Sunday, May 8, 2016

How to Give Yourself a Biblical Education (Besides Homeschooling)

If you are attending a Public or Private School or Christian School and you have read my last post and you are not able to home school, then I would strongly recommend that you read this post. I'm going to give you fundamental steps on how to educate yourself biblically by giving yourself a proper Biblical Education while still attending any form of schooling.

1)Read you Bible before you eat in the morning.

Matthew 4:4 "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Train your mind and body to seek God and his instruction first. What better way of doing this before you do anything else in the morning.  This will also teach you to be consistent with reading the word of God.

2) Read your Bible Extensively

1 Peter 2:2 "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"

Babies are always hungry. We all know that if a baby is crying, it either needs a dipper change, or is hungry. We should always be hungry. Don't expect to grow in the knowledge of God if you only read a Psalm a day or a Chapter a day. I personally read 5 to 10 chapters a day. I am a living witness to those of you who cant get past 10 verses to say that it is possible. Read the entire Bible from cover to cover. How much you read depends on how much you will learn. You will never learn unless you read.

Romans 15:4" For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

I would also recommend reading in a quiet and private place for better insight. Also it might not be a good idea to read on your phone unless you can turn off your notifications to limit distractions. 

3) Study your Bible

Studying and reading are two completely different things. Studying means you are seeking knowledge to a certain question. Studying is also very hard.

Ecclesiastes 12:12 " And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."

You can be done with reading fast, but Studying can take time. And sometimes hours and hours. When studying you might want to have a concordance and an Oxford dictionary (or just use the internet). And to see your progress, keep a journal. Studying is very essential to wisdom and understanding. If you don't study, you don't learn. And if we have a problem with understanding a passage, ask (James 1:5)

4) Meditate on God's Word

This is something that we undermine. And is something that we confuse. Meditating doesn't mean you are chanting. Meditation in the Bible means you are expounding and looking deeper into scripture in your mind. It is another form of study, but done entirely in your mind. The thing with meditation is that it requires that you MEMORIZE scripture. And memorization means you can RECITE scripture. The three go hand and hand. Since we live in such a fast paste society, we just don't have much time to sit down with a Bible for hours. The answer to this problem is memorization. If you memorize scripture, you can freely meditate on it. Meditation can help us solve things we don't understand with that scripture. Memorization, Recitation, and Meditation implies that you understand the Bible and you know it's commandments. God's word says that this is the key to success.

Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

Psalm 77:12 " I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings."

Memorize verses, then chapters, then books, then sections, then testaments, then the Bible.

5) Sing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (exclusively)

Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heats to the LORD."

Admonish- To warn or reprimand someone firmly.

This should be obvious, but being a friend of the world will not increase wisdom. Worldly and secular music should not come out of your tongue or go into your ears.  The Bible teaches that we are to be separate, not conformed to the world.  Furthermore, singing is what the Bible says we should do to grow in learning. And if you sing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, this means that you are LEARING something. You should learn doctrine and scripture when singing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. God created music for the purpose of Worship and teaching. God did not create music for mantra or self-glory. God created music for himself and already told us what it should sound like and what instruments to use when singing it. Singing to God will increase your wisdom.

6) Soul-Winning

Proverbs 11:30 "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."

Soul-Winning is not only a commandment, but also a benefit (as with all of God's commandments). I can testify that soul-winning does increase wisdom. Just think about it, you have to memorize the location of scriptures to show people verses on salvation; you have to then show them scripture on what happens if we don't accept Christ; afterwards you have to have a good ground in scripture to be able to answer any questions or confront any false doctrine the person may believe. These are all components of salvation. And the only way to grow in these things is to go soul-winning. The last one could take time to develop, but learning the other two are essential. Soul-winning builds character, communication, and other social skills. You will also enhance your perception skills and we know that Jesus "perceived" various times in the Bible (Matthew 13:14, Mark 2:8, Mark 4:12, Mark 7:18, Mark 8:17, Luke 8:46,  Luke 5:22, etc.) He that wins souls is wise.

7) Go to Church

1 Timothy 3:15 " But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

Church is where you will receive most of your Biblical Education. It should have the Word of God, Preaching, Soul-Winning, Singing, and Study. This is the ultimate way to increase your knowledge.

1 Timothy 4:13 "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine."

Reading- You verbally read God's Word to the Congregation (Nehemiah 8:2-3,  Deuteronomy 4:1-6, Luke 4:17-21

Exhortation- You encourage the congregation to follow the Bible (Joshua 1:7,9, Psalm 11:1, Psalm 1:1-2)

Doctrine- You teach God's word (1 Timothy 5:17, 2 Timothy 3:16, John17:17, Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Peter 3:15)

Church is where most of our Biblical Education should come from giving that it is a commandment (Hebrews 10:25). Even though we need not that any man should teach us (1 John 2:27) we still must assemble anyway.

Obey God!





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