Intro to Inductive Bible Study

 The Gospel of Mark

Method

We will be using the Gospel of Mark to learn how to practice the inductive bible study method. Inductive Bible Study is a method of reading the bible that seeks to understand what the intent of the original speaker was to the original audience. The context of what is being communicated must be viewed from the perspective of these two parties to understand idioms, analogies and metaphors spoken out of their cultural context. Out of this study the reader can then identify timeless truths that can be brought forward into present day applications. 

Why Mark?

Mark is the shortest of the Gospels and is characterized by its fast paced story telling. In many ways Mark reads like an action film moving from one scene to the next. One of the words that Mark uses to create a sense of urgency  and break up the narrative is immediately.  Mark is to the point and there is a definite point God is using Mark to communicate about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Steps:

1. Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you through His Word

2. Read the whole chapter once

3. Go back to the beginning of the chapter and Identify the beginning and end of:

1. A thought

2. Scene

4. Name the scenes

5. In your own words:

1. Summarize the action in the scene

2. Explain why you think the group of verses you selected is the beginning and ending of a scene. 

6. What does this scene communicate about Jesus?

7. How does this scene relate to the main message of the author?

Session 3

Session 3

Leader Notes

• Send a text reminder to your students(Before the session)
• Prepare an icebreaker game or question to build friendship in your group
• Have everyone read the entire chapter, break the chapter up among the students

Read Mark 2

Leader Notes:

• Ask students to identify the beginning and ending of topics/stories
• Ask students to give the reasons why they’ve divided the chapter up the way they did

Discussion Questions:

1.  How would you divide the chapter into sections?  Why would you divide the chapter the way you did?

2.  What key words help you know that the author has moved onto a new topic/story?

3.  Summarize the key point of each story/topic.

4.  What do you learn about God in each of the narratives?

5.  How does what you learned affect your view of God?

6.  How has what you learned affect how you live?

Leader Notes:

• Ask for prayer requests
• Have each member pray for one other person in the group
• Delegate/ask one person in the group to be responsible for recording prayer requests

Session 2

Session 2

Leader Notes

• Send a text reminder to your group(Before the group meets)
• Allow students to introduce each other
• Prepare an icebreaker game or question to build friendship in your group
• Have everyone read the entire chapter, break the chapter up among the students

Read Mark 1

Leader Notes:

• Help students identify the beginning and ends of topics, ideas, stories within the chapter
• Explain how understanding when topics begin and end play a vital role in communication
• Explain how there is a point to talking about specific topics, introducing ideas or stories
• Help students identify the reason why Mark organizes the first chapter the way he does and the indirect point it makes
• Help students to not read into the text and to also remember that Mark is a narrative, meaning the content of the text has specific purpose in the context of the narrative

Sample Discussion Questions:

1.  If this were like a conversation or a paper what verses make up the first topic?

2.  What are the other topic/sections in this chapter?

3.  What is the point of the 1st section?

4.  Mark is trying to tell us something with the information and order he tells the story.  What is Mark implying by the order he presents the information?

Leader notes:

• Ask for prayer requests
• Have each person in the group pray for one other person
• Don’t forget to have fun with your group, think about scheduling a time to hang out in the future
• Record the prayer requests and send them out to the group to help remind them to pray for each other in the week

John 14:21 (Introduction)

John 14:21

He who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.

Discussion questions

1.  How do you become better friends with someone? How do you grow in your intimacy with a significant other?  How do you grow in your relationship with God?

2.  Why do you talk to your friends?  Why do you talk to God?

3.  What would  your relationship with your friends be like if you did all the talking?  Do you do all the talking in your relationship with God?

4.  How do you learn more about your friends?  How do you learn more about God?

I DIDN’T KNOW!

