1

Becoming a Good Listener

In this lesson, we look at the benefits of Bible study, setting ourselves up for success with prayer, the posture of our hearts, and developing the capture capabilities, and finish out by discussing good steps to listening well.

2

Study Styles & Layering

There are many study methods and styles, but I have distilled them down into three basic styles – Inductive, Deductive, and Collaborative – that when layered together, produce the most reliable and full outcomes for the student of the Bible.

3

Basic Interpretation Skills

There are some basic interpretation skills that will help you “mine the gold” out of the Word of God.  We can add some basic biblical Hermeneutic principles that can be applied to help us safely extract principles for living. 

4

Lessons in Language

Understanding the structure and parts of the English language can significantly elevate our interpretation of what we read in the biblical text.  Layering some good practices regarding digging deeper into the original Hebrew and Greek languages can yield even more rich treasures of meaning.

5

Tools for Understanding

Here we will review both the old-school and new-school versions of study helps, such as lexicons, concordances, expository dictionaries, translations, and commentaries.  We can and should also employ historical tools that help to shed light on the contemporary world that helped shape and give context to the Biblical text.

6

Assembling the Message

After our Inductive, deductive, and collaborative studies, we will learn how to distill and assemble the specific, broad, original, generational, and practical messages that represent the pure gold of the Word of God.  This important last step will crystalize the meaning of each passage studied into conveyable principles that are transferable and applicable to everyone.

7

BONUS WEEK – Study Lab

This Bonus Week will give everyone an opportunity to utilize all the principles of a good listener, study styles, interpretation principles, language, study tools, and assembly skills as we all study the same few verses of Scripture separately over 1 week and then come together to “Compare & Share” what we have each learned.