Stresstastic!

I just finished registering for classes for the Fall. I'll be taking "Bible Introduction" and "Spiritual Life and Community." I have yet to get the final grades for my paper, the exam, and the class as a whole. I'm hoping for good grades. I did well on the heavier weighted questions of the exam, but some of the smaller ones and the short answer essays may have got me. Hopefully next semester my study habits will be more driven and focused and I will have better memory recall. May God be with me! I really do want to pursue excellence in my grades. I also don't want to let my schoolwork push aside the friendships I hold dear... and even those that are casual for that matter. I must continue to pray that God will bring peace, humility, discipline, and balance to all life is bringing. I've cancelled more than one weekend of street ministry during the summer already.

I have been able to print out all the lessons from class and put them in a binder for later use. I know Tyndale Theological Seminary did that and I think it's a good idea. This way next time I have to study a passage I can just go back and reread the principles for it. I have much of the information and work I've done uploaded to the Facebook files if anyone is interested.

Work has been quite the handful since I moved to Produce. I'm acting in nearly all respects as Assistant Mgr. and my legs, neck, and patience are sure feeling it. Since working at Tom Thumb, it may be safe to say this the most stressed I've ever been. The demands get higher and higher, the employees are few, and the work never ends. I was considering just going home last week one day. However, I'm determined to not let the job stress me out. My name tag doesn't say Clark Kent and there's only so much us humans can do. Is it normal to be worrying about work while you're in bed late at night trying to fall asleep?

This has really been a time that has tested my limits and helped me to examine my character in light of my faith. How much DO I lean on the Father? How much DO I acknowledge Him? More than once I've opened my mouth when I shouldn't have and more than once I've kept it shut. It will only become more difficult too as we will soon be remodeling and corporate will be in the store all the time hovering over us. Sigh...

I'm working 40 hours for the next month to save money while I'm out of class. I agreed to work a few Saturday mornings for the Mgr. so he could spend time with his family on the weekend. He said he's trying to take a vacation too. He's calling to reserve a replacement so he can do that soon while I'm out of school.

Also, it appears I will need a new car battery. I prophesy that the Transmission is the next thing to go out... lol.

I'm thankful though that I should be able to finally finish reading Ray Comfort's "How To Win Souls and Influence People" that I started last semester. That will be a goal during this short break. Hold me to it! I've enjoyed the encouragement the book is loaded with. That's always a good thing.

Here is something awesome from my class. I heard it was inspired by John MacArthur's book, "Rediscovering Expository Preaching." If you ever need to prepare a Bible study lesson, I highly recommend these 11 C's...


1. Consecrate. Consecrate your study time to God in prayer. Unfortunately, there is not necessarily
direct communication between the author—text—reader. If we are somehow closed to what God wants
to communicate to us (often times, even this fact is not clear to us), there might be certain boundaries
that will keep us from truly understanding His Word. Make sure that you seek to avoid sin and are right with God before proceeding in your study. Adjust your attitude so that you are willing to be submissive
to His will even before knowing what it may be in the context of the passage you are studying.

2. Contemplate. Contemplate the needs and interests of your audience, as well as the type of sermon
you may be expected to give. What is the occasion to which you have been invited? Are you preaching
at a Sunday morning service, a rescue mission, a youth activity, a missions banquet, a college chapel
service, a funeral, or a holiday celebration? Some may claim that this step is misplaced. Shouldn't you
choose your text before considering your audience? On a practical level, you must consider the needs of
your audience as well as the occasion, so you will choose a passage that will not tempt you to make
leaps in your application. This is not only practical, but it is also biblical. When you examine the New
Testament epistles, you will discover that these were all "occasional" literature.

3. Choose. Choose a text. This may simply be the next paragraph or literary unit in the text if you are
preaching through a book of the Bible. It may mean finding a key passage that deals adequately with a
subject you must address (e.g., Rev. 21—what heaven is like; Rom. 11—God's plan for Israel; 1 Cor.
15—the resurrection of our bodies; etc.).

4. Context. Read the passage and read or review the book in which it is found in order to grasp the big
picture or overall context. This and subsequent steps have been thoroughly covered in previous lessons.

5. Centralize. Find the central idea or main point of the passage. This is what you should preach (the
Kerygma... the big picture/big idea). Simply put, everyone who reads this passage should conclude that
this is what the sermon was about. This central idea can be found by noting commands in the text,
repetitions, or qualities about the people mentioned. Note: This is where a sermon list may begin. You
may list any obvious applications, topics, doctrines, or life truths that you see in the text. This is what
many would call the observation step in Bible study. However, you are not finding all the applications or
doctrinal truths yet; you are just jotting down the obvious things in order to get them down on paper and
not lose a good thought.

6. Classify. Classify each idea in the passage as a main or subordinate thought. When the main idea is
presented, find the subordinate points that support that main idea. These subordinate points often have
certain indicators or clues that give them away. Participles, infinitives, prepositional phrases, and
subordinate verbs may tell how a command is to be obeyed; they may tell when one is to take a certain
action;they may tell for what reason a fact is true; they may tell to whom a situation applies. These will
be helpful later in the construction of an expository outline.

7. Consider. Consider any significant words in the text. List any key terms, doctrinal words, fierce
language, figures of speech, or unique vocabulary. Narrow down this list to a workable size of the most
important words. Do a mini-word study on these key words. Here is where the original language
research comes in. Read through your Greek or Hebrew texts to find important wordings. It may be
helpful at this point to note any significant cross-references that teach the same truth yet offer more
insight.

8. Construct. Construct an expository outline of the text. In fact, it is best to construct several good
outlines of the same text, thinking of several ways to state each point. Be sure to get your outline from
the structure of the text, not from your preconceived ideas about the text.

9. Consult. Consult various commentaries. After the third step, some pastors choose to pull all their
relevant commentaries off their shelves and set them on their desk. At this point, begin to write any
significant thought, unique way of saying something, powerful quote, or interesting fact on a sheet of
paper, and list each source in the side column.

10. Compose. Compose relevant illustrations. Illustrations are used for several purposes. They may
clarify what something means in the text, convince people of the relevancy of your message, give
current examples, contain an emotional appeal, or compel people to apply what they are learning.

11. Conclusion & Introduction. Write out your conclusion and introduction—in that order. Only after
you have determined what it is that you are preaching about can you adequately narrow down a
conclusion. Then, once you know where you want to leave people (i.e., the conclusion), you can figure
out how to get them there (i.e., the introduction). While this is the last step, it is certainly not the least
important. Similar to an airplane ride, it's the take-off and the landing that matters. If there happens to be
a little turbulence in the ride, it's okay. Most passengers would forgive and forget the rest if the take-off
and landing is otherwise smooth.