How to Study the Bible - Step 4: Open Your Eyes: Observation - Skip Heitzig

before we start our Bible study tonight we have someone we want to introduce to you a member of the family here but a member of the family that is soon to leave us I don't mind people leaving if it's for the right reason and this is the right reason a Karras step is going out to work in Korea and she has been part of our fellowship here for seven years and she has done missionary trips to China and Hong Kong before but she feels called of God to go to Seoul South Korea as a vocational missionary and she leaves on August 21st and she'll be gone for two years and that's a you know two months out of the country in a mission field can seem like a long time two years does take a high level of commitment and so we want to want you to see her and we're gonna pray for tonight Cara come on up we'll pray for you [Music] [Applause] well it's news to me that I'm gonna be gone two years really it's just about 14 months so that shocked me yeah I just know it's not it's been really hard to prepare to leave my family for 14 months I can't imagine leaving for longer at this point I'm gonna be teaching English to some missionaries who are in training in Korea Korea is a very Christian nation and they're starting out starting to send out a lot of missionaries to other countries these missionaries are in training program sort of like the school of ministry one of the things they're going to be doing is learning English that helps them to communicate with other teachers I mean other missionaries also it's just a universal language so they can talk to other people in their countries they go to as well so I'll be teaching English with another American girl and we're gonna be in Korea for a little bit then we're gonna go to the United Kingdom with some of the Korean students and then we'll go back to Korea to finish up the year just one year so you can pray for that I just want to encourage us all to be faithful where we're at it's easy for me to come up here and get prayed for because I'm going away but we all have callings where we're at whether you're a mother with two little girls or a construction worker or an insurance salesperson let us be faithful and where God has called us and I really appreciate your prayers for this trip to Korea thank you [Applause] let's pray father we want to thank you for Cara's life and calling and Lord each one does have a calling from God and you told us to abide and the calling that we have been called in Lord you have lifted up her eyes so that she can see the harvest that it is right ready to be picked and the field that you have chosen for her is in Korea for now and so father we know that you've gone before her we know of your promise that you will be with her that you will never leave her or forsake her and now father we as your body identify with her and the calling that you have on her life we're excited Lord because of what she is going to be able to do and what she's going to be able to say what she's going to be able to learn from these people and from you and father we pray that you would put her in strategic situations at just the right time as it says in the book of Esther for such a time as this that you would have divine setups for her people to speak to situations she will encounter where Jesus Christ can be glorified keep your hand upon her life Lord we ask use her powerfully keep her safe keep her encouraged and keep us mindful of her while she's there in writing letters in prayers and in support we ask in Jesus name Amen [Applause] [Music] all right well here we are it's Thursday night I've been gone for a week and a half and I come back and the screens are working that's kind of nice let me tell you about these screens I have a love-hate relationship already with them I love them a because I was in the back and able to read all of the words to the songs so that it's great for singing that you don't have to look down and keep your voice box at an angle but to keep it up so that you can project and so that everybody can sing so now there's no excuse for us to not be involved so I like it for that reason number two I like it because people especially in the back and see the people on stage brought a little bit closer instead of a dot through opera-glasses kind of a thing the thing I don't and I like about it the things that we're gonna do with maps and graphics and pictures in the future what I don't like about it is I love eye contact and it's it's funny because you're always speaking to people who are looking at you and sometimes you look at people who are looking at you but they're looking over away from you and it's like wait a minute I'm talking to you and so it's it's kind of a weird adjustment up here and I've been in places where this video thing has happened and and it's the same kind of thing so I'm just gonna give eye contact to the front row because I know they're always looking it's a closer here than it is up there okay let's turn to the Gospel of Mark this evening and I'm having your turn there because no don't turn there don't turn there we're gonna turn there after we turn to Philippians so if you want to flip to Philippians you can do that for just a minute we're gonna eventually end up in mark because we're not going through one particular passage where we are studying how to study the Bible and enjoy it and underlying study underlined enjoy and tonight we're going to talk about observing the text these are all principles that should enhance your reading of the Bible and your enjoyment of the Bible Philippians yes okay found it let's pray father tonight we come as