Connect with the PCA Women's Ministry:
FacebookInstagramEmail

A Bible Study for Mature Audiences

SUSAN TYNER|CONTRIBUTOR What do cannibalism, child sacrifice, and church people all have in common? To answer, open the Book of Kings. Strange to combine those three in the same sentence, yet the writer of 1 & 2 Kings shows how God’s people can sink into the worst kinds of sin. But how can a family of four sitting in the pew every Sunday possibly be in the same category as Hannibal Lector? Find out by grabbing some friends to study Kings. Between Moses’s burning bush and the Christmas angels’ song, you’ll discover stories of kings and prophets, miracles and murder, and a tragedy on display for all who care to read it. But why would such a shocking book make a good Bible study? How can Israel’s degeneration impact one’s spiritual walk today?  I offer three ways they’ve helped me in mine. You see how sin creeps in. Kings starts off so well. As King David passed his scepter to his son Solomon, Israel was poised for greatness. She thrived under Solomon’s rule. However, underneath all the gold and glitter, the crown was cracking. Nine hundred wives plus three hundred concubines can do that to a man. Did they bring a lot of credit card debt into the marriage? Maybe PMS on a grand scale? No, they brought their false gods. And, by the end of Solomon’s life, his heart had fallen out of love with the LORD and in love with their foreign gods. Lesson? Close associations can steer your heart. Choose ones who have the same soul-spirations as you do. Solomon wasn’t the only king who was disloyal to the LORD. We see this sort of creep in—marrying those outside their faith, welcoming other faith traditions, and living a life less in line with God’s law and more in line with the world—all along the way in Kings. This flirtation with sin happened back then—and now. You see where sin can take you. By the end of 2 Kings, we meet Manasseh. During his rule, Jerusalem, God’s favorite city—the place where He put His name—was overrun by foreign religions. In God’s own temple stood an Asherah pole and in His court were altars ready for astral worship. This is tantamount to a husband inviting his mistress into his wife’s bedroom to wear her lingerie, try out her perfume, and sleep in her bed. In this case, God is the one betrayed. Ezekiel 6:9 states plainly how that made their God feel, “how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols.” Whoring? Can we say that word in a Bible study? We need to because we may be as guilty as Israel was then. Kings challenges us to ask, who are our Asherahs, our Molechs, and our Baals today? We may not bow down to the sun, but do we bow before people’s opinions? Do we overcommit to please family or to impress co-workers? A church leader may not offer child sacrifices but would she drive her daughter to get an abortion to cover up a teenage pregnancy, serving the god of her reputation? While an Asherah pole isn’t front and center in our living room, do we look at our bank balance or God’s word more?...

A Bible Study for Mature Audiences2023-11-15T22:01:50+00:00

A Prayer for Bible Study

SARAH IVILL|CONTRIBUTOR Another season of women’s Bible studies is upon us! In the midst of all the planning, let us not forget to pray.  Father, We are so grateful that You have chosen to reveal Yourself to us in Your holy Word. Too often we look to other people, places, or things to revive our soul when Your Word alone rejoices the heart (Ps. 19:7-8). Too many times we make room for other relationships in our schedules but fail to take time to “meditate on your statutes” (Ps. 119:23). Help us, O Lord, to “delight…in the law of the LORD” and meditate upon it daily (Ps. 1:2). As we begin another season of Bible study, please give us a heart of love and compassion for all the women who will attend. Open our eyes to see women who are hurting and need someone to befriend them. Open our hearts to those women who have hurt us in the past, or been difficult to understand, so that we might love them well as sisters in Christ. Open our minds to appreciate changes the leaders may have made this year, especially if we would prefer things to be different. Help us to not have a consumer mentality, but to pray that we might benefit, encourage, and edify the women with whom we study and fellowship...

