How to Study the Bible With Power – Sermon Audio 2613

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers And here is today's presenter, Tom Kent. I'd like to just start with another prayer, and tonight's going to be very, just very simple and straightforward. It's going to be a bit more practical-heavy tonight, and so we're going to get straight into it. And tonight we're going to be looking at how to study the Bible and why is that even important. For these last days. And so join with me as we pray. Please, again, I just would encourage, please, as I pray, pray for me that God will put His words in my mouth so I can just speak the message that He has for us this evening. But also pray for all of us that our hearts will be open to Him. And I believe that God has a message for each of us individually, and I just, I want to hear that myself. And so may we pray that our hearts will be open to Him. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, Lord, what a joy it is to come aside and have a whole week where we can set our focus upon Jesus Christ, where we can praise him in song, where we can hear testimonies of lives that have been changed, where we can dig into the word of God and hear the sweet message of salvation that you provide. Father, I'm praying right now that that you will open all of our hearts to hear you. And Father, I also want to pray just that as we open the Word of God, that your Holy Spirit will alone be our teacher. I pray that I can be a vessel used unto honor tonight, Lord. And so I pray that you will cover me in the blood of Jesus. Lord, I'm a very weak and un-Christlike man naturally, and I need you at every moment. And I'm just praying that tonight can be profitable for your glory May I be crucified and may Jesus be seen. Lord, I just pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in your sight. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, how to study the Bible is what we're going to be looking at, and I'm just going to be sharing a little bit of, I guess, the journey that has taken place in my life to even come to present something like this. But first of all, I want to tie it into our topic. So what we've been looking at, for those who may have missed a few or missed some and come to some, or maybe this is your first session tonight, what we're looking at is the theme is "With the Lamb Through the Final Crisis." We've seen very clearly that there is a final crisis coming. Scripture tells us that. But what maybe we've neglected to see before is that there was a final crisis in the life of Jesus. And in that crisis, none of the disciples were able to endure it or they weren't prepared for it. They forsook Him and fled. Jesus alone made it through this crisis. And I believe that He was trying to, at different times, teach us different lessons that would help us prepare for the crisis coming. But the great foundational lesson is simply this: that Jesus is the one who has overcome. And that's why in the context of the final crisis, He says that we don't need to be afraid, we don't need to have no peace. He says, "I speak these things to you so that you may have peace and that we can be of good cheer." And then He says this, and this is in the context of the fact that He was going to go through a crisis. He says, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." And when we look at the way in which Jesus has overcome, we can learn what it means for us to join in His victory. And that's what we've been looking at this week. We looked at the importance of prayer and the importance of having a relationship with Jesus based on the Word, the importance of God's law, the importance of experiencing forgiveness from sin and a new life, and the importance of living a victorious life. But tonight I want to focus on how to study the Bible. It seems like a left-field topic. But it's so crucial and we're going to see that in a moment. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to— let's go to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and we're going to read a verse that we touched on yesterday. 2 Thessalonians and we're looking at chapter 2, and we're looking at verses— we'll start in verse 13. Now while you're turning there, I just want to share, I only have one point tonight and this is it: by the Holy Spirit you can understand God's Word. That's it. That is it. By the Holy Spirit you can understand God's Word. So here we are. If you're there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 starting in verse 13, just say amen. Good. I love to know that we're there together and we can go through Scripture together. Notice this: "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." We touched on that yesterday. But look at verse 14: "To which He called you by our gospel for—" what? "The obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, question: according to some of the messages that we've just been through, what is the glory of God? His character. Now the Bible is telling us that the salvation message, the gospel message right here, it's telling us that when we experience it, it's for the purpose of obtaining the glory of Jesus Christ. Now this is really powerful because we also looked at Isaiah chapter 43 and we learned that we were created for God's glory. This is what we were created for in the first place, to experience God's character of love, not only experientially with God, but also to be able to reciprocate that to others around us. The Bible here is saying through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God is wanting to, by His stripes, heal us, make us whole, and return us back to His original creative intention. Powerful, right? Now, let's have a look now, and this is the reason why we're tying in how to study the Bible in our sessions. Come with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and we're going to be looking at verse 18. Some of you will know this Bible verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. And when you're there, just say, "Amen." Alright. