First Day of 2012 -- May I Offend You?

Happy 2012, dear Bible teachers!

Let me start off the year and risk offending some of you.

Here's my challenge for you: leave the study Bibles and commentaries on your bookshelf.

Go for days and weeks without checking footnotes and commentaries -- simply and prayerfully invest yourself in the Word.

Get a simple Bible, without all the study notes.  Read it in depth, read it in breadth.  Pray as your read.  If you find this difficult, it's a sure sign you need to do this!!

I promise you that you'll learn much more, and be shaped more by God.  This pays HUGE dividends in your teaching ability (at least if you want to teach to change lives, not just entertain people).

Let me be clear, ok?  I'm not opposed to study Bibles and commentaries.  Great Bible teachers use them, but use them as reference tools, not as primary sources.  (See my recommended list of Bible study tools.) We have only one primary source: the Word of God itself.

Go ahead, take me up on this challenge.  And let me know how it works for you.