Sunday School Recap - Sept. 14

This past week (and for the next two weeks), iConnect and Youth met as one big group to learn how to study their Bibles properly. Any student who either does not have a Bible or who only has a children's Bible will receive a new Life Application Study Bible next week. It's important to learn how to navigate our Bibles and we want to teach that to our students early... and Study Bibles are so useful for that!

Here's a recap of what we learned in class:

Preparing for Bible study:

Step 1: Preparing our hearts

• Pray about it - What do you want to learn? What do you struggle with when it comes to Bible reading? Pray before you get started.
• Think about it - What questions do you have? What are you confused about? In what areas of your life do you want to become more like Jesus?

Step 2: Preparing our surroundings

• Set aside a time - When are you free? When are you too busy? Think about a good time to read your Bible instead of leaving it to the last minute.
• Find a good spot - Find a comfortable place with good lighting and no distractions. Avoid places that will make you sleepy.
• Gather supplies - Useful supplies include pens, notebooks, bookmarks, highlighters, a reading guide/plan, and useful tools such as devotionals, maps, etc.
• Gather other helpful books - this is an optional step. Some people enjoy reading and studying with the help of commentaries, dictionaries, cultural references, etc. These are easy to find in Christian book stores or at Christianbook.com

Navigating the Bible:

Difference between New and Old Testaments - Old was before Jesus, New starts with his life and continues after his death and resurrection. There are more books in the OT and they tend to be longer. There are letters in the NT.

Table of Contents - we made bookmarks so this page is easy to find!

Passage Notes - we looked at Life Application study Bibles to see what kinds of notes they have. Notes at the start of each book describe the themes, the layout of the book, and basic info about the author, audience, purpose, and setting. Notes in the text explain things, relate the text to our life, have charts and references, and the margins contain cross-references to find the same themes in other parts of the Bible.

Back of the Bible - we can find resources such as dictionaries, index/concordance, and maps in even the most basic Bibles. Study Bibles often include other resources such as reading guides, conversion charts, lists of miracles, parables, and prophecies, and more!

Languages - we looked at both the Hebrew and Greek languages as well. Students were able to flip through my Interlinear Bible to see what those languages look like written out.

Assignment for the week - we are encouraging all students to choose one of the following assignments to do this week:

• Flip through your Bible and get familiar with it, OR,
• Gather some supplies and find a good place to read, OR, 
• Look at the maps in the back of your Bible to see where Paul and Jesus travelled during their lives.

Next week we will be talking about translations, reading guides, where to start reading, and we will be trying our hand at studying a passage in depth!