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. This is what the Bible says: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord," are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So according to this text, it says in order for us to be transformed into the same image, that image of Jesus Christ, what do we need to do? Behold what? Yes, behold the glory of the Lord. That's right. When I ask questions, the answers will always be in the text. So, that's right, beholding the glory of the Lord, and by beholding, you would have heard this phrase before, by beholding we are changed. Now I love the translation here of the New King James Version, and this is not to hit on any other translation, but I love the translation here. It says, are being transformed, and in the Greek it gives that idea of this process that takes place that as we behold As we behold, we're being transformed. As we behold. It's this continual experience of beholding God's glory so that we can be changed into that same glory. Now, how does this process take place? Is it by our power? Is it by our might? What does the Bible verse say? Yeah, that's right. Just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So this is a powerful, simple Bible text simply to say this: God's plan in salvation is to restore us back to experience and to actually live out the very character of Jesus Christ, His love. Powerful, beautiful. And the Bible says here that the process in which this can take place is by us keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. Just like Peter, we talked about that yesterday, walking on the water, his eyes were fixed on Jesus. And accordingly, the Holy Spirit does a work in us that we cannot do for ourselves. Is that gospel? Would someone say amen? Praise the Lord. That is beautiful good news. Now this is the question and this is where it ties in tonight is how do we do this? Where is God's glory revealed? In His Word? Yeah, we kind of feel like that's what we're going to say because we're talking about how to study the Bible. It's revealed in many places, right? Psalms 19. What does that say? "The heavens declare the..." Yeah, that's right. "And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night shows knowledge." In other words, in nature we see the character of God revealed. We see His love in the very works. The very works of God show the character of the One who made them. So we see that, right? But What I'm wanting to say here is that that's not necessarily the primary. It's one of the ways, but there is a primary place in which we can see the glory of the Lord. Someone said the Word, and it's true, but there's an even more truer answer to that. "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." So in the very life of Jesus Christ, He is the one who reveals the glory of God, and yes, it is in His Word. And so this is the simple reason why we're looking at this. In order to not only prepare but navigate the final crisis, we have learned that Jesus alone is the one who was able to make it through that crisis from Gethsemane to the cross. And in like manner, I believe that it's those who are like Jesus that will navigate through the final crisis in peace and of good cheer. Because they know that Jesus has overcome and He is living in and through them. And so what we're looking at tonight is this: we want to create a habit in our lives of beholding the glory of God. Yes, in nature, but also in the very face of Jesus Christ, in the words of God. We want to create a habit of being in the Word because it's the Word that has creative power by the Holy Spirit. To change our lives. And so this is the point. How do we study the Bible? Now, there's so many different thoughts about how to study the Bible. But what I want to do tonight is simply go to Scripture and Scripture will tell us how to study the Bible. So that's what we're going to do. I have 7 simple steps. Now what I want to do is just share a few points and then we're going to get straight to it and then we're going to do it together. I know, scary. We're going to actually study the Bible together and we'll have some interaction. But the place where I kind of— it got my attention to really start looking into how to study the Bible was when I came across this quote in Great Controversy. Oh boy, can you see? Okay, good. It's a bit bigger on there. Alright, so let me just read it. It's from Great Controversy, page 593, and this is what it says: Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His Word. They can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, His character of love, His government and purposes, and act in accordance with them. Now notice this phrase in bold, very striking to me when I read it. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. That's solemn. That's very solemn, church. That is giving the idea that we need to really know how to study the Bible very simply. Now, you know what's interesting? A few years back, I read a little book called Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4. Has anyone ever heard of Spirit of Prophecy Volumes 1 to 4? Has anyone ever heard of them? Okay, there's a few. Let me kind of give you a very short understanding of what these books are about. Before the Conflict of the Ages series, which is Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles, and Great Controversy. Before that, they actually originally started out as Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 1 to 4. Ellen White wrote these specifically for Adventists, not for the public. She wrote them for Adventists and they were kind of circulating, but then Adventists started sharing them with the public. And she kind of put a halt to it because she was like, "Whoa, hey, there are things that I say in these books that the public wouldn't understand." For instance, she would say things like, "I was shown in vision." Now the public won't