as I seek to interpret what the text means. And help me to apply Your truth to the specific areas in my life that need Your touch.  Gently convict me of any issues I'm neglecting or trying to hide.  Lord, I give You complete permission to search my heart to see if there is anything in me that is contrary to Your will.  Challenge me with Your holiness an comfort me with Your promises, in Jesus' name.  Amen.   The author also suggests that you finish your time of Bible study by thanking God for the insight He has given you.
• Observation Level One: A Flyover View:  It's interesting for me to read this knowing that it is something that I did WITH THIS BOOK prior to writing this review/study of it.  See.. This is the second time I've read this book…this year.   The first time I did basically a flyover view, reading it to get the basic concepts, and knowing I would return to it in a week or so to follow it's guidelines closer.   Skip compares this to flying over the Grand Canyon… which is great imagery… but ONLY if you've done both the things he mentioned. A flyover followed by a ground level view.  If you haven't done both (I haven't) then the imagery just becomes words on a piece of paper.  In retrospect, this is the area of the book that lost my interest the first time I read through it.  Not because it wasn't well written or didn't have some good points… but because it was just seemed to be dragging out for too long.  Especially when I got to
• Observation Level Two - A Ground Level View:  Ok.  I get it.  I flew over and now I'm going to get a ground level view of the place.  The questions of who, what, when, where, how and why all make sense.  Don't beat them to death.  That's not a ground level view to most of us who work for a living.  About all we  need to know is Who's going? What are we going to do? When are we meeting? How will we get there? Why are we doing this?   The answer is 'Bob is inviting you to a birthday party for Tom at McDonald's on Tuesday at 9AM. Do you need me to pick you up? "  That's it.  That's all we have time for.  Nothing else.    I AM going to keep my eyes open and continue reading the book, but this is exactly where I became less interested my first time through. 
• Observation Level Three: Digging Deeper:  First of all, I followed instructions from Chapter 4 and prayed the exact prayer for the "Open My Eyes" area.  I can tell you without hesitation that this DID start the study period out on a much better note. (Surprise surprise… prayer works).  Because my  mind was more focused on what the author was saying, which is that there are 6 focus points for our observations. Those are
• Observe repeated Words and Phrases - In almost every passage of Scripture you study there will be repeated words and phrases.  Train yourself to notice them.  It is obviously something that the person who is writing the piece wants to emphasize.  Take a good look at that.
• Peculiar words and Phrases - You'll notice occasional words that seem unusual or that we don't use on an everyday basis. Although Skip chose the words "repentance" and "remission", it is important to note that it can be ANY peculiar word.  That can only be determined by it's reader.
• Comparisons and Contrasts - I found this area very interesting because it is something that we do everyday of our lives.  We compare brands to brands, images to images, and yes… people to people.  It's done for a reason.  It's done so that you can see the difference between the things that are being compared.  Skip uses the comparison that John used when he said "I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
• Figurative Expressions - figures of speech are phrases that add spice and flavor to our otherwise boring conversations.  Start looking for those in the scripture.  OBSERVE them…INTERPRET them …and then APPLY them to your actions.  They will make things easier to understand.
• Anything Strange - John wearing a camel hair suit?  Yes, that is strange.  What's interesting is that some of the things that we consider "Strange" are really just 'the way it should be'.  For example, when you see someone giving their testimony don't you think it 'strange' sometimes that they are doing this?  In public???    In FACT… that should be anything BUT strange.  It should be the norm.  So.. Observe the strange things in the scripture.  There's a reason they are put there.
• Picturing Yourself in the Scene.  Can you imagine what it would be like to struggle forty years in a desert?  What about fighting a giant that was four or five times larger than you?  Now.. Imagine what it would be like to hang on a cross and know that all you had to do was say "I'm not that guy." and everything would have been different.  Just think about those things as you are reading.
• How does your Interpretation Balance with the rest of Scripture?  This was an interesting area because it falls very much in line with the way that I've always believed.  All of my life I have seen and heard people say one thing and do another.  They use a scripture to justify, rather than to guide.  When a scripture 'appears' to support something they have twisted in their mind, they use that scripture to justify their poor treatment of others, work habits, or even marital matters.  It's the biggest thing facing Christianity today.  You want to go to some other country to spread the gospel, yet leave countless others in your own city without food or shelter.  You want to use the scripture that we were called to 'spread the gospel' to all the corners of the earth, even though we haven't 'removed the moat from our own eye first'.  It just doesn't make sense.  This does bring up something that I have ALWAYS worked on and will continue to work on.  And that is MYSELF.  Why should I criticize others when there is so much I need to work on about me.   It seems I'm mad about everything.  It doesn't take a whole lot to get the ball rolling with me.  The scripture says that I should measure my words more carefully… so I'm trying.  In fact, I have asked God to take the anger away.  It is happening..but slowly.  I catch myself constantly now and remind myself… 'don't be mad…let God handle this. "