The first part of this verse tells us that the one who has Jesus’ commands and obeys them loves Him.  It’s difficult to obey or do if we don’t know what to obey or do.  Part of the reason why we study the bible is to KNOW what God’s commands are.  Doing this in our relationship with Jesus isn’t any different from the way we would do this in any of our other relationships.  When you have a relationship with someone there are things that person likes and things they don’t like.  To grow in our relationship with that person we need to learn more about that person so we can discover the likes and dislikes.  What they like us to do and not to do.  This process of discovery is called COMMUNICATION.  We learn to communicate with the people in our lives and discover new things about them when we communicate.  We do the same in our relationship with God.  The bible is God’s written communication to us and we learn more about Him by reading what He’s said to us.  

Discussion Questions

1.  What is communicated to your significant other when you do something they’ve asked you not to do?

2.  How does this affect your relationship?

3.  Is the strength of your relationships with people only measured by what you know about the person?  If you know a lot about a person through facebook or wikipedia can you say that you have a relationship with the person if you’ve never met?

4.  If a person says he believes in abstinence before marriage, then actively sleeps around with people as an unmarried person, does he really believe in abstinence before marriage?

5.  How does the disconnect between what you say and do affect your relationships?

RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU KNOW

The second part of the sentence tells us that knowing what God’s commands aren’t enough.  You need to apply what you know.  Jesus tells us that the one that has His commands and obeys them is the one that loves Him.  So it’s not just about knowing a lot about a person, we have to actually act on the information we have.  Imagine how this principle functions in a romantic relationship.  Say you  tell your partner that you love her.  Your partner tells you that she hates it when you blow her hair, but you keep blowing her hair because you think it’s fun.  When you do this you communicate a lack of respect for your partner.  You’re also communicating that you really don’t love your partner even though you've said you do.  Your lack of action or responsibility for the information you've given prohibits you from continuing to grow in your relationship with your partner.  

Discussion Questions:

1.  If your partner reveals something he likes/dislikes and you choose to ignore the information how does this affect your relationship?  

2.  How likely are you to spend time with a person that disregards what you tell them and makes a habit of doing the very things you've asked the person not to do?

3.  How do we show a people we respect or value them when they reveal new things about themselves to us?

WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT ME?

Just as the passage says, “the one that loves me will be loved by my Father and I too will love him and show myself to him.” First we need to remember that God first loved us (Rom 5:8).  We also need to understand that God’s revelations about Himself are expressions of love.  When God reveals more of Himself to us it’s an invitation to grow in our relationship with Him.  So when we learn about God it’s important for us to be careful with what God reveals to us about Himself through the Bible.  When we fail to act responsibly with the information God’s given us and choose to disobey God we need to understand that this is a decision to not love God.  Remember that the one that obeys God is the one that loves Him.  Obedience is synonymous with love.  Love and obedience are one in the same word. If we go back to the partner analogy when our partner has revealed information to us and we ignore it, she is less likely to reveal more of herself to us.  Why should she disclose more of herself to us if we haven’t been responsible and respectful of what she’s told us?  In the same way when God reveals things to us and we don’t act on them why should we expect God to reveal more of Himself to us if we haven’t been faithful with what He’s already given us?  

Session 1 (Introduction)

Session 1

Leader Notes:

• Allow students to introduce each other
• Prepare an icebreaker game or question to build friendship in your group
• Encourage students to use a notebook or journal for the study
• Give students a verse pack and talk about scripture memory and it’s importance
• Give the students time to copy the verse into their verse pack as you talk
• Allow students time to look over the article on John 14:21

Read John 14:21 and the article Why We Study the Bible(John 14:21)

Leader Notes:

• Emphasize the importance of communication
• Ask the students to summarize the passage in their own words
• Ask the students to describe what the passage means in their own words
• Ask the students to describe how to personally apply the passage to their own life.
• (Optional) You can find or fabricate a story that illustrates the concepts of John 14:21
• Don’t forget to ask each of your students to express/share prayer requests
• Have each member or your group pray for one other specific person in the group, close out in prayer and express concern for everyone in the group

• Record the prayer requests and send them out to the group to help remind them to pray for each other in the week

• Send out pertinent information for the next meeting