BIBLE HANDLING FOR LEADERS (1)

FROM FIRST LOOK AT THE PASSAGE TO BEING PREPARED TO LEAD THE GROUP

What is our aim in handling the Bible?

14
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know
those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-
breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that
the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3.14-17)

 To deal with God through the Bible so that I/we respond in trust and obedience

 We cannot lead…

BIBLE BIBLE

Trust & obedience Trust & obedience

L Pray then live L Pray then live

… where we have not been. So:

 We need to prepare well in advance

 I recommend two separate preparation times – one to deal with God yourself through
the Bible; one to prepare to enable others to deal with God through the Bible

Firstly, read the Bible for yourself, and forget the fact you’ve ultimately got to lead

 Mark 8.22-33 as a ‘worked example’

 Do not at this stage read materials that try to explain the passage – read it for yourself

(1) Pray.
 Sometimes I read over the passage and then take from it a few things to pray [eg Mark
8.22-33: pray that I may understand more clearly what it means that Jesus is the Christ; pray that I may
be more convinced of my need of the cross]
 Sometimes I base my prayer on a verse/verses about the Bible/dealing with God
through his Word (start a list of these!) [eg, 2 Timothy 3.14-17, Colossians 1.9-14, Psalm 19 or
parts of Psalm 119, John 5.39-40, James 1.22-25, Isaiah 66.1-2]
 Working at understanding…

(2) What is the historical context: who is speaking/writing to whom, and what’s the
background/circumstances? [Jesus + disciples; they’ve seen & heard a lot but not yet believed]
(3) What’s the context in the book? What comes immediately before this? What’s the message
of the book so far? [Vv14-21: blindness of disciples after all they’ve seen and heard of Jesus; message so far:
evidence that Jesus is Christ/Son of God/Lord]
(4) Now read from the passage before, into the passage you’re studying - and scribble! [Here,
read vv14-33]

Any theme/word links vv14-21 – Peter (& Co) are spiritually blind – ‘eyes but fail to see’
from previous passage?

Any theme/word links
within the passage?
… 21 He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
22
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a
blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the
Blind man
blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on
him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
Miracle – Jesus opens eyes
24
He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like ? why 2-stage?
trees walking around."

How does it divide up 25

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then Begins to see
into the main units of his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw
everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't
thought/action? go into the village.”
27
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Sees 100%
Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do
people say I am?" Peter still ‘blind’ at this stage
What do I not 28
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say
understand/needs more Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
thinking about?
29
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I
am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ. "
30
What imperatives Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

(commands or the 31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must
equivalent) are there: suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief Peter sees Jesus is the
priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed Christ - ?
32
and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about
- implied? this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
?
33
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he Jesus must die
rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do & rise
- explicit? not have in mind the things of God, but the things of
men."
34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples
and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny Peter doesn’t see/accept that Jesus
himself and take up his cross and follow me… must die
– why not? ?

(5) Now try to summarise it so far. [Eg, By a miracle, spiritually blind Peter ‘sees’ that Jesus is the Christ
but still fails to see that Jesus must die.]
(6) Now is the earliest time to use materials (leaders’ notes, commentaries, etc) because only
now have you got a first idea of what you do and don’t understand. One purpose of materials
is so that you can check what you do understand against someone else’s understanding, and
get help with what you don’t understand. Two mistakes when it comes to materials: 1) using
them too soon; 2) not using them at all.
 Working at applying (or responding to God)…

 God has spoken via others to us

VIA OTHERS

THE BIBLE

MARK 8.22-33
Peter & the disciples Me/us

TO US

(7) Now try to make connections from them, in their situation, then – to yourself in your
situation now. What are the parallels between the passage and you? Who should you identify
with? What truths ‘transfer’ directly along the time-line? What speaks directly/indirectly to
you? Preach to yourself! Question yourself! Write an answer to, ‘SO WHAT?’

22
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought
a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He SO WHAT?
took the blind man by the hand and led him outside
the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and Them then Us/me now
put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see
anything?"
24
He looked up and said, "I see people; they look
like trees walking around."
25
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Thank you, Lord!
Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, ‘Disciples’ This = me as I was before I Be humble, not superior
and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him
home, saying, "Don't go into the village.” – been hearing/seeing Jesus believed, &
for a good while This = people around me who
27
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages - not yet believing don’t yet believe
around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked - about to begin to believe I was blind! Fact I now believe =
them, "Who do people say I am?"
miracle!
28
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others
say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." ‘People’ Pray more for non-Christian
- don’t really understand People around me = blind - info folk
Stop just trusting in
29
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you who Jesus is alone not their problem
say I am?" preaching/books/etc – it’s not
Peter answered, "You are the Christ. "
enough!
30
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Jesus is the Christ
Do I really understand that…? God, Judge, Saviour, King –
unique!!
31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man Do I really believe that?
must suffer many things and be rejected by the - I blew that conversation
elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that
he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 when Joe said Jesus = just a
He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him Jesus had to die Do I really accept the ‘must’? Do good teacher
aside and began to rebuke him. I really believe it was absolutely Confess
33 necessary for Jesus to die for
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, Stop tending to rely on how
he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. me?
"You do not have in mind the things of God, but the I’m living – it’s never good
things of men." Do others I know find it hard to enough, which is why he had to
accept the cross? Why? die. Trust this! Not accepting
it is pride!
 (8) Now complete the sentence: ‘I think what God is saying to me through this passage is…’
[eg, here, It’s a miracle that I or anyone believes – be thankful/humble! And make sure I believe these enormous
things – that Jesus is Christ and had to die for me!]
(9) Pray.
(10) Resolve to do anything you should arising from your ‘So what?’

