Scripture Study Vision – Tim Pinson

[Immanuel Sun]

Scripture Study Vision

Tim Pinson

Innumerable interests and distractions are available to the youth of today. How will we as the parents of this upcoming generation choose to engage in the spiritual development of their lives so that they can take hold of their God-given destiny with joy and confidence? As a parent of 4 children who is quickly heading into their adult years, this has become a very grave concern for me. I can see the wiles of the Enemy at work to draw them away from their divine purpose from every direction and by any means. In most cases, this has little to do with negative behavior or a desire on their part to engage in impure or inappropriate things. It is actually quite the opposite of that. In many ways and by various disguises, the Enemy constantly comes in as an “angel of light” or Familiar Spirit to either entice them with worldly pursuits and interests or to seek the approval, applause, and encouragement of others in their achievements and pursuits.

This is also a time when, if not checked at an early age, the Spirit of Independence will begin to take root in their lives and begin to thrive with the Spirits of Youthfulness and Pride. While many believe this is just the “normal course” for the youth of today, I do not believe this is to be the case. While these are certainly spirits and tendencies that all young people will face as they grow and mature, they can also be used by God as an opportunity to make some early progress in the Mystical Death to the Self Life. This can be accomplished within the proper environment, influence and careful guarding (discipline) of the Godly ones given to their lives who are to be there to “shine a light” on these snares of the Enemy and lead and instruct them in the Way of Life in the Lord. I have every hope that we will pay careful attention to these things in and among the lives of the young ones in our midst.

An obvious and necessary part of seeing this through is for our “elders” to have some direct relationship and influence in the young lives. Otherwise, they will not have a context to discern the spiritual progress and growth of the young ones and neither will they have a listening ear when/if direction/guidance is given. This way of engagement may seem “counter-culture” to the current ideas of the family and who is allowed to influence it, but I believe it is very beneficial for our community of Faith. As a parent of teens, I well know that my words are not always received in the way that I intend or hope and it can be very beneficial for a young one to receive of the same Wisdom from others in the Household of Faith.

In this light, I have had some discussion with Brother Immanuel and I know He has had some communication with each of you as well in regard to these things. He let me know that you have each shown or expressed an interest in having such a place of influence in the lives of our and your young ones. What we have discussed initially is to have some solid teaching of the Scriptures and, ideally, to cover all of the Scriptures over the course of around two years time.

Our vision for this is two-fold in purpose:

1. We want our young ones to develop a solid understanding of the Scriptures, especially within the context of God’s Eternal Purpose in all of creation.
2. We want to have a record of these teachings so that they can be used for the benefit of others whom the Lord may bring into our midst both locally and globally.

---

Note: Because of the vast amount of information contained in the Scriptures and the Wisdom contained within, we will need to take a very “purposeful” approach to what is initially taught while keeping in mind the proposed timeline and that being about 2 years for a full survey of the Scriptures. This may seem like a long period of time, but we will need to cover an entire book every 1.5 weeks (on average). I do not foresee 1/2 weeks, so we will need to limit our time in each book to 2-3 weeks (sessions) and will make the time up with some books that can be taught together with others (such as the minor prophets and the Gospels). Please keep this in mind in your preparations for teaching.

As you may know, I have started a teaching time with our young adults Noah and Elaine (we are currently going through the Gospels and I plan to finish by the New Year). I would expect that Naomi and Elijah will follow at some point soon as well. I try to keep our teaching time to about an hour. Again my approach has not been to take a “deep dive” into all that is contained in the Gospels, but to do some survey and hold the “Thread of God’s Eternal Purpose” as fulfilled in Jesus life as a Son of God and for all of God’s people as Jesus taught his own disciples and encouraged them to disciple others in the same Way.

