Kids - Basic Training
How Do I Read the Bible? - Week 1
June 1-2, 2019 |
This four-week, interactive-video series will set kids up to explore how to use their Bible, who God is, what following Jesus means and how they can grow in their faith. They will learn that while physical training is important, training their souls is the most important thing they could do. Our souls live forever, after all!
WORSHiP
BIBLE VERSE
“Training your body helps you in some ways. But devotion to God helps you in every way," 1 Timothy 4:8.
GROUP Q&A
- What are some reasons we read our Bible? (Discuss. Examples: so our friendship with Jesus will grow, so we will know what God says is true, so we will know the best way to live, etc.)
- What is the memory verse? ("Training your body helps you in some ways. But devotion to God helps you in every way," 1 Timothy 4:8.)
- What is the bottom line? (Training my soul lasts forever.)
PARENT BIBLE STUDY
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:12-13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. This is the best-known passage in the Bible about the Bible.
“God breathed” stresses the origin and authority of Scripture. When we read the Bible, we take in truth breathed out by God and written down by men. These writers were intensely connected to God—people like Moses, David, Solomon, the prophets—who spoke God’s Word to people and then wrote it down—as well as Jesus’ own disciples who followed him around for three years watching him perform miracles and hearing his teachings. The apostle Paul wrote much of the New Testament based on what he saw during Jesus’ time on earth and then after Jesus at the beginning of the Christian church.
If we believe that the Bible is God’s true and perfect Word, then we believe that it shows us the best way to live. So we choose to put our lives under its authority. Believing that the Bible is true and doing what it says is our source of life as we walk with Jesus. He said in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The Bible is our spiritual food, and as we read it and live it, we nourish and grow our faith.
But even if we know all of that, the Bible can still be confusing and difficult to read. Commentaries and study books can help unpack some of the cultural issues we may stumble over, or explain God’s actions, including the horrific violence and destruction sometimes described in the Bible. We have to remember that this book spans thousands of years of history and multiple cultures. Also, it’s made up of different types of writing—songs, history texts, letters, law books, accounting and census ledgers, and biographies. Remembering the theme of the Bible as a whole can help ground us: Salvation through faith in Jesus. All 66 books, Genesis through Revelation, tell a story of redemption, with Jesus as the central character. The Old Testament prophesies his coming, and characters like Moses and Joseph point us to God’s heart to redeem his people. Then the New Testament describes Jesus’ humble entrance into the world and with it, God’s plan to bring salvation to the lost, broken and sinful people he loves.
Searching the Bible for this theme always reveals God’s heart.
What parts of the Bible are difficult for you to understand?
How can knowing that salvation through Jesus is the theme of the Bible help?
