WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:06.580 When you are reading God's Word it's important to answer the question: how can you understand it, as it was intended to be understood? 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:14.420 Meaning, sometime we can read God's Word and walk away with a different ideas then what God ever desired for us to have. 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:20.460 In fact, we can believe something heretical about him because we had an incorrect assumption within Scripture. 00:00:21.380 --> 00:00:24.220 So there's a few things that you can do to best understand God's word. 00:00:24.220 --> 00:00:25.660 I want to encourage you in a few of those ways. 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:28.710 The first is you need to ask some important questions. 00:00:29.520 --> 00:00:36.540 Understand, God's Word was written to an original audience, based on certain needs at that time. 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:44.600 So to best understand what a passage of Scripture means, you must first answer the question: what did it mean for the original audience for 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:45.680 which it was written? 00:00:46.300 --> 00:00:53.100 The Bible can never mean more to you than it was intended to mean to the original audience to which it was written. 00:00:54.180 --> 00:00:57.740 So starting with the question, "what did it mean to the original audience?" is important. 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:01.860 In fact, sometimes you may need to pull out some commentary to ask that question. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:08.960 I would encourage you to go to the website gotquestions.org, if you got a question about a specific passage, and ask that specific question. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.050 Or you can download some different tools online. 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:20.800 For instance, the Blue Letter Bible or eSword gives you an app to download, where it's got commentary to explain certain passages, to 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:22.360 help you best understand it. 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:24.340 It means something to the original audience. 00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:32.980 Then you can answer the question, "what does it mean to me?", with the understanding that God's word can never mean more to you than what it was intended to mean to the original 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:33.330 audience. 00:01:33.940 --> 00:01:35.400 What does that passage mean to you? 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:37.050 How does it relate to you today? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.900 The third thing that you can answer is, what do I do in light of this passage? 00:01:42.160 --> 00:01:44.060 Is there something in my life I need to believe more? 00:01:44.940 --> 00:01:46.560 Is there something in my life I need to change? 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:48.500 Is there something in my life I should act upon? 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.410 Is there something I need to continue to encourage? 00:01:52.660 --> 00:01:59.840 What do I do now that I've answer the question, what does this passage mean to me, because I've answered the question, what does it mean 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:01.810 to the original audience to which it was written. 00:02:03.240 --> 00:02:09.680 As you're going through God's word, I would encourage you to get with a body of believers who are pursuing those same questions with you. 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:10.740 Ask them. 00:02:12.020 --> 00:02:14.400 Find out what kind of answers they gave to this passage of Scripture. 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:18.030 God never meant for you to study God's word just by yourself. 00:02:19.160 --> 00:02:23.940 He created us for community, relationship with him and relationship with each other. 00:02:24.760 --> 00:02:26.091 Dive into that relationship with each other other as you are enjoying God's Word and ask those questions. 00:02:26.091 --> 00:02:26.091 Grow in your understanding of God, and let it apply to your heart so it transforms your life.