of the Bible in a teenager's class. I know for some of this, it's a review. Some of us, maybe we need to learn books of the Bible. I'm not gonna make any of you guys say them today. I know they've been trying to say them. They have gift cards up here for those that can say all 66 books in order. If you wanted to, you could stand up here and say them in front of everybody, but I'm not. I'm gonna give you guys another week of grace, but we've been learning about There is groupings in the books of the Bible, the books of the law, the books of history, books of poetry. I know you guys probably can't read this. There's major prophets, there's minor prophets, not that they are less valuable, but they are shorter books. Okay, there's the gospels. that are written in harmony, four Gospels, four different perspectives, viewpoints. Book of Acts is history again, and then there's letters to churches, letters to friends, and general letters. Now, there was other churches that were started in the New Testament time period, but they didn't all have letters written to them. Paul wrote letters to the ones that needed letters. And then the book of Revelation is another book of prophecy, as well as a letter from John. So, besides learning about the books of the Bible this week, we've been studying in a book that we call The Tune In. And in this book, we also learn about Bible genres. We learned some of that last week. Kids, do you remember any of the genres of the Bible? There's narratives. I'm going to help you out, because there's narratives. Some of the Bible is written as a narrative. Some of it's written as a law. You guys want to guess any of the other ones? Poetry, poetry is one of them. Some of it is written as wisdom, epistles or letters, parables, and prophecy. Those are some of the ways the genre as the Bible was written. Okay, so I'm gonna tell you a story now that I told the kids last week, and this comes as a news report. Okay, the news report is that there was a hippopotamus that was lost in the Danube River, by the Danube, okay, over in Europe, and he was wandering through the woods. And he was quoting Robert Frost, whose woods these are, I think I know, his house is in the village though. He will not see me coming near to watch his woods fill up with snow. The little hippo thinks it weird to walk without a farmhouse near. He has miles to go before he sleeps, miles to go before he sleeps. But one thing is for sure, the hippo, they didn't know if he came from the Buddha Zoo or the zoo in Pest. but he was a hungry, hungry hippo. All right. Now in that example, we had a little bit of narrative as a news report. We had some poetry thrown in, and we had a dad joke. So those are all. different examples of genres. And in the Bible, when we read or study our Bible, we need to know there's different genres that the Bible is written in. Some of it, all of it is important. Some of it is written as law or written as narrative, like so-and-so begat so-and-so begat so-and-so, like Matthew chapter one, that I think you guys are studying for Bible quizzing. And that is written, was like listed different names, but all those people have a life. And we can study some of those lives back and see how the grace of God was shown to them. And we see, observe that all of those people had a life and they had a death. They all passed away. And only one of them was resurrected. That was Jesus that came out of that list. So let's turn to the book of 2 Samuel. I'm gonna give you an example of some genres real quick, and then later we're gonna go into observation skills. How do we study our Bible? What is some ways that we observe the Bible? Oh, I need to turn there too. But 2 Samuel, we're gonna start, I'm gonna start in chapter number one. So if you know your books of the Bible, you know Samuel comes before Kings. I'm going to read to you from 2 Samuel, and I want you guys to tell me if this is part of a narrative, part of a parable, part of poetry or prophecy. I'll start reading a few verses, and then you guys shout it out when you know the answer. 2 Samuel 1, verse 17. And Daniel lamented his lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow. Behold, it is written in the book of Jeshur. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How art the mighty fallen? Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon. Let the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, let the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Galboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offering, for the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. and that could keep going on through several verses. But this is actually an example, does anybody wanna guess what it is? What's that? Poetry, he gets into poetry. This is one of the Psalms that's quoted later in the Bible, but all the way through verse 27, it's an example of poetry in 2 Samuel. A lot of 2 Samuel is written as a narrative, this is poetry. Let's flip over to chapter number five. show you examples of some difference. A lot of different genres in one book of the Bible. All right, there I am. Chapter five. Verse one, then came all the tribes of Israel to David on the Hebron and spake, saying, behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he who led us out and brought us in Israel. And the Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king of Hebron, King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. Anybody want to guess what this is? History or narrative that it's talking about. Okay. Let's go to chapter 7 as we're moving along here. Chapter number seven, starting in verse 12. I'll start reading for you. