3-2-1: After reading the assigned chapters in Everyday Bible Study (Chapters 31-35), identify the following items: 3 key ideas from this week’s reading. 2 things you learned from this week’s reading. 1 way you can use what you have read this week. Once you have identified these items compose a thread of at least 400 words that not only states but also explains each of these items. Your thread should contain at least one quote from Everyday Bible Study to support the thoughts and ideas you are presenting your thread. For an example of this type of thread, please see the provided Discussion Board Forum Examples.

Chapter 34 There are ten steps to faithfully studying a topic throughout the Scripture. When you employ this method, you are seeking to discover and understand what the Bible teaches on your topic. This means that you will need to be both detailed and thorough. Sloppy work in one step could result in concluding something that the Bible does not teach. We want to be careful and faithful. Step 1—Choose Your Topic There is no shortage of topics that can be addressed in a Bible study of this nature. You may want to pick a topic that peaks your curiosity. Perhaps there is a character quality that you want to develop. Is there a theological topic you’d like to explore? Whatever topic you pick, make sure that it is one that will hold your interest for the length of study. You want to have fully explored this topic by the end of your study. Choosing a topic that only mildly interests you will lead to frustration and ultimately the abandonment of this Bible study. Step 2—Create a List of All Related Words When you begin a study on a topic, you will need to take into consideration not only the word you are studying but also other words the Scripture uses that are synonymous with your word. Limiting your topical study to just one common word related to the topic is shortsighted and will not represent the breadth of what the Bible teaches on the topic. For example, if you are studying the word punishment you will also need to consider words like chastisement, discipline, and correction. Words like vengeance, retribution, and penalty might also be worthy considerations. At this stage of the study, your list should be extensive rather than limited. Step 3—Gather the List of Bible Passages Once you have created your list of words, you will need to develop the list of Bible passages that address these words. As in the previous step, this list ought to be more broad than narrow. When your list is complete, it ought to represent what the Bible has to say on this topic. To complete this step, you will need to consult an exhaustive concordance and a topical Bible. These two tools will help you develop a list that is both extensive and meaningful. Caution should be given to using other tools like a study Bible or an expository dictionary of words. These will be useful as you move from observation to interpretation, correlation, and application. Step 4—Read Each Reference and Note General Observations Based on First Impressions In this step, you want to accomplish two tasks. First, you want to read through all your references and make notes based on your general observations and first impressions of the passages. As you turn to each reference, try to imagine it is the first time you have encountered the text that you are reading. What things catch your attention? What elements stick with you? These notes should not be extensive, deep, or detailed. You simply want to record basic observations about the passage. The second task is to narrow down your list. Your general observations and first impressions should help you determine what words fit within the framework of your topical study. For example, you may find that words like retribution and vengeance do not accurately reflect a study on punishment, especially if your topical study of punishment is related to its role in the life of a Christian. Step 5—Study Each Reference by Asking Key Questions and Observing Structure and Grammar In this second reading of your collection of verses, you want to move through them in a more thorough and detailed manner. You want to explore each verse by asking the six key questions (who? what? where? when? why? how?), as well as noting how grammar and structure help you understand the topic. As you move through this second reading, you should be able to gain more clarity on the topic. This clarity will allow you to remove more passages from the list and classify the ones that remain. It is wise to pace yourself as you engage in a topical study of Scripture. It will take time to explore, connect, and understand how these verses all fit together in a way that is consistent. Step 6—Organize Your Observations Now that you have a better grasp of the verses in your topical study, you will need to organize them. As you studied the passages, you probably noted how some of them fit together in an orderly manner—perhaps thematically or logically. Organize your observations so that you are grouping the verses in a natural way. You should not force relationships that are not apparent. In a sense, you are building a systematic theology on your topic. Interpretation Step 7—Identify Meaning in Your Topic Now that you have collected and organized all the material related to your topic, you need to determine the meaning. Look through the ways that you have organized your topic and see if you can discern a meaning within each collection of verses. If you organized your observations by genre, you would want to answer the question of meaning as it relates to the various literary types. If you organized your observations by character, you will want to express the interpretation in terms of each person. Your work in this section should ultimately answer the question, what did God say? Correlation Step 8—Relate Your Study to All the Scriptures How does the meaning in your study relate to all the Scriptures? In other words, your understanding of this topic needs to be consistent with the rest of God’s Word. It should reflect his timeless nature. One way to do this is to trace your topic as it is developed through the Bible. You may want to do this by moving through the various genres of the Bible. If you were studying the justice of God, you would note how this topic is presented in the different genres of Scripture. Another way to accomplish this would be to track the topic through the various personalities of the Bible. If you were studying the topic of God’s compassion, you could highlight God’s compassion expressed toward different characters of the Bible. In a sense, when you have completed this step, you have developed a biblical theology of your topic. Step 9—Relate Your Study to Christ Consider how your findings are reflected in the person and work of Jesus Christ. How does the meaning you discovered in your study highlight Christ’s nature, character, work, or purpose? Completing this step helps you keep your focus centered on Christ. Without it, your topical study may devolve into simply a checklist on how to do more or try harder. For example, if you were studying the topic of faithfulness, you would want to briefly examine the life of Christ so that you understand a biblical perspective of faithfulness in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Application Step 10—What Points of Application Can Be Made Using the Four Common Questions Consider the question of duty. How does the topic you have studied lead you to take action in your responsibility to God? In your responsibility to others? Consider the question of character. How should your character change in relation to your topic? What Holy Spirit empowered choices must you make in order to develop the Christlike character reflected in your study? Consider the question of cause. What goal or cause should you pursue based on what you have learned? Is there a mission or ambition in your life that you must reject or redefine? What elements of your study touch on God’s calling in your life as a Christian? What parts of your topical study address the desires and passions of God communicated throughout the Scriptures? How will you respond to this? Consider the question of discernment. How does your topical study help you see God’s perspective on this topic? What choices must you presently make in order to demonstrate godly discernment? How does this topical study prepare you to be more discerning in the future? [Cartwright, John & Hulshof, Chris (2016). Everyday Bible Study (p. 199). B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.] Chapter 35 One beneficial type of specialized Bible study is a Bible study that covers a whole book of the Bible. When you conduct a study of this nature, you are committing to not only knowing but understanding the contents of an entire book of the Bible. When a book-of-the-Bible Bible study is conducted properly, the reader has a clear sense of things like the theme of the book, important theological terms, relationship to other books of the Bible, and practical importance for today. Indeed, students of God’s Word often find that this type of study is one of their most favorite ways to study Scripture. Observation Step One—Select the Book You Want to Study In order to complete this step, you will choose one book of the Bible that you want to spend time studying in-depth. Pick a book that you have wanted to study for some time. Perhaps pick a book that your pastor is preaching. Another option would be to pick a book that addresses a theme that interests you. Regardless of how you select a book, it is important that you select one that will hold your interest and attention for the duration of the study. Step Two—Read Repeatedly The focus of this step is to read and reread the book you are studying so that you become very familiar with its contents. This is not likely to happen in just one or two readings. If possible, you may want to read it all at once. Also read it out of at least three different translations—including formal equivalence, functional equivalence, and paraphrase. Another helpful exercise is to use a Reader’s Bible—a Bible that does not use verse or chapter markings. If one of these is not available to you, do your best to read the book without paying attention to chapter and verse demarcations. Another way to read a book of the Bible is to listen to it being read from an audio version. There is no magic number to how many times y