How to Study Scripture

You could have the entire Bible memorized, but if you don't put into action the things that God has moved in your heart to believe through His Word, it is a worthless endeavor. As we conclude this track, we are taking one final look at this passage together, combining what we have gathered over the last two days with a new question: what do we do with what we have learned?

 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus is telling the multitudes then a truth that still rings true for us now: it’s not enough to know. We need to enact. 

As it says in James,

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

James 1:22-25

To be doers of the word, as James tells us,  we need to find the application of what scripture says. To do that, we can use the acronym SPECS.

As you read your passage of scripture, ask:

• S - Is there a sin to avoid?
• P - Is there a prayer to repeat?
• E - Is there an example to follow?
• C - Is there a command to obey?
• S - Is there a scripture to memorize?

As we look to what we see and look toward the text, we are asking “What is the singular thing that God is primarily trying to speak to his intended audience?” While there is only one primary meaning rooted in the text, there are over a thousand different ways to apply the text in your individual context. 

The more accurately we understand what God was saying to the intended audience, the more accurately we can apply it in our own context.

As we conclude this track, that is our hope: that as you sink into the scripture and study it with a new fervor, that you will apply what you have learned to your own life. 

Do what the Word says, find freedom, continue on in it, and be blessed in what you do.