Biblical Preaching (Homiletics) | Lecture 8 : BC204-BP-20260901

Okay, let's um let's start. Okay, so uh we're saying you know, we're looking at the various aspects of God's word and [snorts] um the importance of God's word and and coming to the conclusion that yes, God's word is so powerful. God's word is necessary for a human being and particularly for a believer. And so, whatever we are proclaiming, the message of that should be based on the word of God, right? So, so one uh you know, common guideline is let's say you're preaching something, you're sharing something, you're communicating an idea. Okay? Now, it's always a good thing to ask ourselves, okay, is this based on God's word or not? Like that idea that I'm saying, you know, I'm communicating, I'm saying, okay, you know, maybe there's a problem. You approach it this way. You solve this. Right? So, let's say um okay, a neighbor is creating problem. You know, the neighbor is putting all the rubbish in your side of the compound wall. And you're saying, okay, you also put your rubbish on their walls, that side of the wall. Okay? You're just giving a you know, thing. They're breaking stuff, doing putting something here, you also do the same thing. Now, it's good to ask yourself, you know, maybe as a as a person you're just giving that solution, but is it based on God's word? Right? So, that was just a simple example, like is it based on God's word? Very clearly, it is not, right? So, whatever else that we are teaching, is it based on the word of God? So, Paul, when he's writing to Timothy, right? In 1 Timothy, he he tells Timothy very clearly 1 Timothy chapter 1, right? 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3. I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus. What is the purpose for Timothy to remain in Ephesus? He says that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Okay, that you may charge some. So, it means that you be a little bit firm and command. Okay, that that is what it means that you may charge some. That you may actually tell that person any other version if you're I'm reading from the New King James. Any other version, what does it say? NKJV I also have the same thing. Does anyone else have any other version? You're all using NKJV. Okay, what is that? Uh what does it say? Verse 3. Same same word is used there, yeah. Okay, so so the thing is this that he is he's saying, you know, you firmly tell the person. Right? It's it's almost like a command, right? It is a it is a command. That you may let's use that word, you know, that you may command some that they teach no other doctrine. Right? You see what he's saying? He's talking about teaching. Right? And he goes on to explain. Verse 4, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies. Okay, so not listen not give heed means not to listen in order to apply, right? So, not give heed to endless genealogies. So, something that is not based on the word of God, right? Something to do with the you know, this person's father was this, this person's father was that, that person's father was that. and therefore you know, this person is someone special or something like that, right? You're giving heat to endless genealogies. And what does it do? It causes disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. Godly edification is in faith. So, he's saying, you know, you be careful. He's saying, you know, he's giving a command and he's saying you charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Why? Because otherwise, it's going to cause disputes. It is going to be unedifying. Right? So, saying rather than godly edification, you know, which is in faith, which means which is in faith, what produces faith is God's word, right? So, so he's saying, you know, this is what you teach. This is what you preach. Paul over and over again, he says the same thing. Right? So, if you look at um chapter 4 also, same 1 Timothy chapter 4, okay? Verse 12. Okay. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 says the second part of it, you know, let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers, okay? In word, okay? In means which means in the words that you speak. There it's not talking about God's word. It's talking about the words that you speak. In conduct, right? In love, in spirit, in faith, in purity, okay? Then he says, till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Right? So, he's again saying, okay, the doctrine. What you're going to teach, what you're going to read, be careful. Right? And he's saying in verse 15, meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. So, what is he saying? You give yourself entirely, right? To the reading, to the teaching, to the doctrine. You give yourself, mean, you know, don't hold yourself back, right? You receive it wholeheartedly. What does it produce? Progress. Right? So, there is progress and he's saying this progress will be evident to all. The spiritual progress will be evident, will be clearly seen not only, you know, by yourself, but it'll be evident to all. So, it means there is clear progress, spiritual progress that will be seen by all when we give ourselves to the word of God. Right? So, word of God is powerful enough to bring change, transformation in our own lives. Uh it it can produce growth in our lives. Can produce maturity, you know, bring ourselves to be mature believers, right? And we see this um in in all these. So, that's why Paul reminds Timothy over and over again, right? If you look at 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. Okay, next thing. