Week 9: Inductive Bible Study

"A voice says, 'Cry out.' 

And I said, 'What shall I cry?'

'All men are like grass, 

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, 

because the breath of the Lord blows on them. 

Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, 

but the word of our God stands forever.'"

- Isaiah 40:6-8 (NIV)

"For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort,

but on God's mercy... "One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?' But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"

- Romans 9:15,16,19-21 (NIV) (emphasis mine)

I find it very interesting that a week with the teaching being one that is more-so academic than emotional can turn out to be a week that still has quite an emotional impact. I find it even more interesting that this emotional impact is one that is stronger than most of the others I've had during weeks that were actually centered around emotional topics. The best thing I can say about that is how one cannot attain knowledge of God and of His Word without being struck in the soul and heart with revelation; the more I learn about God the more I change. Sometimes (more times than not) however, this change is near impossible to notice and the change is not welcome, such was the case this week. I'll first give the academic portion of the week and then give the emotional impact.

Our speaker this week was a man by the name of Steve McCormick, and his topic was on Inductive Bible Study. I was extremely excited for this week as I have been growing more and more in love with reading the Bible and simply learning all there is to learn. Whether they be historical events, genealogies, poetry, or deep topics, I've been getting more and more excited about reading it all and discovering for myself (not by myself, assistance from the Holy Spirit is mandatory I've learned by now) what they mean and how that is supposed to change my life. Steve definitely supplied what I was looking for with much information and examples. He started by explaining what Inductive Bible Study even means. He contrasted it with deductive Bible study, which is one has  a specific conclusion they want to reach, and they go to the Bible to find information that supports that conclusion, which can be very dangerous if not done correctly. Far too often people, myself included, will take verses out of context to support what they say, and the fact of the matter is that virtually any conclusion can be reached by taking verses out of context. Peter warns us of people who do that and what it can cause if we ourselves do it by first talking about Paul's letters:

"His [Paul's] letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do other Scriptures, to their own destruction."

- II Peter 3:16b (emphasis mine)

Now, I am not trying to say that deductive Bible study is a corrupt way of studying the Bible, so long as it is done in the correct way and within context. Now to define inductive Bible study; it is basically the opposite of deductive Bible study, so it is you reading the Bible and accumulating information, followed by making conclusions based off of what you just studied. 

Steve also gave us examples of how he studies, and that is pretty much verse by verse, but before that, he acquires background knowledge of what he is reading. This background knowledge involves the culture, the author, the setting, and basically anything else that is relevant to the passage. The importance of this is that with background knowledge comes a deeper understanding and appreciation for the message being presented, and you feel like you have a new-found and deeper understanding of what was written. For even more background information, concordances are used to read and attempt to understand the original words used in the books of the Bible; some very interesting and cool discoveries have been made from this studying. 

Steve then showed us how he will read small passages and draw observations and ask questions about things he read, very specific things, followed by attempting to answer those questions. He emphasized how it is more than alright to ask questions that you cannot answer at that time, because perhaps later on you will come upon some new information you've studied that can answer that question. He then said that after you make these observations of what the text literally says, he makes interpretations as to what it means. The final step then is finding out how to make what you studied applicable to your life. This part he told us time and time again is perhaps the most crucial because it is the point of the study. It is not mere knowledge that you are trying to achieve. You are trying to achieve a totally changed life from that knowledge. He gave the following passage to emphasize his point:

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

- John 5:39,40 (NIV)

John speaks of how the Scriptures all point to Jesus, yet we do not go to Jesus even though we study these very Scriptures. I found this lesson to be very applicable to my life and it has made me be very diligent on asking the Holy Spirit to anoint the time I spend studying the Bible and for Him to reveal to me what He has for me to learn. Now onto the emotional portion.

Last Friday, the 16th, I went with some others to help some local food banks receive financial and food donations, and on the way back we passed a hospital. For some reason, looking at that hospital got me thinking of how I had really wanted to be a doctor and was looking forward to pursuing it after YWAM, until God told me of his other plans for me to be a Pastor. I was filled with anger as I thought about the whole series of events that had caused this change, and I then did the thing that guarantees a bad time and started comparing my predicament to others'. I looked at some people whose desires matched those of God's and were able to pursue careers they really wanted to while still falling in line with the will of God, and I was livid at the apparent unfairness of the entire situation. 

