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about The more Sure Word

Hello, my name is Peter Giardina and I started “The More Sure Word” (TMSW) in 2011. The look of the site has changed having been recently redesigned, and new articles have been published from then till now, but the goal of “The More Sure Word” has remained the same: to encourage you to believe you can accurately understand the Bible without the assistance of pastors, Bible teachers or theology scholars. Having said that, I want to clarify that I am not making a negative attack on pastors or anyone else the Lord has called to share insights into the Scriptures. All believers can benefit from the instruction of godly teachers who faithfully teach the full gospel as recorded in the Old and New Covenants of the Bible. What I am saying is that every born again believer, can and should be gaining insight into the Word on your own, without the assistance of others. In other words, if you are born again you should be able to read and validly interpret the word of God on your own.

TMWS's Comprehensive
Bible Study, revealed Truth, will help you increase your
bible knowledge and understanding.

The Bible Study included here on ‘The More Sure Word’ (TMSW) began as a small group Study. It was shared with others around my dining room table before being converted into a series of articles which became the TMSW Bible Study. Numerous articles cover a range of topics beginning with ‘Fundamentals’ for studying the Bible, and in-depth articles on topics such as the importance of parables, the role of the Holy Spirit in Bible study, Biblical blood covenant, the righteous judgment of God and concluding with an intriguing survey of the much debated topic, the Day of the Lord. It was common for those participating in the study to ask, “Why haven’t I heard this in church?” This is the type of response that can be heard when a person’s eyes are opened to see some of what is plainly presented in the Word of God but all too often not explained. Said another way: people’s eyes are opened when the words of the bible are presented as writing that is what it is, says what it says and means what it says … it is all Truth, all of the time.

Hidden Truth is a wide-ranging Bible course rather than a study of specific a book of the Bible. The focus is on developing or increasing your ability to accurately understand the Bible for yourself. TMSW’s method for accomplishing this lofty goal is to share what I have been shown in the word in order to illustrate that if I, an average believer and not a Bible scholar, can be shown such things so can you. The result is that you acquire some Bible knowledge you may not have had and see that you can also receive insights into the meaning of the Bible you didn’t think possible.

Even if Bible knowledge abounds, true and correct understanding will be in much shorter supply. For many, ‘In The Word’ is like a journey to a new and exciting land. As you travel through the material of the Hidden Truth curriculum, you will make many new discoveries, such as:

  • Why Solomon said to understand is more precious than jewels, why nothing you desire compares with understanding and why you should seek it above all else.
  • Why Jesus taught the people with parables, not some of the time, but all the time.
  • Why Jesus explained the parables to the disciples.
  • Why Jesus said it was to the disciples’ advantage if He went away.
  • Why the Bible includes just the stories it does.
  • How a book of about 1,000,000 words (the Bible) can reveal everything about a limitless, eternal God.
  • The true Biblical meaning of repentance.
  • The full Biblical meaning of becoming born again.
  • How the sacrificial death of Jesus brings you into a covenant relationship with the Father when you repent.
  • How Abraham became the father of many nations in fulfillment of God’s promise.
  • The necessity of walking in sanctification after repentance.
  • A fuller understanding of the events that took place on the day of Pentecost.
  • The true meaning of the expression, “Two become one.”
  • The importance of unity.
  • The true meaning of the Righteous Judgment of God, and how it is at work in the world today.
  • And much more.

your bible will come alive
like Never before.

you'll always get Straight talk on bible topics at
TMSW's new blog called ViewPoint

ViewPoint is a blog with a mission. First, to provide useful but also challenging information. In addition, we hope to generate feedback in the form of discussion to interesting and sometimes controversial Biblical topics. Our goal is not to provide answers but to assist a community of The More Sure Word readers to seek and find the truth together. That truth is the solid food required to sustain believers on the journey of living in the Spirit. If you desire to live a full and successful life as a believer you must have solid food of Truth to lead you to maturity. This is true for you individually and also for your fellowship as well as the entire body of Christ. Without solid food the body of Christ will not be able to satisfactorily fulfill its calling to grow and multiply.

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seminars & sermons

Some of the best, straightforward teaching is from days gone by. Here on The More Sure Word you’ll find free-to-watch videos of complete seminars and sermons from outstanding teachers. Don’t be turned off by their age, the Word of God is the same today as it was then, and solid teaching was as sound then as now. You are invited to take of advantage of the insights of the great teachers by watching the videos. Of course, we’re always looking great material and would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

free e-book store

The Free eBook Store is where you can download eBooks in EPUB (Barnes & Noble and most readers), MOBI (Amazon) or PDF formats that can be read with just about any reader. The motivation for starting a store was to make my books available to you at no charge, but also to put up classic Christian works without copyright restrictions. Our goal is to continue to expand the store with additional titles. We are open to suggestions for new entries.

