Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

end"
Lesson Helps for the Week of March 27, 1955
C. Y. P. U. TOPIC
For March 27, 1955
4th of series on Bible Study Methods
Rev. Donald I. Robb
Topical Study
This fourth method of Bible Study I
feel to be one of the most important to
Christian growth. The reason for saying
that is the fact that it is an excellent
way to answer the questions that come
up
about particular problems. The an
swers might not come up in our daily de
votions and so this provides a good way
to reach them quickly. For example you
might be wondering, "How much sin can
there be in my life without hurting me
spiritually."
Instead of waiting to come
across the answer to this question in
your regular study, you can go at it di
rectly via the "Topical Study," calling it
perhaps "Sin in the Christian."
There are four steps in a Topical
Study. And just for the sake of using a
well known subject let's ask again,
"What is man's chief
The answer
of course is that it is "to glorify God and
to enjoy Him forever." If glorifying God
then is the most important thing we are
to do while we are living on earth . . .
how does the Bible, God's Word, say
that we can do it
it
The four steps in finding
1. State your subject.
out are :
2. What do you want to find out about
3. Check Bible passages on it.
4. State your own answers, based on
the passages which you have found.
So let's follow these steps through as
an example of how to do a Topical
Study.
Step one: (State subject) "Glorifying
God"
Step two: (What do I want to know
about it) "Why should I glorify God
Am I doing it now How can I do it bet
ter Have I ever failed to do it fully"
(You will think of your own questions
about your own particular question.)
Step three: (Check Bible passages on
it.) For this step a good concordance is
a great help. Many of you have one in
the back of your Bible or even at home
on the book shelf. If you want to go into
this in a very thorough way you might
Knowledge,"
find "Treasury of Scripture
Revell Publishing Co., to be a wonderful
ly fine help. One other one you might
like for a very complete study would be
"Nave's Topical
Bible."
But these are
extras, the concordance will be a good
basic help for study.
Since we are to look up passages on
the subject, we might look for the key
March 9, 1955
words of "glorify" or "glory." Some of
the verses that you will find will be I
Chron. 16:28; Psalm 50:15; I Cor. 10:
31; Romans 4:20; Phil. 1:11; I Peter 4:
14; Psalm 50:23; John 15:8.
Now these are not all the places
where God tells us about glorifying
Him, but they are a good beginning.
There are many more in your concor
dance so don't be afraid to use it. All of
these passages contain light you need for
the answers to the question "How can I
glorify God"
Step four: (State your answers, based
on the passages.) As you look up each
verse you might write down the basic
thought of it. This fourth step is to put
all of your material together. Make a
list of the things you have found about
glorifying God. Some of them may be
like this: "I can glorify God by praise,
. .
by fruit-bearing and others that
you will find.
So these are the four basic steps in a
Topical Study. If you wish, you may
add a fifth. That would be "How can I
accomplish these things (stated in step
four.)"
This would give you a complete
study then, from first question, to the
Bible, to the answers, to the "How" of it.
But this will all be just as mechanical
as a school exam unless there is a real
leaning on the Holy
Spirit and much
prayer about it all. It takes the leading
of God to understand and live by the
Word of God.
The topic of "Glorifying God" is just
an example. You may want to use some
other topic that is important to your
Y. P. group
right now. Here are some
other possible suggestions with a few
references on each. But these are only a
few, so remember that the more you
find from God's Word, the more com
plete a picture and the better under
standing you will have of the Lord's de
sires for you.
Other suggested topics:
"Sin in the Christian" Ps. 66:18; Isaiah
59:2; Ps. 69:5; Romans 6:12, 13; I John
2:1, 2
"Accomplishing Things in
Prayer"
James 5:16; Prov. 15:29; Jer. 33:3;
James 1:6; John 14:13, 14; Mark 11:24;
Mark 1:35
"Fighting Temptation" Luke 21:36; Ps.
94:18; Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Ephesians
6:16-18
To the Leader
Provide everyone with paper and pen
cils so you can do this study during the
meeting. The best way to learn is by do
ing.
You
might start the meeting with
prayer and a psalm, and then look over
the method of Bible
study described
here and decide what topic you will
want to use for your group.
Before you actually try it, have an
other psalm and then ask the Lord to
guide the study, and ask that it will
really be a blessing to you all.
When you have done the first two
steps together, you might see how many
different references you can get with
everyone using his memory, concordance
. . .
any source at all. That way everyone
will have the same sources for answers.
You may
precede a final discussion
of your answers by singing again if you
like. Then when you have found what
God has to say about your topic, discuss
it together. See how you personally can
be changed to obey
because of this type of study.
Psalm 119 : page 299, v. 1, 2
God's Word better
Psalm 148: page 357, v. 1, 4, 5
Psalm 55: page 140, v. 12, 13, 17
Psalm 12 : page 21, v. 5, 6
JUNIOR TOPIC
March 27, 1955
By Mrs. Philip W. Martin
RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
Scripture Text: Mark 16:1-8
Memory Verse: "And he saith unto
them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus
of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is
risen; he is not here: behold the place
where they laid him." Mark 16 :6
Psalms: Memory Psalm for March,
Psalm 130: 1-5, page 325
Psalm 16 : 7-10,
Psalm 30: 1, 2, 5, page 69
page 27
Psalm 36 : 5-8,
Psalm 118, page 285
Psalms of praise: 145-150
page 90
For our lesson today we have the hap
of all the Bible. The disciples
piest story
were very sad because their Leader was
Jesus'
dead. Two of followers were
walking home from Jerusalem and they
said, "We trusted that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel."
They
thought their Saviour was dead
and what good does a dead person do
us
The seventh day of the week was the
Jewish Sabbath. The next (the first day
of the week) was the third day after
Jesus was crucified. Jesus had told His
disciples that three days after He would
be killed, He would rise again. But in
their sorrow the disciples had forgotten
this.
Some women who had been at the foot
of Jesus' cross went early in the morn-
153