A Prayer for Bible Study2023-08-15T13:14:30+00:00

The Most Important Person in Your Bible Study

CHRISTINE GORDON|GUEST I’ve seen the signs and I’ll bet you have, too. They’re on special store shelves, tucked into sale flyers, and piled up in designated areas of Target, curtly signaling that summer is waning. The school supplies are back. It always surprises me, no matter how many summers I’m alive. “Really?” I think to myself. “It’s already time?” Once I’ve accepted the sad fact that pool season will once again come to an end, I begin to think about what comes next. For me and many women in the church, this means Bible studies.  Every fall, we crank up the machine: leaders, sign up lists, childcare, and nighttime meeting spaces. It’s a good effort and a worthy cause. We need the help of our sisters, the regular schedule and expectation of a passage studied, a book chapter finished. But in all our resolute efforts, it’s easy to forget that we are not the only participants in this endeavor. In fact, if the sum of our activity was simply a group of women regularly reading the same text, our time may have been better spent back at the Target school supply area.  The Work of the Spirit Thanks be to God, something more than a good book club happens in these groups—something supernatural and beautiful. God himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, works alongside the Word of God. Our Father not only reveals himself in his Word; he also illuminates our hearts so that we might understand and believe it...

The Most Important Person in Your Bible Study2023-07-25T19:12:32+00:00

Even a King Needs to Have a Quiet Time

SUSAN TYNER|CONTRIBUTOR When it comes to having a moment of private worship with God, lots of things tend to get in the way. A snooze button, a stack of work deadlines, a pile of laundry. Imagine if you were a king with a whole country to run. The pressures of managing a national economy, foreign affairs, and court intrigues would wake me up and carry me past my Bible and towards the shower to meet all the demands. For King Josiah in 2 Kings 22, God decided even a king needs to read his Bible. Lost and Found Josiah was a young king who loved God, made evident by his wreaking havoc on all false worship centers in Judah and Israel. But one day, when his scribe came by to report progress at the temple, he casually added that the priest had found a book. This paper scroll, probably Moses’s Book of Deuteronomy, hit the light of day after being missing for years. What’s crazy is that the book was lost in the first place. After all, it was the covenant agreement of God with His people. These were the founding principles of their nation; the vows of the relationship between God and Israel. Imagine us misplacing the U.S. Constitution or a wedding ring.  No wonder so much evil had happened in God’s land when His people didn’t value this book enough to keep up with it. Had someone misplaced it as they made room for more important things, like Baal hymnals or Asherah collection plates? Did they discover it dusty, smushed under other scrolls and cobwebs in some janitor’s closet?...

Even a King Needs to Have a Quiet Time2023-08-15T13:18:49+00:00

What it Means to Meditate on the Word of God

CHRISTINA FOX|EDITOR “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways” (Psalm 119:15). A few years post-college, I worked as a family counselor for a local non-for profit. During a staff meeting one week, my boss announced that one of the team members would lead us in a time of guided meditation. Though I had heard about the practice, I didn’t know what to expect. My co-worker began by instructing us to empty our minds. She continued on through various exercises to bring us to a place of relaxation so that we would encounter a place of peace in our minds. I soon found myself feeling uncomfortable with the exercise and instead spent the time in silent prayer. After the exercise was over, a few people shared their experiences—one even shared how she had relived her birth into this world! I share this story because sometimes when we come across a reference in Scripture about meditating on God’s Word, as in the passage above, we might be confused, especially if we use the word “meditate” as other religions or philosophies might use it. The key difference is that biblical meditation isn’t about emptying the mind, but about focusing it on God and his Word. It isn’t about seeking a higher form of consciousness in order to reach our inner divinity; rather, it is about communion with God through prayer and Scripture. It isn’t about seeking access to divine resources found within oneself, but about accessing and feasting on the divine Word of God—which is our very life (Deut. 32:47). J.I. Packer once wrote in Knowing God, “Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God...

