Feasting on the Word of God�27 May 2023, Agape MC (Discipleship Class 102)

​

• Why are you here?

​

• What do you hope to learn from this seminar?

What does it mean to “feast”?

• Feasting on the word involves:

​

• Our posture for God’s Word (What does God’s word really mean to us? – In many less developed countries, a hard copy of the Bible means a LOT to them)

​

• Understanding God’s Word. Do we care for understanding it right vs going with the mantra “just obey”? Many things are written in context (language used, historical, genre, specific purposes) – so we need to interpret.

​

• Applying God’s Word. Transformation only takes place when God’s word is applied to life.

Part 1

​

​

Our posture for God’s Word

​

Can we live our life without the word of God?

​

Can we live our life without the word of God?

​

Yes: You can still live life; but what kind of life will that be?

Posture: Do you see the word of God as a necessity?

​

​

​

1. Study of Matthew 4:1-11

​

• Read through, and reflect:

​

• What was the devil trying to do in his three attempts?
• How did Jesus fend off the devil on all three occasions?

​

Conviction: Do you see the word of God as a necessity?

​

​

What was the devil trying to do in his three attempts?

​

1. Tempt Jesus to prove His power (as God Incarnate) by turning stones into bread. Devil preyed on Jesus’ hunger to tempt him to provide for his own basic needs.

​

• Tempt Jesus to prove His identity (as Son of God) by throwing Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple.

​

• Tempt Jesus to discard His identity as Son of God by worshipping the devil.

​

All three times – the devil was tempting Jesus to obey not the voice of God, but the voice of the evil one.

​

​

​

Conviction: Do you see the word of God as a necessity?

​

​

What was the devil trying to do in his three attempts?

​

When it comes to the Christian, the devil frequently and progressively to encourage us to:

​

1. Do it our own way
2. If we can do it our own way, then why do we need to be God’s children?
3. Live in “freedom”. Discard our identity.

​

​

​

Conviction: Do you see the word of God as a necessity?

​

​

How did Jesus fend off the devil’s temptations?

​

1. Jesus’ use of of God’s word against the devil’s abuse of God’s word to dethrone Christ.

​

2. Note: Man (Jesus was fully human then even as fully God) do not live by bread alone; but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

​

3. If Christ needs every word of God to live a faithful life: how much more us?

​

​

​

Starting point of a fruitful and joyful life

Blessed is the man�    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,�nor stands in the way of sinners,�    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;�² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,�    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree�    planted by streams of water�that yields its fruit in its season,�    and its leaf does not wither.�In all that he does, he prospers – Psalm 1:1-3

​

Posture for God’s word

​

• So if God’s word is necessary to live a fruitful and joyful life, then we need to learn how to live on it, as how we live on food!

​

• Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found, and I ATE them, and your words became to me a JOY and the DELIGHT of my heart, for I am CALLED by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.” (Jeremiah’s plea with the Lord to remember him as he stood his ground when the rest of Israel sinned.)

​

A Passion for God’s word

• The Story of Mary Jones

Meditate: The posture we need to have

​

• Do we recognize our spiritual deficiency and therefore our need to be filled with the feast of God’s word before us? In other words, are you hungry?

​

• Such a posture needs to be there, even before we talk about understanding and application.

​

• If we don’t recognize or admit our deficiency, we will not be able to sustain the discipline of bible reading; or get anything substantial out of it.

• Short break (10 mins)

Part 2

Understanding God’s Word

• From a conviction that God’s word is necessary for us to live a fruitful and joyful life in Jesus, how then can we do so?

​

• We do so by having the humility and hunger to understand the word of God.

​

• Without understanding, there can be no “knowing” God through His word. Worse, we can misunderstand God and His will for our lives.

Choosing the right translation

Recommendation

• Get a few translations so that you can make comparisons when encountering a difficult passage or phrase.

​

• Have at least one ESV and one NIV. Use ESV as your main translation when reading God’s word on a daily basis.

​

• Bible Gateway gives you many translations for free.

Understanding the word

​

• As you read the Bible (whichever translation), some passages are easy to understand for example the narratives in the book of Joshua.

​

• Some are not so easy for example the Gospel of John and some parts of Paul’s letters to the Churches.

​

• We need some guidelines on how to understand what we are reading. But don’t give up on difficult to read books or passages. In the longer term, you will need all books to have a good overview of God’s biblical timeline (refer to article on group chat).

Game on!

​

• Find as many books of the Bible in the puzzle as possible in 10 minutes.

​

• Get into groups of 3-4 persons.

​

• Winner: Found the most number of books / complete within the shortest time.

• Blank page

• Blank page

• I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible. It was a lulu, kept people looking so hard for facts. For others it was a real revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names of the books are not capitalized. But the truth finally struck home to numbers of readers. It should be a most fascinating few moments for you. Yes there are some books that will be a hard job to find, but those are the most fun. Can a human being really find all twenty-one of them? At the worst, you should find fifteen.

• No defect in the genes is required, although I will admit it usually takes a minister to find one of them and there will be loud lamentations when it is found. What will keep you from answering this challenge? A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can concentrate better. How long you keep working on it only you can judge, so long as you try to compete. Remember, we’ve had fun seeking out twenty-one books of the Bible, but it is by far more important to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” It’s always true, God loves you.