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. Here Peter writes and he says, um like verse 1 he says, "Lay aside certain things, you know, malice, uh deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking, you know, put it away from your life." And then he says, "As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." So, so spiritual growth is something that is desired of the believer. Right? Paul, when he's writing to the Corinthian church, right? He says, you know, "But you I could not even speak to you. I could not give you solid food because you were carnal. Right? You were spiritual babes. You were not growing at all. Right? I could not I could not feed you because why? He's saying there were division, there was envy, there was strife. You were not you know you're behaving like carnal believers. Which means that for the believer, you know, it does not it does not matter whether the believer is 5 years in the Lord, 10 years in the Lord, 15, 20 years in the Lord. But that duration does not matter. You know, physical growth, how does it happen? Right? You you you you you might recall, okay, 5 years, 10 years, the person is growing. Like physically the person is growing. I'm sure you remember, you know, summer holidays you went back home. After that you went went back to school and then you realized that hey, some people are grown, you know. Right? There is physical growth. It happens more or less automatically. Right? You eat well, you the same and it just grows. You grow. Your physical body is designed to grow. Whereas spiritually for the believer, one cannot grow like that. Just because a person oh, you know, I accepted the Lord 10 years back. Oh, that doesn't mean that does not mean that the believer is mature. Right? Whereas a person who's just 6 months in the Lord could be a mature believer. Why? Because of this. Right? This was two. They are desiring the milk of the word and they are growing. Right? They're taking in. And they're growing. So, for a believer spiritual you know, when when you spiritually look at it, the spiritual growth does not depend on the number of years we are as believers. Does not depend. Right? So, that's the sad part. You know, we could have people who are in the Lord for many, many years and not even grow, not even mature uh as believers. Not grown to the level to teach others, right? Paul Peter again writes, right? Uh he says you you actually uh are old enough or 1 John, you know, he says, you know, you you can you actually had so much you could teach others, but still you have uh need of milk. Um Right? So, so this is the thing. This is the danger, right? If we don't grow, that if you're not growing spiritually, that means there is something that we are not doing. We are not taking the word of God. So, if you look at it, the word of God is able to bring spiritual growth to a believer's life. Right? The word of God brings growth, brings maturity in the believer's life. So, so it's very, very important that we proclaim the word of God. You know, if you are a communicator, you proclaim the word of God, right? Ensure that the the people have access to the word of God, to the truth of God's word, and then you'll see that they will be able to grow. Right? Um Psalm 119 verse 9 talks about how um the believer needs to hide God's word in their heart that they may not sin against him, right? Uh Romans 10 chapter chapter 10 verse 17 talks about how faith comes. Uh faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So, the word of God is very, very important. If I need to live by faith, if I need to grow spiritually, if I need to be strong in the spirit, in order to resist temptation, I need access to the word of God, right? So, if you and I are invited by God to proclaim the word of God, proclaim his word, to be preachers, to be communicators, then how much more important for us to have a daily diet of the word of God, and also ensure that we declare the word of God in our content, right? Um that um that in the message it is central to it, right? Because it is very easy to you know, it it it's it's very easy to uh on this, right? To make an analysis, you know. Sometimes when we go to certain churches and when we, you know, it's sad, right? When we listen to certain speakers, they're talking about human wisdom, philosophy, uh, and everything else except the word of God. Right? So, it's an Is it a good Is it a nice message? Yeah, it is a nice message, right? It's got certain principles. It's It's nice. But it's not based on the word, right? It's talking about everything else except the word of God. So, um, so we we need to understand that that word of God is important. The ministry of the word of God is important, because that's the only thing that can bring change, right? The word of God is powerful, okay? And, um, you know, Pastor Chris's book on God's word, The Miracle Seed, is something that we can go through, right? Um, and uh, I'm sure you must have read it during your, you know, the the the book uh, reading, APC books reading, publications time, right? You might have gone through. But read it again, right? Take some time to go through it. God's