Does anyone know of any good bible studies floating around that focus on the Character of God? I was hoping for free however I don't mind paying :) I am just a penny pincher lol or as my wife would say Cheap I prefer fruegal. :)
I would recommend the book by Tozer 'The attributes of God'.
There is one 'cheap' study. :-)
Whenever you read the WORD ask yourself this question: what does this portion teach me about the character of God? He will be happy to fulfill that request.
Once you feel like you have exhausted this observation, the next questions you will want to ask is now how will this impact me? my life? what am I going to do with it?
On the surface this may appear too academic, but I promise you it is not. Once this becomes your way of thinking/studying the WORD anything else becomes so useless.
If you really want to get into it academically, you may be interested in using the Inductive Method of Bible Study. Ever heard of it? I use it, primarily in outlining scripture. This past Sunday I taught an adult SS class. The lesson was difficult to get into...after I outlined this scripture portion it became very clear to me. I love outlining....
Hope this helps...
ginnyrose
BTW: I was taught this at Bible School back in 1965-1967 and I am still using these principles taught back then.
EDITED for clarification
Cheap I prefer fruegal. :)
Wayne Grudem's systematic study (with mp3s and study guides...click on '2006'):
http://www.christianessentialssbc.com/messages/
Paul Washer's study guide "One True God":
http://heartcrymissionary.com/resources/ebooks
Pink on the attributes of God:
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Attributes/attributes.htm
Stephen Charnock's classic discourse:
http://www.archive.org/stream/discoursesupon01char#page/n7/mode/2up
Long list of mp3 sermons on attributes (including J.I. Packer's famous series):
Hey Sandra,
Do you have any more information or an explaination of the Inductive Method of Bible Study? I am interested in this.
I have just recently started asking those very questions it has very much helped and I love to just sit and ponder my observations of the Lord that He gave me for that day
hi,when the Father God told moses I AM; if He would have told him all He is, He still be tellin.jimp
Do you have any more information or an explaination of the Inductive Method of Bible Study?
Matthew, I tried describing this method and failed so I did some checking on the web and found this site which describes it quite well:
http://70030.netministry.com/articles_view.asp?articleid=31566&columnid=3801
It involved training your mind on how to think when looking at a passage. You allow the scripture to teach you. You do not approach the scripture with an agenda other then 'teach me'. The text is the boss; the context is extremely important.
When we did this in BS, our instructor had us look at a commentary afterwards. The interesting thing was that the commentator taught us nothing: we already knew that - we learned it all on our own! Today I have little use for commentaries because of this training I got back then!
Yes, it is frugal - all you need is a notebook, pen and perhaps a Bible dictionary.
Don't know if this helps any...if you have any questions, just ask.
ginnyrose
Thank you, it is helpful. I think I have used a similar method without actually knowing I was using this method. :) I generally ask a lot of question but one that I ask quite a bit is Where is Christ in this? in the old and the new this seems to be the theme and if you can find the main point everything else seems to line itself up. Then it just becomes a matter of finding Christ in scripture and then asking what it says about Him.
I get more out of slow reading and reflecting than I do listening to a sermon on a sunday morning at church. I had a youth member pondering what she believed while listening to our pastor preach, she said "I don't know what he was preaching about but I was really thinking about God."
I have been doing a study of John, where I literally take it two verses a day and write thoughts on each verse. I have had many moments where I don't have much to say but other times its awesome what the Lord wants to say to me through His simpliest things. One of the main things I have learned from my study is that man plays the least significant role in his salvation. :) As I study further this point seems to be backed up over and over again.
I have a book that focuses on the names of God I suppose I could go to those names and do a study of them to go further into God's character.
Most of the time when I study any scripture I am asking this question: what does this tell me about God (this includes the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well). Looking at scripture from this angle teaches one much. It instills a reverence for the WORD and the One who inspired it.
Since I was trained in Inductive Method of Bible Study and use those principles, I weary of reading theological books. Why spend a lot of time reading something when I can go to the WORD and get it directly from the LORD? I do not have to practice any discernment in knowing what is man's philosophy and what is God's will. It is a lot like eating a freshly cooked meal versus leftovers that have sat in the frig a week or two! Now, this does not mean I have no appreciation for sermons or inspirational articles - far from it. It is just that I do not buy the stuff...There is so much scripture I am still ignorant of and it is my responsibility to learn as much as I can. This is a delightful journey spiritually, intellectually and emotionally because the LORD delights in this exercise as well. It is the shortest route between where I am and where I want to be.
My opinion,
ginnyrose
Just thought of something else....
One time I had the responsibility of teaching some juniors at church. It was up to me to get whatever lit I wanted to teach them.
What I did is teach them this method of Bible Study using the book of James as the object of our lessons. Since the children were so young, I modified it much so they can comprehend these principles. Later we went through the book of Revelation using the same method. This is not hard and was a lot of fun.
Now I feel sorry for folks who think Revelation is a difficult book to understand! (I tell folks that they need to remember that John is sharing a vision he had so now what you do is visualize it with him - forget about interpreting it, just visualize it and then see where it will take you!)
Brother, when I get to thinking about this, talking about it, I hardly know when to quit! The bottom line is that too many folks have made the scriptures seems too difficult to understand and that is so unfortunate - it ain't so!
Now! maybe I will close!
ginnyrosew
I love this declaration of God Himself, there wasn't an Angel, a man that was worthy enough to proclaim Him which makes me sad everytime I read it. This is a Character reference of God. All kinds of meat in here to ponder. For that is one of the ways to study the bible Mgulger. Give time for the word, when your reading something, a word or a phrase my stand out, stop, and allow that to roll around in your mind, and think about what your thinking about. After some time and meditation has passed, you'll discover that verses connect with others that you have read and it becomes encouraging as the pieces start to fall into place and answers come. Anyway, here is something to start with:
Exodus 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exodus 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Exodus 34:8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
What a great list of resources this thread has produced! Thank you all!
You can find online also, the Sacred Names Bible, which has the original name of God used by the various writers, untranslated into 'Lord' or 'God'.I have a book that focuses on the names of God I suppose I could go to those names and do a study of them to go further into God's character.
These also say something of how the writer knew God in his generation, which I find helpful in considering His relationship with man, down through the centuries. I haven't done this study as a single exercise, but I'm always trying to glean to it, from my other Bible studies.
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