Don’t Miss Jesus in Your Bible Reading Plan, with Scarlette Steuerwald and Amy Gannett

Topics: Bible, Devotions & Memorization

Do you ever get frustrated when you try to read God’s Word? You could be missing Jesus! In this episode of Grounded, guests Scarlette Steuerwald and Amy Gannett will help you become more mindful of the presence of Christ so that you can meet Him in the pages of Scripture.

Connect with Scarlette

Connect with Amy

Episode Notes

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Connect with Scarlette

Connect with Amy

Episode Notes

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Dannah Gresh: Are you searching the Scriptures each and every day, but something's missing? You aren't excited and passionate, you're not changed. But you just can't put your finger on what's wrong. Today, we'll help you find what you're looking for. I'm Dannah Gresh. And this is Grounded.

Portia Collins: I'm Portia Collins, and we are here every week to give you hope and perspective. Two things that we believe can be found all throughout God's Word. But sometimes we get a little frustrated, if we're being honest, maybe a lot frustrated with our time in the Scriptures. And could it be that the problem is this: you're missing Jesus.

Dannah: Bam! That's it. Portia, we wouldn't be the first ones to do that. Jesus said this to His religious leaders back in the day. Let me read this to you, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).

Did you hear that? The Jewish leaders Jesus was talking to you, they knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards, but they were not coming to Him. And that is the whole point of the Bible to know Jesus and to come close to His heart.

Portia: Yeah, and that's exactly what happened to one of our guests today, Scarlette Steuerwald. She sat in women's Bible studies for years. But God helped her realize that she was missing something very important: Jesus. She's here today. She's going to help us come up with a game plan to make sure that we don't miss the entire point of being in our Bible reading plan this year.

Dannah: I got a fire in my belly. Portia, I want to testify.

Portia: She says, you gotta fire. Look, go girl. Start the fire in the belly.

Dannah: Okay, well, I've been there. I've been there where I'm currently studying my Bible. Just last year, there were some seasons where I wasn't missing a single day. But I just didn't feel any different after I finished my time in the Word. It does happen.

But as of late, ah, this year, it's so good. So far, Jesus is so alive in me. I've been praying this every single day before I start my time in the Word, “Lord, do something essential in me every time I open Your Word. Awaken my heavenly appetites.”

I've been acknowledging Jesus before I even start to study, and I am telling you, my heart is studied. My mind is infused with ideas. That's something that happens when I really lock into the presence of Jesus—I just have ideas, marching orders. He says “go” because that's what He wants us to do. And He's gonna go with me.

My disciplines are locked in. Last night I was in my bedroom, worshiping the Lord, with my headphones on (which you never should worship the Lord loudly with your headphones on because you never know who's listening). I came downstair,s but my husband said, “What are you doing, Babe?”

I said, “I was thinking.”

He goes, “Oh, you were singing.” And he pushes play on his iPhone recording. You do not want to hear that.

But all that to say this . . .

Portia: A joyful noise.

Dannah: I'm enjoying the presence of Jesus. I couldn't stop worshiping last night because I'm experiencing Jesus in the morning when I'm in my quiet time. I'm changed. I leave my time in the Word, having an encounter with my Friend and my Savior, rather than just filling up my time. And that's what we want for you too, Grounded sister.

Portia: Yes, yes. Um, last night, we kicked off our women's study with my church. That was one of the things that I was kind of like preaching. This is just not another thing that we're going to be doing on our Debbie Do-Gooder list. Like, I want you to know and experience and have a personal beautiful camp encounter with Jesus.

So, I am excited. And guess what? I'm also excited about the fact that today's episode doesn't just have one stellar guest, but we've got two. Amy Gannett is also with us. Her passion is helping you to know how to exegete.

Dannah: Okay, that’s a word. That's a word right there, “exegete.”

Portia: I was about to say, don’t get scared. Don't check out on me. People stay here, stay here. Okay. If you don't know what that is or how to do it, you just need to stick around. I'm gonna make you a promise. You are going to walk away fired up to get into God's Word, looking for Jesus. And speaking of time in the Word. I know you have such a passion to see children in the Word. Dannah, I love this.

Dannah: I know it. Yeah. I love it.

Portia: Yes, yes. Well, I think you're gonna love today's good news, because some women have discovered a way to get public school children into the Word of God. And Erin Davis is here to tell us about it. So, give it to us. I'm excited.

Dannah: Do tell.