word, The Miracle Seed. It talks about, uh, Mark chapter 4, Luke 8, you know, same thing. About how God's word is the seed that is sown by the sower, right? And, um, and one very important thing that we see is that more than the believer, Satan understands the value of God's word. Right? The powers of darkness, Satan knows the value of God's word, okay? So, let's look at Mark chapter 4. Okay? Mark chapter 4. Okay? And verse verse 4. Mark 4 verse 4. As it And it happened as he sowed that some fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Okay? Now, if you look at verse 15, the Lord is giving the explanation, right? Verse 15 saying, "These are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts." Satan comes. The people are still not understood or believed the word. So, Satan comes and is able to because it's not really rooted, he's able to take it. Right? Um And then again, we see that if you look at verse verse 5, "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth, immediately sprang up and because it had no depth of earth, when the sun was up, it was scorched and because it had no root, it withered away." Okay? Then again, verse uh 17, uh verses 16 and 17, with the meaning of it. "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness, but have no root in themselves and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble." So, first con- first scenario, Satan comes to take away the word. Right? So, why why should Satan come to take away the word? Right? Because we know that the word produces, right? We know that the word makes a person strong. We know that the word gives the person authority of the believer, right? The person matures, grows, and the person uses that authority against the power of darkness, against the kingdom of darkness, and therefore Satan comes and takes away the word. Satan does not want us to grow. Satan does not want us to understand who we are in Christ Jesus, right? The hidden treasures which are there, the revelation that is there in the word. He does not want us to understand, so Satan attacks the word. Second thing talks about tribulation of persecution that comes because of the word. Again, why? In order to take away. Right? Then the third thing, we see deceitfulness of riches and uh desires for cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, and desire for other things. These also come to choke the word of God. Right? Make the word of God ineffective. Word of God is powerful, but when it's not mixed in faith, but when it's overpowered by the cares of the world. Cares of the world, um deceitfulness of riches, which means priority changes, right? And the desires for other things. Again, priority changes to the things of the world, right? Pride and, you know, position and and so on. So, then also it makes the word ineffective. It chokes the word, literally, right? To take the life off it. Right? Chokes chokes the word. And the last category, says verse 20, "These are the ones sown on good ground. When when you hear the word, accept it and bear fruit, some 30-fold, some 60, and a 100-fold." So, the word of God, the intent of God's word is to bear fruit. Okay? So, whatever the word is, uh if it has to bear fruit, maybe it's about your identity, it will bear fruit. Maybe it's about, you know, bringing down the stronghold, it will bear fruit. It will bring it down, right? If it's to bring healing, it will bear fruit, right? If it's to make a person strong in faith, it will bear fruit, right? That is the intent of God's word, right? So, all these things happen to choke the word of God. Satan comes to take away because ultimately, God wants us to be fruitful, 30, 60, and 100, right? To the extent to which we receive it in faith, the word of God works effectively. So, the God's desire is that his word should work effectively in the believer, right? But, all these things happen in order to take away the seed a seed of God's word. And, you know, the God's word is so packed with power and potential, just like how you see a seed, you When you see a seed, what do you see? It's so small, right? But, there is so much of potential in the seed, yes or no, right? Like somebody said, right? The tree is in the seed, right? The tree is inside that seed. It's in seed form, but the seed is there. But, if it is sown, if it is given the right environment and the right protection and the nourishment, it grows to its full potential, right? So, all these things happen to take away that potential of God's word. This is what God's word can produce in us, um and all these things happen. And And many times when we reject God's word, well, we reject what can happen to our lives because of God's word, right? Okay. Uh any questions here? Okay, so um, that book, God's Word the Miracle Seed, talks about, okay, um, how we need to study God's Word and how we meditate on God's Word, which is reflection, contemplation, you know, medi- uh, confession, all that is mentioned there, right? So, um, so, the word of God remains a seed. It can just be a bag of seed on the side, but we can actually take it. We can intentionally receive it in our hearts and make sure it bears good fruit, right? We meditate on it. We reflect on it. We, so that we, uh, mind is filled with it. We confess the word. We declare God's Word in faith and we we see the outcome in our own lives, right? So, that