How to Study the Bible Pt 2: What Does It Say?

especially in all this heat, so it's good to see everybody. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started. Father, thank you. Thank you for the day, God. Lord, I just thank you for all the ways you take care of us and provide for us. Lord, I thank you for your grace and your mercy. God, I thank you for your Son, Jesus. Lord, we just want to spend some time tonight, Lord, just lifting praise to you

because you're worthy of all of our praise. Lord, we just want to spend some time in your Word tonight, Lord, so just prepare our hearts to receive from you, Lord. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive. We love you, we praise you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. Lord, we come to you this evening, God, just with an attitude of thanks, of an attitude of gratefulness, Lord God, for all that you've done for us, Lord God. I know that's more than we can even begin to comprehend. But, God, we give you thanks for all that you do for us and how much you love us, Father. For sure, I can sing these songs.

As I often breathe songless day.

But I'm nothing else fit for. I've got just one arm stretched wide.

Worship you, my soul. Don't you get shy on me. Lift up yours, lift up yours. But I'm nothing else except for. Worship your, Jesus, my everything.

Worship your majesty.

Worship your whole. Jesus, my essence. Inhabit all. Heaven break out.

Lord God, we just thank you for the day, God, again. Lord, we invite your Holy Spirit to come here tonight, Lord God, and just move in a mighty way. Lord, come and invade our hearts. Wash over us like a flood. Rain down on us, Lord. God, just prepare our hearts to receive from you tonight.

We praise you and we thank you, Lord. Lord, God's people said, amen.

Good evening. Okay, first of all, if you do not have a Bible, if you do not have something to write with or write on, why don't you put your hand up. I've got a couple of big helpers right here that are going to bring some notepads and pens around. Hopefully, I have enough. I've got about 25 or so, so hopefully, I do. If not, my bad.

And there's more pens out in the foyer if you need to go get some more.

So a couple hands up, a few hands up over here. Oh, wait. Isaac, she needs a pen back there.

He's coming. He's on his way.

All right. We've got one more hand up over here for a pen as well.

And then you need some paper.

What's that? I know, it's true. Yeah. One more up here if you've got one left. Perfect.

All right. Hey, everybody, give those boys a big hand.

All right. Thank you. Okay. So tonight, we start into technically part two, but really part one of how to study your Bible. So a few things that we're going to cover before we kind of get into some things. So if you would, open up. Open your Bible to Psalm 1 because that's what we're going to be covering. It's what we're going to look at for the next three weeks together.

So open up to that.

But before we get into starting to look at the text, there's a few things that I kind of want to address, some things to think about. So the first thing that I want to talk about is choosing the right sword, right? The scripture refers to the Bible as the sword of the spirit. Or the word of God. So the first thing you got to do is choose your weapon. Now, there's a lot of different Bible translations out there.

And everybody wants to know what is the best Bible translation. There's a whole sect of people called the King James only people. If you're one of those people, praise God for you because I can't read the King James. Matter of fact, I was actually just looking on this thing called Best Christian Memes, which BTW, if you're not following that on Instagram, you should be.

And it was how to break up with your significant other. Using only the King James Bible. And they were hilarious, right? So I'm not a King James only sort of a person. So here's my philosophy on Bible translations. And it's taken me a long time to get to this point. But it is how I feel now. The best Bible translation is the one that you will read, right? So, so I honestly,

I think the two most accurate translations in my personal opinion are the New King James and the New American Standard. If you talk to somebody that loves New American Standard, they will tell you it is the most accurate translation that there is. Listen, it's pretty accurate translation. I think the New King James is every bit as accurate. I should prefer it over the New American Standard.

I used it all through Bible college. I used it for the first 13 years of ministry. But then when I started teaching on Sunday mornings here, I would use the New King James. And I heard a couple of people say, I have no idea what he's reading because I was reading a different translation than you. So I switched over to the New American Standard, because that's what everybody here was used to.

And so that's what I used on Sunday morning. Somebody asked me one time, so why do you use the New American Standard? I said, because that's what everybody else used. And I didn't want to confuse anybody. So the best translation is the one that you can read. And the one that you can read, listen, is the one that you can understand, right? I will give certain Bible translations a hard time.

Please don't choose the message. That's all I'll say. But I'll give certain Bible translations a hard time because they're maybe not as literal as they should be. So I don't want to confuse the New King James or the New American Standard. But listen, the fact of the matter is, choose a translation. New Living Translation is really good. The ESV is really good.