Erin: I’m here to join this party. Can you tell that we are women who loved the Word? I mean, Dannah and Portia were like bouncing.

Dannah: I am very excited today. Also, I want to get my husband's iPhone and erase what he taped last night.

10:33 – Good News

Erin: Yeah, that file has got to go. But Dannah, it's in the cloud forever. I'm sorry, that may come back to haunt you at some point.

But I have the honor of being the good news girl for this episode. And so, I want to start by telling you a little quote that I've been chewing on this new year. I've been slowly reading through the excellent book Habits of the Household. And here's a quote from it. “We become our habits and our kids become us. The family, for better or worse, is a formation machine.”

And man, is that true!

So, as we're thinking about our Bible reading habits today, let's lean into how shifting those habits aren't just going to change us, but they are going to just by design have a big impact on the people around us.

If you're finding Jesus in your Bible study in the morning, that's going to send out shockwaves and it's probably going to impact some kids, the kids in your world. It's not a newsflash that biblical literacy is on the decline. We just actually talked in last week's episode about biblical poverty.

But even here in the states where there's lots of Bibles and lots of translations available to most of us, our biblical literacy is on the decline.

And I do know that my job is to bring the sunshine, not the rain. So today, we want to celebrate the ministry of Bible2School. That's all one word with the number two in the middle. What is the mission of this ministry? Well, they take children in second, third, and fourth grade. I happen to have a third grader, Judah, attending public school. They give those kids the opportunity to attend a Bible2School program, typically done during recess or lunch.

Those kids get to hear Bible lessons. Did you hear me right? In their public-school setting, kids in public school getting access to solid Bible teaching during the school day, good news.

Of course, parents love this opportunity, because I happen to be a parent of four school-aged children. And my parttime job is driving them to activities and keeping our family calendar updated.

And so, parents love this opportunity because it doesn't add something to the after school or evening calendar. It happens during the day—very strategic.

And here's another reason to get pretty excited about what God's doing here. 60% of the kids who participate in a program at Bible2School are not regularly connected to a church. And here's another layer to celebrate: 15% of the parents of kids who participate in this program were not attending church, but they started attending church because of their kids’ participation in the program.

Let the excitement continue—a program happening in schools that is getting unchurched families reading the Bible and into church. I know it's Monday morning. I tried to keep it chill. I don't want to overwhelm you first thing in the morning. But this is great news. I know that if you flipped on something other than Grounded this morning, you probably heard some bad news about what's happening in public schools. That's real, and it really matters.

But the good news you may not hear anywhere else this morning is that God is at work, changing kids, changing families, through God's Word and this ministry in public schools. We're gonna drop the link to Bible2School if you want to learn more about them.

And also wanted to mention another ministry that impacts my school is where my kids go. We're fans of it here on Grounded. It's Moms in Prayer. It's a ministry we love. If this stirs your heart, that actually might be a next step for you. Because what Moms in Prayer does is helps you get organized to pray with other moms about the schools in your district. Maybe you want to start with prayer. We're going to drop the link to MomsinPrayer.org. Dannah, you're up.

Dannah: Oh, I tell you what, those are two ministries that get me excited. Moms in Prayer. We have a Moms in Prayer group at the Christian high school that my husband founded—Grace Prep. They meet every week. I started that group.

Erin: When your kids were in school right?

Dannah: When my kids were in school. I love Moms in Prayer. If you're not in a Moms in Prayer group, and it doesn't have to be public school, Christian school, homeschool groups, all kinds. It's just moms praying for their kids and their teachers and their education and their hearts.

Also, I love this ministry, that public schools mission field. This ministry is recognizing that, and they're getting in there and they're taking the Word of God into the mission field. I love to see the fruit of that.

15:41 – Grounded with God's People (Scarlette Steuerwald)

Well, it's time to get grounded with God's people. Today. Our guest is a Bible Study leader. Scarlette Steuerwald is with us. She'll tell us how to find what we're really looking for when we open our Bibles. Good morning, Scarlette. I'm so glad that you could join us today on Grounded.

Scarlette Steuerwald: Good morning, Dannah, it's a privilege to be with you today.

Dannah: Hey, I'll get right to the point. Was there a time when you realized something's missing in my Bible time?

Scarlette: Well, for so many years . . . I started when I was about 30 years old doing Bible studies in my home. God gave me the opportunity around the very table I'm sitting at today. We've been having ladies join weekly. I would do all kinds of good Bible study books relative to discipleship.

