Studying the Word

Scripture Reading: Isa. 11:9b; 1 Tim. 2:4; 4:6; Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 1:13-14; 2:2, 15

I. Today the whole earth needs the truth of the Lord that is in His Word; the most urgent need on this earth today is the truth of this age:

1. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of all the truths in the Bible that were lost; the Lord’s recovery lies with the recovery of the knowledge of the truth.
2. Over the past years, the Lord in His recovery has completed the life-study of the entire Bible; we should enter into all the truths of the Bible by means of the life-study messages.

II. We need to see the purpose of the Recovery Version with the notes:

1. The first purpose of the notes of the Recovery version is to present the truth, to bring you into the truth.
2. The second purpose is to minister to you the life supply, to give you much nourishment.
3. The third purpose of the notes is to solve the common and hard problems in the Bible, to remove all the obstacles on your “driveway” so you can drive your “study car” through any book of the Bible without stops; we now have a clear way for our study, and every book is open to us.
4. The fourth purpose of the Recovery Version with the notes is to open up the books of the Bible, to “open up the mine” in the Bible, to expose the treasures so it is easy for you to dig out the treasures:
   1. In mining, the hardest thing is to open the mine; once the mine has been opened andthe treasure is exposed, it is easy for someone to dig out the treasures.
   2. The intention and the goal of publishing the life-study messages is to open up the minefor you to go in and dig; this one matter of further digging has been left to us.

III. In order to get the benefit of these four purposes in full you must dive into the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the life-study messages:

1. In order to be constituted with the truth, we need to pray-read and then study; pray- reading verses such as John 1:1 and 14 lays a good foundation.
2. In our study of the Recovery Version there are three subsidiary items to the text itself: the outlines, the notes and the cross-references:
   1. First, in reading the Recovery Version you must learn the outline; the outline is thefirst crucial item; some of the outlines are more crucial than the notes.
   2. The notes are very crucial; to be built up in the truth, we must study the text and everynote.
   3. The cross-references are not crucial, only helpful; if possible, it is helpful to take careof the cross-references.
3. Then you need to study the life-study messages:
   1. You need to consider the text of the Recovery Version with the notes and the life-study messages as a textbook; you must study them as a textbook.
   2. If you merely read them in a light way you cannot get into them; you will only receive a temporary nourishment.
   3. When what you receive becomes a truth in your being, this nourishment remains forever; if the truth gets into your memory it becomes a constant and long term nourishment.

IV. We need to acquire the crucial points of the truth and a bird’s-eye view of the Scriptures:

1. We must first pick up the crucial points of the truth to carry out what we have seen:
   1. If you want to read a life-study message, you must first read it in a general way.
   2. In reading the pages of the life-study messages, we must learn how to realize thecrucial points; you must first of all pick up the crucial points and get into them.
   3. For example, when there is a message telling us that Jesus Christ was designated the Son of God (Rom. 1:4) we must consider what it means for Him to be designated; wemust pick up this crucial point because today we are the same in principle as the Lord.
2. Second, after picking up the crucial points, we must put these points together in order to have a bird’s eye-view.

V. We need to build up a habit of spending time in the Word:

1. We should bring all the saints in the churches in the Lord’s recovery into the practice of carefully reading one or two life-study messages each week.
2. We should help the saints to build up a practice or a habit that every day they would spend at least thirty minutes in the Word:
   1. The best way is to charge the saints to study a book of the New Testament; they shouldstudy every day either three times of ten minutes each or one time of thirty minutes.
   2. We should charge them to pray-read two or three verses of this book every day; pray- read the biblical verses in order to get the help to enter into the truth conveyed inthese few verses—Eph. 6:17-18.
   3. Then they have to study the accompanying message; they also need the help of thenotes and the life-study messages to enter into the truth.
3. In addition to our personal study, we also need to study with others; this kind of studycannot be carried out in big meetings; it can be carried out mutually in vital group meetings of six to not more than ten saints.

VI.We need to redeem the time to learn the truth—Eph. 5:16-17:

1. It is very easy for us to waste time in our daily life, hence Paul told us to redeem the time.
2. To redeem the time means to grasp every opportunity, and the way to redeem the time is to not make any casual telephone calls, to not gossip, and to not waste time; instead weshould save all our time to learn the truth.
3. If we would save our time to learn the truth, we would have more than enough time.
4. To study the Bible regularly means to study it every day at a set time, whether in themorning, afternoon, or evening.

VII. Never forget the race between the hare and the tortoise; the tortoise wins the race; if we keep going slowly, we will win the race; we need to eat regularly, continuously, and slowly; do not go too fast, but go slowly; you will then reach the goal.