This past Monday, the 19th, we had our morning worship at 8:30, but for some reason I was really not in the mood and could not get myself to join in. I discovered I had been battling a change God was bringing to my life, a change that involved me letting go of the material things I had a bond to. For me, these material things involved video games, particular movies, particular TV shows, particular music, and various other habits I had. God had been bringing up this material issue to me within the past few days, it's hard for me to pinpoint when this conviction originated, and it had been eating at me more and more, which brought me to the Monday morning worship. I was angry again and felt defeated and stuck. God brought it to my attention just how strong this bond really was, and it was far stronger than I had thought. During the worship time I got my journal and wrote down all that was in my head. I ended the journal writing about how I needed a new heart of flesh because my current heart was one of stone. I truly felt that way, and I still do. I am praying continually for this new heart, because I can't live the rest of my life wrestling with these material desires.

Finally, on Wednesday, the 21st, we concluded our last class session with Steve by looking at the end of the book of John at the conversation between Jesus and Peter. Peter had denied Jesus three times earlier in the book, and now Jesus was asking Peter if he loved him three times. By looking at this conversation, you cannot really see the significance of what is being said, but by looking at the Greek words used originally, it becomes visible. Jesus asks Peter the first two times if he loved him in the sense of a self-sacrificial love ("agape" is the Greek word used), and Peter replies by saying he loves him in the sense of a brother or a friend ("phileo" is used here). On the third time, Jesus comes down to Peter's level and asks him if he even loves him as a friend (using "phileo"), where Peter replies that yes, he does love him that way. Jesus had been wanting Peter to love him and he loved Peter, but Peter was not at that level yet. The passage continues:

"'I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, 'Follow me!' Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them... When Peter saw him, he asked, 'Lord, what about him?' Jesus answered, 'If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.'"

- John 21:18-20a,21,22 (NIV) (emphasis mine)

When Steve read this aloud in class, I was struck. I saw clear as day that this passage was about what I was doing. Jesus told Peter that as he grew older and more mature, he would be lead down a path he did not want to go and do things he didn't necessarily want to do. This is like me in how I'm being lead down a path I have not ever particularly desired to follow as God is maturing me more and more. Peter replies by comparing himself to others, specifically John. I did just this as well by looking at others who didn't have to change their particular career choice to follow God's will. Jesus then replies with pretty much a smack in the face to Peter asking, "What is that to you?" I take these words spoken by Jesus to be parallel with the passage I quoted in the beginning of this post from Romans, where we are the clay and God is the potter, and we have no right in questioning the potter as to what he is doing. From reading this passage I realized how similar Peter and I were, and I realized that by getting mad at God for the predicament he had been putting me in, I had not been self-sacrificially loving Him just as Peter said he wasn't as well. As you can see, God opened by eyes wide and showed me just what I had been doing. From this, I now feel convicted to inductively study the books of I and II Peter as well as other passages talking about Peter, just to see what he did with his life after this conversation with God to look for what I am to do as well. I'm quite excited about it, and I am also expecting to be enlightened and humbled in the process.

After the class on Wednesday we were dismissed for Thanksgiving break, which has been fantastic. I have yet to start my study of Peter, but I am looking forward to it, and I ask for prayer as I dive into it and wait on the Holy Spirit to teach me and give me a new heart so I may better serve and glorify Him.

Weeks 7 & 8: The Fear of the Lord and Transformation

"The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare."
- Psalm 25:14, 15 (NIV)

This week we were finally able to return to normalcy by spending it back in Arkansas at the base. For the past two weeks we had either been camping or traveling for hours on end, so being in a familiar place was much appreciated. Our topic for this week was on the Fear of the Lord and our speaker was a lady by the name of Dawn Borchers. Dawn was a lady in her 50's and single, and not the type of person I was expecting. I'm not sure what type of person I was expecting when I heard those things about her, but regardless I was pleasantly surprised to have her as our speaker. She was a strong speaker, very open and honest with her walk with God and how she'd changed and how she's still changing to this day. Furthermore, I was very excited for the topic she was going to be presenting as I had never had a firm understanding of what it meant to fear the Lord. I was hoping I would be able to really understand what it meant to do such a thing and what it would look like in my life as well, and I was not let down by Dawn.