But it came to a point about 15 years ago that I just had a desire to study Jesus. It was impressed on me by the Holy Spirit in my heart. I started to look for good materials to do that, but I really didn't find anything, so we just started putting it together incident by incident—the life of Christ. You know, Harmonies of the Gospels they have about 220 different incidences of Jesus. And we just started going one by one through His life.

Do you know that there's only one miracle that's found in all four Gospels? Did you know that Dannah?

Dannah: What is it?

Scarlette: It is the feeding of the 5,000. It's found in all four Gospels. So, when we study an incident, we look at all the gospel texts. We bring it together, and we study it.

Well, I don't know at what point that I realized how really famished I was on the knowledge of Christ. It has been a blessing to start to feed on Him and Him alone.

The first time we went all the way through the life of Christ looking at all those incidences, and it took us nine and a half years to complete. But I have to say, the rich benefit that it has been for myself and for the ladies has been significant.

Dannah: It's really one of the points of the Word—revealing Christ, right? John writes, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word. If we try to read the Word without the presence of Christ saturating it and soaking it, we really haven't experienced it at all. It sounds to me like it changed your passion for studying the Word. Is that true?

Scarlette: It became a passion, it became the passion. You know, we asked, well, why do we just want to study Jesus? Or why do we want to put an emphasis on Jesus? You already eluded to it today. You're saying all Scriptures point to Him, the Old Testament, and the Epistles come and point to Jesus. We can get kind of stuck. I was on the characters, studying, doing character studies, doing doctrine studies, and studies that maybe take women off the cliff of anxieties, and other issues in their life. But the overall theme is actually Jesus.

We should have our doctrine solid, and there are wonderful characters to study. But we need Him, and God's vision of Him. Those are what we need to understand all our salvation you were talking about all our salvation depends on Him.

John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and Life.”

Another issue I am ashamed to say is that in John 1:18, John starts out his book by saying, “No man has seen the Father. At any time, the only begotten Son, He has declared him.” So, if we want to get to know God, we studied Jesus, and we can see what His mercy and His compassion and of course, His love for us, but also like we're seeing this week in our Bible study. What grieves Him, what angers Him. We get to really understand the heart of God as we take our Bibles and open it and look at Jesus.

Our lives are to reflect Him. Jesus said, “I Am the light of the world.” And then He tells us that we are light. But how can we reflect a light that we don't really understand?

Dannah: Right?

Scarlette: How can we reflect His love when we don't understand the depths of it?

Dannah: I love that they were studying. It helps us understand what grieves Him because in our relationships, we know that that's an important thing to be aware of the people we love the most. We know what makes them happy. We know what grieves them. That's a beautiful piece of our friendship with Jesus.

Probably not many of us are going to study Jesus’ life for nine and a half years. So, what are some simple things we can do to integrate Jesus and awareness of Him into our regular study patterns, so that we can just be more mindful of the presence of Christ in all the pieces of Scripture?

Scarlette: I think I found in my own study that I was not really being aware of Him in my reading, even His message, but when I read the Epistles, He’s everywhere. He's everywhere, and just being very mindful of Him and what He does for it.

Maybe having a page in your Bible notebook there, “What does Jesus mean?” O,r “What does He do for me?” Having that and writing that down? As you go? You say maybe not everybody would study Jesus for nine and a half years, maybe not. But I would really like to. I have said You should not close your eyes. Having never looked at your Savior's life, never seen what His life was like moving from one incident to another, seeing His ministry be built. I feel like that's very important for every believer to look at the life of Jesus at least once.

Dannah: Go ahead. Matthew 11:28–30.

Scarlette: Jesus said to a very weary religious crowd, “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn with me.”

He was so different from the religion of their time, but also the religions of today. He calls and says, just just learn of me.

I was in a church service and a missionary was speaking. He went to that one familiar passage, Matthew 28. And I heard that passage like I'd never heard it before. As he read it, he said, “All power (Jesus was speaking) is given unto me and heaven and earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Ghost, teaching them (now listen to this Dannah teaching them) to observe all things.” What's the next line? “Whatsoever I have commanded you?”

And I heard that I said, “Lord, how can I teach women around my table, and at my other Bible studies, how can I teach them?” If I really don't know what He has said, what He has commanded? Because that's what He's asked us to teach and how to disciple.

Like I said, it was in my mid-40s when I really started to dig in to Jesus and get to know His heart and His desires for us.