Second, have a separate time to prepare to lead others

A1 R -= read
U U U = understand
R R A2 R A4 A = apply

A3

 You have just been along this process of reading – understanding – applying
(responding to God). Your role is now to get your group going along the same
process, by asking questions and guiding the discussion where necessary.

(11) If you’ve not yet used materials to check your understanding of the passage (see (6)
above), now’s a good time to do that.
(12) Go back to the passage and start thinking what thought-process you’ve been through and
what questions would help the group along the same sort of path. Now is the time to look at
any suggested questions your materials give you and to think: whether you want to use them;
if so, how they’d need modifying/adding to; if not, what questions of your own to use.

What state did we leave the disciples in

What ‘way in’? Launch Q?
Either: on the main issue
Or: on context (or both)
For each chunk of the passage, you need blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took
Q’s to get from reading through
understanding through applying
Good Q’s:
- tell us what verse(s) to look at.
- are ‘wide’ – ie, will open up
discussion; not one-word answer Q’s;
What/Who/Why/How Q’s
- are answerable from the passage
- are simple, not long and complicated
- are conversational and natural coming
from you – not stilted
- are varied, eg, ‘How does this apply to
us?’ gets very boring
- are an acquired skill – review the
studies you lead to think which were
good Q’s, which were bad – and why
What way to end?
What way from passage to prayer?
last week?
What links can we see between last
week’s passage and this week’s?
22
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a Looking at the whole of vv22-33, what do
you think links it all together?
the blind man by the hand and led him outside the
village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put Vv22-30 How did Peter finally come to
his hands on him
see who Jesus is? [miracle – God!]
27
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around How do we react to this? [own
Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who faith/others/problem?]
do people say I am?" How should this affect us?
28
[gratitude/humility/prayer]
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say
Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
Vv27-30 What did Peter finally see?
29
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I What does this mean? How would we put
am?" it in our own words? [OT - God, Judge,
Peter answered, "You are the Christ. " King. Massive! Unique!]
How firmly do we really believe this?
30
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
[prepared to stand out from crowd and
31
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man say it?]
must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders,
chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must
be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke
Vv31-33 What did Peter still not see
plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began about Jesus? [must die – Why?]
to rebuke him. Why is this so hard for us to accept?
[is it – why/why not?]
33
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he Do others we talk to find it hard to
rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You
accept? Why? How can we help/explain?
do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of
men." [Offensive – need to be forgiven; ‘Why
can’t God just forgive without the
cross?’]

End: one thing most struck and why?

(13) Aim to end up with a small sheet of paper (like the box on the last page) to take into the
study with you – with just questions and brief memory aids in a few words for each question.

 Don’t take notes (especially leaders’ notes) in with you because:

a) You’ll talk - instead of asking questions and guiding the group talking;
b) If you have leaders’ notes the group will try to work out what answers the notes
were looking for rather than working at what the Bible means and how to respond.
 Don’t attempt to construct an elaborate ‘tree-diagram’ of every possible answer and
what you’d then ask. Relax! Go in with a few questions and then treat it like normal
conversation – listen, take time to think, form questions on the spot.
 You’re not expected to be a walking commentary! Go and help others discover what
you do understand; don’t worry about what you don’t.

(14) Look at what you’ve prepared and ask, ‘Will this lead to good application and prayer?’
Way in/read Way in/read

Understanding Understanding

Applying

Praying
Applying
Praying

 If preparing something different from a Bible study, much of the above still applies.
What’s different is the ‘packaging’ of ‘Way in/read’, ‘Understanding’, ‘Applying’,
‘Praying’. Eg, for Explorers:

Way in/read Blindfold game

Understanding Small groups on vv14-29:

Peter before/Peter after/What’s changed?
Teaching spot on the miracle and connection with Peter

Applying Small groups again

Etc…

Praying Write prayers/closing prayer

(15) Pray for your group members and the group time – eg, along the lines of Colossians 1.9-
14 and 3.15-16, Hebrews 10.24-25, Ephesians 4.12-16.

LEADERS ARE READERS

Growth Groups, Col Marshall, Matthias Media/The Good Book Co – one of the best guides to
preparing for and leading a Bible study; and more widely on creating good, purposeful group
life.