With Confidence

 

Have you ever wondered if what you are reading is accurate information? I'm thinking of the various online "news" sources, social media posts, commentaries on Scripture. 

I have.  I know the sites that I trust but I've often wondered if they're solid. (Biblically speaking).  I am talking about the ones explaining Scripture or  giving me cultural/historical context of the Bible passage. 

I think about these things because I am a small group Bible Study leader with my church.  I've been volunteering in this since 2011. I do enjoy it and I did take a Sabbatical one year to attend an evening class at the church so I could get "fed" my self.  It was back when I was teaching full time (special ed prek) and I honestly craved that evening time with other people learning the Word of God. 

Now, in this upcoming Winter semester, I have 7 ladies in the group and we are doing a study about how to study Scripture and find the main idea in the passage/verse. The book is on my side bar (Sweeter than Honey). Any book that a leader wants to use must be approved by our pastoral staff. It was approved and out of those 7 ladies, I have 3 who are rather new to reading the Word of God and new to Christianity. 

I don't always have the confidence that the online sources I point them to are legit or worthwhile. 

So this week, I emailed all 3 of our pastoral team: our senior pastor, the site pastor, and our Spiritual Formations Director who is the head of all the small groups, classes and ministries that people lead. He is currently working on his masters of theology from a seminary. He's quite smart as are the two pastors. I listed for them the various resources I have pointed people to:  Bible Gateway, BibleRef, Desiring God (A calvinist theology where I am more Arminian but John Piper is an awesome author and teacher so I like his website), Bible Hub, Christianity Today, Bible.org, StudyLight.org.  I asked them if these were all legit and for any recommendations they might have. 

And guess what??

They all got back to me and all of them said they are excellent resources and we can trust the commentary  from them. These pastors even use those resources themselves! One of them also recommended gotquestions.com and it's awesome. It literally has thousands of questions answered about the Bible or specific Scriptures. 

My confidence rose up and getting that confirmation from my 3 leaders really made my day. I'm thankful God put Dave and I in this  church with leaders who actually get to know us and care about how we run our small groups, etc. 

I'm learning to trust what God puts on my heart. I'm learning to listen to that still, small Voice. I don't want to put my confidence in mankind because we make mistakes. Now,  are all of these sources perfect? No.  They are sources written by men and women and none of us are perfect. Some might have different convictions about theology than I do.  But when my pastors say they trust them, they mean they are all Bible based. Some might have differing views politically and socially and that's ok.

  As long as they are Bible-based, I can point my study members to them with the understanding that some convictions and preferences might be different from ours.  The main thing is the essentials: the  core Biblical truths. 

God is teaching me to have confidence in leading.  I find it harder to lead/teach adults than little ones with special needs. But He has me doing this for a reason and I'm excited to have  some confidence in beginning this new study and learning more about how to study His Word, right along with the ladies. 

He will give me the emotional strength I need. And I thank Him for my leaders confirming my sources. 😊