Dannah: Wow, I love it. I love your passion that's just oozing out of you. I love that we got to sit around your table where you disciple women every week. Probably none of us are going to ever get there to your house, even though we'd like to sit around that table for real. So, is there a way we can be a part of your ministry, Ladies Studying Jesus. Is that the name of the ministry? How can we be a part of that?

Scarlette: Yes. I would go out and speak at ladies’ retreats. And a young woman who had come to me asked, what's your website? And I remember the first time just kind of glazing over, but the Lord opened up her opportunity. And now we have LadiesStudyingJesus.com. On that I have at this time, about 75 lessons of Jesus. We have my worksheets and all my notes. It's all available for a Bible teacher, for ladies Bible teacher, or for women. There's audios there of me teaching. If a lady just wants to sit in her chair and listen, follow along, they're more than welcome to use it. It's all free of charge. It's all there to be used.

Also, on Monday nights I have another area where was kind of pulled in by the young woman. On Monday night we Zoom, where actually they can almost sit at my table. We go through the life of Christ. We do it tonight. On the website, there's a Zoom link, and it brings you right into my dining room table, and we study the life of Christ. I would love to have that. Yes, I'd love to have some of your friends.

Oh, I was concerned that the Zoom wouldn't have that wonderful feel of a Bible study community. But it does.

Dannah: It really can. Well, thank you so much for letting us cozy up around your dining room table today and for giving us a passion to see Jesus in every piece of Scripture. We're so grateful. You can learn more about Charlotte's ministry at LadiesStudyingJesus.com That's LadiesStudyingJesus.com. God bless Scarlette. Portia.

26:25 – Grounded with God's People (Amy Gannett)

Portia: Well, I think I'm gonna be checking out the website. I just love first of all, don't you like that, Ladies Studying Jesus. Like it has a nice ring to it. Great interview. Great interview. All right, Grounded seminarians, you got the theory? I think you do. What we're going for today, get more Jesus in your Bible study time. And now I know what you need. You need the application. Our next guest, Amy Gannett, is here to help us. She is a seminary grad, and her passion is making exegetical Bible study accessible and available to anyone wanting to pursue it. Now, don't get scared because we've got wanna start out by getting help us understand what exegetical means? So welcome to Grounded, Amy.

Amy Gannett: It is so fun to be here.

Portia: Yes, I'm super excited. All right, so I'm getting straight to it. Help us out. Talk to us like we're in kindergarten. What is exegetical Bible study?

Amy: Exegetical Bible study is I think at the heart of what all of us are really looking for when we approach God's Word. The word sounds really complicated, really overwhelming. It's a lot of syllables. But really, the meaning is incredibly simple and straightforward. Exegetical Bible study is the approach to Scripture that seeks to draw out the original meaning of the text.

So, think of excavation, approaching God's Word like an excavation site, like an excavator. I've got a toddler who is super into watching any of the trucks in the street, or at a construction site. Think of a big excavator?

Portia: Yes.

Amy: I know you do. Think of a big excavator that is seeking to get to the bottom of the real thing. That is what exegetical Bible study seeks to do.

So, the approach to Scripture really says, “God, I want to understand what Your Word is saying, not what I think it's saying, not what I want it to say when it rubs against my preferences, not just what this one Bible teacher or this Instagram or this Tik Tok-er, tells me it says. I want to understand what Your Word says. I want to draw out that original meaning.”

The opposite approach to exegetical Bible study is to read our own interpretation into Scripture, to start with our own preconceived notions and say, “You know, I think the Bible is really in favor of all of my preferences.”

So, I'm gonna go pick and choose the verses that align with what I already think Scripture is saying. It's highlighting your Bible with a Sharpie. I don't know if you've ever heard that. You’re marking out the things that kind of make you uncomfortable. You're highlighted with a highlighter, the things that already agree with you. That's the opposite.

It's to approach God's Word and say, “What does it really say?” So, we want to excavate; we want to be the exegete of Scripture. We want to understand what it's really saying, get to the bottom of it.

Portia: Love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah, that the opposite of what you're talking about, is a little $10 term. I call all the big words, the fancy seminarian words, $10 terms. But exegesis, and the reason why it stuck with me the first time is because I want to control what the Bible says. So, you are speaking my love language girl.

I want to go and dig even more. Especially zooming in on exactly who needs to know how to study exegetically, because it sounds so fancy, like this ain't for me. So, is exegesis just for seminary grads or current seminary students? Or like me and you? Who is it for?