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revealed truth bible study: lesson 1.1
inductive bible study -- a solid approach to understanding your bible

TheMoreSureWord.com (TMSW) is all about helping you acquire accurate knowledge and understanding from your Bible reading and studying experience. Everyone who reads the Bible gains knowledge of its contents. But it is the blessing, honor and privilege of every believer in Christ to also understand the Bible. So if you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ you should and can receive understanding of your Bible — on your own — no Bible college or seminary degrees necessary.

We all know a lot of things we don’t understand. For example, billions of people know how to surf the internet, but few understand the complex systems that make it work. It is O.K. to know how to surf the internet without understanding how it works, but when it comes to the Bible having knowledge alone is not enough. In order to benefit fully from a relationship with Jesus Christ, it is vitally important that you know and understand the Bible.

Knowledge and understanding are different. However, they are related in that knowledge is the foundation for understanding. Therefore, knowledge must be acquired before understanding can be obtained. Since knowledge is fundamental to understanding, we begin the In The Word Bible study by discussing a study method that is useful for gaining knowledge from any written material. However, this method is also especially suited to working with the text of the Bible. It is called Inductive Bible Study. This study technique, which I call the Five W’s And An H, is implemented by searching the text for answers to a set of six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?

five w's and an h

The Bible should be thought of as being two dimensional, physical and spiritual or seen and unseen. The physical part is the words printed on the pages of the Bible, while the spiritual or unseen part, which is just as real and important as the printed words, is obtained in a spiritual manner. So we read the words on the pages of the Bible and know what they say, but we understand what we read in greater depth and insight.

 King Solomon, said to be the wisest person who ever lived, had quite a bit to say about knowledge, wisdom and understanding in his collection of proverbs.

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)

“The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7)

13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

14 For her [understanding’s] profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than jewels; and NOTHING you desire compares with her. (Proverbs 3:13-15)

Provers 4:7 reveals that wisdom and understanding are not the same thing. And Proverbs 3:13 puts understanding on the same plane as wisdom, but Proverbs 4:7 also says that once you have found wisdom make sure to acquire understanding. Thus, wisdom seems to be a precursor to understanding just as knowledge does. Psalms 111:10 corroborates the idea that wisdom equates to knowledge.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. (Psalms 111:10)

Here we see that those who have developed a fear of the Lord have done so by beginning to gain knowledge of God Almighty. And as a result of a person gaining some knowledge of the power of God, a fear of the Lord begins to develop in that person, and because of that fear those who proceed on to understanding will do (keep) God’s commandments. Therefore, it seems clear that we are to seek to acquire wisdom, which is knowledge, but the knowledge we gain should not be considered an end point but rather a springboard to acquiring understanding which is the most precious gift of all.

As an example of how inductive study works, we’re going to look at a brief excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus speaks of a narrow and wide way.

the
narrow
way
to
freedom
in
jesus
christ

The inductive study method is executed by searching for answers to the six questions:Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why? and How? . Of course, it is not always possible to answer all of the questions especially when studying a short passage or a single verse.

We will begin by applying the Inductive Study method to a short passage from Matthew 7. It was toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus declared:

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Since the words printed on the pages of the Bible mean what they say, we can and should try to extract as much from them as possible.

Matthew 7:13-14 contains important facts that are useful in obtaining understanding. A study of these verses, could begin by asking and answering some or all of the six inductive study questions per the following example:

Q. Who is speaking?

A. Jesus Christ.

Q. Who is Jesus speaking to?

A. A group of people including the disciples.

Q. What is Jesus describing?

A. To answer this question we have to go back to something Jesus said near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount discourse.

Jesus said:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)

This verse provides us with the answer to the above question, but also points to the theme of the entire Sermon on the Mount. With this simple, direct statement Jesus answers the ‘What’ question by declaring that His mission is not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. Jesus’ words in this verse seem to be saying, “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill, and I’m going to show you what that fulfillment looks like.” Jesus follows the statement in Matthew 5:17 with many descriptions of what life in the fulfilled Law is like. So the ‘What’ of the Sermon on the Mount is an explanation of what the fulfilled Law, or Old Covenant, is like. And Matthew 7:13-14, in particular, tells us that the way to enter into that fulfilled life is quite narrow and there aren’t many who will find it.

This is just a brief sample of how the Five W’s and an H method of interpretation is employed. We have looked at only three verses from the Sermon on the Mount and quickly discovered the goal of the entire sermon.