​

What does this tell us about Bible reading?

​

• In the midst of trying to win the game, anyone read the passage?

​

• Observation, patience and asking good questions are keys to Bible reading and study.

​

• Doing it with friends can be more encouraging and fruitful.

​

​

​

• The following guidelines for understanding God’s word are simplified to facilitate daily reading.

​

• In-depth study of God’s word will require more guidelines and resources which D/N will cover through: “Read the Bible for Life” by George H Guthrie.

REST

Reading

• Get comfortable. Where possible, have a consistent place where you meet with God through His word.

​

• Start with prayer. Ask God to enable you to focus and read the Bible passage with the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13)

Reading

• Read once at normal speed.

​

• Read the second time, slower this time. If need be, read a third time. Read audibly, if you can.

​

• Read with imagination. We are not reading a science textbook.

​

​

Reading

• A reading of Luke 5:17-26

​

​

Luke 5:17-26

• ¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Luke 5:17-26

• ²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Read

• Observe for the following as you read the second or third time:

​

• Highlight the verbs (“Arise”, “Go”, “Baptize”)
• Highlight any conjunctions (“And”; ”For”)* Refer to handouts for list of conjunctions.
• Note repetitions, if any.
• Glance through the texts before and after (at least one chapter before and several paragraphs after) to give you the biblical context.

​

​

Read

• Observe for the following as you read the second or third time:

​

• Who are the characters in the passage?
• Where and when did it happen?
• Is this passage related to any other passages? (Similar passages like Matthew 9:1-8)

​

​

Message of Luke 5

• Jesus is the Son of God
• The end point of Jesus ministry is to glorify God. As we also.
• Faith is required for God to minister to you. But what is faith? Faith is believe in the right Person and Who they stand for. Who they stand for lies in His word.

​

REST

Reflect

• Work in groups and reflect: What is the message of the passage?

​

• What is the intention of the author i.e. Why did the author write what he wrote?

​

• What is the emphasis of the passage?

​

• What is the passage saying about God, sin, the nature of man, the relationship between God and man?

​

Reflect

• Reflect: What is the message of the passage?

​

• Is the text to be read figuratively or literally? (Compare also Amos 4:1-3 with Isaiah 11:6-9)

​

• What timeless truths / biblical principles can I get from the passage? (These truths might align with other biblical truths from the Bible such as “Jesus came to save us from our sins)

​

More resources

• http://www.freebiblecommentary.org (Dr Bob Utley) (Short commentaries on OT and NT, historical backgrounds too!)

​

• https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/

​

• http://www.biblestudytools.com
• Commentaries
• Bible dictionaries
• Concordances
• Historical backgrounds

​

​

REST

RELATE

• Relate: Truth meets Life. “If you observe, interpret and correlate the Scriptures but fail to apply the Scriptures, you have committed an abortion – Dr. Howard Hendricks)

​

• What does this passage mean to me?

​

• How does the passage speaks to different areas of my life: family, workplace, friendship, ministry, leisure?

​

​

RELATE

• Is there an area in my life that needs to change?

​

• Are there sins in my life that I need to confess and repent from?

​

• Do I trust God enough to help me through this change?

​

Take some time to work this out on your own; then share with your group members.

​

​

​

RELATE

• Making applications stick:

​

• Jot down the message that God has for you. Try to apply this through the week. For example, one application from Luke5:17-26 (or Matthew 9:1-8) could be: Jesus saved me because He loves me. How can I show the same love to my colleagues through the week?

​

​

​

REST

Rest

​

• Prayer in response to the word of God that we have just read, reflect and relate.

​

• Can also close with a song.

Weekly rhythm

The rhythm of feasting on God’s word:

​

• Commit 30 mins of the day for 4R. (Best if you can do this with one other person)
• Read the assigned bible readings.
• Read the devotional OR choose a passage from the readings and do the 4R on your own.
• Note one or two applications and commit it to “working it out” for the week.

​

​

​

​

​

For Sundays, focus on weekly worship:

​

• Services are good platforms for understanding the word of God and learning how to feast!

​

• Worship songs: Look out for lyrics. Sometimes lyrics are written based on biblical passages.

​

• Prayer: Listen for theology of prayer – is theology aligned with what you understand from the Bible? Example: praying for peace in Ukraine.

​

• Sermons: Listen on how preachers derive a truth / biblical principle from exposition i.e. making sense of the text.

​

Praxis 01

• Use the 4R methodology for Ephesians 4:17-24.

​

• Do it as a group!

​

• Feel free to use online commentaries, if you want to. But go through the process. Don’t skip steps!

​

• Share “Relate” with one another.

​

​

​

Praxis 02

• Use the 4R methodology for Luke 19:1-9.

​

• Do it as a group!

​

• Feel free to use online commentaries, if you want to. But go through the process. Don’t skip steps!

​

• Share “Relate” with one another.

​

​

​

Follow up

• Q and A time.

​

• Further questions / clarifications can be given through the group chat.

​

• This seminar is part of Discipleship Class 102 – Agape’s Discipleship Roadmap.

​

• More in-depth bible study: Watch out for “Read the Bible for Life” (10 weeks).