Amy: I would propose that it is for all Christians reading their Bibles. It is a posture of our hearts before it's a skill set, before it's a list of tools and resources. We can talk about all of that. That's what I went to seminary to learn. But it's a heart posture that says, “God, I want to know what your Word says, and I'm going to let you speak. I'm not going to come with preconceived notions and read my own agenda into the text.” We believe as Christians and the Church throughout Church history has always believed that God's Word is His self-revelation. He has seen it fit to tell us in His own words who He is, so we're gonna let Him speak. So I would propose that exegetical Bible study is for all Christians.

Now, once you say okay, I want to study the Bible exegetically, there is a long gradient, we can grow in this. We can level it up to seminary, PhD level if we want, but we can start right where we are today. The beginner Bible student can study the Bible exegetically. Here's some key proponents of exegetical Bible study, as we read it verse by verse, as we ask a good question about the original audience, the original setting, the time in which it was written, and then apply it appropriately to our everyday lives. That's how simple it can be.

It's for seminary grads, but also moms like me who are on their second cup of coffee, fourth time reheated in the microwave with a toddler running around and possibly a baby nursing. We're saying, “Lord, meet me in Your Word.” We can still at that entry level do exegetical Bible study as we ask good questions, approach God's Word with a heart that wants to let Him speak, and then appropriately apply it to our lives.

Portia: Yes, so one of my favorite things to say when I am just like, bubbling over with excitement and joy, and I am just tracking with what you're saying is that I want to throw my shoe.

Amy: Yes. Throw it, throw it Portia.

Portia: Because yes, you are giving us the good stuff. I want to keep it going. So, tell us some tools. Let's say a woman all she's got is her Bible, and 20 minutes. Where does she start?

Amy: I think one of the best places to start, if you're less familiar with Scripture is to start with one of the gospel accounts. I love starting with Mark, because it's all about Jesus who came to be King. I mean, it's one of my favorite books in the Bible.

So, pick a gospel, start in the book of Mark. Then we want to take those three steps. We want to start by working verse by verse. It can be really tempting, especially in church culture today to make everything fit a theme. So, I'm going to study the book of Mark, but I'm only going to study the parables.

Well, when we do that, we might get a really good understanding of parables. And there's a time and place for that. But we're not going to get the whole picture of what Mark is trying to communicate to us about the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

And so, we want to start reading verse by verse. Start in Mark chapter one, and read verse one, and then read verse two, then read verse three. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

I like to suggest that when people only have about 20 minutes, what about five minutes of your time be reading, just reading, see how far you get Scripture. In our English Bibles is naturally divided in, here's another $10 word, corickopsis They're naturally divided in these sections.

And so, some of them are narrative. This chapter has three stories, and you see little headers in between each story. So maybe just read one story within a chapter. Maybe it's just 10 verses, maybe it's only a couple of verses. Read that verse by verse. Then after we've read verse by verse, we want to ask good questions. We start by saying, what is this passage saying?

So, if somebody has a notebook, we want to look for things like just bullet points:

What story is being told in Mark?
Who are the main characters?
Are there things I don't understand?

I was recently in my own quiet time, in the book of Mark, because I love it so much. I was recently reading the story of the woman who was bleeding, who touches the hem of Jesus’ garment. The next thing we want to do after we've read it and said, who are the main characters?

We want to say, is there anything that I don't understand that seems cultural?
Is there anything in the way that the original reader of the book of Mark would have understood that I don't understand in my day and age?

So we're talking about a woman with a medical condition where she's hemorrhaging. But the author of Mark writes in such a way that they're like, obviously there was a woman with blood. And so clearly, she hadn't left her house. That's not obvious to me, so that clues, I don't understand something about their original context.

So, we want to ask those good questions, and then dig a little deeper.

Portia: Yeah.

Amy: And then the last thing we want to do is apply it rightly to our lives. So, once we've asked the questions about what is what am I missing? What is the cultural context? What is Mark as an author trying to do in this passage to tell us about the person of Jesus? He is trying to show us like he does all the time in the stories of people who interact with Jesus is that Jesus came for the outcast and the outsiders.

He is telling us a story of a woman who had a medical condition that made her an outsider to worship and an outsider to society. As Jesus is on His way to heal a little girl, as an official, somebody super important in town, somebody with a lot of influence. He is on His way, and He sees it fit to heal this woman.