Christian Standard Bible is what I'm reading in my devotions right now. And it's a really good translation. Of course, King James, New King James, New American Standard, NIV. Not a huge NIV guy, but it's a good translation. Find something that you can understand. As a matter of fact, if you either go to like christianbook.com, or if you just go up to Mardell,

listen, one of my favorite things to do when I go to Wichita is to go to Mardell. You know what I do when I go to Mardell? I peruse the Bibles. You can ask my wife. She hates when we go in there. She's like, let me guess, Bibles? I'm like, you know it. And so I just pick up the Bibles and I look at it. But you can look at all of the different translations and determine what is going to work best for you,

what's the most understandable for you to use, and then choose that translation. And don't let anybody else give you a hard time about it because listen, they're all translated for you. They're all translated from the same text for the most part. There's some textual criticism that goes into the ones that the different ones are chosen from. But you don't need to get into all that.

They all agree. So the next thing that you need to do is you need to choose the type of Bible that you're going to use. In general, if I'm just reading, I'd use what's called a text Bible. That means it just has the text in it. There's no commentary in this. There's no notes in this because I am easily distractible. And so if all the notes are in there, I'll go, notes, and I'll start reading those instead of the Bible.

That's the way I like to do it. So a lot of times I use a text Bible. However, as you can tell, I don't just use that. So you can choose one that just has the word in it or you can choose some sort of a study Bible. So I brought a few of these up here that are all out of my office. Yes, I do have a problem with Bibles. So you should own as many as you possibly can.

So some of the study Bibles that I like is this is called the open Bible. And the open Bible, doesn't have as many what I would call footnotes in it throughout the Scripture, but it has amazing introductions. It's going to give you an incredible amount of historical background. It's going to give you a lot of background on the writer and the people. And so the introductions to the books of the Bible,

I use this a lot when I get ready to start teaching a book because it's so good. For instance, I looked earlier today in the introduction to 1 Timothy, it's three pages long. And so it's really, really good. It gives you a lot of information. This is called the open Bible. Another Bible that I like, and I used, this is what I used to teach out of when I started into using the New American Standard,

it's called the Ryrie Study Bible. R-Y-R-I-E. It's a really, really good one. It does have all the footnotes at the bottom. And they are very helpful sometimes. And it has great book introductions as well as cross references. The cross references are pretty amazing. So that's the Ryrie Study Bible. The other one that I like to use, and this is the one that Chuck and I,

and this is the one that Chuck Smith and J. Vernon McGee and all those guys use, is the Schofield Study Bible. Same thing. And these include outlines as well, which are kind of handy. They have all the footnotes. And then, if you're just looking up and you want to study like different subjects throughout Scripture, this is called a Thompson Chain Reference Bible.

This is the one that I actually used all through Bible college, which is why there's bumper stickers on the outside of it, not the inside of it. I learned the hard way on that. But what it does, it literally has chain references. For instance, this is Zechariah chapter 13. One of the phrases is the blood of Christ, or the blood of the Messiah. And so it gives you a number,

the blood of Christ. And you go back, and once you find the number, it gives you all of the verses associated with that subject. So it's a great way to, if you want to study something topically throughout Scripture, it'll take you all the way through Scripture. So those are some study Bibles that I recommend. There are some other study Bibles that are really good,

or there is an NASB study Bible. There's the NIV study Bible. Chuck Swindoll has one out that I really kind of want to buy because it looks really good. Same with David Jeremiah. They both have ones out that actually may make it into my library in the next few months. So I looked at my wife because she knows. So anyway, those are a bunch of good study Bibles.

Now, again, if you want something that's not a study Bible that's pretty handy, this is called a journaling Bible. And the nice thing about it is it's got the text in here, but it's also got places on the side to take all of your notes that go along with what you're doing. I really, really like this because I really like to write as I go, and I kind of journal some things. I don't spend as much time in the Minor Prophets as I should, as you can tell.

But you get into the New Testament, there it is. So that's one idea. And then if you are just going to study one book, and you want to keep all of your notes, I've really come to love these. As a matter of fact, part of what I do when I start prepping for a Sunday morning is I use this. It's called a scripture journal. And my kids that I taught in Bible class,

this was their textbook. So this is just a book of Romans. And what it is is on one side, you have the text, and on the other side, you have lines that you can write it in, and it's just the book of Romans. And so what I do when I start studying is I just take this, and I just start writing all my thoughts. And so they're kind of handy. You can get it for every book of the Bible.