understand the gift of prophecy. They won't understand it and they'll be like, "What do you mean this person was shown?" Like, and they may not understand and grasp what's being said. So she put a halt and she basically started a process of making the Spirit of Prophecy volumes ready for public. And that's what we have today. These books that are really— you can give to someone and they can read it and they'll be led to the Scripture to understand the Spirit of Prophecy and so on and so forth. Now what's interesting is I read this chapter in the Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4. And what's so interesting is the wording is so similar except for this line. Do you guys want to look at it? Oh, no? Okay, well, you don't have to. I mean, alright, let's have a look at it. Notice this. This is volume 4. It says, "Those who endeavor to obey the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. Their way will be made very hard. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His word. They can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, His government, purposes, and act in accordance with them." That's almost word for word. Now notice this: "None but those who have trained the intellect to grasp the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict." That is so interesting! And this is why it's interesting. So this is them side by side. When we read the first one, "None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict," we kind of just think of like, "Yeah, I just need to remember what it says," right? Which is true. But what it's saying here, and I believe she's actually saying the same thing, it's just we get a bit more of a clearer picture. She says, "None but those who have trained the intellect." It gives this idea that we need to do some exercises in our mind in studying the Bible. This isn't merely just having a read-through, but actually digging. Digging for the mind, through the mind to find those golden nuggets. How do we dig? Alright, this is what we're going to be talking about tonight. Now, I went on. Now we're almost— we're flying through our session tonight because after this we're pretty much going into the principles. I read this and— has anyone ever heard of William Miller? Okay, some of you. William Miller was this farmer that went around and started preaching that the Second Coming was imminent in 1844 and it was called the Millerite Movement. But he had a way of studying Scripture, and he had rules of interpretation. And this is what I read. This is from Spirit of Prophecy. She says, "Those who are engaged in proclaiming the Third Angel's Message are searching the Scriptures upon the same plan that Father Miller adopted." I remember reading that and thinking, "What?!" Those who are proclaiming the last message, the final message to the world, they're studying the same as William Miller did. I was like, well, how did William Miller study? And when you look up William Miller's rules of interpretation, that's what she's referring to, there's like 14 rules. It's like rule after rule, and I remember getting these and reading them through and reading through. I would have them on my Light Phone, actually in my notes section, and I would be flicking through and reading them in my spare time, and I would try and get them into my mind, and I was trying to have them there, and I would come to the Scripture, but I'd keep forgetting. And I was thinking, man, how can we achieve the same outcome without having to have 14 rules that I got to try and think through and remember? And so I guess it was about 4 years ago, just started to try and put together a little plan that if we essentially— if we follow this reading plan with the 14 rules on the next pages that I can refer to, but if I mainly follow this plan plan of studying the Bible, it will essentially, uh, will arrive at the same destination. And so that's what I want to share with you. And this is them, and then we're literally going to do it together. We're going to study a Bible passage together. I went to Scripture and I wanted to find what does Scripture say about studying Bible, the Bible, and how can we make sure that those principles and we kind of balance it out into a simple a simple step-by-step plan. And this is them. Alright. So, I'm just gonna— it's just 7 steps. We're just gonna read it through. Look, 7 is better than 14, okay? And by the way, if you want the document, I can give you the document. But 7 steps, and we're gonna tie in the 3 parts that we talked about on Saturday: understanding the truth, loving the truth, and obeying the truth. We saw from Scripture that they're the 3 steps in order to have a firm foundation in God's Word. The first one, and why don't we look up these Bible verses and would someone like to read just from the audience John 14:26? John 14:26. In a big loud voice, John 14:26. Actually, do we have a running mic? Can we have a running mic? Thank you. That'll be helpful for the people that will be watching this. John chapter 14 and verse 26. And can I have someone go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 7 just in preparation so that we can keep it rolling? And then if someone else wants to find another passage. All right, go for it. John chapter 14 verse 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Okay, so the Bible is telling us that it's the Holy Spirit that needs to be our teacher. Too often, and I'm just being honest about my life, too often I have approached the Word of God neglecting the Holy Spirit's help. I've just opened it up to start reading something and look, I'm not saying that, like, God is wanting to lead us deeper and deeper into His truth and He wants us to to know His Word. But like, it's clear from Scripture. This is telling us the Holy Spirit is the one that will teach us all things. In other words, if we are ever to know anything genuinely from Scripture deeply in our heart, that's from the Holy Spirit. Make sense? Okay, so