[Darris McNeely] A Beyond Today reader ask us, "How can I have successful or effective Bible study?" You know, we get a lot of questions like that and frankly, you probably asked that about yourself and maybe wondered around in your own Bible study, wondering how you can do it better. I wondered the same thing as I study the Bible. I've been studying it a long time, teaching it, and I recognize that I need to come down to some really good steps and keys to do that. So I'd like to start a series here on BT Daily of how to have a successful Bible study or an effective Bible study just to help us all be reminded of certain points that we need in that.

Let's look at the first one. The first point to having a successful Bible study is to recognize the Bible is the inspired Word of God. That's got to be at the start, that's got to be right upfront and if we don't look at both the New Testament and the Old Testament as being the breathed words of God, as one scripture puts it, given by the inspiration of God, meaning that they have come out of His mouth, His breath, His mind, His character, His entire essence then why start? Why and how will we ever learn from that? There's a scripture in John 6, spoken by Jesus Christ, Son of God, verse 63. Jesus Christ made a statement that I think if you keep it in mind, and I try to come back to this one as well and recognize that it is a core truth, he said, "The words that I speak to you they're spirit, they're life. They're spirit and they are life." (John 6:63)

They're not just human philosophy, they're not just words that some group of people wandering around in a desert put down at one time and have been kept alive generation after generation. They're words that come from God, they're spirit, they're eternal, they reach into our lives and they actually create life. They enhance life, they are our life just like food and water that we take in to keep ourselves alive. You approach your Bible study that way, you understand that first upfront and then you are guaranteed to be having, open to you, tremendous avenues of understanding, and truly successful and effective study of the Word of God. We'll talk about this more.

That's BT Daily, join us next time.