There's an English Standard Version. There's a New King James Version. I think the NASB just came out with one. Yeah, question in the back. This is called a scripture journal. And you can pick one of these up for about four or five dollars on Amazon. And so if we're like, well, next we're going to go through the book of Joshua. So you're like, hey, I'm going to put all my stuff together for Joshua.

If you grab one of these, then when all is said and done, and this is what I used to tell my Bible students, is when all is said and done, you've got your own commentary on the book of Joshua. So they're pretty handy. Again, come in lots of different Bible translations. Amazon or christianbook.com is the best place to go for all of those. So first of all, pick a sword.

And once you've picked a sword, you should really start tearing that thing up. Right? I'm a big fan of marking in your Bible. I'm a big fan of writing things in the cover of your Bible. So again, this is the one that I had in Bible college. And so when different teachers that would come for lectures would say things that I thought were kind of neat, I'd put all of the quotes right here in the front.

And it's kind of interesting now to look back on what 18-year-old Ryan had in his mind when quotes stuck out. That was a little deeper than I thought it was. So that's what you've got to start doing with the Bible. So first of all, pick your sword. Number two, some things that you need to be aware of as you study Scripture, some things to pay attention to, to kind of be careful about,

are these four things. I think I had them put them up there. I did. Number one, as you study Scripture, you have to take your time. You've got to take time. The study of God's Word is not something that should be done in five minutes. I always hate when people say, you can do this devotion in 15 minutes. Well, I mean, you can, but do you want to? Because to really dig into it,

it's going to take time. And time is something that we're not always willing to give. I think time is one of the greatest commodities that we own. It's actually one of the most valuable commodities that we own because once you spend it, it can't get unspent. So number one, take your time and be willing to take your time. Number two, don't overcomplicate it.

Don't overcomplicate it. Now, I'm telling you this as somebody who is really good at overcomplicating it. This is what I used to do when I used to sit down and read the Bible. I'd go, okay, Lord, I just need the message from you today. What's the message you have for me today? And I would overcomplicate it. I would make it so hard because I would be waiting

for the voice from heaven. Right? That voice that said, the Word for Ryan today. Right? And so I would make it this really hard thing. I'm like, oh, I need to hear this. I didn't hear anything today. And then all of a sudden one day, I really did feel like God spoke to me. He's like, stop. Quit making it so hard. Just read what it says. And then obey. It's that.

It's that easy. I go, okay. So don't overcomplicate it. Don't make it harder than it has to be because God wants His Word to be accessible to all of us. Number three, beware of overfamiliarity. Let me put it to you like this. Sometimes you've read a passage of Scripture 35, 40 times. Maybe you've heard it taught in a Bible study a whole bunch of times. And so this is what can happen to us.

Oh, I've heard that before. I've read this one before. I always tell people to beware of underlining the exact same things. But sometimes it's because God shows us the same thing over and over again. But sometimes it's because we slipped into autopilot and God wants to show us something brand new. One of the best stories I ever heard was about J. Vernon McGee

and David Hawking told it about him. J. Vernon McGee also suffered from cancer. And one of the very last times he ever taught, he said he slowly but surely worked his way up on stage because his body couldn't handle very much anymore. And he opened up the Psalms and he goes, I can't tell you how many times I've taught this Psalm, but God showed me something brand new this time.

So you have to be careful to not say, oh, I've heard that before. I always get nervous when people say, well, you know, I know all the Bible stories. Well, that's a really dangerous place for us to be if we start saying, well, I've heard all of that before because God wants to do something brand new. So be aware of that over-familiarity. And then number four, seek the Lord.

That's ultimately what you're doing in studying God's word. You're not just studying words on a page. You're not just studying a book. You're seeking God. So you want to seek him through prayer. And we'll talk about that in just a minute. But you also want to make sure that your Bible study is not just for your own intellectual growth, but it is actually your seeking of the Lord.

Like, Lord, show me more about you, not just more about the book. Show me more about who you are. So you want to make sure that that's your focal point as you begin to study God's word. So as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, when I approach God's word, I approach it as a problem solver. I'm looking to solve problems. Now, as a pastor, I'm looking to solve four problems.

You're only looking to solve three problems. The first problem we're looking to solve is, what does it say? The second problem we're looking to solve is, what does it mean? The third problem we're looking to solve is, how do I apply that to my life? Now, again, I have a fourth problem to solve. How do I communicate it now to you, which is a little bit extra of a problem

that you have to solve, but that's okay. God always takes care of it. And so I want to start looking through these problems. But I want to tell you something. Don't skip the steps. I'm going to tell you what we all tend to do, myself included, when we get into God's word. We immediately want to skip straight to application. Right? This usually causes us to not use God's word very well.