is how we engage with God's Word. Okay. Okay, let's look at the next one, which is what are our objectives? You know, why are we sharing the word of God? Okay, why are we ministering the word of God? Okay. Um, of course, we we want people to be saved. We want people's lives destiny to be changed, right? We want them to be part of the kingdom of God because because uh, otherwise there is destruction and, you know, that is the primary motive. Which means, you know, broadly speaking, we are there, we are preaching the word of God, the word of God to, in order to educate or make people aware. Right? Educate people. Make people aware of the truth. Right? Hey, this is the truth. This is the possibility. And this is the change, this is the transformation that Jesus brings, right? So, this is what is um aware uh this is what we need to be aware of. Right? Um and then therefore the importance of ministering or the objective one of the objectives of ministering is to educate the people, make people aware. Now, it is not just information. Right? It is not just knowledge uh for people. Right? What else? Because this knowledge can become revelation and the revelation can bring transformation. Right? So, knowledge need not be just information. Right? Information becomes revelation and transformation results in transformation. Okay? So, revelation, which means the people uh you know, the Holy Spirit reveals that reveals the information of the truth of God's word to the heart of the person. And when that person receives that revelation um it is no more information. Like, what is the difference between information and revelation? Right? Information is you know of something. Right? But revelation is you know it in your heart. Right? You know of Jesus and you know Jesus. Oh, there's a change there's a difference. Right? It's a that that's the difference between information and revelation. You know Jesus. It is no more, okay, I know of him. I know him personally in my life. Holy Spirit has revealed. Right? Certain truths, same thing. Right? You know of that truth. I know I've read it somewhere. I know this is what the Bible says. But revelation is Holy Spirit has revealed that to my heart. So, I know it in my heart. Right? It is not just I I know from memory. I can quote it. No. It is part of you. It is personal. Right? So, that is revelation. And revelation leads to transformation. Change. Right? Change lives. Revelation leads to experience. Right? Um it is only So, but it starts with information. It starts with, you know, sharing so that people are becoming aware of it. But once they're aware, they are moved to Okay, I want this now. You know, it's become a revelation to me. It's become and I I want it and it becomes an experience. Right? Salvation is no more an information. It becomes an experience. It'll be a very sad thing if a person just knows about salvation. And has not experienced salvation oneself. Right? So, uh this is the objective that the person would receive, the person would know, the person would person would be informed, but also the person would move from there to receive the revelation and uh be transformed. Right? Let's look at a few scriptures here. Uh let's look at um uh Jeremiah 3 and verse uh 15. Right? Jeremiah 3:15. Okay, so what does it say? Let's read from verse 14. Return all backsliding children, says the Lord, for I'm married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family and I bring it to you bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. So, the shepherds who feed the people with knowledge and understanding. Right? And obviously knowledge and understanding uh from his word, from what he reveals. You know, this is the objective of the ministry of the shepherd. Right? Uh according to the Lord says according to my heart. Right? Which means this is my will. This is my heart for you. They will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Okay, then let's look at Hosea 4 and verse 6. Okay, Hosea 4 and verse 6. Okay, now this is again uh something that an outcome of God's word not being there, right? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Okay. And God says, "Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to me because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children." You know, you say very harsh consequence, right? I will change their glory into shame, right? So So, what is the thing? The Lord is saying warning saying, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Right? If you look at it in a practical sense, yes, if we do not have knowledge generally there is a consequence. Right? If you don't have knowledge there is a consequence. If you have if you if you're not aware of let's say, you know, if you're not aware of how to use UPI for example, you know, Google Pay or PhonePe. You know that wherever you go, people are saying, "Oh, can you make a can you make it GPay?" Right? PhonePe. And they say, "I don't have change." Right? So, when you don't when you don't know how to do that you face the consequence of it in that in the sense that, you know, you are inconvenienced. Right? It becomes an inconvenience for you. Whatever booking you want to make, whatever things you want to purchase. So, more and more we need to be aware of technology. So, in a practical sense it makes sense, right? In a practical way it makes sense, you