So, what I want to see is that once again, Jesus brought in the outsider. He's showing all the faithful, devout Jewish worshipers that are around Him expecting their King to come in one way. His kingdom is a different kind of kingdom. He came for the oddballs. He came for the outcasts. He came for the outsiders. He didn't just come for the religious elite.

So now that we get to application. I can ask myself hard questions. Now that I've understood this story in its original context. Now that I've executed the passage, we've read verse by verse, we've asked our good questions. Now I can apply this to my life by saying, who are the outsiders? Well, the gospel tells us time and again, it's me, which means Jesus came for me. I get to emulate the Spirit of Jesus and say, who are the outsiders in my community? Jesus came for them. And we get to welcome them into our church.

So, I can apply that in my life by saying, we have had a homeless mother and their child visit our church several times. I don't know if anyone has gone and talked to them. In my book as a ministry leader in the local church, that's an emergency. So I can say, I'm applying this verse about the woman who was an outcast in my life by saying, “Lord, would you open an opportunity for me to minister to them and connect with them and draw them into the family of faith this Sunday?”

So, what we've done is we've read a short passage, verse by verse, asked good questions, gotten to the heart of it, and then applied it in a way that maybe we wouldn't have expected to apply in our daily lives. But it's because we did the hard work of exegetical Bible study.

Portia: Yes, take us to church girl. Here's something that I want to touch on. I can already see, I see it. But I want to make this clear for our Grounded sisters. I'll even direct us to one of the tools that you've created is the Word to Worship guide. And we're gonna drop a link to that for our Grounded sisters to check it out.

But I think that you know, I go here in this episode not just to make us be the Debbie-do-gooders who are checking off Bible reading on our list. But it's to fill us with Jesus and actually looking for Him. That's what we're talking about today, looking for Jesus. And so in the Scriptures, when we study Him in the Scriptures, how does that impact our worship of Him? Like, how is that worship?

Amy: Yeah, that is why I wrote my book, Fix Your Eyes. Those cards that you're referencing, are an abbreviated version of each of the chapters in my book, Fix Your Eyes. It's all about how theology leads us to worship. We can know all the good stuff. But if it actually isn't impacting our daily lives, we are living like Pharisees who have these bloated brains but haven't met Jesus in our everyday lives.

That's why I wrote that book, because I want to help believers see how what we believe impacts our everyday discipleship, how we live our lives. I think one of the best helps to me is connecting what I'm reading in God's Word. Worship has been following the steps of exegetical Bible study. And here's why, not just because it feels like a smarter way to study the Scripture. If Scripture is true, that Scripture is revealing the heart of Christ, which we've talked about today. If it's true that Scripture is revealing the heart of Christ, if we exegete Scripture, and dig into that meaning, we are going to meet Christ there. He desires to make Himself known.

That's what the Word of God is. The fact that we have this Book reveals to us that God desires to be known. We have no right to know the God of the universe, who actually have no capacity to know Him about apart from His self-condescension, from Him coming down to our level. He wants to be known.

I actually think that helps us when we get into the weeds of Scripture, when we're going through our Bible reading plan. We say, “Okay, I'm reading about the measurements for the temple for the fifth day now, and I'm not relating to it. I don't know how to apply that to my heart and life.”

It reminds us that if we follow these steps, if we ask good questions, if we try in our heart posture to get to the heart of Christ in His Word, we can have confidence that He wants us to know Him.

So even as we read passages that seem really dry, like about the measurements for the temple, one, these measurements tell us God is very specific about His presence. His presence cannot be approached casually. How many chapters did it take to outline the tabernacle? It took five chapters in Exodus to tell us about the kinds of curtains that would surround the outer courts, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, five chapters talking about linens. But what that tells us is God is holy; we don't approach Him casually.

And if we approach God's Word this way, we're not going to find a single dry passage in Scripture, because in every passage on every page, we're going to see the heart of Jesus.

Portia: Yes girl, I'm telling you, I got my shoe down here in my hand. I'm trying to keep it down underneath the desk and not throw it because yes, everything that you've said. It's so practical because many of us in January, exactly the things that you're talking about, where this is where we are, it is so easy to skim past those verses about the acacia wood and all of this. But the way that you broke this down for us to see Jesus. I love it. I could talk to you all day, but I gotta wrap it up. I want to ask you, where can women go to learn more from you?