the Spirit's guidance is a must. And this is what my encouragement is. This is what I am trying to practice, is that we need to prayerfully ensure that there is nothing between you and God, okay? So when you approach the Word, don't be holding on to something that you need to let go of. Make your life right with Christ so that the Holy Spirit can be your teacher. And then seek His help before, during, and after. I pray and ask before we study the Bible, but when I'm studying through, I'm like saying, "Lord, what does this mean? Can you help me? Help me understand this." And maybe He doesn't give me the answer straight away. Maybe it's the next week when I'm reading something else. But I'm constantly asking, "God, help me to understand." Okay. 2 Timothy 2:7. Do we have someone who's going to read that for us? 2 Timothy 2:7. We're welcome to turn there with me, but is there someone who's there ready to go? Thank you. 2 Timothy 2:7: Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Okay, so the Bible says in order to have understanding in all things— now we learned that that's by the Holy Spirit— we need to what? Consider. Yeah, consider what's being said. Now, considering takes time. Okay, so the simple point is to consider the Scriptures, it takes time. This is not something you rush over and then like read, "Okay, I read a chapter, I'm out. See, I did what I was meant to do." No, no, no, no, no. We're considering, we're thinking about it. We're trying to understand, we're mulling over it. And so here's a tool, here's a tool to help consider. The Scriptures. One tool is that you can memorize Scripture. Start practicing, like trying to put it in your mind and think through it throughout the day. That means you'll be considering it at different times. It just has to be one verse, a favorite verse of yours. Think about it throughout the day. And you know what? Maybe you don't really have many verses memorized, but maybe you know John 3:16. And so just start thinking about that in your spare time, considering it. Pray through it, you know, consider this verse in your mind. And another one is read the passage over and over. I read through a passage like 3, 4 times, 5 times before I actually get to studying it, which is what the next part is. I'm praying for the Holy Spirit, then I'm considering Scripture, I'm reading it through, and then I've kind of gone through it maybe 3 or 4 times in this passage. It only has to be a short passage. I've gone over it and over and over it. I'm praying through it, trying to think through it, What's there? Then our mind is ready for the next step. Would someone like to read Acts chapter 8, verses 34 to 35? Acts chapter 8, verses 34 to 35. Thank you, brother down the back. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of him or someone else? Other man. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at the Scripture preached Jesus to him. Okay, powerful. There was a eunuch. He was trying to understand the Scripture and he did something very interesting which actually we find a bit of a streamline throughout Scripture of this very thing. He asked questions. He asked questions. And I remember reading through the— I was studying through the book of Hebrews a few years back and I remember reading, just I was looking at what a man by the name of E.J. Wagner had to say on it. And when I was reading through it, he's like, "Let's understand this." And then he just started questioning the text and going deeper and asking questions that the text answers. And he would ask all these questions and I was like, "What is this? This is amazing!" And it was just like helping, like it seems so simple, sometimes you even may feel silly, but they're so simple and clear. But when you start to ask questions, the text, like, the Holy Spirit brings it to life. We're going to do it in a second, okay? We're going to do it. So just wait. So here it is: asking the right question leads us to understand the Scriptures. That's what the eunuch did. That's what we see an example of in the Scripture. So the tool is: train your mind to ask questions that the text itself answers. And we're going to do that in just a moment. All right. Next one, 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 13. Do we have someone willing? Thank you, brother down the front. We've got— yep, down here. Thank you. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13. 1 Corinthians 2:13: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Okay. So according to that text, how does the Holy Spirit teach? Comparing spiritual with spiritual. That's right. So while we're asking questions to the text to draw out the meaning— yeah, I call it the layman's exegesis. You don't need any historical books and stuff to try and understand what's going on. You can just— if you're on an island and all you have is your Bible, and you can still do exegesis by the power of the Holy Spirit, asking questions to understand. But there's things, there's things in the text where it's like, "What does that mean?" And the context itself doesn't necessarily give us the answer. Like, for instance, "for the obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ." Huh, okay, so we can see, we ask questions and it helps us to realize through the gospel God wants us to obtain the glory of Jesus Christ. But the context doesn't tell us what the glory of Jesus Christ is. Now what we don't do is say, "Well, it must be this." Remember that, you know, that bright light shining with, "Ahh." That's not glory. We could say that, but that's not what it is. We gotta let the Scripture interpret itself. This is what it's pointing to. The way that the Holy Spirit teaches us is by comparing spiritual things with spiritual. This is what Isaiah 28:9-10 tells us about doctrine. If there's something I'm trying to understand in the book of Matthew, Maybe I'll find it in the book of Isaiah because Isaiah is talking about the same thing. And when I put them together, oh, this