your people we each of us have needy hearts some of us know that some of us aren't ready to admit that perhaps but all of us need you we need a touch from you we need to experience your presence we need to experience the Holy Spirit of God speaking through the Word of God and Lord you've given us so many wonderful opportunities not only to hear the Bible being taught but now to learn how to study it not only for ourselves but that we might teach others also help us father to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest at any time we drift away from them in Jesus name Amen we live in an enlightened nation this nation has seen so much enlightenment in terms of knowledge and advancement but also spiritual knowledge it was inconceivable years ago to imagine a classroom without a Bible as the textbook to teach people the truths about living and this great nation was founded on some of the great truths that are found in the scriptures what is interesting to note is that although we are enlightened by the Bible many Americans don't know what's in the Bible there will be more Bibles sold this year in America than were sold last year in America and there were more Bibles sold last year in America that were sold the year before and every year we sell more than the previous year yet there's not a corresponding enlightenment in the things of God and Bible knowledge a test was given to five different high school classes of seniors to test their knowledge of the Bible almost all of them in these classes failed the test these are American high schools just you know run-of-the-mill average pick a high school pick a class give him the test many were confused some thought Sodom and Gomorrah was the name of a husband and a wife they were lovers that Eve came from an apple that the stories that Jesus taught in the New Testament were called parodies rather than parables the Gallup Organization did a poll and reveal that 60% of Americans didn't know what the Holy Trinity was 66 percent of our American population couldn't say who delivered the Sermon on the Mount and 79 percent were unable to name a single Old Testament prophet Wow 79 percent unable to name a single Old Testament prophet now we might say well there's some honest mistakes and I can understand that we've all been in situations even as Christians where we forget details or we mix Bible stories up and we don't have a grasp because after all there's a lot of stories in the Bible there's a lot of facts and there's a lot of details but there's a greater point that all of this undergirds and this is sort of at the heart of our study tonight and that is we can own a Bible and we can even read it and yet we can fail to observe it we can fail to make critical observations of the Bible so that it becomes a part of us so I've named this study tonight open your eyes or the observation of the scripture whenever we meet someone this often happens we smile when we meet them we exchange words exchanged names we press hands smile a little more we've looked at them we've spoken with them we've exchanged bits of information and yet if you were asked later on described the person you might have a tough time doing that o unless you made a mental note of how their hair was or facial features or you know unless they had some bizarre thing like you know Woody Woodpecker hair or some odd facial feature you wouldn't be able to tell the details because though we are in their presence and we've shaken their hand we haven't observed and there are ways to do that we want to speak about this tonight of course couples do this as well it can happen where a husband is sort of having a conversation with his wife the wife is trying to fill the husband and on the details of the day and he's reading the newspaper very preoccupied but saying yes honey right oh great well I'm sure it must have been tough when that happened and kind of reciting certain details but never engaging never observing so that he might be saying certain things and carrying on a conversation if you were to ask him at bedtime honey what did I talk about he might have a tough time recalling the conversation because again no observation was made so we want to look at in the next few studies together as we conclude or actually this is the second half of these studies three phases a Bible study observation which is opening our eyes to see things interpretation which is opening our mind to understand things and then application which is opening our heart to apply things we want to talk about all those things tonight though we want to talk about observation now before we get into some of these mechanics and I would say tools because I think you should be able to walk away from this study stoked which is another way of excited say excited of studying the Bible and although we have tools and studying the Bible the first thing we do when we open the Bible is what pray a good answer before we open up to any study public or private we want to ask God's holy spirit to eliminate us because reading the Bible is not simply a mechanical exercise nor does is it a computer program where we say well you know I know how to attach little handles to things and put them in my memory and spit them back up it is not a computer program there's no Microsoft Bible reader 3.0 we exercise our hearts our wills along with our mind we can never presume upon the Holy Spirit he superintended the writing of the Bible and so we must cry out for his help in psalm 119 David said opened my eyes that I might behold wondrous things from your word so when we open it up at the beginning we asked for wisdom as we read along we're gonna come to