Sometimes I don't like listening to the DJs on the radio station down in Ponca City talk about their verse of the day. Because they'll talk about their verse of the day, and by the time I'm done, I'm like, that's actually not what that verse says. You actually applied that wrong, because you took it out of context. And so you have to be a little bit careful about that.

We all want to skip to application. And that's important. But if you don't do the first two steps, you can't apply it correctly. So don't skip the steps. And then there's that preparation that it takes to go into it. And I hadn't put these three up there as well. Number one, you have to pray. If you are going to seek God in his word, you need to start by asking him

to reveal the truth to you. You have to start by prayer. And so, number two, you have to pray. Number two, you have to read. Now, I know that makes sense. It seems like the most logical statement that I could make. But when I say read, I don't just mean read it once. You have to read it over and over again. And then number three, you have to think. You have to think.

Scripture actually has a word for this. It's called to meditate. We're to meditate on God's word. That word meditate is the same word that's used for as, again, I hate to quote J. Vernon McGee twice in one night, but it says, as J. Vernon McGee would say, it's the same idea of a cow chewing the cud. So when a cow starts to eat on grass, they chew and they chew and they chew

and then they swallow it. And then you know what they do? They belch it back up. And you know what they do after they belch it back up? They chew on it some more. And they continue that process because it's healthy for their stomach and it gets more nutrients. Well, that's the way we should be with God's word. Think about it over. Continue to turn it over in your mind

and really think about what God's word has to say. So without further ado, let's follow these steps, shall we? Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you. And as we get ready to spend a little bit of time in your word, I just ask that you would open the eyes of our understanding, open the eyes of our hearts, and Lord, may we learn glorious truths about you.

Glorious truth from your word that will change the fabric of who we are, that will teach us more about your will and your way, that will teach us more about your character, and that we will eventually be able to apply to our lives and to put into action. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's look at Psalm 1. Listen as I read this. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight, is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like the chaff

which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish. Now, I'm going to read that again here in just a moment, but here's the things that you need to pay attention to, okay? Again, it's English class all over again.

You're going to pay attention to subjects and verbs, because you're looking to answer the questions, who, what, where, when, and why, right? The inductive Bible study teacher that I had in college said, you need to approach it like you're an investigative reporter. I didn't like that as much. I liked the idea of a problem solver. But if that relates to your brain,

then you need to approach it like an investigative reporter. So, you're going to pay attention to who, what they're doing, how it applies, all those kinds of things. So, let's read it one more time. Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. So, if I'm looking at this, and I've read through it, and I'm thinking about it, this is what I take note of, and I want to know if you notice the same thing. In Psalm 1, there are two groups of people mentioned. Did you notice that? So, I'm going to read the lines to you, and I want you to tell me if you notice it.

How blessed is the man, and then look down at verse 4, the wicked are not so. So, do you see where I pulled those things out? So, there's two groups of people that are described here. There's the blessed man, and the wicked man. So, that's the first thing I'm going to take note of. So, let's start with the blessed man. Now, the blessed man is described for us.

The blessed man does not do three things. Now, we're going to make this a little interactive, okay? So, if you can see the three things that the blessed man does not do, I want you to raise your hand and tell me what they are. The blessed man does not do three things. He does not walk... Say the whole thing. Walk where? He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

So, if I'm laying this out, I'm going to go the blessed man, and then under that, I'm going to make my list. He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Now, what is the second thing that the blessed man does not do? Stand in the path of sinners. Now, again, we're not interpreting any of this yet. We're just abiding. We're just observing what it says, right?

And then there's a third thing it says that the blessed man does not do. Sit in the seat of the scoffers. So, we've seen our first description of the blessed man. He does not do these three things. He doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. He doesn't stand in the path of sinners. He doesn't sit in the seat of the scoffers. Wait, I'm doing this... No, I did it right, in the seat of the scoffers.

So, that's the first description of the blessed man. Then comes another word. Did you take note of the word? It's a conjunction. But. So, we've seen what he does not do. But would indicate a change in thought. But instead, what does he do? He delights. What does he delight in? The law of the Lord. So, the next thing I would write is I would write delights in the law of the Lord.