As mentioned above, I think it will be to the benefit of all for others to engage in this teaching opportunity. I am happy to take a lead in working with each of you to see this fulfilled and I am also happy to take on the majority of the teaching so as not to overburden any of you with your timely engagement. Immanuel has mentioned that there are some specific books that he would like to teach through such as, Isaiah, Romans, Hebrews, etc. I personally will take the opportunity to cover the Pauline and Petrine letters as well as filling in some gaps wherever necessary. Please prayerfully consider what role you would like to take and what books you would cover at the appropriate time. We will need to be mindful of the commitment of time and to be sure we can fulfill the commitment.

A Proposed Structure:

I think it will be helpful to break the various books into some commonly known structure to help us work through them in a systematic way as follows:

The Gospels (completed)

• Matthew,
• Mark,
• Luke,
• John

The Law (11 weeks, January 7 – March 18)

• Genesis,
• Exodus,
• Leviticus,
• Numbers,
• Deuteronomy

Historical (14 weeks, March 25 – June 17)

• Joshua,
• Judges,
• Ruth,
• 1&2 Samuel,
• 1&2 Kings,
• 1&2 Chronicles,
• Ezra,
• Nehemiah,
• Esther

NT History (2 weeks, June 24 – July 8)

• Acts

Major Prophets (12 weeks, July 15 – September 30)

• Isaiah,
• Jeremiah,
• Lamentations,
• Ezekiel,
• Daniel

Pauline Letters (24 weeks, October 7 – March 17)

• Romans,
• 1&2 Corinthians,
• Galatians,
• Ephesians,
• Philippians,
• Colossians,
• 1&2 Thessalonians,
• 1&2 Timothy,
• Titus,
• Philemon

Poetry (10 weeks, March 24 – May 26)

• Job,
• Psalms,
• Proverbs,
• Ecclesiastes,
• Song of Solomon

General Letters (11 weeks, June 2 – August 11)

• Hebrews,
• James,
• 1&2 Peter,
• 1,2&3 John,
• Jude

Minor Prophets (17 weeks, August 18 – December 1)

• Hosea,
• Joel,
• Amos,
• Obadiah,
• Jonah,
• Micah,
• Nahum,
• Habakkuk,
• Zephaniah,
• Haggai,
• Zechariah,
• Malachi

NT Prophecy (3 weeks, December 8 – December 22)

• Revelation

For each book, here is a general outline for the survey:

1. Authorship – some information about the author and their own spiritual journey into the revealed purpose of God
2. Recipients – relationship to the author and why author is writing the letter, where are they in their maturity and fulfillment of God’s purposes
3. What role does this book take in the revealed purpose and intention of God toward creation?
4. What is the primary message and or spiritual principal conveyed through the writing?
5. What are some practical applications for spiritual growth?

Additional Notes:

• Participants will be expected to make their best effort to stay up with a reading schedule on their own time to follow along with the books that are being taught so that the teaching sessions can be fulfilled in a timely manner.
• Teachers will need to produce a more specific outline for each book/books covered and send via email out to all participants and teachers so that we can follow and record the progress
• Audio recordings will be archived on the Kingdom Age site for continued use
• Weekly or Bi-monthly communication should be made with myself and Immanuel so that we can remain informed of progress and of any concerns for needed suggestion or change. This will also make opportunity for further discernment and input about our progress.
• Let us use the Kingdom Age site’s designated forum as the common ground for such communications: https://www.kingdom-age.local/Forums/forum/bible-study/scripture-meeting

[Immanuel Sun]

Here is what brother Tim shared with us about our preliminary discussions on the Bible Survey plan we are ready more “officially” engage as a team effort in the coming years.

You can find and participate the discussion on Kingdom Age site in the days to come. So we have a common place for communication. ( I posted it in Tim’s stead this time….:) )

Let us catch with these few next steps:

1. Review this plan carefully and decide what your interested books are.
2. Have a Skype and/or on-site meeting time this week to consolidate and have a preliminary assignments setup. Later we can exchange or replace as occasions warrant.
3. Exchange and help one another for teaching preparations.
4. Invite or share the information with others, who can be benefited from some a such time, live or thru audio. Notice this is not merely a study for young adults in our midst, even we originally planned so. But rather for all who are interested to go thru the Bible with us.

[Author]

Posts