These bi-weekly memos are to provide encouragement, exhortation, and spiritual nourishment in the lives of those who have signed the Message Bearer Creed as you prepare to serve the Lord globally, and are influencing your peers with this vision.

 Series Title: The Message Bearer God Uses

For the winter and spring of this semester I want to bring a series of memos to you entitled The Message Bearer God Uses. It will consist of ten writings based on various characteristics of a message bearer that God desires to cultivate in the lives of those in the emerging generation. Each memo will highlight different issues that all surround the central issue of becoming useful in the hands of the living God, as those who want to impact a dying world with the love of Jesus Christ.

Memo Topic # 1: One Who Is Bible-Centered

One of the greatest critiques of the younger generation today in many Christian circles relates to the lack of biblical knowledge and understanding this generation possesses. Many say that this is the most biblically illiterate generation in a long time, maybe ever. Some complain that because of all the entertainment that is out there, the younger generation is just not interested in the hard work necessary to study the Bible and be taught by God through it. This is a compelling reason, among many others, to do all that we can to become people of the Word of God.

As committed followers of Jesus we know that He calls us to be people of His Word. We hear all the time that we are supposed to be reading our Bible and having our “quiet time”. I want to challenge us to get away from the sense of duty (and guilt) that this puts on us and instead recognize the thrill and privilege that it is to get to go deep with God through studying, meditating, and praying His word. When we approach it from a mere religious perspective, the Bible is rather dull and unattractive, but when approached through a heart that says, “Jesus, I want to know you in every way possible! I want to understand your ways and your thoughts! I want to gain revelation of what it is that you are saying to us today! I want to burn with a love for you and want you to open up divine mysteries to me!” we begin to experience it in a whole new light. God wants to set your heart aflame with a hunger and thirst to press into Him through studying His word, thus receiving spiritual revelation to you on a regular basis.

Many of us have recognized these truths concerning His word. We are so grateful to God for its wisdom and teachings and we truly love it. It has changed our lives and set us free from countless issues through its authority. And if you asked us if we spend time studying it regularly we would respond with a wholehearted “YES!” and this would be a sincere answer, yet when we take a good look at our schedules, we may realize that we haven’t spent as much time in Bible study as we thought we had. We had an intention to spend loads of time in the Word, but life kind of got in the way. Our heart’s desire is there, but it seems that most people don’t seem to get around to it as they think that they do. They place such a high value on the Word and its importance that they actually think they spend more time in it than in reality they do!

On top of this, for many, Bible study is haphazard. They open the Bible to whatever place it falls to and read a few chapters from there. Later in the week they go to a Bible Study and read a few chapters that are the focus of that particular study. Two days later they read a devotional that takes them to a completely different book of the Bible and so they read a few chapters from there. So they get some of the Word in their hearts, but in a random sort of way and not in a way that will give them a thorough grasp and deep spiritual understanding, items quite useful for the life of a message bearer! The predominant reason for this is that they did not have an action plan in place to study the Bible. When we look honestly, most of us do not possess a plan for studying the Bible and this ends up hurting us more than we might think.

A professor of mine, Bobby Clinton from Fuller Seminary describes a Bible-Centered Christian as a person:

            1)  Whose life and leadership is informed by the Bible

            2)  Who has been shaped personally by Biblical values

            3)  Who has grasped the intent of Scriptural books and their content in such a way as to apply them to current situations

            4)  Who uses the Bible in ministry so as to impact others

In contrast, some alternatives to being a Christian who is Bible-Centered are being a Christian who is:

1)       Fad-Centered – This is one who reads the Bible somewhat but is more interested in the latest spiritual fad to teach and feed them

2)       Tradition-Centered – One who reads the Bible somewhat but is more influenced and molded spiritually by what is expected of someone from their particular group or organization.

3)       Floundering – One who uses the Bible somewhat but is at a loss on how to really encourage others and speak into their lives using God’s word.

Let’s look at one example of a Biblical character who was Bible-Centered. Look at Ezra 7:10. It reads, “For Ezra had prepared His heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” Ezra was a man who knew how to use the word of God in varying situations that needed it. This came out of a built up reservoir of biblical understanding and spiritual knowledge because he was centered upon being a student of God’s word. He studied it and set his heart to do it. He wasn’t content with only being a student as he understood that he was then responsible to do something about it. He responded with action as a result of his study. Few have seen the kind of impact of the Word like Ezra did! Other Biblical examples of Bible-Centered people include Joshua, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, Peter, Paul and many others.