is interesting. And then I might find another verse in the book of John. And as I put it together, it's becoming this beautiful picture. This is how the Bible tells us we ought to study. So we start by praying for the Holy Spirit and making sure that our life is right with God. Then we consider the Scripture. We really dig deep into it and just read through it and memorize and consider. We chew on it. We think it through. And then we're asking the right questions. We're going to do it in a second, don't worry. We're asking the right questions. But then there's things that we can't find the answers to in the text. Yes, we ask the right questions and there's answers there, but there's things that I don't know that it's not telling me. So then I need to look elsewhere in the Scripture. Where is it talking about the same thing? Now I have personally found this tool to be very helpful. The treasuryofscripturenknowledge.com. If you look up TSK online, you just search that into Google, TSK online, it'll pop up. And what it is, is this little tool where if we're looking at this passage, it'll bring up all these other passages that have the similar thought in it. It's basically another way of doing a concordance search, just easier. Now it's not perfect because it's, you know, it's put together by men trying to find different— but nevertheless, I believe it's a very good tool to use. So once we've done that, We want to learn not only to understand the truth but love the truth. John 5:39. Maybe someone knows it off by heart, but if they don't, would someone like to read it? John 5:39. Do we have a volunteer? All right, down the back there. Thank you, sister. John 5:39 says, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." Absolutely. So this is the simple point: when the Holy Spirit gives us a correct understanding of the Scriptures, it will always lead us to know and love Jesus Christ. This is what the Pharisees missed. Though the Pharisees, the young children of the Jews, though they would learn the whole books of the Torah, Genesis to Deuteronomy, by the time they were 12, they would memorize that, right? They would have plenty to consider in their minds. Unfortunately, in the Jewish nation, it came to a place where they missed The point, and Jesus says the whole point of your study, the whole point of your study is to know Jesus Christ, to love Him, to have a relationship with Him because it's not about seeing what the Lamb does and then going through the final crisis yourself. No, no, no, it's being with the Lamb. That's what we see in Revelation 14 and Revelation 17. We looked at those texts. We have to be with Him. We've got to know Him. We've got to love Him. We've got to have that relationship. And He will navigate us through the final crisis. So the simple tool is prayerfully seek, how does this passage point us to Jesus Christ? How does this passage point us to Jesus Christ? 6, this is the second last, Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10, if someone has that. All right, Revelation 12:17 It's alright, I'm pretty much there. Revelation 12:17, I'll read these ones. Revelation 12:17, it says, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." There's a people at the end of time that the devil is angry with and he's making war with them and their characteristics are that they hold to the Ten Commandments and the testimony of Jesus. Now the Bible tells us what the testimony of Jesus is in Revelation 19:10. The Bible says this: "And I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.'" Here it is. "Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." When Jesus went to heaven, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men, and it was through the Holy Spirit that these men had gifts. And there was spiritual gifts of discernment and spiritual gifts of wisdom and spiritual gifts of being a teacher. And right here it's referring to the spiritual gift of prophecy, being a prophet. And so this is the simple point here: don't neglect the testimony of Jesus revealed through the prophet's words. Now as a Seventh-day Adventist Church, we hold to the fact that the Scripture teaches that in the end there will be, in God's remnant church, there will be the gift of prophecy. And we believe that that was manifested in the life of Ellen White and she pointed people to the Scripture and the Jesus of Scripture and that is what made her writing so powerful. And so this is what I encourage as well in the tool, just according to these passages, prayerfully consider the Spirit of Prophecy's counsel on the certain passage that you're studying. So once you've studied it out, you've chewed on it, you've looked at other places, you've really gotten deep into it, you've been prayerfully considering how does this point me to Jesus, then you can further hear Jesus' words, the testimony of Jesus through the prophet that He's given us in Ellen White's writings. Powerful. And lastly, obey the truth. Alright, would someone like to read Hebrews 4:2? Hebrews 4:2, and then we get to the practical point and then we close up. Hebrews 4:2. Is there someone who would like to? Thank you, brother down the front. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. So the Bible is trying to teach us here that there is indeed a way that we can read and study the Bible and it can actually be of no profit to us. Whoa! So we can study it, we can try and understand it, but it can be of no profit if it is not mixed with what? Faith, right? Now we learnt yesterday that faith, a very simple understanding of faith, is trusting that what God has said He will also do. Just believing that this Word has power. And just as Peter asked Jesus, "Command me to come out on the water to you," Jesus commanded. He spoke His Word, the Word of God, and Peter believed it. He trusted that Jesus was going to give him the power in accordance to His Word. So he took action according to it, and he was able to do the impossible as he kept his eyes on Jesus. And so the Word won't profit us unless it is mixed with faith, and that's what we were just referring to. This means we believe that God will accomplish what He has said. So this is the tool: with the Holy Spirit power, take action according to God's Word, no matter the sacrifice. Yeah, no matter the sacrifice, because what you are receiving in following God's Word and obeying it and going forward in faith, it's more than what this world could ever give. Okay, let's practice it. You ready for it? This is pretty exciting. This is pretty fun for me. I love this kind of stuff. So come with me to Proverbs chapter 3 in the Old Testament. Proverbs chapter 3, a common passage that I believe we have read and maybe know off by heart. Proverbs chapter 3, and we're going to be looking at verses 5 to 6. Proverbs 3:5-6. Now I still need those roaming mics in a moment. Proverbs 3:5-6. Alright, if you're there just say, "Amen." Okay, what we're going to do right now is we're just going to pause for a few moments. Okay, just pause and we are going to pray just in our own hearts. Pray and ask, just make sure your life is right with God. And then we're going to ask just in our hearts, a silent prayer, that Jesus Christ will send the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and guider as we consider His truth. Let's just pray, just silently, just for a few moments, and then I'll say a little prayer to finish off our time of prayer. Father, again, I just pray that as we consider this scripture, I pray that your Holy Spirit will give us understanding and teach us. Lord, I'm asking this in the name of Jesus because you promise it. ,and we believe and trust that your word is true and that you will accomplish what you've said. Your word doesn't return to you void, so give us deeper understanding now, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we've prayed. Now let's consider, let's consider the scripture. Can I have maybe, let's go 3 volunteers, 3 volunteers. Let's get someone who's got the New King James Version, someone who's got the King James Version and someone who might have ESV or anything like that, any other translation. Go for it. Can I have a New King James Version volunteer? Alright, down the front here. Thank you, sister. Can I have a KJV volunteer? Alright, down the back. And does someone else have another translation altogether that they would like? Thank you. You can do that one. Alright, so let's go for it. Let's go with the New King James Version. We're going to read Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 to 6, and let's just read Read it and consider it. Trust in the— trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Amen. All right, and the sister down the back. With all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct they pass. Okay, very similar, but thinking through these words. Okay, interesting. The brother down the front. Okay, so I have the CS— CSB version. Perfect, thanks. So verse 5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways know him and he will make your paths straight. Wow, so interesting. Okay, so we're considering, we're thinking it through. Maybe we're looking at a few different translations that may give some understanding. And don't be afraid to do that, church. Honestly, don't be afraid to do that. What we find in Ellen White's writings is that as soon as the 1900s came, there were different translations, and in some of those translations there were clear passages, and she took and used those. That is not to push away from the Textus Receptus and what the KJV and the New King James are based on. That I believe they are very good, strong Bibles. But it's okay to look and consider different translations as we navigate God's truth. Alright, now we've considered it, maybe we're even trying to memorize it so that we can think about it throughout the day. So let's, you know, obviously we're not going to be able to spend all the time here, but let's go to the next step. Alright, the next step. So let's go back so you have it in your mind, in the screen. Here we go. All right, asking questions. So I'm not gonna do it unless maybe— it's tempting, but I'm not gonna do it. What are some questions that we could ask this Bible text that in the very text itself it has the answer? Okay, okay, let me just do the first one, very simple. Who are we to trust according to this Bible verse? Okay, that's it. Seems very simple, but that in itself is just— it's a good reminder. So what other questions can we ask this Bible text? Yes, brother? Okay, how can you trust? Okay, yeah, and what would be the answer to that, brother? And this is the thing, when I started studying Scripture this way, it was so So, I was— I wanted to say belief, all these other things. Let's try and keep our minds, let's train our intellect to just ask questions that the Bible itself will answer. The very text itself. But that's right, you came to it. How are we to trust? But I think there's even a— I think the answer that maybe you're looking for there, how are we to trust? Trust in the Lord with what? All your heart. So that's right. How are you to trust in the Lord? Great question. What's another question that we could ask? How do we— you know, you're looking at that and you're like, how do I ask a question that that phrase is going to answer? But this is training the intellect to grasp what the Bible is saying. Any other thoughts? Any other questions? Yep. Yes, acknowledging. So what's a question we could ask that that that part of the text would answer? Who's speaking? Who is asking? Who's asking you to trust? Okay, who's asking us? Who's asking you to trust? Yeah, so we could ask, who's asking you to trust? Maybe trusting in the Lord. Um, yeah, okay, so that's good. So we can be We can be asking the question and yeah, it would take us back to the context of, okay, Solomon, very good. But let's continue trying to navigate through. So we've asked, how are we to trust? Who