Bible Teaching: Speaking Positively!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Here’s an encouraging word for Bible teachers from Glenn Brooke, the author of Teach the Bible to Change Lives:

Be positive about God’s work in people’s lives.

Many of the people coming to your class or group are hurting. They’ve been through a lot. Maybe not life-threatening stuff, but just the regular wear and tear of day-to-day living can drag people down and discourage them.

Sometimes you won’t know it because a person puts on a ’stained-glass masquerade.’ (Casting Crowns has a great song with that title. There’s a lyric that goes “Maybe if they all believe it, I’ll believe it, too.”)

Sometimes it will be brutally obvious, so they don’t need to be beaten up.

It’s pretty easy to be a Bible teacher and get in to pointing out how far short we are from the biblical description of what we should be. But our job is not to heap guilt on people (Satan does that, folks!), but to remind them of their destination: perfection in Christ.

Check out your lesson with these three questions:

1. Is there at least one mention of the AWESOME POWER of GOD to transform every one of us?
2. Are you pointing people to Jesus for that transformation?
3. Are you speaking in an encouraging, positive way, to build them up?

Part of our role as a Bible teacher is to help people see how God is working in their lives, especially when a person may not be able to see it clearly themselves.

I can speak much more about this teacher/pastor role of helping people, but it won’t do you any good unless you are teaching positively and encouragingly about the power of our Lord in their lives.

So that’s where to start: check yourself, your speech, your tone of voice, and your teaching points.

(End of article)

Let Glenn’s words be an encouragement to you as you teach the Bible to change lives!

Love,
Brother Bill

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