difficult passages at that point stop don't go to a commentary pray and ask God's Holy Spirit to open up the scripture then expect him to do so anticipate that he will show himself in interpreting the Word of God to us and then at the very end of the study we want to thank God for opening up our hearts and opening up his word so that we can understand it so the whole study from beginning to end is bathed in prayer it was our W Dale who was a great bible expositor and he taught people how to study the Bible he said study without prayer is atheism but prayer without study is presumption some people think all you need to do is pile your desk high full of books and just study study study but they don't spend much time relying on God's Holy Spirit to illuminate their hearts other people will just pray pray pray but never study we need a balance of both proverbs tells us if you will cry out for a way and lift up your voice for understanding you will have it the Bible says that God rewards those who diligently seek Him diligently diligent seekers not casual in choirs are those who walk away with great great truths of the Bible that's why we're giving you these how-to hands-on tools and studying so tonight we talk about observation I'm gonna give to you three mindsets okay three mindsets three approaches three mindsets of how to observe something in the Bible and we're going to be practicing tonight as we go along number one observe the Bible like a student number to observe the Bible like a journalist and number three observe the Bible like a detective will explain all of these ways and hopefully it will yield some great rewards first of all you observe the Bible like a student what I mean by that is we study text and context let me explain I might read a passage of Scripture this is the text that I am looking over but there is also a lot of material around the text we call it the context the reason I say you observe it like a student is because a student always has to stay on top of the material in a class he just doesn't come into one class in the middle of the semester and expect to grasp and understand the material he has to connect this class with the previous material that has gone before and the stuff up ahead he always has to tie each class into the other classes he studies the class at hand and what goes around them so we study the text and the context I would say the most common reason weirdness happens false doctrine occurs church splits occur misunderstandings occur is because Bible texts are taken out of context you know you can prove anything from the Bible just about just because somebody knocks on your door has a Bible in their hand and says God Jesus Holy Spirit amen hallelujah glory be doesn't mean much unless what they say is balanced by context I can tell you the Bible says there is no god I can prove it too the Bible does say there is no God well let me give it to you in context The Fool has said in his heart there is no God now I've used a Bible phrase taken it out of context and made it say the exact opposite of what the general teaching of the Bible says oh this happens all the time every fringe group that wants to get the support of the Christian community will take texts out of context every cultic group that wants to prove its point will take texts out of context so we want to observe the text according to what's around us an example most of us know John 3:16 it's a promise for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life we know that promise it's usually just thrown out like that and it's a great promise it's the promise of salvation but we know in context Jesus was speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who was struggling with some very vital spiritual truths and though there was a promise there was also a warning attached let me go on and the context reveals this the next few verses it says for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Jesus promises salvation Redemption he also promises condemnation and gives to us the responsibility to believe and if we believe Redemption if we choose not believe condemnation it's a promise but it's also attached to a warning another example we can say quoting Corinthians I has not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love it and we could take that text and then we can start commenting on it we can start saying nobody knows what heaven is like because I has not seen ear has not heard it's never entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those that love them and so eternity is so unfathomable we can never even pretend to understand it but that's the exact opposite of what the text is teaching it says eye has not seen nor ear is heard nor is it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed them to us by his Spirit the point is by natural thinking you can never figure out what God has planned for us it's never entered into the heart of the natural mind but God has opened up in his word what he has prepared for those that love them not completely totally everything but we have glorious hints of what our eternity will be like but I can take that scripture out of context and make it say the exact opposite whenever we talk about context there is immediate context that's the stuff that's right around it and then there's remote context that's the stuff that's far removed but still around it for instance I have a verse the immediate context is the first few verses before it few verses after the remote context could be the paragraph could be a couple chapters wherever that thought begins and runs through and ends is the remote context though I am an advocate of