know, we are it says you're destroyed for the lack of knowledge, in the sense if the extreme consequence of that is destruction of our own lives. Right? If you're not aware of okay, how you should protect yourself of you know, [snorts] health care all that. The extreme way for lack of knowledge, there is destruction. Right? I remember, you know, there those days the all the advertisements, you know, most of the advertisements about you know, cigarettes and tobacco people just did not they were not aware of the uh the end result of that. Right? They would just use it. And uh and even in fact they say that those days even the doctors and all used to smoke. They they didn't really know. There was not enough research on the subject. They didn't really know. They just thought that okay, it's a it's it's okay. We can you know, at a certain age you you you you're okay to smoke. But then they realized the far-reaching consequences of how smoking can actually affect a person and how dangerous it is and the kind of you know, ill health it can bring. Right? Certain certain conditions health conditions can bring about like cancer and all that. And so then they started putting the warnings. Right? So they didn't outrightly even today, you know, it's not outrightly banned. Which is a sad thing. Right? Because the the growers of tobacco, the tobacco lobby is very strong. And it's a it's bringing revenue so they're not they're not banning it outright. But the fact is that it it creates a lot of damage in the lives of people. So many people, you know, thousands and thousands of people like facing the ill effects of not just, you know, act smoking but also passive smoking. Right? Even secondary smoke is also injurious. Right? You see so many very harmful chemicals, carbon monoxide, tar and all this is being good which should not be going inside the lungs is actually, you know, people are willingly paying, taking it, and it's creating damage. Now, the thing is that awareness was not there. So, people were gladly saying, "Okay, it's it's uh and getting hooked onto it, right? But then, once the awareness is there, then people are spreading that, saying, "No, you should not do it." So, here, people are destroyed. Why? There's no There's no knowledge because of lack of knowledge. If you look at it, practically, the lives are being destroyed, right? So, similarly, if there is no vision, if there is no knowledge of God's word, God is saying, you know, that people are getting destroyed. People are destroying their lives for lack of knowledge, you know, how they should conduct themselves. Um that there is a destiny, and uh we need to choose Jesus in order to reach that particular particular destiny. Otherwise, there there is destruction. So, uh and all that we see, um it's it's again, you know, it's applicable, it's relevant for the believer and for the humanity itself, right? Let's look at one more verse. Right. Uh Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 13. Uh here it says, "My people have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst." Right, they've gone into captivity. Okay? So, what does captivity mean? They are made prisoners. They become prisoners because they have no [clears throat] knowledge. You know, again, the same thing, right? We imprison ourselves, or we walk into a trap, or we become captive because of lack of knowledge, right? And so, the the importance of preaching knowledge, knowledge of God's word, right? Which actually enables people to be to walk free, to continue to walk in liberty, right? Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, right? That's one thing that the spirit of God brings about, freedom, liberty in the spirit, right? So, um so, that's the thing. And the second thing, of course, is transformation, right? So, this is the These are the two primary objectives of ministering the word of God. We want people to be aware, that people should have the knowledge of God's word. And we also want people to um not just have the information, but to have the revelation and to experience transformation in their lives, right? Okay. Any any thoughts? Any questions here? Any doubts at all? Okay. So, um so, in our own ministries, in our you know, whenever we have opportunity to to minister the word of God, um always remember those things, you know. What I What I'm sharing, is it based on God's word, right? Is it based on the Bible? Very important guideline. And also, to minister the word of God, that the content of what we share, let it be the powerful truth of God's word, because only that can bring transformation, lasting transformation in a person's life, right? Okay. Okay, let's look at chapter six. Um let's just start off with that. Because the word of God is important, because we have understood the word of God, now we need to make sure that we study the word of God, right? Because we we want to be equipped ourselves before we equip others. We want to experience the word ourselves before we preach it to others. Right? So, the first thing is, you know, we need to study the word of God. So, let's look at, you know, what are the different ways, right? Different ways by which we can study. What are the different methods that we can use in order to study God's word? Okay, the first one is word study. Right? Very simple. So, you find out the meaning of the word. Right? There are certain words that are used in scripture. What is the meaning of it? So, that's a word study, right? For example, we see that, you know, certain words that are used in the English language or, you know, maybe in our own languages, when we read it, it is used in a certain way, but when we look at the original language, right? It gives a different meaning altogether. Right? One example, very common example is that word love. Right? