Bible Study Preparation

Servant Leadership School

October 12, 2003

Homework review

Share insights from the assignment on John 5 – share your lesson, support, illustration

These notes are going to be stored in the church’s online study library.  Go to the church website (www.calvarychapel.com/fullerton), then click on the “Bible Study Library”, scroll down on the left bar and find “Servant School”, then click on “Bible Study Preparation”.  Look for lesson “06”.

Editing your message

What do you include / what do you exclude?

Learn to judge how long your message will be by the length of your notes.  Or else practice the message.

The value of learning to end on time – it’s an important skill.  Don’t fall into the trap of saying “Well, the Spirit was leading me so strongly, I just couldn’t end the message”.  The real issue is that you are not prepared.

It’s important to look at it as if one of the resources you have to deal with is people’s time.  How are you going to use their time?  Can they trust you with their time?  If you have only so many minutes of their time, then you need to make decisions of how you’re going to fill it.

The Computer:  Microsoft Word

Drawbacks

You may need to learn to type.  Try using a typing “tutor”.

It will take time mastering the program.  It’s worth learning some of the features of your word processor.  If you prepare studies regularly, the time you save will be great.

The value of the word processor

Readability of your notes / legibility / size of letters

Making changes and still being able to read your notes

It’s easy to move things around in your notes –

Common Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl + Direction Key = Moving the cursor around one word at a time
Ctrl + Shift + Direction Key = Highlighting text
Alt + Shift + Direction Key = Moving paragraphs around
Ctrl C, X, V – Copy, Cut, Paste
Ctrl + Spacebar = remove formatting
Ctrl + B = Bold
Ctrl + I = Italic
Ctrl + U = Underline
Ctrl + Z = Undo
Alt + Tab = Switch to next open program

Copying in Bible Verses / other text.  If you don’t have everyone look up a verse, you can just read it from your notes.

Being able to search your notes with a search program

Having a filing system

Renaming “My Documents” to “0_data” or “0 My Documents”.  Warn the other users before you do this!

Using Subdirectories, including “Bstudy”, my system of book order – (01Gen, 02Exo, 03Num, Topical, etc.)

Macros / Normal.dot

If you want to use my macros,

Use your computer’s search function to find the file “normal.dot”.  Rename it to something like normal1.dot (in case you want to get rid of my file and go back to your own).  Copy my version of “normal.dot” into the same directory.

Then download my “normal.dot” file by clicking here.  Save the file in the folder where your old “normal.dot” file was.

How macros are recorded.  Tools / Macros / Record / Keyboard / Come up with a keystroke combination that isn’t being used.

Then perform the function you want the macro to reproduce, then click on “stop recording”.

Some of the Macros –

“Lesson” – “Alt + L”

Types the word “Lesson”, formats the text

“Illustration” – “Alt + I”

Types the word “Illustration”, formats it.

“Bible Verse” – “Alt + V”

Pastes a verse that has already been copied to the clipboard, formats it.

“Basic Paragraph Format” – “Alt + S”

Pastes text from the clipboard, formats it to be a “Heading 3” paragraph

“Paste Definition” = “Alt + D”

Pastes a “definition” from Online Bible (which has been copied into clipboard using “Copy Window” command) and formats it.

Templates

Setting up a “Bible Study” template folder

Find (or change) the folder where the templates are stored:  Choose “Tools”, “Options”, then click on the “File Locations” tab.  The folder is listed under “User Templates”.  I keep my templates in c:\0_data\templates.

Make a new folder inside the Template folder called “Bible Study”.

You can get a copy of my “Wednesday Evening.dot” study template by clicking here.  After the file downloads and loads, save it to your template folder by choosing “File”, then “Save as”, then choose the template folder.

Making your own templates / editing. Save them as “document templates”.

Starting a new file with a template

File / New / Click on Bible Study tab and then select template.

Changing the “Properties” – Title, Date, etc. – important for headers

Learning how to use paragraph styles / editing the styles

Outline method

Using the “Web Layout View” (“View” “Web Layout”).

Promoting/demoting paragraphs, moving them around (Shift-Alt + direction keys)

If you have trouble with promoting/demoting, be sure to check to see if the paragraph style is correct (It should be “Heading 1” through “Heading 9”)

Importing text

Importing a file

Insert / File – then find the file.

Importing from clipboard, formatting the text.

Edit / Paste (or, Ctrl – V).

Format by either applying the “paragraph style” or macro (Alt-S)

Importing Bible verses

Opening up multiple programs at a time.  Copy and paste from clipboard.

Importing illustration files.

Other Computer Resources

Internet - Websites

Pastor Chuck

http://calvarychapel.org/library/smith-chuck/

Word for Today

http://www.thewordfortoday.org/cccm_audio.html

Online Bible

http://www.onlinebible.net/

Blue Letter Bible

http://www.khouse.org/blueletter/

Google (search sight)

http://www.google.com

E-mail Illustration sources

Sermon Fodder

You can subscribe by going to www.sermonfodder.com

Mikey’s Funnies

You can subscribe by going to www.MikeysFunnies.com

Master Christian Library

500 books for $60.

www.ageslibrary.com

Search programs / Search 32

Search 32 – about $40, great search engine

http://www.anetsoft.com/eprs32.htm

From Parson’s

www.quickverse.com

QuickVerse / Bible Atlas / Bible Illustrator

Non-computer resources

Background books

Halley’s & Unger’s Handbooks, Books on background, Bible Dictionaries, Josephus, Bible Encyclopedias, Commentaries (esp. Barclay), Study Bibles, Alfred Edersheim (Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah), Bible Atlas.

Language helps

Word Meanings:  Different translations, Strong’s, Vines, Robertson, Vincent, Wuest, Exegetical commentaries, Computer helps

Commentaries:  Recognizing the different types – Exegetical, Expositional, Devotional;

Bible Knowledge Commentary, Matthew Henry, Barclay (with reservations), Keil & Delitsch, Pulpit Commentary; Tapes (especially Chuck Smith)

Topical Helps:  Nave’s, Systematic Theologies, Concordances, Computer helps

Illustration sources:  Illustration books, Newspapers, Magazines, Filing system, Internet, Computer Illustrators