Scripture memory and I love to memorize Scripture I am always careful to remember scripture in context because one of the problems and you can readily see in memorizing Scripture is that you can isolate a text that sounds great but you can remove from its context and thus not have the complete promise or the complete warning and sometimes there are conditions attached and so we memorize a promise and we put it in our shirt pocket and we memorize it through the day oblivious to the fact that there is a precondition attached example Philippians I told you that you would turn there look at Philippians chapter 4 verse 19 great promise it is strengthened and encouraged many of us for years verse 19 and my God shall supply all of your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus that's an awesome promise but the question is this is that a promise given to every believer to use any time for any occasion for whatever he thinks he needs well the question answered by context is no Paul was writing to believers in Philip I who had sacrificially given to his ministry of evangelism worldwide it was difficult many of them were in poverty and yet they experienced a heart of generosity toward Paul they gave him even when it was tough and because of their concern for getting the word of the gospel out through Paul's ministry and even sacrificially supporting his ministry God would supply all of their need because they were concerned about the need of evangelism look at the context let's go back to verse 14 nevertheless you have done well and that you shared in my distress shared financially is the idea now you Philippians know also then in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only for even in Thessalonica you did send you sent aid once and again for my necessities not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account indeed I have all and abound I am full having received from a Patra Dittus the things sent from you a sweet-smelling aroma an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God and attached to this and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus God will supply the needs of those who are sacrificially supplying the needs of those who are preaching the gospel in context that is what it means it's the exactly the same idea of what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount if you seek first the kingdom of God all of these other things shall be added unto you the same idea so we observe like a student looking what has gone before and what is behind the context secondly we want to observe like a journalist if you work for the newspaper at first class and journalism you learn to ask six questions six questions who what when where why how and when you start observing like this instead of just looking at context looking at a few verses and moving on start probing like you're a CNN newsman or no news woman you want to ask certain questions and you will be amazed at what you discover let's turn to a passage of Scripture and do exactly that the Gospel of Mark chapter one let's read some verses we'll read down to verse 20 and then we'll ask some of these questions and we'll start getting a beautiful composite picture of what it is saying the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism repentance for the remission of sins then all the land of Judea and all those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey and he preached saying there comes one after me who was mightier than I whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose I indeed baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan and immediately coming up from the water he saw the heavens a parting and the spirit descending upon him like a dove then a voice came from heaven you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased immediately the spirit drove him into the wilderness and he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan and was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered to him now after John was put in prison Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel and as he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen then jesus said to them follow me and I will make you become fishers of men then immediately they immediately left their nets and followed him when he had gone a little farther from there he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the boat mending their nets and immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after him okaythat's verses one through twenty now let's make some observations let's play the role of the journalist let's ask first of all who who's involved who are the main cast of characters in our passage well if you look through them we see John the Baptist introduced Jesus Christ is involved Simon Andrew the Angels there's the father the voice of the father speaks and the Holy Spirit who it descends like a dove also we noticed James John and their father Zebedee who were fishermen who were in the boat mending nets in asking those kinds of questions we learn that the Ministry of Jesus Christ from the very beginning included people he brought people around him to share his ministry even common people from the lowest strata of society which were fishermen in this case and it's a beautiful truth you know it says in the New Testament it was the common people that heard Jesus gladly it wasn't always the great philosophers in fact it wasn't really the powerful the intellectual the highfalutin of society it was the common person that heard Jesus gladly was born in Bethlehem in very humble surroundings grew up in Nazareth a town of disgust in the area and so we see