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Prophecy, we got that one. Those two verses are talking about prophecy, things to come. Now let's flip over to chapter 12, and we'll do one more. In chapter 12, I'll start reading for you. And he came unto him and said unto him, there were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing, save his own little ewe lamb, which he had brought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him, and with his children, and it did eat his own meat and drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and he was unto him as a daughter. And there came a travel owner to the rich man and he spared to take his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that he was coming to him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And I could keep going on there through verse 10. This is Nathan's talking unto David, and he's speaking as a, anybody wanna guess? It's a parable. Okay, so there's different examples of genres in the Bible, just in one book of the Bible. And these genres, we wanna learn to identify and to observe. When we read the Bible, we are to observe, interpret, and then apply it, apply it to our lives. So we're gonna talk about some observation skills today, and I wish my podium was bigger. But the things we want to observe, number one, is context. Context of the Bible. We don't wanna take things out of context. All right, that's right. But imagine as if there was a chain. You guys all know what a chain looks like. And there's a link in the chain. And there's many links before the chain, and there's links after the chain. It's all part of the same chain. So like a Bible verse is like a chain link. And we don't We're not taking that one chain link apart. It's all part of the chain together. Sometimes in context, these links are connected. We need to know like cultural context or historical context. Anybody name, there's are like places, people that are a part of the events. Can we name some different places that the Bible is written? that places the Bible is referencing when it's talking about. Oh, in the back. Yeah, the Roman Empire was a big part of the New Testament. Any other countries that the people, events took place in? Yeah. Egypt, a lot of times they went down to Egypt, or Moses grew up in Egypt. Obviously Israel, but there's different events that happened at the time in Israel. There was the Philistines that were there, or different groups that they were in battle against, different people groups in Egypt. Iraq is another modern day country that the Babylonian Empire was in, and Iran. and modern-day Turkey, and modern-day Greece, and Macedonia, or Macedonia, however you wanna say it. There's all these places that are part of the Bible that are real places, and that is context. Let's turn to Matthew chapter number 16, and we'll talk a little bit about knowing culture and how it's important in the Bible. Matthew 16, verse 24, this is Jesus going to be talking here. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Now, if we just read this verse and we don't apply anything that we know about the history or where they are or culture, it might be hard to understand. But knowing the culture, we know that to take up your cross, and we know Jesus carried his own cross all the way to the place where he was crucified. The crucifixion was a way that the Romans, the Roman empire who was in control at the time, executed criminals. So to take up your cross was a form of humility that had been humiliating to have to actually carry the lumber yourself that you were going to be executed on. So it is to say that for us to apply this then, that to take up our cross and follow Jesus takes sacrifice and humility, okay? which is what they're pointing out. So context is very important. We have to observe context and cultural context. We also want to observe the text that we're reading. A lot of times when we are reading, studying our Bibles, The thing I would submit to you is that maybe we should take notes. Write things down. As you observe things in the Bible, record it. Write it down. Fill up your pages. Record observations. It's kind of like a scientific process. You observe, and then you interpret, and then you apply it. But write down things that you observe. Turn with me Colossians chapter number one. I promise you our class time is not going to go into snack time today. Amen. Colossians chapter number one. We're going to do a little study here. I think I'm going to have Colossians 1, 13 through 20, you guys can start reading it and then I will read it aloud. I want you to try to identify what word in this passage is repeated the most, repeated over and over again. I'll start reading, bringing it with you here in verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Make sure I'm on the right verses here. