| Five Steps to Power Up Your Bible Study Or Teaching Using A Bible Timeline |
| Written by Margaret Agard | |
| Friday, 15 May 2009 | |
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Here are the five steps. Study or teach 1. The Biblical Principles 2. The Order 3. The Overlap 4. The World 5. The Why
Here are the five steps. Study or teach 1. The Biblical Principles 2. The Order 3. The Overlap 4. The World 5. The Why The Principles: Most of us know how to get a principle out of a story ie David and Goliath principle - give God the credit. But we miss the larger picture. We're so busy teaching principles we don't put them in God's larger viewpoint. We don't even know simple things like when Ruth lived compared to Esther or Daniel to Solomon? Even after years of Bible study. You or your students get more out of a lesson when you understand in view of God's big picture for man. That's where a Bible timeline comes in handy. And a Biblical timeline chart with world history adds more. Let's begin with the order of events. The Order. The order and the timing of people and events. Most people have no idea how much time passed between Adam and Noah or between Noah and Abraham. Using a timeline makes it visual. You can literally see the passage of time; long, short or in between. A comparatively long time between Adam and Moses (about 2500 years), a short time from Moses to Solomon (about 500 years) and in between length of time from Solomon to Christ (about a 1000 years). Now the 2000 years from Christ to today is seen in a much larger context. The overlap. What can we get from that? How many people know that Methusaleh, the longest living human, died the year of the flood? Or that Shem, Noah's son, was still alive when Isaac was born. Or even more exciting is realizing that Noah was still living when Abraham was born. Is it possible Abraham and Isaac were told stories of the flood from a person who lived through it? When we actually see, using a timeline, that Enos, grandson of Adam lived until Noah was in his 90's suddenly we make that leap. The leap that tells us Abraham, or members of his family, may have known Noah and Noah knew Adam's grandson. Talk about your six degrees of separation story. Other world events. Most of us have bits of history floating around in some kind of hazy mess; like looking at an out of focus picture with some parts less blurry but the picture doesn't make sense. Using a Bible timeline with World history on it as well brings it all into sharp focus. We see the whole not just random bits. When we discover that Daniel and Confucius lived at the same time, or that the Greek poet Homer and Solomon lived in the same century, we begin to connect all those bits of history into a solid map in our minds. These aren't isolated events happening "somewhere in time." History is a series of connected events. More than that - they are a quilt of events all interconnected. All under God's direction. There are your five steps. 1. Teach or study your principle. 2. Orient the story in time. Place it in order on the timeline. 3. View the overlap and what that tells us. 4. Consider other events going on in the world at the same time. 5. Why. See it all as part of the God's great plan for man. There are your five steps. 1. Teach or study your principle. 2. Orient the story in time. Place it in order on the timeline. 3. View the overlap and what that tells us. 4. Consider other events going on in the world at the same time. 5. Why. See it all as part of the God's great plan for man. Now that's powerful study and teaching. The Article Author: Margaret Agard is author and contributor to the Amazing Biblical Timeline with World History. Get access to a free text version of the Timeline at her website http://agards-bible-timeline.com |
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