that Jesus always included even the people of low-degree second question where where did this incident take place well we've read 20 verses and Mark covers a lot of territory in 20 verses and notice he begins first at the Jordan River then the scene shifts to the deserts of Judea and then finally it ends at the Sea of Galilee what's interesting is that Jesus doesn't begin his ministry in Rome or Cairo or Athens or Babylon but it all begins out in the wilderness the Jordan River Judea and the Sea of Galilee now these are just first impressions general observations but they help paint the picture a third question what now what's a general question let's specify it what is going on here well first of all there's baptizing going on second there's preaching going on third of all there's tempting going on and fourth of all there's calling into ministry going on or if you want to write an outline build on an outline you could say a first immersion second Proclamation third temptation fourth Commission all of these things are happening attached to one another the next what question is what is the form of the passage what is the form of the passage now you might say does this really matter it will matter and you'll see why what is the form is it written as a narrative telling a story is it written in poetic form like the Psalms of David is it written in prophetic form like the Book of Daniel it is written in narrative form mark tells a story you know one of the things by the way that I love about the Bible is variety I mentioned a few different types of writing you know there's didactic teaching where Jesus just teaches and Paul just teaches then there's stories and there's poems then there's prophecies there's visions but there's variety you know it doesn't say Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 this is the theology of God and after theology Christology pneumatology soteriology and all of the other ologies that people say to impress other people who don't know what they are it doesn't start off as a systematic theology it's a story of creation it's human interest it's the struggles of human beings it's the poetic expressions the songs of people from the human pathos and so as we read them there's a variety in a mixture well mark is telling a story and he's doing it in a way that we can easily understand mark writes very swiftly he tells lots of different cameos he moves from one scene to the next scene to the next scene there's not many commercials it's just the camera moves quickly sort of like this camera is moving up here tonight that's the way he writes the Gospel of Mark I like to look at it is like a small suitcase stuffed with lots of clothes you ever seen people who over pack and they take stuff that's like worthless then there are other people who pack tiny little suitcases but they have just the right things and it's perfect for the trip all of the right clothes that's sort of how Mark is written it's a tiny suitcase stuffed with all of the right clothes next question when did all of this take place we'll look at verse one talks about in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ mark shows us how it all began it began in the beginning just like Isaiah predicted and he quotes Isaiah here beginning in verse 2 Isaiah predicted that a forerunner would come before the Messiah comes so it started just as the Prophet predicted notice the wording in verse 12 immediately the spirit drove him into the wilderness there's no time wasted God is a timetable to keep and that timetable also includes a temptation notice also of verse 14 the exact time when Jesus begins proclaiming his message after John was put into prison then Jesus comes on the scene that's significant John was the voice of God crying out in the wilderness his voice is now silenced and as his voice is silenced the voice of Jesus Christ takes over with the same message in verse 15 the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel now there's a point made there you can see that God is never without a witness when the world gets rid of one spokesman or spokeswoman God always has somebody else that he's gonna raise up in this case it's his own son John spoke he's out of the picture Jesus comes on the scene next question why why did Mark mark write this gospel why did he write this account it's an important question because you know every author has an agenda usually people don't sit down to write a book and to say I feel like I want to write something what do you want to write well I don't know yet well why do you want to write I don't know that either I just want to write they usually have an agenda and every gospel author has an agenda mark has an agenda now here's the problem when you try to answer that question it's not easy in some books it's easy for instance in John's Gospel it's easy to find out why he added that book it says in John chapter 20 truly many other signs did Jesus do in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book but these signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that by believing you might have life in his name that's why he wrote it I wrote this book so that when you read this book you would believe who Jesus is indeed have eternal life it was a gospel tract Mark's Gospel you have to read almost all of it to really answer that question but let me give you a hint and I think it's here in verse 1 notice he mentions Jesus as the Son of God he will speak about Jesus as the Messiah the guy who fulfilled all of the Hebrew Scriptures but this Messiah is also the son of God and the idea you get in the Gospel of Mark is I believe that the Jewish Messiah is