Introduction to Our Bible Study
From across America and around the world, an intensifying cry is being raised to God for a fresh encounter with Him in revival. Almost everywhere we go we hear churches cry out for revival. They are saying that what they are experiencing is so bad, so dry, and so empty, they want a fresh touch from God. They want to experience God in the ways God's people experienced His mighty power and presence in the Scriptures and in history. Some are experiencing a fresh wind of God's Spirit blow in revival. But, many are saying, "We don't know what to do." Their heart cry is, "Is there a word from the Lord? What does God say we need to do?" We sense that God is hearing and responding to that cry.
Just as it was in Bible times, standing in the presence of Holy God is an awesome experience. To stand before Him is to stand before the One who created the entire universe. He is the One who worked out eternal salvation for all humankind when His Son died on a very cruel cross, bearing the sin of a whole world in Himself. Therefore, any encounter with God carries with it a serious accountability. No one can be in God's presence without a serious response. The response required is not a response to a concept, a law, or a principle. It is a response to a Person. This is always very serious.
This study will bring you face to face with Scripture- key Scripture. We will examine the text along with the references so you can understand what God Himself has said. As we study God's Word, we believe that the Spirit of God will be present to assist us. He not only will bring understanding, but He also will bring us face to face with God, who is revealing Himself to us through the Scriptures. Every encounter with God's Word by God's people is an encounter with God. Our response to what He reveals to us always requires a serious and personal response to Him. He takes our response to Him very seriously. So must we.
We encourage everyone involved in this Home Bible Study to do the following:
- Take your time with God in His Word very seriously.
- Expect to encounter God as you study.
- Spend personal time encountering God in prayer after each meeting.
- Agree to respond to Him with immediate and thorough obedience to everything He calls you to do or to be.
- Agree to help each other work out into your lives all that God has said to you, adjusting, repenting, and obeying Him.
- Share with each other regularly, even daily (they did in the early church in the Book of Acts) what God is doing in your lives.
- Continue praying, studying together, and responding to Him until revival is a very real part of your lives and your church.
This bible study will be a powerful resource to encounter God through His Word in such a way that God's people may experience true, deep, and lasting revival in their lives. We will see God work through our changed lives to touch the rest of our world with His salvation.