What it Means to Meditate on the Word of God2023-08-15T13:21:03+00:00

Entrusted to be Invested

KAREN HODGE|CONTRIBUTOR You are rich friend! Maybe you don't believe me because you bumped up against the "not-enoughness" of life at some hard point today. Perhaps you do not think you have enough time, resources, or energy to do what you feel like God is calling you to do. This scarcity mindset depletes our joy. This summer, I pray as we study First Timothy together that you will survey your spiritual life and find yourself overflowing with contentment and gratitude for all the deposits of sound doctrine entrusted to you to be invested for His glory. At the heart, this is all about stewardship. If you grew up in the Hodge household, you would have heard on the regular, "All of life is stewardship!" We like to define stewardship as something of inestimable value entrusted by the King to be invested for kingdom purposes. A steward's chief responsibility is to be faithful to the Master. I want to open my First Timothy treasure chest and share some of the glorious riches God has entrusted me through studying this pastoral epistle. As one gospel friend to another, I invite you to hold me accountable when I forget these deposits of truth and pray that I will be a faithful steward as I seek to invest them in my church. Deposit #1- Sound doctrine leads to sound and healthy churches, homes, and living. "…the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service…" – 1 Timothy 1:11-12...

Entrusted to be Invested2023-06-01T19:57:29+00:00

Eight Benefits of a Bible Reading Plan

SARAH IVILL|CONTRIBUTOR There is no other time of year that Bible reading plans are more recommended than the month of January. With the new year, we are encouraged to begin new routines that will bring new growth, especially spiritual growth. But oftentimes the focus is on the logistics of the plan. For example, you can choose a chronological plan, a New Testament plan, the Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible plan, the 52 week Bible reading plan, or the 5 day Bible reading program, among several others. Plans are good because they ensure we read the whole counsel of God, not just a few parts here and there, which inevitably leads to skewed doctrine. But instead of focusing on the different kinds of plans, I want to focus on the overall benefits of a Bible reading plan. In other words, why bother to choose a plan at all? Let me suggest eight reasons. First, God’s Word “is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7a). We don’t have to look any further for refreshment as we walk in the wilderness of this world. Scripture is our sole sustenance. If we don’t daily revive our soul in Scripture, we will begin to wilt spiritually... 

Eight Benefits of a Bible Reading Plan2023-03-24T17:45:01+00:00

No Empty Word: Five Reasons to Join Your Church Bible Study

SARAH IVILL|CONTRIBUTOR Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. Many women I know associate fall with the beginning of another school year. But I associate it with a new year of women’s ministry, particularly a new year of women’s Bible studies. I am excited that many churches are gearing up to kick-off a year of helping women grow in their relationship with God and their relationship with one another. As brochures are sent out, and registration emails arrive in your inbox, many of you are eager to sign up. But I also know that some of you are undecided about whether or not you have time in your schedule to attend a women’s Bible study. You are calculating the cost and feeling unsettled about if you should commit. Let me encourage you, then, with several reasons why you should say “Yes” to studying the word of God alongside the women in your church.    Consider the words of Moses, “God’s word is no empty word for me, but my very life, and by this word I will live” (Deut. 32:45-46). In addressing the Jews, Jesus clarifies, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). The purpose of studying Scripture is to lead us to Christ. The written word reveals the living word that “became flesh and dwelt among us” in order to reveal His glory, which is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We should say “Yes” to Bible study because Scripture leads us to Christ...  

No Empty Word: Five Reasons to Join Your Church Bible Study2023-03-24T17:50:29+00:00

Why Should I Study the Same Book Again?

CHRISTINE GORDON|GUEST It’s fall again. You survived the record heat of the summer, navigated the difficult relationships within your extended family on your July vacation, and the kids, grandkids, nieces, or nephews are finally going back to school. The women’s ministry at your church announces the topic of study for the fall: Ephesians. Immediately you think, “But I’ve already studied that! I just did it a few years ago!”  Before you decide you’re out for the semester and schedule your weekly chiropractic appointment during Bible study hour, pause and consider. Maybe there is a good reason to study the same book again. Maybe your time could be well spent diving into some content you’ve already covered. Why? This Author and His Story are Different Think about other literature you may have reread in the past. Do you have a favorite story or novel you come back to? Maybe you miss certain characters and enjoy meeting them again for the first time, knowing the adventure that lies ahead of them. In the play “Shadowlands,” C.S. Lewis’s character says, “We read to know we are not alone.” It’s no wonder we come back to the stories we love. But what about the ultimate story?...

Why Should I Study the Same Book Again?2023-03-24T17:50:42+00:00
Go to Top