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I wanna make sure we're reading the right verses. Okay, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be in earth, or things in heaven? Anybody want to take a guess? Him? Jesus? And you are on the right track. All things, or just the word all, repeated over and over there, referring to Christ, verse 15 through 20, that all things that The repetition of the word all will help you understand the point of the passage. The repeated word conveys the truth that Christ is responsible for all that is and that he is preeminent over all things and beings. So that's a little observation skill there in that text. Okay, now. When we do make observations, we can observe words, but a lot of times we also need to observe what's going on in the narrative. So think of yourself as like a journalist. And when a journalist is interviewing or observing something that's going on, a lot of times they ask six questions. I got six fingers. All right. And a lot of times I say the who, what, when, where, why, and how. or they put it in a different order in here, but the way we think. I'm gonna turn over to James chapter four, a familiar verse that I share a lot. In James chapter number four and verse 13, Anyway, I know I know the verse, but I want to read it to you. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain. When we observe this verse, and I've shared this with the church before over the years, different years, we can observe what, why, when, how, and where Okay? So what are they going to do? They're going to buy and sell. Why are they doing that? To get gain. When are they going? Today or tomorrow? How are they going? They're probably walking there. They didn't have trains or planes or automobiles. Where are they going to such a city? But who is going? ye that say it, the people, you are going. We can observe all those things in those verse. And this is an example of people making plans and they know the what, why, when, how, what they want to do. But what's, what they, a lot of times what they forget about is God, is who is part of that. They need to make God part of their plans. Let's study another one, Philippians chapter number one. I think we'll actually be in the book of Philippians for a while now, so we'll go to Philippians chapter number one. And I still got 15 minutes, this is good. If you know your books or your Bible, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, is that right? Philippians chapter number one. I got a lot of study notes in my Bible. Okay. So this is, we need to ask questions, too, for as part of observation. Now let's read Philippians chapter one, verses one and two, and see what we can observe from reading these verses. I'll read them with you. and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ. To all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the introduction of a letter from Paul to the church in Philippi. Philippi, which was, we need to know our culture, What part of what modern day country? You might want to take a guess. I hope I'm getting it right. Yeah. Yes, it was the capital city of Macedonia, which I think is still in Macedonia. But, so what else can we observe here? Paul and Timothy were both sending a message to Philippi. Paul and Timotheus, they're together, it says. Christ Jesus had servants. We are like servants of Jesus, those that are doing his work. Paul and Timothy were both servants of Jesus Christ. The saints are in Christ Jesus. The letter was especially for the saints in Philippi. That's why he was writing the letter to them, but it can be applied for our lives as well. We can apply things to our lives. Three groups received the letter, the saints, the bishops, and the deacons. This is all from verse one. All three of the groups needed the same message. Paul and Timothy wished grace to the saints and bishops and deacons. They wished peace to the saints, bishops, and deacons. God is the father of Paul and Timothy, in verse two, from God our father, okay? God is a source of grace and peace. God gives his grace and peace to saints, bishops, deacons. And finally, Jesus Christ is Lord. Those are all observations that we can make from studying just those two verses by asking questions, like who, what, when, where, why, and how. But when we study our verses and we study the context, we also, we don't want to take things out of context, so to say. We don't want to be premature and make an application. So we want to resist premature application. So we observe, we interpret, we apply. What is maybe the problem with making applications before observations? Go ahead. You don't necessarily have all the information, or we can make mistakes. Some passages appear to teach one thing, but teach something quite different. Observations help us recognize any misconceptions we might have about a passage. So if we don't resist the urge to make premature applications, we run the risk of making wrong or incomplete applications, okay? When you make notes, We're talking about making notes learned by avoid making observations that start with personal pronouns like I or we. Such observations are really applications. We also need to guard against making applications based on emotion rather than fact. We need to know the facts. Emotional applications that aren't based on the truth won't last. So God doesn't want God doesn't use what we feel or think is right to change us, only what is right. So like, here's an example. A lot of people will say, in the world, to follow your heart, okay, wherever that application is coming from. But what the Bible is telling us to do, what the Bible says about our heart is that it's deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Let's turn over Oh, here's a funny example for you. Don't want to forget this. text messages can be misinterpreted sometimes or emails that we send out especially in business if you don't know