If you've ever read the book of Genesis, you know it starts off as a fascinating and colorful read. The early chapters (Gen 1-2) are what every children's Bible loves to portray —the world, lush gardens, animals of all sorts. There's the unfortunate bit about the snake (Gen 3), but at least Noah's ark (Gen 6-9) has lots more animals!

You journey along through the book. Abraham is interesting enough. But then you get to Genesis 22 where God calls Abraham to kill his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Uh oh. We're not in Children's Bible Land anymore. (Quick! Skip ahead to Joseph's colorful coat!)

Difficult passages like the sacrifice of Isaac give us pause in our reading of Scripture. It no longer can remain a nice story with fun pictures. Unless we skip over it entirely, we are faced with a difficult challenge of understanding the message of this passage. Here's where thoughtfully studying the Bible becomes necessary so that we will not make some of the following mistakes.

1. Reading Our Culture into the Text

The first mistake we can make is to read our own culture into the text. We assume that the culture of the people in the Bible is the same as ours. But what was the culture of the peoples in Abraham's day? What did child sacrifice mean? Was it practiced by other peoples with other gods? What would Abraham's experience of this request have been? How might help us interpret what God was doing there?

2. Reading Our Values into the Text

Another mistake we can make is reading our own values and priorities into the text. We (rightly) abhor the idea of child sacrifice, but then think that a good God could never command such a thing. "God is a moral monster", some would say. He asks Abraham to do something horrific and thus he cannot be good or trusted. But what was God's actual purpose in doing this? What was he accomplishing through this act? Were God's values and priorities higher and greater than our own?

3. Reading Too Narrowly in the Text

A final mistake we can make is not reading enough of Scripture. The Bible forms a unified testimony of God's redemptive plan for the world. Reading broadly and widely will help us see how each piece fits together into a whole and give us a larger picture of God's character that can inform the individual passages we read. What place did this event play in Abraham's life in the long run? How did this play into God's plan of redemption for the world?

When we guard against each of these mistakes through cultural study, careful interpretation of the meaning of the text, and reading broadly in the Scriptures, we are given a fuller picture of what a given passage means and its significance. As these pieces come into focus, our understanding of God's revelation to us becomes clearer and we benefit from a growing knowledge of who God is and how he's acted for the salvation of all peoples.

This level of Bible study is not confined to only pastors or professors. This can be done by each one of us if we take the time to learn how to do it. Let me encourage you to pursue a growing knowledge of not just the Bible, but how to study the Bible. In such study the riches of God's word can increasingly meet you and bring transforming truth into your life, unleashing its impact not only on you, but also on the lives of those you touch.

Consider attending our ACE Class "How to Study the Bible" if you'd like to grow in the practice of studying the Bible!  In it you'll gain tools to study the Bible for yourself, so that you can more faithfully read and interpret the Scriptures and encourage others through it.

By Jim Kagawa

The following is a testimony by Jim Kagawa shared on Discipleship Sunday, September 17, 2021.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is an honor to thank and welcome you on behalf of our brothers and sisters at the Monday night Spanish Bible study, 7pm in the Café.  

Pastor Hugo welcomes everyone, Spanish and non-Spanish speakers alike.

You may recall in Pastor Hugo’s personal address to us as Evergreen church, he shared from Revelation chapter 7, the Apostle John’s vision of the church’s eternal home serving Our Lord in His Kingdom

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (who is Christ), and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,

 “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

We have been blessed to have a small glimpse of Our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom in Revelation at our Spanish Bible study with members from several nations – El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Japan and the U.S. and several languages – Spanish, English and Japanese.

Pastor Hugo has taken the time to accommodate non-Spanish speaking members like myself, my wife Mari and brother Hide with Microsoft Translator so we can receive simultaneous translation from Spanish into our native languages on our smartphones.

And these past two weeks, Pastor Hugo has led us on the topic of “The Assurance of Salvation” with study guides prepared in English and Japanese.

During Bible study where volunteers read scripture, you’ll often hear a brother respond with a reverent, “AMEN”, before he reads.

Prayer time is Holy Spirit filled, heartfelt, and often with tears of joy and pain, and shared responses of “Hallelujahs” and “Amens”. We pray for each other and our families, the Pastoral leadership of Evergreen and for you, the congregation.

The Bible study is blessed with two prayer warriors in his joy-filled wife Jacquie, and our dear brother in Christ, Eduardo “Eddie” Juarez. 

Last Monday evening, I asked the Spanish-speaking members what message they would like me to say to all of you brothers and sisters.  

They said, “Please thank them for opening up the church and giving us a place and opportunity to gather and study the Bible.” 

And from Glendes and Negli, mothers of young children, Genesis and Naomi, they expressed their hope, that someday, their English speaking children can study, worship and fellowship together with ours.

You know… I remember Pastor Mako a few months ago during outdoor service, sharing that as he biked into Evergreen from home, God gave him this thought. It was something like,

“Would the local community miss Evergreen church if we disappeared?”

At our Spanish Bible study, I think there are several brothers and sisters in the local community that would miss us.

We ask that you continue to pray for us and please come if you can.

Gloria a Dios en las alturas.
Glory to God in the highest.
Thank you and God bless you.

John 17:20-23 Jesus’ prayer before going to the cross, for His disciples to be reaching out to us:

“I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.”