It's Time to Drop Out of Your Bible Study

I think there comes a cross road in every believers life where they can't just study the words in the bible anymore but they actually have to start living them out.  

Like they don't just memorize Psalm 82:3 "Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed."  Rather they start doing it.

In our world today its really easy to be on a surface level relationship with what the bible says.  I mean women in the bible belt are going to their bible studies every single week.  They are opening their bibles and they are studying the living word of God.  They are talking about what God is revealing to them through their studies, and then they are walking out the doors "fed".  That's really their end goal.  To get their spiritual tank filled for the week.

Am I going to spend my life sitting here with the same people studying what the bible says for the sole purpose of "feeding" myself or am I going to start applying it?  Am I going to start living it?  Because there is some weight to that!  That takes effort.  That can get uncomfortable.  I am just gonna say that that is plain right scary.

Am I going to memorize Matthew 28:18-20

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Am I going to study it?  Am I going to memorize it?  Or am I actually going to go out on a limb here and am I going to live it.  I'm supposed to be making disciples.  You are supposed to be making disciples.  We are supposed to be teaching other people about this great book that shows who our God is and when they fall in love with it we are supposed to be baptizing them.  Then they are supposed to be going out and making disciples.  It's a beautiful plan and I think instead of studying it we should start living it!

You don't have to have the book memorized to teach it.  You don't have to be plugged into a bible study for the next 20 years to know it all before you step out on your own to share.  I think it might be time to take a step back from the bible study that you have been attending for the past however many years and start your own.  It might be time to open your home and your life and your heart to the people around you.  Invite them in!  Love them!  Pray for them!  And don't you think for a second that you can't do it.  Matthew 29:20 says "And surely I am with you always.." That is Jesus saying that.  He is with you always.  He will give you wisdom, guidance and confidence to live out His Word.

I personally want to challenge you to start a bible study....you are NOT too busy to make disciples.  If you don't know of a bible study I highly recommend Jennie Allen's Restless study.   Restless explores this important question: "Do I matter?  And Jennie asks, "We live with lots of things, lots of people......but do we live for something?  There are 8 videos and there is a leaders guide that will encourage you along the way.

Watch this Video to see if this is the bible study that YOU are supposed to lead.  If maybe just maybe you are supposed to talk with the woman around you about the purpose that God has for their life.
http://vimeo.com/79237912

http://www.jennieallen.com/studies/restless/

And Dudes I don't think Jennie Allen is for you but I think that Matt Chandlers To Live is Christ to Die is Gain is great because it is a mature picture of Christian faithfulness.  We need some mature christian men up in herrrrre!
http://vimeo.com/73947787

Then of course ladies and gentlemen you can always just open your bible and walk through a book of the bible.  That's always one of my favorites because God always reveals something differently to me than He reveals to you.