the son of God I believe that and as you read my account here's a bunch of other people that believed it as well next question how how does Mark's account contribute to the story of Jesus Christ notice the word immediately it's used several times we noticed in verse 10 down in verse 12 in verse 18 in verse 20 he is this word immediately immediately immediately and then he uses words like then now and this is a feature of Marc's writing he a lot of I mean he ties them all together this happened then immediately that happened then right after that this happened and then now and you read it you almost get tired reading them because it's a rapidly moving story and I think the reason he writes it this way is so that we get the idea here's the Messiah the son of God who is always doing something he's the servant of God because we always read about him doing doing doing doing not just sitting around wondering he's doing he's active he is the servant of God doing the will of his father who is in heaven okay number three observe is the detective you want to observe as a student kind of looking at it in a general sense text in context you want to view it as a journalist just asking a few questions now if you have a shorter text you're reading for the day it'll be a little bit easier than answering it and if you have maybe a chapter that discovers one story in one location it's going to be easier since mark is a rapidly moving gospel there's you know a lot more activity and a lot more answers to those questions but thirdly we want to observe like a detective okay we want to get out the fingerprint dust and we want to get out the magnifying glass and the little Inspector Clouseau hat and now we want to uncover some facts a little more deeply than even as a journalist okay [Music] observe a few things observe first of all repeated words and phrases now let me just say something as I cover this material eventually and very quickly this stuff becomes second nature it really does as I read the scripture now I automatically ask certain questions I automatically look for certain kinds of words and key words and key passages and the way things fit together and it becomes a very simple and beautiful tool for uncovering truths so you want to observe repeated words and you know in mark's gospel not only in these verses but all the way through words like gospel words like preaching or repeated in fact they're repeated three times in these 20 verses gospel preaching then you also read gospel preaching teaching there's lots of proclamation going on if you do have tools like we've talked about in the other studies like a bible dictionary you'll want to look up some of those words look up the word preach in the bible dictionary will tell you it means to herald or to proclaim or to make an announcement john the baptist was proclaiming announcing heralding the good news of jesus christ after John stopped Jesus proclaimed the gospel of himself eventually he will train the twelve to go out and preach the gospel and at the end he will tell his disciples in general to spread it around the world so there's this progression of the gospel spreading throughout all of the world when you look at a passage there are certain words that jump out to you key words sometimes they're repeated a lot and it's very obvious there are key words for instance what's the key word in first Corinthians 13 love because it mentions it so many times as it describes it what's the key word in Hebrews 11 faith it's used it's talked about in description and then it's used as examples all the way through so observe repeated words and phrases also observe peculiar words strange words what I mean by that is there are words that when we read them we don't quite understand them they're not part of our language for instance you don't usually in a daily conversation speak much about propitiation but it's a Bible word sanctification repentance there are certain words that are pregnant with meaning spiritual meaning but we don't use them on a daily basis in our pores postmodern American culture in verse four the word repentance come is spoken about as mentioned that's an unusual word to most Americans in fact you might want to just pull people and say what is the word repentance conjure up in your mind you'll say oh well that's um you know like walking barefoot on a hot desert over rocks or not eating food and living in a monastery or in a cave somewhere or all sorts of strange ideas will be conjured up with that word so you want to look up words like that in a Bible dictionary and if you look it up I've looked it up I have it here you'll find a summary of that word in the Old Testament the New Testament and how it's used and this Bible dictionary says quote in the New Testament the word translated repent in Greek usually means to change a person's mind or to regret or to feel remorse the best translation is met Tana a oh that's the Greek word which means to turn completely around so when you read that it sort of clears the fog we understand the repentance means a change of mind that corresponds with the change of lifestyle it's not like though I've got a cool new fact about God and I've changed my position means you change your lifestyle in accord with the change of mind here's another word mentioned in our text remission [Music] remission is an odd kind of a word some modern translations may use something else look it out fact I looked it up in just the regular Webster's dictionary to remit to send back to release the guilt or the penalty of sin when you take those peculiar words and you look them up and you begin to understand them like we did just now we