H7 Story: Deeper Study of God's Word

As we walk through the book of Ruth, many Life Groups and individuals have shared feedback of how the new Sermon Series Guides have deepened their study of God’s Word. These guides are helping FCCers not only listen to sermons but live them—growing together in understanding and joy in the Redeemer who fills our emptiness.

Our first Guide was from our study in the book of Ruth. To see this guide up-close-and-personal, you can visit: fccgreene.org/ruthguide.

The Series Guide is broken down into weekly segments that follow the Sunday preaching plans. Each week, you get access to:

• The Sermon Title and Passage – Title and scripture reference for this sermon.
• Space for Sermon Notes – Plenty of space to take notes!
• Exegetical Focus – Exegetical is an adjective describing something that involves critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious one like the Bible.
• Theological Principle – A scripture and item of importance from this week’s sermon.
• Redemptive-Historical Focus  – How is this passage historically connected to the Bible as a whole?
• Sermon Notes – This is a place for you to take notes on each individual sermon.
• Hermeneutical-Devotional Commentary – See below*
• Life Group Summary – This is a Discussion Guide which includes Leader Summary and Questions to work through. Many Life Group Leaders have commented that everyone in their group has been bringing their booklets and coming more readily prepared to share what they are learning from the study, not just from the sermons, but from their own personal study as well.

*Pastor Scott Wakefield explained what the “Hermeneutical-Devotional Commentary,” is when he said, “It is taken from his own ‘Dad’s Daily(ish) Devos’. It is a 2-3 minute devotional read intended to reinforce the theological trajectory of the text, the redemptive-historical import, and a nugget for interpretation that he authors. So it’s a normal devotional thought for one’s day/week, but with a slight bent toward teaching how to read the Bible well.” Scott went on to explain between the bulleted items above, the Weekly Bible Study Podcast, and the Sunday Sermon Guide, our church is slowly closing in on his long-term goal of providing everything needed for a lifetime of daily study of God’s Word. In typical Scott fashion, he added, “No big deal—just a herculean lifetime-of-work type task that I’m a good 20 years late getting to!”

Here are a few comments from FCC members who used the Guide during the Ruth Series.

Dave Sponholtz: “I'm really liking the hard copy of the sermon series guide. It is much easier to take notes and put extra thoughts into it. Although I can't always read my writing. But I digress. I have been getting much more out of the sermons the last two weeks because of them.”

Barb Bergman: “Thank you so very much for the Ruth study guide booklets–for all the study, work, and cost involved. It has been helpful and useful in my own study and greatly appreciated.”