Study Notes and Exams
Introduction
Well, hello friends, Bishop Andy C. Luter here, and I want to welcome you to what is a series of what I'm calling the Bishop's Bible Study. I am doing this on behalf of as we make efforts to resume and restore our Christian education ministry. But as I'm sure many of you are aware that the pandemic has interrupted so much of what we used to call the norm. And so our ministry has recently resumed and attempted to restore our Christian education ministry. our Christian education ministry,
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and I'm doing this as a compliment, and even as a supplement to their efforts. Now, let me share with you what the format for this study is. It consists of a video lecture, as you're watching now, that will be somewhere between five to seven minutes in length. For those of you who prefer learning via reading comprehension. There will also be study notes available so that you can read the lesson as opposed to
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watching or listening to the lesson. Each lesson will also include study questions that will measure your retention of the material. Just study. And then I also will offer some general questions in the event that some of you gathered together in small group ministries and would like to have a group discussion on those things that are being discussed. Now, as you can see here on the screen, my first topic is on the first lesson is going to be a very fundamental, a very basic, non-complicated rendering of the story itself. I'm going to simply tell the story of Adam and Eve in as
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simple and in as basic a way as I can. I'll then come back in the subsequent lessons and look at some of the more doctrinal, some of the theological, and some of the beliefs that are associated with this lesson. Now, again, it's not intended to be too complicated or too involved, and I have no doubt that all of you who are sharing with me will be able to keep pace with each of the lessons. This will be our lesson for this series. It will be four in number, and then we'll do another one in the future. And hopefully, you'll have a lesson to consider and to consume each and every week. So with that said, I am anxious. If you're ready,
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perhaps you want to get pen, paper, something to write with, take some notes with, that is totally up to you. All of these items are free of charge and we give them to you with the hope that it will ingratiate you to our ministry and that it will whet your appetite for more. Now, let me take just a quick minute and talk about why this Bible study is so important. I go to the pulpit every Sunday, and I preach sermons that are based upon my assumption that the people who are watching are already familiar with the narrative or the scripture or the story that I am telling them. Now, I make that assumption because for the most part, people I know grew up in church, they went to Sunday school, they went to BTU, they had Christian educational opportunities, so that by the time they get to me in the
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context of a sermon, I can safely assume that they know what I'm talking about. They know the Adams and the Abrahams and the Moseses and the Davids and the Jesuses and the Pauls. But in these last 30 to 40 years, that has not necessarily been the case. And I have discovered that we cannot necessarily assume that people know the biblical narrative. And because of this recent interruption of Christian education, even Sunday school, something as simple and as basic as Sunday school, has not been readily available. So I have taken the initiative to simply tell some Bible stories. These are the Bible stories that I grew up on, perhaps there are the Bible stories that you grew up on, but if not, they're Bible stories
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that are so fundamental, you certainly would want to know them for yourselves. And so, I am taking the opportunity and the occasion to acquaint you with this fundamental material and information with the hopes that we can raise the level of biblical literacy in our churches and in our congregations and get back to the time when preachers like me can safely assume that you know what I'm talking about and we don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time teaching the storyline, the plot, or the narrative of the story, because you're already familiar with the same. And so that is why we're doing this. That is why this approach is being taken. And I And so that is why we're doing this. That is why this approach is being taken. And I pray that it proves to be a blessing to you.