are we to trust? Trust in the Lord. How are we to trust? Thank you, brother, with all your heart. Who's asking us to trust? Which yeah, we can, that's right, looking at the author. But let's keep asking questions that this text will help us to understand. Yes, okay, why are we to trust in the Lord? Now that would take us into verse 6, right? Because He will what? Okay, great question. That's right. So even if there's certain parts, ask the questions that come to your mind to be able to find answers in Scripture. And as you do this more and more, you will develop a habit of asking questions which the Bible text you're studying answers. So we've learnt who are we to trust? We're trusting in the Lord. How are we to trust Him? With our whole heart. That gives pretty big implications, doesn't it? If we're to trust God with our whole heart, well, that means that there's no room for trust to go anywhere else, right? He's the primary focus if we're trusting God with our whole heart. See how this begins to open up and come alive? When we start asking questions. Because you could ask another question and say, when trusting in the Lord, is it okay for us to lean on our own understanding? Well, what does it say? Like, that might seem like a simple question, but it says, "And lean not on your own understanding." Okay, but, you know, in how much of my life should I trust? I'm wrestling with this. How much of my life? How many of my ways? Should I be trusting the Lord? What does the Bible say? In all your ways acknowledge Him. And then what's the promise? Like you said, what's the promise that comes when we follow these conditions? He'll direct our paths. See how just in a few simple questions that we're asking and it's— this is, I guess, new to us as we're asking these questions, we're finding that there are answers in the Scripture and what we've done is we've just drawn out from this passage new truth that's coming from these Bible texts. And so from there, there might be things that we don't understand from the passage, right? So one may be— well, actually, what are some of the things that we may not understand from this Bible text? That we can't find the answers here? That we may need to look at other texts? How to acknowledge Him in all our ways. Okay, that's right. How do we acknowledge Him? Brilliant. Okay, another one is how do we trust Him? What does it mean to trust? There's all these questions that start to arise, and as you're asking these questions, it's causing you to think, I've got to go find it somewhere else in Scripture. And maybe that treasury of Scripture knowledge can be helpful. You've also got the margin in your Bibles that have your it cross-references. That's helpful and we're able to understand these different parts of the text as we go to different scriptures. And as we go and as we learn what does it mean to acknowledge Him in all our ways, what does it mean to trust Him, what does it mean that He'll direct our paths, is there any other scriptures that shed light on that? And we're comparing spiritual with spiritual. We're praying for the Holy Spirit. Okay, from this text Prayfully think, what does this teach us about Jesus? What do you think? What does this teach you about Jesus? The one we're studying, sorry. Proverbs 3:5-6. What does this teach us about Jesus? How does this help us understand a bit more about Him? What stands out to you? Beautiful. Beautiful, that exactly. So this is so beautiful to see from Scripture the way it teaches us about Jesus. Exactly right, He is trustworthy and He wants to lead and guide us and we can't trust in our own self. This is beautiful, this is exactly right. This is how we prayerfully consider and we're thinking, what is this passage after I've prayed, after I've considered it, after I've asked questions, how does it lead me to Jesus Christ? Beautiful, all right. Now obviously we go to Spirit of Prophecy and there would be some great rich counsel there as well. Okay, what about this part? From this Bible text, what is the next step that we need to take? What's the movement of faith? We got down the back, brother. How do we obey in this text? What are the things we can obey by faith? That wasn't quite the question I had in mind, but What were you going to say? Feel free to share. How— the question I had was, how do we build individual trust in studying the Scripture to be convinced that what we are being impressed with is true? Great question. So, uh, the first part is Do you remember on Saturday in the Divine Service we learnt about how the devil is trying to lead us away from God's truth? Do you remember that? And we referenced 1 Timothy 4:1 and it says, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." The devil's tactics is to try and veer us away by causing us to have, you know, maybe an experience that is spiritually real but may not be in accordance to God's Word. The other way is doctrines of devils, the Bible says. And we learned that the way that the devil used Scripture was that he, even though he quoted it correctly, he didn't give the full picture. So one way that we can be confident in what Scripture is teaching and that the Holy Spirit is teaching us is, first of all, that yes, we are being convicted by the Holy Spirit to make sure our lives are right with Him. We're considering the Scripture. We're going through these steps. But we do some intensive study. We look into this passage and this passage, and if you're not content, feel free to keep looking. But as long as you're comparing Scripture and Scripture and you're praying and asking asking for the Holy Spirit to make it clear, I believe He does. Now sometimes He makes it clear by showing us that we've got a misunderstanding. For instance, there was a conclusion I came to in a passage that I studied, and as I went to the Spirit of Prophecy, she said something that was conflicting. And I was like, "Oh." So I, okay, and I had to make the decision. Am I going to go off what I think I've