The biggest thing I felt I learned from that week was the simple realization that fearing the Lord did not mean being afraid of Him. It wasn't even that difficult of a statement to establish either as it is quite blatantly expressed in the Bible:

"When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.' Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be will you to keep you from sinning.'"
Exodus 20:18-20 (NIV)

This was taught to us on the first day, and I was already taken aback because I had always thought having fear of the Lord was, well, fearing Him. After hearing this I knew I was in for a treat the rest of the week as to figuring out what fearing the Lord was like, and it was a treat. Here is a list of some key things I learned this week:

- According to Psalm 25:14, we find that the Lord is intimate (confides, is a friend, counsels, trusts) with those who fear Him, and we know that while you can love literally anybody that you want, you cannot have an intimate relationship with anyone as that requires a mutual desire to do so.

- We have a hard time desiring this intimacy with God because with intimacy comes vulnerability and lots of trust, and especially with intimacy with God comes a lack of faith in results because of how He is not visible, and it also causes one to be afraid of losing control of our own life; a valid fear I have had to embrace in past weeks.

- Fearing the Lord means giving God his proper place by standing in awe, giving Him praise, honor, reverance, glory, and worship. Verses supporting this are Psalm 33:8, 22: 23, 89:6, 7, Malachi 2:5, and Revelation 15:4.

- Proverbs 9:10 shows how the fear of the Lord is wisdom; it is knowledge of the Holy One.

- We grow in the fear of the Lord by realizing that it is our choice, by being honest with God as to where we our, by simply asking Him for it, by being diligent and studying His word, and by dealing with sin in our lives.

- Dealing with sin involves confessing the sin, repenting from the sin, renouncing the sin, and by seeking restitution

I somewhat felt on a high all week as God revealed Himself to me more and more and let me experience Him more and more.

Friday night we had the very first annual YWAM Ozarks Talent Night, which was a good ol' time watching people make a fool of themselves and whatnot, but Friday had something else in store for me as well. Friday morning I had started to feel somewhat ill. I was starting to have a fever as well as a cough and a small headache. It wasn't very comfortable, but it wasn't to the point where I couldn't function. Sleeping that evening however, was downright awful. I woke up perhaps at least every hour from either coughing so much or being blazing hot under my comforter. The next morning I felt far worse than the day before and didn't have much willpower to do anything really (the reason this blog is a week late!). That night was even worse than the one before, and the next one even more worse. Sunday I finally took my temperature and found out I had a temperature of 102.4 degrees; I wasn't just imagining this fever. By Monday morning I felt the worse I had ever from a lack of sleep, intense fever, headache, shortness of breath, coughing, and stomach pains - I was a mess.

That morning just so happened to be the same day that we were leaving to go on a camping/climbing trip for a few days with our speaker for the week, John Ray. I told staff I could not make it on the trip, at least not on the first day, for fear of what camping in the cold would do to my state of being, especially with the fever. They agreed with me and I stayed back. Later in the day I finally went to the doctor and found out my temperature had increased to 104 degrees and I was later diagnosed with Bacterial Pneumonia, I wasn't quite expecting that but I suppose it made sense with my shortness of breath and cough. They gave me a shot in my hip (I'm not sure why they say hip, they mean to say upper-buttocks I'm sure, because that's where I got my shot), gave me a couple prescriptions for the pneumonia and for sleeping at night, and told me to come back the next couple of days for more hip (butt) shots. Within an hour of my shot I felt my fever sweating away and energy flowing back into my body. The next day my temperature died down to 98.2 and I was feeling great. The next few days I continued to heal and on Wednesday evening, the rest of the school returned from camping/climbing and we were re-united. It had been an uneventful few days and I was glad to see activity back on the campus. Thursday morning I left with them to go to Fayetteville, about an hour or so north of Ozark and meet John Ray there. He gave us a lesson on Thursday, my first (and only, really) lesson from him throughout the week.

He talked to us about Transformation, and what that really means. He gave the illustration, that I really appreciated, that transformation was not supposed to be viewed as a bad person becoming good, but rather as a dead man becoming alive. He talked further about how transformation would change our sense of truth (becoming wise), goodness (becoming just), and beauty (becoming free). There was particular emphasis on the latter on how this would come from by practicing hospitality. I valued what he said and I was distraught that I was unable to benefit from his previous lessons.