A Useful Habit

When I begin studying a particular passage or verse I set out to extract as many facts (acquire knowledge) as possible from the text. I often begin a study by reading the material several times. It is amazing how many of the six questions can be answered on the third, fifth or even tenth reading of the text being studied. This is a good way to begin a study because it does not require knowledge of the original languages or any special reference materials. While I am re-reading the text being studied, I am looking for answers to the six questions.

This questioning method is one I learned as a college student long before I ever opened a Bible for the first time. As an English major focused on creative writing, I learned the Inductive method in reverse. Rather than looking for answers to the questions to understand something I was reading, I learned to provide the answers to the same six questions for those who would read the article I was writing. This technique is especially useful when writing a news article. The factual information provided readers with an accurate description of the event being reported.

Years after completing my college studies, when I became a student of the Bible, I was already in the habit of looking for answers to the who, what, when, where, why and how questions. Therefore, I was employing the Inductive Bible Study questioning technique before I knew what it was called. It wasn’t until I purchased a Bible called The International Inductive Study Bible that I discovered that this technique had been developed into a Bible study system called the Inductive Study Approach.

The method described in the study Bible I had purchased was compiled by Kay Arthur and the staff of Precept Ministries. One of the main features of this Bible (which drew me to it in the first place) was its one and a half inch wide margins on each page of the Bible text. The front of the Bible contains a full explanation of the inductive study method. The system is divided into three sections or steps: Observation, Interpretation and Application. Observation is learning to see exactly what a passage is saying. This is where the five W’s and an H questions come into play. Interpretation is to determine what the passage means. And Application is where you ask what does the passage mean to you and how can you put the truth that has been revealed into practice? A detailed method for marking your findings in your Bible is also explained. A chart is included at the end of each book of the Bible where you can record your findings for future reference.

Let me say for clarity that I have no relationship with Kay Arthur or Precept Ministries other than owning the International Inductive Study Bible, and I am not compensated in any way from Kay Arthur or Precept Ministries. Also, I am not endorsing her particular theological point of view, in fact, I do not even know what her views or those of Precept Ministries might be. I do very much like the study method developed by Kay Arthur and Precept Ministries which is free of any theological persuasion. My only purpose here is to provide you with information on what I believe is an excellent Bible study method if you are interested in obtaining accurate interpretations.

After reviewing the study approach in the Bible, I realized I had been using an inductive approach long before I learned about Kay Arthur’s method, and I had already developed my own Bible marking system so I haven’t employed the method presented in the Inductive Study Bible. If you would like to start using inductive study, you could try Kay Arthur’s method or you could modify it to suit you. You can find an explanation of the study method at the Precept Ministries website or by purchasing your own copy of The International Inductive Study Bible. Of course, you can choose to start your own system by asking and answering the six questions as you read and study your Bible. If you begin using the five W’s and an H method you will probably find it initially takes some effort to stay focused, but stick at it and it will become a habit before long and eventually you will employ the method without thinking about it. Whatever you choose to do, it is imperative that you develop the habit of reading and studying the Bible every day.

Read The Word Daily

There is one more Bible study essential that is so obvious it probably does not need to be mentioned. But I feel I would be remiss if I finished this article without even a mention. I am speaking of simply reading your Bible … every day. And I would add that the goal for your reading should be to read through from Genesis to Revelation.

The obvious reason for daily reading of your Bible is you can’t know what is in it if you don’t read it. And if you don’t know what is in it, you can’t be guided by it and you won’t gain understanding.

But there is something else. What I am going to say next may sound outdated, but I am going to risk it: Listening to the Bible (especially while walking, jogging or driving) or reading it on a laptop, tablet or smartphone are not the same as reading a book. There is just something special about interacting with a book you hold in your hands or sit on your lap. You get involved with it, become immersed in it in a way not possible with more modern, trendy electronic devices. I am not against such devices, I have been using a computer for business and personal use since 1987. Before you discard my view, let me say I believe I am not alone in the idea that there is something special about reading a book. Many people seem to feel the same way though they may not be aware of it. I say this because I have noticed that every time I go into a Barnes and Nobel book store (to shop for a book) there are always a lot of other customers in the store who also shopping for books. It is probably safe to assume that many of these shoppers have at least one electronic device on which they could read just about any book, magazine or newspaper they desire. Why then they are in a book store shopping for books? I think it is because there is something truly special about reading a book. So I recommend that you use your electronic devices for many Bible-related activities, I surely do, but use a Bible in the form of a book for daily reading and study. Of course, that is my opinion and you can accept it or not.

