The basis of the Disciple-Making conversation is what shaped my final copy of my material, as presented below. I tried to make the handout material as conversational as possible, to reflect true disciple-making conversations.
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In reading the Bible, it is important to not only read the words as they are written on the page, but to truly understand how they fit as a part of the whole story. You cannot simply look at a singular part of a book and take it for the selected verses, without looking further at the context that surrounds the book. Remember, as we discussed earlier, chapter and verse divisions were only created as a part of the publishing process. When reading, look for the following:
· Who was the book originally written for? (Audience)
· When was the book originally written? (Historical Timeline)
· What other passages of Scripture are referenced in this book? (Cross-Reference)
· Who are the main people, and what do I know about them? (Personal Background)
Looking at these topics can help you to create a better framework to understand the text as a whole. Now, try reading the text without paying attention to chapter and verse divisions. Sometimes a thought from the end of one chapter is arbitrarily stuck on to the beginning of another chapter, and you miss the point if you stop reading just because you hit the new chapter number. In the TrueNorth book, Dr Smith likens it to turning off the TV just because you got to a commercial break. When you pick it back up, you won’t remember what happened because you picked an arbitrary stopping point. You don’t do that though…You watch the whole episode at once, and then move onto the next one.
Now, why is this important? Look at the Gospel of Mark for an example. It is the story of Jesus from his baptism, through His time of Ministry and into death, resurrection and ascension. There are many recurring topics that present themselves over the course of the book, and they tie-in to other parts of Scripture. But if you don’t read the book as one continual story, you may very well miss the connections. You wouldn’t start reading a mystery book, get to the point that someone was killed, stop reading and put the book away because you got to a major plot point. Why do we apply this logic to the reading of the Bible?
Go on, give it a try. Read a book in its entirety as one coherent story. Then talk about how your viewpoint changed from your prior understanding of the text.