That evening we went further north to Springdale and visited a youth group for primarily college students and took part in their service. We had worship followed by a couple of volunteers from our DTS giving their testimonies and how the DTS had been a part of that testimony. I was one of the volunteers. We were told to keep it short to five minutes, and I don't think I went on extremely long, but I know I went over five minutes. It wasn't because I didn't know what to say, rather I knew exactly what I wanted to say, it was that I simply enjoyed it quite a bit. I got up there and felt more comfortable than I had in the past when I'd spoken, and I had a good time. I hadn't intended to make people laugh, but it happened regardless, and I just went along with it. I knew that it was not because of me that I enjoyed it and I know it wasn't because of me that the people enjoyed it, I knew that it was totally the Holy Spirit, and I was quite alright with that. That night really helped me feel better about God's calling for me to be a Pastor, and I still get afraid of the thought of it, but I can see how God is slowly but surely molding me into that type of person, and I hope I embrace it and let Him mold me.

Week 6: Finish the Task

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preadched in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

- Matthew 24:14 (NIV)

We got up at 4:45 in the morning, packed our stuff into the trailer, squished into two 12-passenger vans and left our base in Ozark, Arkansas. Our destination? Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 hours away. What was in Ohio? Finish the Task Conference, A conference put on by YWAM centered on fulfilling The Great Commission and how to go about doing that. With hundreds of students and staff from about ten different YWAM bases across the nation, it was a good time. The conference was held at White Oak Christian Church, with the different bases staying in different locations. Most YWAM bases were staying on gym or sanctuary floors in churches, while others were lucky enough to be able to stay in some apartments owned by other churches; we were among the lucky ones. We were spoiled with two rooms, each with four triple bunks and a living room for sleeping in, along with a shower.

Our daily schedule would be getting up at 6:30, leave the apartment at 7 to make it to breakfast at the church at 7:30. Our first meeting was at 8:30 which consisted of worship (amazing worship I should add), intercession of various kinds for different specific missions, and a teaching by Dan Baumann. Dan is an author and missionary, most famous for his time in Iran when he was imprisoned for 9 weeks, which was written about in his book, Imprisoned in Iran. This would go until 12:30 when we would have lunch, followed by either breakout sessions or a community outreach at 2:00. The breakout sessions were hour-long classes where we were taught about various things pertaining to missions, with two of these on Monday and two on Wednesday. The four that I went to were about Church Planting Movements, Universalism, Muslim Culture, and one was an open panel of missionaries that we were able to question and talk with. On Tuesday during this time we had a time to just spend with our base and process what we had been learning thus far, because by that time we had already felt piled on with information. And on Thursday, we had Community Outreach. For my specific outreach, I went with a group of people to a church and helped them with what they needed. My specific job included picking up pieces of logs so they could be cut, and using a chainsaw to slice up larger logs. This time went on until dinner at 5:30, followed by our evening meeting at 7:00. The evening meeting followed a similar itinerary as the morning meeting did, except with a different speaker, this being Danny Lehmann, a well-known Christian author. This evening meeting would go until 9:00-9:30, when we would return to the apartment and go to bed. It was a packed schedule, but it was full of good stuff, good fellowship, and good times.

It’s difficult to give a summary of what was taught to us this week since we had several speakers going over many different topics, but the best summary I could give would be sampling restating the title of the conference. Finish the Task. There are so many people out there who have never heard the gospel, either because their society prohibits it or because no missionaries have made the effort to bring it to them. Either way, we need to do something about it. This does not mean, however, that we are all to storm the airports and head for the isolated, the hidden, the dangerous, and the forsaken with no training, no knowledge of the area, and, perhaps worst of all, no calling. The message definitely struck a few heart chords as I felt for these people who had never had the privilege of knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him. I felt particularly stronger towards people in the Himalayas after they showed us a video (shown here) of some of the unreached people living up there. I’ve started to feel strongly that the people in the Himalayas will be a part of my future, I’m not sure exactly how, but I know God will show me. Other various things I learned are shown below:

-  God is both task- and people-oriented

- The Great Commission is a command to be obeyed

- If you want to be fruitful, just stay connected to Jesus and the fruit will take care of itself. If you focus on being fruitful, however, you will not have much luck