Amy: Well, I run two ministries that are both my joy and my passion. I manage the Bible Study Schoolhouse, which is where I teach everyday believers how to study the Bible exegetically. So, if somebody who is listening is interested in learning how to do that, I have a free course called the Bible Study Schoolhouse. It's a free five video course on how to study the Bible exegetically for beginners. If you want to do that, you can check that out at BibleStudySchoolhouse.com.

And then I run Tiny Theologians, which is a series of theological resources for the littlest members of the family of God. You can always follow along with me. I share a lot on my personal Instagram about how this looks in everyday life. Because, Portia, let's be honest, we're moms, we’re busy. We have work and church and community events and friendships to maintain and parents who we want to catch up with and kids who are running around missing socks and they never had their shoes on.

So, I share a lot about that kind of discipleship, lifestyle discipleship and the everyday on my Instagram at AmyCateGannett. And that's Cate with a “C” A-M-Y-C-A-T-E Gannett on Instagram.

Portia: Perfect. Well, it is been a joy. We're going to drop a link to your website, Study@Amy Gannett.com. And thank you. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Amy: Thanks for having me.

Portia: Well, guys, Amy has a ton of tools on her website. And as she mentioned, sharing life, practically and discipling, practically through Instagram.

I'd like to offer up a few more tools to you. From the ministry that the Lord has entrusted to me, She Shall Be Called, there are tons of free resources available on our website. These are designed to help you become good at exegesis. In fact, there's an exegetical guide on there that I would love for you to check out. We'll drop a link to it in the comment section and the show notes.

45:45 – Grounded in God's Word

Erin: Alright, so to get grounded in God's Word, which is such a silly thing to say as we've been in God's Word this whole time.

I had a whole nother thing planned. And I was listening to Portia and Amy talk, I didn't want to throw my shoe, but I was like on the edge of my seat gonna give it to ’em. This is the good stuff. And I thought, why don't we just do what they taught us. Let's take some reps with the muscles that they just showed us. And she mentioned it. Let's just head to the book of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter one.

What I want you to do is we're gonna go verse by verse, not through the whole book, don't worry, but we're gonna go verse by verse for a few verses.

And what I want you to do is take note whenever Jesus is mentioned, it's not always going to be by name. If you're watching us live, I want you to actually do this every time I mention Jesus as mentioned. I just want you to put Jesus in the comments.

And so, we're gonna see the how in a few verses Jesus is mentioned.

If you're listening to the podcast or you catch this later, just take a pen, not a Sharpie, a highlighter or open and circle or underline every time that mentions Jesus. Whenever I read something that's talking about Jesus, I'm going to take a pause, and you make note of it.

Okay, here we go. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word,” That's your first cue to put Jesus in the chat or circle it, and the Word was with God. There you go, number two. “and the Word was God.” Three mentions right there in the first verse. Well, how do I know that's Jesus? Because Scripture tells us that He is the Word in the flesh.

Verse 2, “He was in the beginning with God.” There you go. There's your next one. I think we're at four, talking about Jesus. “All things were made through him.” I hope that chat is lighting up. I can't multitask. I can't watch the chat and Grounded at the same time. But it should be saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, because all of these verses are about Jesus.

“And without him was not anything made that was made.” There's another reference to Jesus. “In him was life,” there's another one. “And the life was the light of men.” Another one, “the light [that's him] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

“There was a man” then we'll just stop there. You keep going. That's the first five verses. I lost count because I can't do math. But those first four or five verses are just saturated with Jesus. There you go. You just did exegetical Bible study. Word by word, line by line. There is Jesus. Let's find Him in His Word. This week. Portia?

Portia: Oh, Erin Davis, you just made it like throw your shoe day.

Erin: It is! I enjoy doing that ceremony. Here we go.

Portia: Yes, yes. I’m about to throw it, because I am so excited. And I know that our sisters are excited and like fired up to get into God's Words.

Erin: You know, I think this is the secret to not breaking your resolution to read Scripture in this year. If you go, “Oh, it's so that I can be with Jesus.” You're gonna persevere.

Portia: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Erin Davis.

Well, how we study Scripture doesn't just impact our life, it impacts everyone we come into contact with, specifically, the people that we want to see. We want them to see Jesus living through us. And you know, I often think of my little girl Emmy and her view of God's Word and how that is being shaped by my view of God's Word. What does she see when I have my Bible, she goes and grabs her Bible, too. And so this is the same with the women at my church and in my community. And so it matters how we approach God's Word.