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, right? And we see that that word love in the Greek language, it has four different words. But it's always translated as love, you know, in our languages. But it's uses four different words. Okay, what are those words? You know, the word that we we know, we understand is agape. And God so loved the world, agape. 1 Corinthians 13, which talks about love is patient, love is kind, agape. The God kind of love, which is unconditional love, right? A love that says, in spite of who you are, you will still love, right? That's the God kind of love. But then there's also other kind of love that is used there, you know, phileo, which means friendship. Right? That is also translated as love. Right? And storge, which is a love that between you maybe members of the family, right? That is there. Eros, which is a physical love. That is also mentioned there. Like four kinds of words, four different words are used in the Greek language, right? So, when we do a word study, we understand that okay, this word has you know, different meanings, That is in the Greek. Like let if you look at the Hebrew, there are different words, you know, when we study praise and worship, we study that, right? Seven different words, Hebrew words, which are used for the word praise, right? One word is yada, which means you praise, you know, you you worship praise God with your hands extended. The other word is toda, which means you're praising God with your hands extended, but you're praising him and thanking him for things that you've not yet received. You prayed and asked, you've not yet received, you're not toda. Then you have another word called halal, right? From which you get the word hallelujah, which means to it's a loud shout, and then there's a shabak, which is again a shout. Then there is zamar, barak, and so on. And so you see that okay, in the English language, it's all praise or bless, right? But when you look at the Hebrew, it has different meanings. So, when you do a word study, then we understand, right? So, our our understanding is expanded. Okay, praise, it means all this. So, in all these ways, I can praise God. Right? We are understanding our scope of understanding is expanded, right? So, so this is something we can do. We can do a word study. Same way, you know, salvation. Okay, what is the Greek word salvation? Sozo, right? So, salvation means to save. Salvation means okay, there is a savior who brings salvation, right? And we understand as Christians okay, salvation is saving from sin. But when we study the word sozo, we see that it is not just forgiveness from sin, but it's also healing, but it's also deliverance, and it's also you know, wholesomeness, right? And so it's a power-packed word, and we see a parallel of that the word called shalom, which is used for peace, right? So, it is not just lack of conflict, lack of fighting, okay? Or no, you know, there's no fight, so there is peace, right? And that is a common meaning, but then shalom means again, similar to sozo, it means deliverance, it's me- it means uh it means prosperity, it means good goodwill, right? All these things. Uh it means to bless someone, so people would say shalom It means peace also. So, if you do a word study, then we are understanding more about the word, okay? So, how do we do that, right? We can actually uh one one thing is, you know, since we we all have we all know different languages, we can actually study parallelly, you know, okay, what does it say in the English, and that's how we are, you know, I'm just talking about our context as students in the Bible college. Okay, we have the English maybe you use for your personal study use a different language Bible, right? Hindi or Telugu or Kannada, whatever. So, you you study the Kannada Bible or the Hindi Bible, and then you look into the English as well, right? Or you study the English Bible and you study the meaning of it in different different versions, right? Okay, so that's one thing, you know, we we look at different languages, we look at different versions, and it we get the the full meaning of that verse or the that word, right? And also, we can actually use a concordance. What's a concordance? You know, if you look at the uh it's like an index, right? If you look at the back of your Bible, some Bibles have that, right? It has a concordance. Uh You see several words listed there alphabetically, right? Is it there? Okay. Concordance, yeah? If you look at the back of the Bible, at the last few pages, some Bibles have maps, also, right? Some Bibles have a Bible plan through the year you can read through. My Bible has that. And also, it it has something called concordance, which means that uh is does your Bible have a concordance? No? Last page? It's not there? What what what do you have there? That's all? Blank pages, okay. Okay, so you can have a a concordance. So, concordance alphabetically