There are other reasons for daily Bible reading. First and foremost, the Bible itself instructs us to read it every day. Consider the following where God issues instruction for the king the Israelites will have some day in the future:

18 “Now it shall come about when he [the future king] sits on the throne of his kingdom he shall write for himself a copy of this law [today we have the law written in books called Bibles and upon our hearts] on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 “It shall be with him and he shall read it ALL the days of his life [that means every day], [and reading every day keep us humble and steadfast] that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

Daily Bible reading keeps us on a steady course so we may not divert our thoughts and beliefs away from God’s truth. Also reading your Bible every day, with the goal of reading through from Genesis to Revelation, safeguards against unfounded interpretations.

The Old and New Covenants of English Bibles contain about one million words. And we human beings (except for a few with super intelligence) simply cannot remember everything we read in in the Bible. I know this to be true because even after reading through numerous times I still read a passage and question whether or not I have read it before. I know I have read it because I never skip any book, chapter or verse and yet it seems like the passage is new to me. And continually reading through the Bible is critical to gaining an accurate understanding of the Bible, the most wonderful book in the world. Reading every day refreshes our memories over and over again. When you read every day, you will find that you receive fresh insights from parts of the text you have read before.

Reading every day is a check against developing false doctrines, insuring that your interpretations are accurate and Biblically sound. I believe my interpretations are accurate because the core of my Bible study method is to read the Bible from beginning to end over and over again. For me that means starting in Genesis and reading through Revelation, being sure to read every word of every book. It is important not to skip any passages, chapters or books, and especially not to skip over dull or difficult books such as Numbers or Chronicles. These two books in particular can require effort to get through, but God placed them in the Bible for a reason, and that should be enough cause to read them in their entirety.

When I complete Revelation, I go back to Genesis and again begin reading through to Revelation. My practice is to read through over and over. I haven’t keep count so I cannot tell you how many times I have read through the Bible in this manner. This practice has many times prevented me from developing wrong interpretations. Of course, I have developed wrong interpretations and make no mistake so will you. It has happened to me more than once, I study a certain passage and form a conclusion, and I think, wow, this is really significant. Then a short time later on my daily reading I come to a passage or verse that completely contradicts my conclusion. When this has happened I immediately discard my conclusion because it is clearly not accurate.

My strategy for reading through the Bible is to read some amount every day. I have never been able to adhere to a pre-established read-through-in-a-year plan that requires reading a predetermined amount each day. Such plans are simply too rigid for me. Also, with those plans, if I miss a day or two guilt can start to move in, not to mention that the reading requirement can become lengthy if several days have to be made up. My method has no daily length of reading requirement and no goal for how long a complete read through will take. Reading some amount every day eliminates the requirement of a certain amount to read each day, and it means the predetermined date to complete the read through is also eliminated. A complete read through might take more or less than a year, whatever it takes is what it takes. Also, there is no guilt if a day or two is missed because of special circumstances in my life such as unusual family situations or a bout with the flu. Rather than feel guilty because life gets in the way, when there is a pause in my reading I get started where I left off as soon as possible and keep on going until I have read all of Revelation. My study Bible has a ribbon that I use to mark the place of my current read through. I believe you should be reading through the Bible if you are not already doing so.

Some reading systems have you read a passage from the Old Covenant, Psalms and the New Covenant. However, I prefer reading through from Genesis to Revelation because I believe the books of the Bible are in the order God wants them just as He selected the books themselves. Thus, I believe it is best to read the books in the order in which God has placed them in the Bible.

One additional point: You should be reading and studying a reputable translation of the Bible instead of a paraphrase. A paraphrase of the Bible is different from a translation. GotQuestions.org describes a paraphrase as follows:

A paraphrase is a retelling of something in your own words. A paraphrase of the Bible is different from a translation in that a translation attempts (to varying degrees) to communicate as “word-for-word” or as “thought-for-thought” as possible. A paraphrase takes the meaning of a verse or passage of Scripture and attempts to express the meaning in “plain language” – essentially the words the author of the paraphrase would use to say the same thing.[1]

The Living Bible, Good News for Modern Man, and The Message are examples of Bible paraphrases. While a paraphrase can be used as a resource for adding insight to a passage or verse, I recommend a good translation for daily reading and study. The King James Version, New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version and the New International Version are examples of well known, accepted translations. I am not recommending any particular translation. You should use one that is good for you.

I hope this article has provided you with some reasons and a few tips on the why and how of starting a regular Bible reading and study program that works for you. I assure you that once you get started you will find daily reading and regular study to be a very satisfying and rewarding undertaking.

[1] GotQuestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/paraphrase-Bible.html

 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

John 8:31-32

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