gaining insight into the message of John the Baptist what he was telling these people and the whole meaning of Jesus coming to the earth repentance remission of sins Jesus came into this world to deal with the problem of sin also observed comparisons and contrasts whenever you want to notice something you want something to pop you contrast it with something that's opposite for instance my wardrobe tonight I didn't plan this for this illustration but black pops out because I have white pants and white pumps that pops out because I have black shirt it's a contrast if I wore all black you might not notice the black shirt but against white you notice it or you put a red tie with black and man that it pops it's the same way with Bible truths there are certain things when you put them together and you see how they contrast it makes an impact and the author will do this on purpose example look at verses 2 & 3 as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight there's a comparison deliberately with the messenger and the Lord the messenger is not the Lord the messenger is pointing the way to the Lord and he does that on purpose so that people might look to Jesus Christ another instance verse 13 and he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan and was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered to him in one short sentence we see the contrast in the spirit world in the life of Jesus Christ the weight on his shoulders coming as the Messiah he's got the Angels comforting him and he's got Satan buffeting him and so we get this cameo into the spiritual life of Jesus Christ next observe any figurative expressions no we all liked figures of speech because they add color and spice to language you might say figurative lang is the green chile of communication see I just made it a little more understandable to the local setting you know food especially if you're from the Midwest listen no I'm not trying to offend you but it's bland back there I'm from California and the never people from the Midwest would come and cook it's like oh man put something in this and yet as I compare the cuisine that I'm used to in California to this kind of cuisine that was bland food this is spicy around here good communication will add figures of speech again it colors it it makes it more understandable to us in every language has them for instance we will say his argument doesn't hold water what we simply mean by that is he hasn't really thought it true there's a wisdom leak in his argument yes and plugged all of the holes or we might say I am standing on God's Word does that mean a guy literally has the Bible on the ground and he's standing on top of it no it means that he is relying upon the truth and the promises of God's Word well let's look at a couple here look at verse 7 and he preached saying there comes one after me is mightier than I whose sandals strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose that is a figure of speech and if you look it up in a Bible dictionary the dictionary will tell you that it was a custom of a servant to show hospitality to the guests who had come in to bend down unloose the sandals and then to wash the feet John is figuratively saying I am not even worthy to be the servant of Jesus Christ I am not worthy to even take the lowest position because he is so exalted as the Lord and as the King there's another figurative expression look in verse 17 then jesus said to them follow me and I will make you become fishers of men here Jesus uses a figure of speech that they as fishermen would understand is this to be taken literally did he mean get a pole boys get a hook get the new little electric flashing angler thing that they have and you know snag people as they're walking down the suit reel em in or put a net over them and make them listen to the gospel when you have them down entangled in the net no it's a figure of speech what he basically is saying is cast out your spiritual nets and draw men and women's souls to God also there's something more profound than that what did they do for a living fish that was their occupation that was their life's calling and what are you saying by this is I'm going to change the drive of your very existence up till now you have been preoccupied with your calling in life your occupation in life your status your position I'm changing that you have a higher occupation it's not just to earn a living it's to preach the gospel I think if he was speaking to mechanics he would say I'm gonna make you a mechanic to fix men's hearts he's basically saying that your occupation now is not simply an earthly occupation your highest aim and life is to serve me no matter where you are that's something we should take to heart next we want to observe by picturing yourself in the picture put yourself there for me one of the best ways of getting a grasp on reading a Bible story is to see myself in the story to hear the hoofprints of the horses walking down the streets of Jerusalem to smell the crowd the lepers in the crowd to hear the sounds of those people at the Pool of Bethesda or the people shouting crucify them to imagine yourself in the story so try it there you are you're a traveler you have an ancient tunic on perhaps it doesn't fit right here a little bit you know freaked out about it that day you wish it was just a little bit longer but there you are you're going from someplace in Galilee or going to Jerusalem and as you're making your journey you notice that there is a crowd gathered down by the Jordan River and you wonder now why would anybody be gathered down there and so you go and the crowd gets larger and you notice there's