it has words, like starting with A, B, C, D, right? Alphabetical order. For example, you know, it uh I'm just looking at a word which has many references, okay. Uh abomination, okay? A, under A, there's a word called abomination, and there are at least six references there. Okay. Wherever the word abomination is used in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. Now, this is a short list, right? But if you look at a proper concordance, it will it will be a very exhaustive list. It will be a very long list. So, that's a great way to study, you know, wherever this word appears in the Old Testament and the New Testament, right? So, you you we learn, okay, this This how it's used there, this is how the context is and this is what the meaning is. Like the meaning also like variation, right? Wherever it is used depending on the context. So, we can use a concordance and we can look up certain words. So, So, here, you know, you have six references under abomination, right? There are some three references from Proverbs, two from the book of Daniel and one from the book of Matthew. Matthew's gospel. So, if you read all six verses, it it gives us an understanding of this word, the way it is used in the in the Old Testament and New Testament, right? So, this is something that we can do. And also, we can use other software like you know, on my laptop, I have something called e-Sword, right? And so, this also you can use. So, what happens is the the e-Sword software gives me different versions. There are free versions of the Bible which I can upload. And also, there there could be some paid versions. I can buy it and put it. Right now, I have only the free versions, right? And also, it gives the um the Greek [clears throat] and the Hebrew. Okay, so it gives the Greek and the Hebrew. For example, okay, let me just open it. So, the whole entire scripture, it is listed, let's say Romans 10, verse 17. Okay, I'm just going there. So, the entire uh word, you know, it it gives the entire verse, it gives the meaning in the Hebrew and the Greek, right? Uh I I can use um like obviously, the New Testament, it is Greek, but I can use you know, Uh, it is there is a number that is mentioned there. So, then faith, right? I'm I'm clicking on faith. And it gives the Greek meaning or the the Greek word which is pistis. Faith, uh, that is the Greek meaning or Greek word. And it gives the meaning, assurance, believe, believe, etc. And there is another theologian, Thayer. A Strong's is one, Thayer's is one. So, it he also goes on to explain it a little better, conviction of the truth. Faith. Conviction of the truth. You're so convinced. Faith, right? It is when you relate to God, it relate to Christ, and so on. Faithfulness and so on. Uh, so what is how does this help? It gives us the meaning, it gives us the understanding. And uh we we we also find out, okay, how what does it mean in the Greek? What does it mean in the Hebrew, right? So, when we learn it in the, you know, these words, when we learn in the original languages, it gives us uh it gives the meaning a little more richness. Like, for example, uh, the Lord uses the word, do not worry. Matthew chapter 5, right? Don't worry about anything. What you will eat, what you will drink. And that word, worry, in the Greek is a word called merimnao. Okay? And that means to cut into different pieces. Okay? Which means that, let's say, your mind is actually divided. Divided into several pieces. Where you're not able to focus. So, the Lord is saying, don't don't be like that. Cuz your worry is causing you to be thinking about various things, right? Oh, what about this? What about this option? Oh, what about this outcome? You know, you're worrying about many things. Your mind is preoccupied with many things. It's literally it's like you know, split into many pieces that we are not able to focus, we are not able to rest. So, the Bible says, the Lord is saying, "Don't worry. Don't be in that place of preoccupation and focus out of focus." So, then we understand, "Oh, this is what worry means." You know, I'm I'm thinking about so many things. I'm overthinking. I'm you know, I'm not able to focus. The Lord is saying, "Don't worry." Right? And several other words like that. So, it's When we learn when we learn it in the using these tools, when we learn it, it actually helps us. So, that's a word study that we can use, right? For the If you're using a smartphone, you can also use something called msword, right? msword. Anyone has msword on their phones? No? Okay. msword msword, but I think msword is I don't think it's a free software. I'm not sure. msword is also something. It's a parallel of e-sword. And e-sword is free. You can download on your laptop. But msword for your If you're using a tab or a phone, I think it's paid. Right? So, So, it's a very useful thing, right? Very useful. Even if it's a nominal fee that you need to pay like I don't know, 50 rupees or whatever. It is actually very useful. useful tool. Okay. Okay, we'll stop here. And next class we'll look at you know, the other methods of study which is topical study, then character study, and also book study, and inductive study, right? So, we'll look at all that in our next class. Any any questions on this on word study? anything at all? Okay. Fine. Okay, we'll stop here. Right? Okay, God bless. Take care.