Week 1 - Introduction

So our 1st of 9 sessions is out of they way.  There was so much more I wanted to talk about last night, but I know we needed to get home and get kiddos (and adults) to bed.  Plus, at least for me, there is only so much info my little brain can take in at one time.  But I do want to take the chance to reiterate a couple of things from last night:

Listen, Understand, and Respond:

1. LISTEN:  Well, that takes the one thing I don't have - TIME.  
• Dr. Guthrie suggests 20 - 30 minutes a day, but I want to encourage you to start out slower if you have to. 5 - 10 minutes a day is a great place to start.  I completed Week 1, Day 1 lesson last night and it took about 10 minutes.
• Needs to be a place of solitude.  I like to thing of solitude as more than being alone.  It is being alone for a purpose.  In this case your purpose should be to focus on God and His Word (I have a sermon/lesson on that as well, but another day, another time perhaps).
2. UNDERSTANDING:  This issue is addressed in future weeks, so I won't jump the gun, but I a good set of study tools will assist you in this.
• Good Translation - sounds like we are okay there, but if anyone is interested all references in this series are HCSB.
• Good Study Bible - these provide tons of information including footnotes, backgrounds, etc.
• My personal favorites right now are the HCSB Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible.   They are a little pricey and their size is not very church friendly (but great for a workout).  An online HCSB Study Bible is available at http://mystudybible.com.
• Life Application Study Bible is very popular and available in a couple of translations.  Not familar with it, but I know they are everywhere
• Same with the NIV Study Bible
• Good Tool sets.
• Good Bible Dictionary and a Bible Commentary - many good ones are available online and are free - mystudybible.com and http://www.biblestudytools.com/ have several
3. Respond: will address later.

In Him,

WW