Have you ever wanted to know more about how to study the Bible and truly understand what you’re studying? It can be difficult to navigate the thousands of resources available for studying the Bible. We know you want to read and apply Scripture wisely. How do you decide which commentary to use? What’s the best resource to find the original meaning of a word in Scripture? Where do I find background on the Bible? If you’ve ever wondered about any of these things, you’re among friends, and you’re in the right place.
We hope to answer these questions and more in this new series called The Reference Desk here on the blog. About once a month, we’ll provide some insight from those on our team and some of our authors and speakers on how to read, study, and apply God’s Word with wisdom and reverence.
First, let us introduce ourselves.
Hey! I’m Mary Margaret Collingsworth. I’m an Event Coordinator at Lifeway, but I love to dig into Scripture and teach the Word. I lead a community group of young adult women at my church and am always looking for new ways to learn and teach. I have a master’s degree in Christian Education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. One of my favorite things to do is mentor younger women in ministry and encourage them as they pursue their calling. I also host a podcast for Lifeway Women called {MARKED}. You can follow me on social media at @marymargaretc.
And I’m Elizabeth Hyndman. I’m an editor for our Bible study team and the social media strategist for Lifeway Women. I have a master’s degree in biblical counseling from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and am currently taking classes toward a master’s of divinity degree in Christian ministry. I’m a nerd at heart and love any project that allows me to learn new things. Sometimes I write at edhyndman.com. You can follow me on social media at @edhyndman.
We recently had the opportunity to attend the LIT conference with Beth Moore. At the conference, Beth talked about her process for speaking and writing. She often says that in order to teach, you must first be willing to study.
Beth also shared with us that she works out 80% of the messages she writes and teaches during her personal time in the Word and in prayer each day. God’s Word is of utmost importance in our teaching, in our studying, and in our lives. The Bible is often likened to a weapon. Hebrews 4:12 says it is “sharper than any double-edged sword.” That same verse tells us Scripture is living and active. A living weapon must be handled with wisdom and reverence.
One word of encouragement before we go any further: There’s a story in Acts about Peter and John appearing before the the Jewish leadership. They were in custody because they had been preaching that Jesus was the only way to salvation. Acts 4:13 says, “When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
Friends, you don’t have to have degrees or libraries or know Koine Greek to teach the truth of God. You do have to know Jesus. You just have to be so familiar with Him that people recognize you have been with Him. Maybe you feel common or uneducated, and you’ve used that as a reason to discount or disqualify yourself from doing what God is calling you to do. We want to encourage you on this journey and will be sharing with you resources we use to get to know Jesus more.
Throughout this series, our goal is to share resources with you that will help us dig a little bit deeper together and help one another out in our journey to know Jesus and grow in His likeness. This week, we’re going to include a form for questions. Please submit any question you may have about studying the Bible, teaching, growing in love for the Word, etc. Every couple of months or so, we’ll pop back in and try to answer some of your questions. On the other months, we’ll have a guest post from one of our colleagues, our authors, or our speakers on how they study. We hope this will be a helpful resource for you!
