Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Help Your Bible Study Members to Encounter God Through Bible Study

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If you want to see your students encounter God and be spiritually transformed, here are some tips that will help you as you prepare: 


1.   Acknowledge the Holy Spirit and recognize that it is He who teaches and ministers to the students we work with. Watch and pray to see what He wants to teach your students on a weekly basis. 


2.   Make sure the substance of the session searches the Scripture and examines God's Word. The session should not be a simple discussion of personal opinions or beliefs. It is only through studying God's Word that students will discover real truth. When the Word is accompanied by a leader who is living out its teachings, students will likely move closer to accepting and believing in its truth. 


3.  Be careful not to answer your own questions. Give students time to think when you pose a thought-provoking question. Let students know that silence is okay. When we answer our own questions, we teach students that they do not have to respond and that their answers are not important. 


4.  Use activities that lead students to discover the truths of the Bible. When we lead them to discover truths out of God's Word for themselves, we allow opportunity for the Spirit to do His work. 


5.   Watch for the Holy Spirit to make Himself known in the session. Those times frequently take place as students share results of their group work or report on their findings from the Word. Be ready to help students make connections with God during those times. 


6.  Prepare your heart for worship to take place during the Bible study session. Real worship takes place any time we come face to face with God and leave His presence transformed. That means worship should take place in our Bible studies. When God grabs your heart, be transparent and let your students know that you just had a connection with God.


Make sure that sometime during the session your students are given the opportunity to measure their own lives against the Biblical Truth you have studied. When they take the time to look at their lives as compared to a holy God, realize that they fall short of His holiness, and make a commitment to surrender to Him and His truth, then true worship has taken place. This is what we should labor for in our weekly preparations for Bible study



THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR BIBLE STUDY LEADERS: Want to get 5% off every ongoing curriculum order? Use the recurring ordering plan! https://buff.ly/2zdjMjK

FOR BIBLE STUDY LEADERS: Breathing Life into Sunday School by Ken Braddy - https://buff.ly/2LRKYh8

FOR BIBLE STUDY LEADERS: Find the right Bible study curriculum that is best for you/your church. https://buff.ly/2MKuNBO

FOR DISCIPLESHIP:  Register for a free webinar on the 8 signposts of discipleship and how to use it to develop a strategy for discipleship! https://buff.ly/2VjcxE5

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Discipleship Pathway Assessment (DPA) – an online tool to help your congregation see their strengths and weaknesses in their discipleship - https://buff.ly/2vlnqWS

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Gospel Foundations - https://buff.ly/2MXGCow

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Disciple Her by Kandi Gallaty - https://buff.ly/2yi9CxF

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Sacred Holidays by Becky Kiser - https://buff.ly/2GxEmiT

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY:  Take your Women's Ministry Leadership Team to the Leadership Forum in November. https://buff.ly/2Tp4n99

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Sign up for the LifeWay Men’s Newsletter - https://www.lifeway.com/en/shop/ministries/men

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY:  Heroic, The Surprising Path to True Manhood by Bill Delvaux - https://buff.ly/2uCpLw5

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: No More Excuses by Tony Evans - Host a men's event around this streaming event and follow it up with the associated Bible study. https://buff.ly/2HAKgzb

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Milestones - Use this 6 volume set to establish your youth in 10 key spiritual principles (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Bible, Creation, People, Salvation, Church, Family, Community & World). https://buff.ly/2vJmQlS

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY:  Levels of Biblical Learning expanded to 12th grade - https://buff.ly/2Wj32Sw

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: KidMin Toolbox (for those times when you looking for that something extra to do) - https://buff.ly/2LB2hmx

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Use this visual to help your kids understand the timeline of the Bible - https://buff.ly/2B2wPF3

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Kids Ministry Curriculum Comparison Chart - https://buff.ly/2FPKNOh

FOR KIDS MINISTRY:  Get your group leaders a The Gospel Project tee shirt to promote unity and visibility of the study - https://buff.ly/2z373Qj

Final Blog, addendum

As one final joke among my teammates, I was somehow selected to give the devotional at our final Zoom meeting.  Among the 30 team members, I...