ASI Scandinavia 2018: IT IS TIME – To Be About Our Fathers Business!

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ASI Scandinavia

Joakim Hjortland

How YOU can Study the Bible with Seekers

Dear Holy Father, thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you for this beautiful place, beautiful convention.

And we pray that you may guide us with your spirit as we get into this topic.

Lead my words to say what you want me to say.

Skip something, add something as you see fit.

And pray that we may be inspired and that we may understand how we can share the truth with people who has not yet seen it.

Thank you that you will lead us we pray in Jesus name.

A few months ago I was on an airplane back from Portugal.

I had been teaching at AFCO Europe and when I was at this airplane I started to talk with this guy.

And it turned out to be a very good conversation.

He was kind of initiating the conversation.

What happened was eventually and quite soon I realized like this guy seemed actually quite interested.

I didn't answer so much in the beginning but he started to ask about this mission school and this and that and turned out that I actually started to basically, I started to, I basically had a Bible study there and there on Daniel 2 with him and he was really, really amazed.

He was, and then afterwards he asked many questions, he was very interested and I kid you not, for maybe like 1 third of that whole 3 hour trip, he had his mouth open in amazement.

And I was not supposed to be at this plane, actually.

And both of us kind of felt that this was a special meeting.

And 1 of the highlights of the time on the plane was when we did a high 5 after he accepted my challenge to really give God and the Bible an honest chance in his life.

So this was a, yeah I think this Bible study was 1 of my top 3 or at least top 5 most powerful Bible studies I have experienced.

Anyway, so we will be talking today about how to give a Bible study.

But before we do that, I thought, or as we start, I kind of thought it would be interesting to just very briefly talk a little bit about why giving Bible studies.

I think it's always nice to kind of have a mention of why before talking about a how.

So this is kind of I guess how my brain likes to work at least when I present and so on.

So what would you say, Just like short, I think there are several good reasons to have Bible studies with people.

Because there are several nice blessings that comes with giving Bible studies.

1 reason is basically to be an answer to prayer.

To be able to share the truth with people who are seeking and wanting to know.

Yeah, help people come closer to God, exactly.

Usually, it's helping people grow their faith.

I think that's also an interesting, good reason.

It's actually a very developing thing ourselves.

We learn, we grow, you become, it helps you in whatever you will do with, do what you're involved with, with other things.

You know, You learn communication, you learn to communicate with people, to talk.

If you're a presenter or speaker, it will help you.

It will help you pretty much anything you will do in the future.

It will be helpful skills that you learn.

1 interesting thing, we'll not read all the things you have on your hand out here, but we will use it though, so have it ready.

But a couple of the first things that are on there, you know, it talks about the second 1.

It talks about how basically we are born again by the word of God.

And Jesus said, of course, unless we are born again, we cannot see the Kingdom of God.

So the Word of God is essential in conversion generally.

This is like a key component, and in the Christian life in general.

So this shows that the word of God is essential and many people, they need help to understand, they wouldn't pick it up themselves.

So basically we are bringing the medium that God has chosen to reveal himself, to help people to tell them who he is.

So it is a key part in the Christian life and in conversion generally.

1 more thing I want to say a little bit about, or actually 1 thing is that giving Bible studies, this is an important part of, this is something God calls us to do.

As an important part of our work as the priesthood of all believers.

It's very interesting, we just read the beginning there.

It says, every church should be a training school for Christian workers.

Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings.

So basically every church, people should learn, the members should learn to give Bible studies.

But yeah, I guess, I see my friend here is smiling a little bit.

It's not exactly how the churches generally today are.

We have some good examples, but this is something, I think this is a work that pretty much all of us can and should be involved in.

This is an important part of the work of the priesthood of all believers, to give Bible studies.

And 1 reason that we did not mention is that this is an exciting work.

It's a very meaningful, and it's really, I told you the story in the beginning on the airplane.

Like, wow, this was a powerful divine appointment.

And it's a nice work, isn't it, Jonathan?

He has done quite a bit of Bible studies.

Not only that, as I mentioned briefly in kind of the introduction, welcome, yes, come in, is that I think also this work, giving Bible studies, opening the word of God to people will play an important part in the finishing of the work.

Yes, so we're talking about I believe this work will be an important part in the finishing of the work.

Now notice this powerful, powerful quote, you have it on the handout, If someone is missing a handout, yeah, I think all of you got it, I think.

Here it says, how can the great work of the third annuals message be accomplished?

This is asking a very good question, a good question for us to ask.

It must be largely accomplished by persevering individual effort by visiting the people in their homes.

So it doesn't say it will be accomplished by this big evangelistic campaigns.

Sure, those kind of campaigns also have their place.

But a key part in the finishing of the work is basically individual efforts, people witnessing in the home, individual members, and not just this powerful big preacher.

Sure, God can use powerful preachers, but even more important, maybe you could say, is the individual active members, the priesthood of all believers.

And I think an illustration that I really like that illustrates it very well.

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How YOU can Study the Bible with Seekers

Transcript

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