the context or you don't know the person or understand what they're trying to say. That's why for me a lot of times it's better to walk to somebody's office and talk to them in person so we get the full conversation and understand. Here's a humorous email somebody sent, but by mistake they sent it to their foreign core workers instead of the ones in America. Okay. And it said, went to grab a bite. Be back in a jiffy. Don't start this shin dig without me. Now, how can that be misinterpreted or applied wrongly? People that don't understand what a jiffy is, they might think he's talking about peanut butter. I think we understand he's not talking about peanut butter, he's talking about being back soon. He says, and then he said, I'm going to grab a bite. What could a bite be? Is he talking about food or is he talking about computer hardware and RAM? Maybe a megabyte, okay? Don't start the shin dig without me. Does everybody know what a shin dig is? It's a surgery, right? And you're cutting into your leg. But if you don't know the context of the person or what's being applied here, it can be misrepresented. Now, we're in the book of Philippians. Are we saying, let's turn over to chapter number four. And we're going to read a popular verse here with a few minutes that we have left. We might even get done early. Right, let's see how well we do with this last application, with this last lesson. Philippians 4 and verse 13, we don't wanna, we wanna give the little kids time to finish third class as well. Philippians 4, 13, popular verse, right? I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now, if we leave it at that verse, what is the common mistake? I can go jump off the mountain and God is gonna save me, I'll be just fine, because I can do all things. Right? But, now let's back up. We're gonna read, starting in verse 10, and we're gonna read all the way through verse 19. and we're gonna read the verses before it, we're gonna read the verses after it, so that we can get a sense of what Paul is talking about here. He said, but I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. So in those verses before it, What observations can we make? Anybody want to take a shot at one or I can just read them to you? Okay. First of all, the Philippians showed care for Paul's financial needs. Okay. They were wanting to take care of him. Number two, the Philippians initially lacked the opportunity to help Paul. Paul had learned to be content no matter his financial state. That's a key verse right there. Whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Sometimes Paul had experienced poverty and sometimes plenty. Paul served God regardless of his financial standing. And a sixth observation, Paul trusted God's timing in meeting his needs for support. So we need to apply all those verses there. So what does he mean by all things in this section? that he's talking about his financial standing. Okay, now let's read the rest of the verses. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, notwithstanding ye have well done. that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit. that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of a papyriditis the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. We're going to stop there. The observations that we can make now from verses 14 through 19, Paul commended the Philippians for their financial gift to support his ministry from the beginning. Paul sought not the gift This is key in verse 17. Not that I desire gift, but I desire fruit. Pastor McQueen talks a lot about fruit. Where was I? Paul sought not the gift, but the spiritual fruit that would abound to the Philippians account. Paul abounded financially from the Philippians gift. Paul called the Philippians' gift a well-pleasing sacrifice to God. Paul assured the Philippians that God would supply their financial need. So now, after looking at all the verses, 10 through 19, we can make a full observation, okay? Paul's contentment was not based on his circumstances. Christ was his strength, whether he had much or whether he had little. So Paul could do everything necessary to serve Christ because Christ would strengthen him to continue in poverty or plenty. See the difference there? It's not that we can do anything is that we can do all things through Christ. Meaning, Paul's claim to do all things includes all things that involve service for Christ, no matter what the circumstances. That is our application to us. Well, we can do all things through Christ. that involves service for Christ no matter the circumstances. So observing the context led us to understand the true meaning of the passage. That is the end of our lesson today. We're talking about observation skills. I hope this is good, helpful for you guys. And this is what we're teaching our teenagers, kind of a back to the basics kind of class so far this year. And we will be getting into more in the following weeks about how to applying, interpreting, and applying our Bible. study guides and things like that. So now for the teenagers, you're coming up on your fine arts time and your Bible quizzing time that they're going to be doing. When we're studying even for the Bible quizzing, keep in mind you're not just studying to memorize stuff, you're trying to Observe it, interpret it, and apply it to your lives while you're studying, even for Bible quizzing. Okay, we can close in a word of prayer, and then we'll turn you loose for the snacks. All right.