Because, again, this is still the description of the blessed man. Does this make any sense where I'm going with all of this? How it all gives this description? Okay, so he delights in the law of the Lord. It says he does a second thing with the law of the Lord. What does it say he does with the law of the Lord second? He meditates in it day and night. Now, it gives us a third main description of the blessed man.

So, we've seen what he does not do. We've seen what he does not do. He does do. What's it say next? He will be what? He will be like a tree. So, next we're going to see the result of what he does, right? He will be like a tree. And how is he like a tree? It gives us a few descriptions of him being like a tree. Number one, he's firmly planted, right? By the streams of water.

And then what's the second thing that he says he is as a tree? His leaf does not wither. And then the third thing is what? He brings forth fruit, if that's the translation. Some of your translations may say whatever he does prospers. Again, this is why it's fun to have different translations. And that's why I had to look to make sure I was reading it correctly.

I have this verse memorized, this chapter memorized in the Old King James. And it words it differently in the New American Standard, which is why sometimes it's really good to read other translations because it makes you think about it. You should think about it differently. Okay, so, we have seen the blessed man. That was the first description that we saw.

But what did we say the second group of people that we would look at was? The wicked. Now, let's read through this one more time because if I'm studying this for myself, I know what the blessed man is, but I want to refresh myself on what the wicked is before I start pulling it apart. So, let's look at this again. Starting in verse 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. So, we were reminded about the godly man or the blessed man. But now let's talk about the wicked. What's the first thing it says about the wicked? The wicked are what? Not yet.

Not, what'd you say? It says they're not so, right? So they're not like the blessed. So that'd be the first thing that I would put under wicked. They are not like the blessed. That creates in our minds, and again I don't want to get into interpretation yet, but it creates in our minds that we are dealing with a contrast at this point in time. Something that is different.

Okay. So they are not so. Now comes yours, Monty. They're like the chaff. And what happens to the chaff? The wind drives it away. So, they're not so. They're like the chaff. And maybe in parenthesis I would write that the wind drives away. And then under that there's a third thing that we take note of about the wicked. What will they not do? They won't be able to stand in the judgment.

They will not be able to stand in the judgment. That's the third thing. And then there's a fourth thing that we're told about the wicked. Only this time they're referred to as sinners. Where else are they not going to be able to stand in the assembly of the righteous? Now again, as we are interpreting some things that you might do, I take lots of notes. I write lots of stuff down because that's the way my brain works.

Perhaps you are an underliner and a circler. As a matter of fact, if you are a very artistic person who knows how to use all of the colors very well and you can underline things without accidentally crossing stuff out, God bless you because it looks like I try to take pieces of the Bible out. I'm really trying to underline it for emphasis sake, but I end up crossing things out on accident because I underline like a two-year-old. But some people like to do things like this where they circle the verbs, they underline the subjects, and they pick out the important words.

So if you are not one that actually likes to write it down, you can do some circling and some underlining. There are entire videos and programs out there of a color coding system. I got lost in the color coding system because I only like to color in black. But there's an entire color code system that you can use for inductive Bible study. It's kind of fascinating if you're an artistic person,

but you can go along with that. But if you don't like to write things, you can underline things. We've seen the blessed man. We've seen the wicked man. But you know, verse 6 seems to be a little bit different. Would you agree? Does verse 6 look a little different? Because it doesn't really describe the blessed or the wicked maybe specifically. It starts off very different.

Did you take note of how verse 6 starts off? For the Lord knows. Now this would create in my mind that this is a little bit of a conclusion, right? Because this is going to seem to wrap everything up. Notice what it says. For the Lord knows, and what does he know? The way of the righteous. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. But what else does the Lord know?

Look in verse 6. The way of the wicked shall perish. Now, I would also write that down. So when all is said and done, this is how my outline looks. I don't know if you can see this from here. Probably you cannot. But I have these three main points. And by the way, that's how I come up with three main points. I just took you through what I spend the first two hours of every Sunday prep and Wednesday prep doing.

As I sit and I think through all of that for about two hours. That's what takes, in my opinion, some of the longest amount of time is to come up with those main points. But now that you have outlined that. Now you have opened up the opportunity to study that even deeper. Now again, that's not something that you do in just a few minutes. I just made it look like that took 15 minutes, right?

But I want you to know I sat down and worked on this for about an hour and a half today. Of just taking time to read and reread. And then make an outline to give to you. That's why I tell you one of the greatest things you can do is take your time. Take your time. Take your time and really think through it. Because thinking through it is what really begins to work on you.

