Hear, Understand, and Obey
In this blog we try to do 2 things. First and foremost, we want to give updates on the progress of the Honduras church planting movement project. Secondly, we want to give to the blog reader insights into the principles of C.P.M. both for information purposes and to hopefully impact the reader's own spiritual journey. I think that in terms of the last mentioned objective, the most helpful thing I have written about is the 3 column Bible study.
In order not to repeat myself unnecessarily, let me refer you to 3 previous blog articles from this year. The first was on May 6 and called "The 3 Column Bible Study". In that article I explained the basics of how a 3 column study worked. A week later, in the May 13 article called "3 Column Study on Joshua 1:8", I demonstrated how a 3 column study would look. If this is the first exposure you have to this Bible study method, I encourage you to go back and look at those blogs (also posted as facebook notes, if that is how you are reading this). Then in the August 20 blog I wrote "What Jesus Taught About Kingdom Multiplication" where I connected the parable of the sower in Mark 4 to the practice of the 3 column study. As the months have continued, I have grown more and more fascinated by this connection.
For my hermeneutically astute readers, let me quickly say that I do not assert that Jesus invented the 3 column study, not do I assert that this is implicit in Mark 4 as a method. However, I do believe that Jesus was giving us a key principle of His Kingdom.
In Mark 4: 11 He says, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." (NIV) While this may refer to much more than merely the parable of the sower (Jesus says this immediately between the parable and its explanation in response to the question of what it means) it certainly includes this parable as one of the "secrets" (Luke 8:10).
A comparison of the 3 parallel versions of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13: 3-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8: 4-15) shows that 3 principles are involved in becoming the good soil that will result in fruitful multiplication.
1. We must HEAR THE WORD (the wayside soil did not hear).
2. We must UNDERSTAND THE WORD (the rocky, shallow soil did not understand).
3. We must OBEY THE WORD (the thorny soil did not obey).
Where the word is Heard, Understood, and Obeyed there is good soil that is productive. Here the seed (the Word) will produce the harvest.
It was when I saw this and noticed that each of the 3 columns of the 3 column Bible study coincidentally corresponded to each of these principles (Scripture=Hear, Meaning=Understand, I Will=Obey) that I even more realized what a powerful tool the 3 column study is. It does not automatically make me good soil by merely using the tool, but it does sort of plow the ground, if you will. It causes me to be in a pattern in my scripture study in which I will not merely Hear, but move toward Understanding and Obedience as a regular part of my approach to God's word.
So there it is, the most powerful (to me) argument in favor of using the 3 column method of Bible study.
More on this next time.
Also please be in prayer for Randy Travis, our Honduras project leader. He will be traveling back to Honduras later this week and conducting another training for leaders in cpm principles in the Eastern region of the country. God is moving mightily. It now seems that there are over 260 inductive Bible studies occurring throughout the country. Also, pray for God's will in the national elections on November 29. The rest of the month is critical for Honduras for future peace and stability.
Thanks much for your prayers.
In order not to repeat myself unnecessarily, let me refer you to 3 previous blog articles from this year. The first was on May 6 and called "The 3 Column Bible Study". In that article I explained the basics of how a 3 column study worked. A week later, in the May 13 article called "3 Column Study on Joshua 1:8", I demonstrated how a 3 column study would look. If this is the first exposure you have to this Bible study method, I encourage you to go back and look at those blogs (also posted as facebook notes, if that is how you are reading this). Then in the August 20 blog I wrote "What Jesus Taught About Kingdom Multiplication" where I connected the parable of the sower in Mark 4 to the practice of the 3 column study. As the months have continued, I have grown more and more fascinated by this connection.
For my hermeneutically astute readers, let me quickly say that I do not assert that Jesus invented the 3 column study, not do I assert that this is implicit in Mark 4 as a method. However, I do believe that Jesus was giving us a key principle of His Kingdom.
In Mark 4: 11 He says, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." (NIV) While this may refer to much more than merely the parable of the sower (Jesus says this immediately between the parable and its explanation in response to the question of what it means) it certainly includes this parable as one of the "secrets" (Luke 8:10).
A comparison of the 3 parallel versions of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13: 3-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8: 4-15) shows that 3 principles are involved in becoming the good soil that will result in fruitful multiplication.
1. We must HEAR THE WORD (the wayside soil did not hear).
2. We must UNDERSTAND THE WORD (the rocky, shallow soil did not understand).
3. We must OBEY THE WORD (the thorny soil did not obey).
Where the word is Heard, Understood, and Obeyed there is good soil that is productive. Here the seed (the Word) will produce the harvest.
It was when I saw this and noticed that each of the 3 columns of the 3 column Bible study coincidentally corresponded to each of these principles (Scripture=Hear, Meaning=Understand, I Will=Obey) that I even more realized what a powerful tool the 3 column study is. It does not automatically make me good soil by merely using the tool, but it does sort of plow the ground, if you will. It causes me to be in a pattern in my scripture study in which I will not merely Hear, but move toward Understanding and Obedience as a regular part of my approach to God's word.
So there it is, the most powerful (to me) argument in favor of using the 3 column method of Bible study.
More on this next time.
Also please be in prayer for Randy Travis, our Honduras project leader. He will be traveling back to Honduras later this week and conducting another training for leaders in cpm principles in the Eastern region of the country. God is moving mightily. It now seems that there are over 260 inductive Bible studies occurring throughout the country. Also, pray for God's will in the national elections on November 29. The rest of the month is critical for Honduras for future peace and stability.
Thanks much for your prayers.
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