We want you to see this short clip from our very own Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, where she is addressing a group of Bible teachers. She outlines the steps to take anytime we are sharing God's Word with others. Let’s watch.

50:02 – Video Clip (Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth)

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: There are no shortcuts to teaching God's Word effectively first for you, then for others. Often as I'm getting ready to teach, my sweet husband, Robert, will pray for me. He will say, “Lord, help Nancy to go first.” So, I want you to go first as you dive into God's Word, and that's what you've been doing. During this time, you've been meeting with Leslie.

And then just something else I want to say just a minute about. We'll be talking more about days to study God's Word, how to teach God's Word. But I want to just remind you, whether it's the book of Ruth or Acts or Romans or Revelation or Genesis or wherever you're teaching in God's Word, how important it is to study the text and teach the text.

Three words that have been helpful to me in this, and I'm sure they're not new to you, is making observations about the text itself, then interpretation, and then application.

First observations: what is it say? I find that a lot of us who care about getting the Word into people's lives, sometimes just skip over the text and jump too quickly to interpretation or application. First observations. What does the text say? Teach the text, teach the Word of God. I hope that you've been learning how to do that. As you've been studying growth, what does it say? Then, what does it mean? That's interpretation. Then, what should I do? Application.

Now, it's not like just observation, interpretation, application. Those can be wedded together. They can be melded together. You can be making applications, but don't skip over the text itself. And for those who may have a background where you've really learned to love and teach the text, make sure you get to application. People tend to fall in a ditch one way or the other.

We want to encourage you here at Revive Our Hearts this year, leading women to study God's Word in your churches, to be faithful to observe the text, unpack it, what is it saying to the questions of who, what, where, why, when, how. Those basic reporter questions, ask those questions, make those observations. Then interpret it. What does it mean? And then application. What should I do?

Portia: Don't you just love good wisdom? I’m super thankful for Nancy for sharing that. All right, we're filling your cup up to the brim guys, and I'm gonna keep it going. We want to give you some tools to stay grounded. I'd like to recommend a Revive Our Hearts podcast series, it's entitled, “Wonder of His Name.” And listen, if you want to know who Jesus is, this is the series for you. This series covers who Jesus is, the Son of Man, Emanuel, Wonderful Counselor. I think that you're going to benefit from this. So, check it out. We're gonna drop a link to it in the chat and the show notes.

Dannah: What a really wonderful program today. I feel inspired to get into the Word of God. I hope you do too. I do want to say this: this is an invitation. This isn't a to-do.

Erin: Yep.

Dannah: This isn't a task. This isn't something that you have to cross off your list or overwhelm you. This is Jesus wants to spend time with you. That's what it is. And there are times when I spend time with Jesus, where it's studying. I'm taking an Old Testament survey class right now just because I wanted to go back to the basics and really dig in. And oh, how am I seeing Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament.

And so sometimes it is more studious. But if it's become merely studious for you, I want to invite you to do something this week. Wherever you sit, make sure that there's a second seat when you spend time studying the Word. Just imagine that Jesus is sitting there visiting with you, and just say, “Lord, help me to understand who You are. Help me to feel like I've spent time with a friend, because You are my friend. You are the Savior of the world. So, rescue my heart from any wrong thinking I have about this book I'm about to open and study.” Just start your time by talking to Him and just see if you don't begin to see Jesus in the pages of your Bible in a whole new way.

Erin: So good most experts on goals and who keeps goals and who don't. They say the secret is knowing your why. And if you don't have the right why or you don't know your why, you're not gonna meet the goal. And so I think, Dannah, you've given us just such a beautiful why: to sit with Jesus.

Dannah: Jesus is the why, the why we open our Bible.

Portia: Love it. There's not a better why. So yeah, I'm ready. I’m bubbling up. I'm going to open my Bible right after this.

Dannah: Get ahold of it this week, girls, and then we'll see you here next week. What's up for next week, Portia girl?

Portia: Next week we've got Kevin DeYoung coming, and get this. This episode is gonna be good. The subtitle of his new book is, let me read it: Why Following Jesus Does Not Mean You Have to Change the World: Be an Expert in Everything Except Spiritual Failure and Feel Miserable Pretty Much All of the Time.

Dannah: Wow, that’s a subtitle.

Erin: I love it.

Dannah: They did not have a word limit on the subtitle, at all.

Erin: We’re going to be talking about habits. We're going to talk some more about your whys and why the Christian life is the life of so much freedom. So be right back here with us next week on Grounded.

Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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