received here or the correction that maybe Jesus 'What is Jesus trying to tell me through His prophet?' That's one way, right? Or as I'm studying something, I may not have a complete understanding of it, but as I go along in my study over the coming weeks, the Holy Spirit brings something else to my mind and sheds more light. But when we're just looking at the Bible and plainly receiving it as it says, like this young lady has just done, what we can know is it is true according to this text. The Lord is trustworthy. According to this text, we can, you know, know that He will direct our paths. When we just take the Bible plainly as it states and as we're allowing Scripture to be its interpreter, that's where we find safety. But I would say this in answer to your question, because there are many scholars, theologians that study so much of Scripture and know so much more than me, and I'm not claiming to know. There's so much I feel like there's so much I don't know. But this is what I am convinced of: that as we are seeking the Lord in prayer, I believe that prayer is the very way in which we can gain understanding in Scripture. I believe that is the most important part of this whole thing, is to make sure that the whole— our life is right with God and we're seeking His Holy Spirit for understanding. And then we're coming to His Scripture humbly with a teachable spirit. It's okay for us to have a wrong understanding and we're seeking for God to teach us the right thing. That's okay. It's a process. But the more and more we just let Scripture plainly speak for itself, I believe we can begin to grow confidence in it. Yeah. I hope that that was somewhat of a helpful answer to you, brother, and I'm more than happy to talk with you more about this after. Lastly, The last step that we would do after we've prayed, after we've studied, after we've considered, after we've asked questions, after we've prayerfully considered what does this teach me about God and like Jesus Christ, considered the Spirit of Prophecy. How would we go about in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit to obey what we've just read here? What would be the things in this text that God's convicting us to obey and to follow? Yeah, brother down the front. Yeah, so I know for myself, very often you encounter some situation or whatever and you try to solve the problem or whatever on your own, and then if you get stuck, then you turn to God. So the practical way of trying to apply this would be seek his will first rather than saying, okay, I'm going to solve this thing. I'm going to just dive in and, you know, try to figure out my way through. Yeah, that's such a practical application because it's true. So natural for me to lean on my understanding first. But this says no, no, no. Practice, practice. Whenever a trial— excuse me— whenever a trial or difficulty comes in the day, practice saying, "No, I'm going to stop, and from what I was just studying, I'm going to look to God and trust in Him and seek His help." What else can we find here for something to obey? Yep, down the back. Like believing in God when whatever happens, just believe that it's like God's plan. Amen. Yeah, because He's the one directing our paths. And when we consider Scripture with Scripture, we might come to Romans 8:28, right? "For we know that all things work together for good." Even the things that might feel tricky and difficult. That was a powerful thought. Thank you so much for sharing. Any last thoughts before we start to bring this session to a close of what we might obey in this passage? Yes. Yep. Always surrender. Yes, absolutely. We need to surrender. By not leaning on our own understanding, it implies we must surrender to God's will, yeah, to God's leading, to what He wants to teach, yeah. What about that one that's, oh, it's always a bit tricky: "In all your ways acknowledge Him." Oh, maybe I need to pray and ask, "God, is there any way in my life that I need to surrender," as our sister said? So that you can be acknowledged in every part of my life. This is just a simple way. I'm not saying this is the be-all and end-all. I'm not saying this is the answer to our problems in studying the Bible. I'm just wanting to simply share something that I believe God has been showing me over the years, and I want to share it with you. And you know what? You might be able to perfect it and make it different and much better, but I pray, I simply pray that this will be a benefit to you as you study the Scriptures. And that you will come to know Jesus. So what I'd like to do, I think we've had a bit of our practical time. I want to pray right now, and this will be our closing prayer time, that as I'm praying, let's all hunger and thirst for a deeper understanding of God's Word. Let's pray that we can put this into practice, studying Scripture, and come to a deeper knowledge of God. Let's pray together as we close. Father in heaven, we're here. This is one of the sessions in our week of prayer, and we're wanting to learn what it means to be with the Lamb through the final crisis. And it's very clear, Lord, that we need to delve into your word. But Father, we are so weak and erring, and there's so much we don't know. But Lord, I'm simply praying that each of us here will have a strong conviction to approach Your Word. We don't have to try and bite off 2 or 3 chapters doing this, but just starting with certain passages and looking deeper. May we all come to know Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. May we come to know Him and know His Word. May we understand it, but maybe fall in love with it. It, Lord. Will you please give us a love for the Bible? And may we not stop there, but may it flow into a desire to, by faith, obey whatever you place before us. We ask this, Lord, in the name of Jesus. And I pray for everyone, for your blessing over our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org.au. This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.