- Our passion is not solely based on emotion, it is based on what Jesus did on the cross and who God is. Although our emotions may vary constantly, our passion should be continually growing

- We are to be like a thermostat, not a thermometer (change the people around you, don't be changed by them)

- When it comes to showing people Christ, it is better to win a friendship than win an argument

After the week spent in Cincinnati, we left Friday morning for Manchester, Kentucky, the City of Hope. It received this title back in 2004. Before then, the town and surrounding county had been controlled completely by drugs, particularly painkillers as it was called the “Painkiller county of America.” The police were corrupt, officials were as well, and there were dealers everywhere. One particular dealer was so successful that he would make an average of $5 million a year. The average cost it would be for people to live the drug lifestyle here in Manchester was $60,000+ a year, where the average income was $12,000, so along with the drugs came stealing and even killings. One person was dying a week because of drug-related problems. Finally, people began to react and want to put a stop to it. So all the pastors from the area met together and talked and prayed intensely about their town’s situation, so they organized a march. Thousands of church-goers gathered and marched for a mile and a half to the park to have a rally against the drug problem in their town. The impact was tremendous. After that, arrests increased by 300% and the amount of deaths related to drugs are virtually non-existent. That march was 8 years ago, and the town of Manchester knows that it is still not perfect and still has some giants to conquer, but they are a city of hope and will be able to take on those giants with God’s help. 

We visited this church and talked to some of the pastors that were in charge of the march and rally and the passion they had for their city was very apparent as they could not stop talking about the amazing things God had being doing in their city and how much grace was given to them. They told us about a Christian rehab center about 16 miles from the town that they had started a while back called Chad’s Hope (shown below). This rehab wasn’t for specifically men with drug problems or alcoholic problems or what have you, but basically men with problems in general, problems that needed the grace of God to be solved for good. The amazing thing about Chad’s Hope is that it received $2.5 million from the government to be established. As far as I know, it is the only totally Christian organization receiving any assistance from the government; a true work of God. We visited Chad’s Hope and talked to and prayed for the men currently taking part in the program. These men told us heartbreaking stories, but really focused their testimonies on God making them new men. Go God.

This week also gave an ample supply of confirmation towards God wanting me to be a pastor. One thought that had been circling through my head was how I have always thought of myself as a poor public speaker and poor at explaining things. While my friends disagreed with me on that point, they also pointed out that even if it were the case, that hadn’t stopped God from appointing others who felt the same way. It’s how God rolls. One significant experience I had this week happened during the last worship session of the conference. I had been having a frustrating time throughout the week trying to participate in worship. Throughout the whole DTS I had been able to worship without problem of feeling like I was actually worshipping God, but for some reason I hadn’t been feeling the fire inside of me strongly at all in the beginning of the week. On Thursday morning I had finally realized I was letting many distractions get to me and my mind was wondering a lot when I should have been keeping my gaze focused on God, and I felt awful about it. I apologized to God and asked for forgiveness repeatedly during the worship. That evening, during the worship, I felt the fire come back and I couldn’t help but kneel while worshipping. As I was kneeling, a random girl came up to me and started praying for me, that I would be a powerful light for God and repeated the phrase, “Forgiven, Mighty Warrior.” I knew she was talking about God forgiving me for my lack of focus. She also told me how God had been telling her to pray for me, and she said that if I start kneeling, then she’d start praying for me. Sure enough, I started kneeling. After she had finished praying, one of the students from my DTS prayed for me as well. She, too, prayed that I be a powerful light and that I would be mighty. What’s more is that when I finally got back to the base in Ozark, I had some mail from my mother, one piece of which was from her bible study. This particular bible study was from the night before I had heard the call from God, and the first thing it mentioned was how God is raising “mighty warriors.” The redundancy of these words is not a coincidence; I am fully aware and I love how God is making all of this known to me. 

There are many other instances that point towards me being a pastor in the future, and it’s getting to the point now where I cannot deny God’s participation in showing me what He has planned for me. No matter how scared I may be and no matter how much I may not want it to happen I cannot ignore how many signs God has given me, and I cannot help but get excited that He is showing me my place in His kingdom and the mission He has given me to bring Him glory wherever I go. I’m excited as I’m noticing these signs more and more and I can’t wait for the next one to be brought to me. This life is an exciting life, and I’m blessed by the grace of God to be able to live it.