Pharisees they're common people there and as you make your way through the crowd you look down and you notice there's an odd person dressed strangely eating grasshoppers honey has this you know camels hair thing around him and he's shouting abrupt words he's telling them to repent and you know kind of hits you the word repent because you are a very religious person you're going up to Jerusalem to worship and you notice that these are religious people it has an effect on you you notice people going down into the water to get baptized suddenly your own heart feels compelled maybe I should go down and get baptized you know I haven't been walking close with God lately maybe he's right will you also go down into the water then this strange preacher starts talking about someone else who's coming who's even mightier than he is and that though he's baptizing with mere water someone would come and baptize with fire and with the Holy Spirit suddenly the crowd turns is this fiery preacher looks at somebody walking from the crowd toward him it's Jesus and he is sort of given the precedence here by that strange preacher and you're asking questions who is this man what will this man's existence mean in my own personal life tell you what when you start observing and investigating the passage comes alive to you now carrying on how to observe tonight you might say is it all worth it well let me give you a story by HP Barker who gives a good illustration of this for knowing and applying the Bible truths he said as I looked out into my garden one day I saw three things first I saw a butterfly the butterfly was beautiful and it would alight upon a flower and then it would flutter to another flower and then to another only for a second or two it would sit and then it would move on it would touch as many lovely blossoms as it could but it derived absolutely no benefit from it then I watched a little longer out my window and there came a botanist and the botanist had a big notebook under his arm and a great big magnifying glass the botanist would lean over a certain flower and would look for a long time then he would write notes in his notebook he was there hours writing notes he closed them he stuck them under his arm tucked away his magnifying glass in his pocket and walked away the third thing I noticed was a bee just a little bee but the bee would light on a flower and it would sink deep down into the flower and it would extract all of the nectar and the pollen that it could carry it went away it went in empty every time and it came out full every time that's what I'm suggesting we do is that we come open prayerfully and then we dig and we dive and we seek and we ask questions but we just don't write all the notes down and tuck it away we make all of those observations and then we interpret it as we're gonna learn how to do and then we apply it to our own personal life dr. a B Simpson said God has hidden very precious things in such a way that it is a reward to the diligent a prize to the earnest but a disappointment to the slothful soul all nature is arrayed against the lounger and the idler the nut is hidden in its thorny case the Pearl is buried beneath the ocean waves the gold is imprisoned in the rocky bosom of the mountains the gem is found only after you crushed the rock which encloses it the very soil gives its harvest as a reward to the laboring farmer so truth and God must be earnestly sought that beautiful I think it was Henry Ford who said cut your own wood and you warm yourself twice good wisdom in that not only will you make firewood to warm the living room with a delightful evening of fire but you will warm yourself in the exercise that it takes to chop the wood you warm yourself twice when you cut your own firewood there's nothing more warming to distort soul than diligent Bible study it's great to hear truths from others but it is so awesome to be that bee and dig them out yourself and be warmed as the two on the road to emmaus came away saying did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us along the way that's the experience God has for you as you observe the Bible let's pray father tonight we have departed from teaching through a book or a particular passage and we have considered how we might on our own study to show ourselves approve workman indeed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth we have considered how to look at the Bible how to observe it as a student would in context as a journalist would asking very careful questions and being rewarded by their answers and then as an investigator probing more deeply that we might apply these truths to our own souls and be nourished Lord more than anything else we want to be able to say God spoke to my heart Lord we know that you do that through teachers through commentators radio broadcasts pastors teachers within the flock but Lord we also believe that you longed to speak your secrets to our very Souls as we open up your word help us Lord to treasure your commands within us to seek them as fine gold and to dig deep to look at the surface but then to investigate carefully that we might ultimately know you love you and serve you and teach others what you have taught us where we ask it in Jesus name and everybody said

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 3,920

Rating: 4.6774192 out of 5

Keywords: How to Study the Bible, Bible Study, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Acts, Calvary Church, Observation, Open Your Eyes, Bible, Bible study, Bible observation, reading the Bible

Id: UutOEZjILVQ

Length: 56min 58sec (3418 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 03 2018