And start looking for all of those things. Because you want to observe the text. And quite frankly, now that I've observed it, I almost have a Bible study put together right there. Like for me, as I'm going to also have to go and solve problem four of how to communicate it. I've literally just put my three points together. This is usually the point in time when I walk into the living room and smile at my wife.

It's coming together. Right? Because I've got my three main points together. Now, we're not going to get into interpretation tonight. But I want to tell you what I would continue to do at this point in time. And we'll talk about it a little bit more when we get to interpretation. Now, in order to arrive at this. And what I would continue to do as I'm studying this.

Is I would now pull out about three or four different translations of the Bible. And I would just start reading through it. I use that both for observation and interpretation. The reason why I use it for observation. Is have you ever come across a text of scripture. And you read it. And you reread it. And you go, I still have no idea what that says. Quick show of hands.

Anybody ever done that? Yeah. Okay. Me too. On a pretty consistent basis. And so, one of the teachers. Well, he wasn't actually my teacher in Bible college. But he was a mentor that worked with a lot of us young men. His name was Justin Alfred. And one of the things that he taught us to do. Is to pull out a bunch of different Bible translations. And start looking for the one that makes the most sense to you.

Now, if I'm going to only own about three or four Bible translations. These are the ones that I'm going to own. Okay. I'm going to have what my main translation is. Whether it's New American Standard or New King James. Or ESV. One of those. I'm going to have my main Bible translation. And then I'm also going to have the New Living translation. And the Amplified Bible.

The Amplified Bible. The reason why I'm going to have the other two. The New Living translation and the Amplified Bible. Is because if it doesn't make sense in my main translation. The New Living translation is what I call the CliffsNotes version. And it's going to put it in a little bit more of an understandable language for me. As a matter of fact. Sometimes I would actually prefer to read the New Living translation.

Because it speaks kind of in our language today. And so if you're looking for a really good Bible translation. That is super understandable. Because you're like man. Every time I read the Bible. I'm just lost. Then I would get the New Living translation. Because it's going to really speak in a language that you understand. But then I'm going to also choose the Amplified Bible.

If I'm going to start going through different Bible translations. The reason why I'm going to do that. Is because the Amplified Bible actually begins to define words for you. And so as you look at the Amplified Bible. It may actually define the word wicked. Or put it in a way that's a little bit more understandable. So I might read it in two or three different Bible translations.

Just to add a little bit of color. And then as I'm taking notes on my observation. I would write off to the side. This is what this translation says. Because it added a little bit of understanding to me. Does that kind of make sense to you? Now. If you don't want to go out and buy a bunch of different Bible translations. I completely understand that. There's a couple of really good Bible apps.

That have lots of different translations on them. A lot of you probably have the YouVersion Bible. That has. And I think it's got like 130 Bible translations. Or something like that. Matter of fact if you read Korean. You're set. I think there's a Korean Bible translation in there. But it also has those others. The other one is called Bible Gateway. Which is also a really handy one.

As a matter of fact. Bible Gateway has another New Testament translation I like. Called the J.B. Phillips translation. And so Bible Gateway is a good one. Blue Letter Bible has a handful of translations. And then the other one that I use a lot. Is called the Olive Tree. Olive Tree Bible. And I'll go through some of those programs just a little bit more. Next week when we do the interpretation.

I'm going to do my darndest. To figure out how I can. Get the video people to. Either screenshot or image. Or something my laptop. So I can show you how I look up different things on there. So they've already assured me that that is. A darn good possibility. So alright. That is the interpretation portion. So you've got your outline together. So what we're going to do next week.

Is we'll take this outline. And some of the things that we picked out. Some of the verbs like the wicked. And the sinners. And the scoffers. And meditates. And some of those words. We're going to start looking those up. Figure out what that means. So that we can have a firm understanding. Of what God's word has to say. Make sense? Does anybody have any questions?

I can make some copies of it. Yeah. Absolutely. Afterwards. Yeah. Very good. Anything else? Okay. Let's close in prayer. Father thanks so much. For the time that we've had in your word. Thank you so much that you have given us. Such an amazing resource. And Father. I don't say it enough. But thank you that. That you have provided us with so many resources. Lord to study your word.

I fear sometimes it's so easy to take for granted. That we forget to say thank you for everything. That you have provided for us. And so Lord. May we begin to take some of these principles. And really start delving into your word. And seeing exactly what it has to say to us. Father we thank you. And we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. I'll make some comments.

And we'll see you next week. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.