My Bible Study Notes

A number of years ago, just after I had committed my life to Jesus Christ, a good friend and co-worker, being a very strong Christian, suggested we have a lunch time Bible Study. We did. I received a lot of guidance from Dave.

First - a two-minute testimony:
I grew up going to church. Mom and Dad were faithful Christians and members of the First Christian Church of Lebanon, OR. I had Perfect Attendance awards to prove it. When I was nine or ten, I went forward at an altar call and accepted Christ, and was baptized. Unfortunately that was about as far as it went. When I went away to college, so did my faith - not completely. There was form but little substance.
I got married, and my wife who had accepted Christ in college through Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as CRU) kept insisting that CCC was so great. Hey! I didn't need Campus Crusade, I had accepted Jesus as a kid, what else was needed? But I had not taken stock of my life, and wouldn't admit that my life did not match my profession of faith. My temper was over the top on occasion, scaring the wife and kids. Not that I actually physically abused them; I did not. But I was volatile, and my anger would flare. It always went away quickly, or so I thought. I was just fine, but they were still anxious and worried.
In 1972, Campus Crusade held a big event in Dallas, TX. Donna convinced me to go. So in June 1972 I took my skeptical self to Dallas for Explo '72, to keep her quiet. The big evening meetings were in the Cotton Bowl, the smaller meetings (only a few thousand people) were in the basketball arena.
The Holy Spirit slapped me up side the head with the 'Four Spiritual Laws', and then He bowled me over with 'Four Laws of the Spirit Filled Life'. I knew right then, right there that I had been playing at Christianity the last few years. I re-committed my life to Christ - confessed my sins and failures, accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of my life, and asked to be filled, controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The verse in First  Corinthians "When we are in Christ, old things have passed away, behold, new things have come" truly fits my life. 

Dave is a good mentor. One of his suggestions was to study a book or letter of the scriptures - reading and asking God to help me understand what was being said therein. By the way, no concordances, commentaries, or Bible dictionaries were to be used. That was overwhelming at first. Another part of that suggested study was to write down what I learned as I studied. That was 'doable'.

So that is the genesis (no pun intended) of the beginning of my Bible Study. I have a couple of spiral notebooks, with handwritten observations of the studies. I have started to type them out and save them on the computer. Since that start, I have discovered there are questions and parts that simply require I check a Bible Dictionary, or Commentary, visiting with my pastor, or the notes in a Study Bible. So I have not studied 'cold turkey', and rely on the Holy Spirit to lead me.  

I plan to post them on this blog - not all at once. The notes need to cleaned up and formatted a little better. Please read, enjoy, and I pray there may be a germ or two of insight that will bless your day.

In Christ -