Psalm 1:2-3 reads, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night; and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in due season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” There is so much good stuff packed into these two little verses. I encourage you to study all of Psalm 1 in depth as it captures the very heart of a Bible-Centered person powerfully! Let me highlight the five qualities that Psalm 1 declares will be associated with the Bible-Centered Christian. Stability, Consistency, Endurance, Integrity, Perspective. Do you need and want these in your life?

Now I want to help you develop an action plan for your Bible study so that you can become a Bible-Centered Christian. Many of us, even those in Bible colleges, are not taught these practical things. Know that it will take time, discipline, and effort on your part to create the habits necessary to get you to a place where in-depth study of the Word becomes a normal, everyday practice. But it is such an awesome journey as we partner with God!

The first thing to do is prayerfully choose a certain number of books that you want to study in the next year. This year I chose eleven. Half of them are in the Old Testament and half in the New Testament. Write these book names down in the order that you would like to study them. Some leaders encourage dividing your study up so that you study at least 1 book from all the various portions of the Bible, giving you more grasp on the full revelation of scripture: This means something from the Pentateuch (Genesis- Deut.), from the Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, Chronicles, Ruth, and Song of Solomon), from the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets), from the Gospels, from the Epistles, etc. The reason you want to write the books down is so that you stay focused. You will be tempted to want to study a book that is not on your list and a list to refer to will help keep focus and diligence. I am not encouraging legalism, be flexible as the Holy Spirit leads, but keep focused! 

My Bible intake on a general day will include a couple of Psalms, one proverb, a chapter or two in a gospel and three chapters of serious study in whatever book I’m currently studying. Presently it is Nehemiah. I read from the Psalms, a Proverb and the gospels daily so as to consistently be taught by Jesus Himself (the Word in flesh), be consistently caught up with a heart of adoration and praise as Psalms leads me into, and to grow in spiritual wisdom, understanding and knowledge as Proverbs unveils to me.

The second thing to do is to get a notebook and two commentaries to use as you study. Generally the way that I study a book is to first read through it thoroughly without trying to grasp all the spiritual principles and insight in that first reading. I try to read it in one sitting even, taking a Saturday afternoon or something to read it through as a whole. This gives me the basic story line and highlights the flow of the book. Reading in one sitting sometimes opens your eyes to things you missed when you read it in chunks. Then I go back and begin reading it portion by portion for study purposes. I have the commentaries handy and I get the historical input and other important info from those. I look over a few verses at a time, ask the Holy Spirit who is the writer of the scriptures, to teach me from them, and then I jot down in the notebook the gist of the passage including spiritual principles that are drawn from it. If you learn to do this regularly as a young adult in your twenties you will develop a storehouse of spiritual insight the Lord shows you by the time you are forty or fifty.

The most effective message bearers around the world are those who are saturated in the Word of God. They are able to pull from the Bible spiritual principles applicable to every cultural background you can find. The Bible has so much more to offer then what we have experienced with it. It possesses so much more wealth and treasure than we give it credit for.  I guarantee that if you will commit to the hard, but joyful, work of meditating and studying the Word, God will open up avenues for ministry like you never expected. He will know that He can trust you as one who is a primed and prepared vessel to be His mouthpiece!

Attached you will find a couple of documents to aid in your pursuit of becoming a Bible-Centered Message Bearer. They are basically to gauge your current grasp of the Bible. They are test-oriented and can take some time, but are fun and well worth the effort to do them. They really help to show where you are at in terms of scriptural knowledge and prove to humble us, which is a good thingJ. Feel free to use them and to share them with your friends. They are from Dr. J. Robert (Bobby) Clinton, professor of leadership at Fuller Seminary.

Prayer:

Father, I long to be a person who is clothed with your Word. One who allows the Word to form me, break me, teach me, and open my eyes to revelation I never knew about. One who is able to encourage and teach others and speak with prophetic unction today as a result of abiding in your Word. Give me diligence to become a student of the Bible. I commit myself afresh to this endeavor. I want to hunger for your Word. Help me as I move forward in this way Holy Spirit, for I am weak!