Fishers of men

As we go into this season of Lent, I want you to dig deep into a book of the Bible especially one of the Gospels. Here's why: The Gospel. The Gospel says " We're bad, God is Good and Holy, Jesus is better"

The Lenten reading for Today came from Matthew 4:12-25 but I want to focus on verses 17-20

17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.   

Because Jesus  is better, he asks of us three things :

Repent of sin
Give up your rights
Make Disciples

Observation : Getting the basics of the Passage

If you want to fully understand and grasp the passage, the first thing first is observation. There seven tricks I use in this step, its called Repeat, If, Also,  Like. But, and Questions. I am going to explain what they mean..

Repeat: Repeated words, phrases, ideas and images. Examples: Blood of Christ, The Gospel and The Resurrection.
If: Shows a condition in life and belief. Example: If you believe in Jesus, you are saved.
Also : Gives  a reason. Examples: Also, Because, For , and Therefore
Like: Example like,as
But: Contrast ideas

Theses basics will help you understand the passage

Example

Roman 1 1-12

{Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God} 2 {which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures},3 {concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord} {who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh}, 4 and {declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness},{ by the resurrection from the dead}. 5 {Through Him we have received grace} and {apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ};

7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Desire to Visit Rome

8 First,{I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all}, {that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world}.{ 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son,} {that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers},{10 making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.} {11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift,} {so that you may be established— 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.}

My testimony

My testimony of how I came to Christ is a simple but effective story. I was born dead for 23 minutes. God gave the doctors the ability to save my life. Because of this event I received Cerebral palsy and Epilepsy. With cerebral palsy I don't have the same amount of control over my body in terms of gross and fine motor skills, and balance. This is the reason I talk, walk, have note-takers and use my iPad. During my childhood I was raised in a Christian family. During this time of my life I was learning about how Jesus Christ died for my sins and forgive me so that I could have eternal life with him. During my childhood I went through hard times because of my disability. This included seizures and leg surgeries. Church was the most important thing to me in my childhood. But I was mostly like the Jewish Priest who kept all of the laws of the Bible. During my High school years I've spent most of my time with a club called Spectrum. They taught that it was fine to be who you are without being perfect. I actually believe this for a long time. They were big into supporting gay rights and marriage. I also believe that to be true and I called myself a follower of Christ. I became a hypocrite to the teaching of scripture. Senior year in sunday school the teacher challenge myself if I was a disciple of Christ. This leads me to college in which a woman of God invited me to DCF which case myself to look at Christ in hard times. My mother died of Lung cancer and it was just brutally hard to handle. Due to this traumatic experience I had voices in my head that told me basically God was not real or the Bible is not true. I knew that it was a false claim and leading to understanding that I need to remember and rely on the Gospel. Now I'm free from the voices and baptized in Christ. I want to share this scripture to show my life.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. (I Peter 1:6-9 NKJV)

OIA: A proper method in learn, interpret and apply the Bible in your life

    OIA is important method in learning how to learn, interpret and apply the Bible in your life. OIA is an acronym , which stands for Observation , Interpretation and Application.First, you look at the passage and find the meaning. Some examples of this are repeated ideas and words, compare and contrast, and conditional statements.  Then you ask questions about what you found about the passage and answer it. This  also could be when you found connections about the passage. This brings you to the main point , which is the golden nugget in the passage. This fact could allow you apply it in different ways. For example purposes
I'm going to use John 3 in the NKJV to show you how OIA works .              

Why do I use the Common English Bible

My bible of choice is the Common English Bible in my daily reading and time alone with God. On reason is that my goal as follower of Christ is  to make disciples of Christ of all people. Paul explain it this way in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22

^"20 I act like a Jew to the Jews, so I can recruit Jews. I act like I’m under the Law to those under the Law, so I can recruit those who are under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law). ²¹ I act like I’m outside the Law to those who are outside the Law, so I can recruit those outside the Law (though I’m not outside the law of God but rather under the law of Christ). ²² I act weak to the weak, so I can recruit the weak. I have become all things to all people, so I could save some by all possible means". Because of my Cerebral Palsy  want  to win people over for Christ who have different disabilities including intellectual and learning disabilities. In picking a bible I want them to understand the Gospel and God's plan with ease but makes us  think. Another reason is that I want a Bible that can be used by children and adult. This would people want to understand the gospel and the cross. This is important because the gospel is the only thing on Earth to change our hearts and mind. Not only that but also to get to know about Christ and what he did on the cross.

Why we need to read the Bible

Francis Chan explain why we need time alone with God. H e says that it the oly time to be honest with God and learn the truths of the Bible.

How to Choose the Right Bible?

An important choice that a Christian has to make is to pick out a bible. Most people want a bible thats both accurate but yet understandable. This is a big issue because it noted that more accurate a bible is the less understandable its going to be to the reader. There are three different types of bibles in the way that the translation style is used. One of them is a word-for-word translation. This type of translation is used when the translators translate the bible in Greek and Hebrew into English word for word. Examples of this type of translation include KJV, NKJV, ESV, and NASB. Another type of bible is a phrase-for-phrase. Its when they tranlate the bible by traslating each sentance and used grammer. Examples of a phrase-for phrase bible is NIV,CEV,CEB, and GNT. Another type is a paraphase. Its when thay translate by writting what the main point of the passage is. Examples of a paraphse bible is The Living Bible, NLT and the Message. Another thing to think about is the format is which the bibile is presented. Examples of this include print, braile, audiobook, mobile app, and e-book. In my exprince I used the CEB on a Bible App called YOUVERSION to read the bibleThis is important because the Bible is God's Word and used to learn how to be and live like Jesus Christ.