Douglas E. Nevill
Berean Fellowship
The Berean Fellowship is a personal project of mine (Douglas E. Nevill).
I love reading and studying the Bible, which I believe to the Holy Scriptures inspired by God the Creator.
I served as a bi-vocational pastor for twenty years and then I needed to "make tents" full-time to try and better meet the needs of my family.
Having a background in publishing, I started a business providing website development and internet marketing services in the early days of the internet and have since created several SAAS (software as a service) programs.
My Bible Reading and Bible Study Habits
Simple. I read the Bible, usually a complete book at a sitting. For example, I would read the entire book of Genesis. It only takes a couple of hours to read the book.
How I Prepare for Teaching Through A Book of the Bible
As a teacher of the Bible, I am committed to the verse-by-verse, expository method.
To prepare for this, I like to take book at a time and ...
- Carefully read through the book 50 times before I begin to make any notes.
- Develop the "big idea of the whole book" - this becomes the Title of the Study
- Read the first chapter or logical section of the book, starting at the beginning. Reread until I can develop the "big idea" of the chapter or section.
- Develop an outline of the chapter.
- Research and add cross-references to other scriptures that touch the same subject.
- Complete the study of the chapter from an outline into a more fully developed essay.
Sounds Good, but Ain't True
Having been an earnest student of the Bible since I became a follower of Jesus Christ as a teenager, with the conviction that the Words I was reading were from God, I paid close attention to them and "hid them in my heart." I think I have a better than average ability to memorize things and ended up memorizing Scriptures without actually working on it, just as a result of re-reading (studying) them.
Thus, I became more than familiar with the Words of the Bible.
Testing My Teachers
I attended a Bible college as a young man because I wanted to learn the Bible more, but often, sadly discovered that the teachers had either not read the Bible as much as I had, or they simply ignored it.
They would say things that "sounded good" but contradicted the Bible. My heart would sink as I heard what had to have been the majority of the class saying "amen" when my heart was saying "not so."
The Scriptures are NEVER Self-Contradictory
Contradictions in the Scriptures may seem to be apparent, but they are not actual. More study- comparing the Scriptures to the Scriptures will reveal this truth.
Become a Berean Believer Yourself
If you
1) search the Scriptures daily, and
2) consider carefully what you read, and
3) try to make some application to your life,
then you ARE a Berean Believer!
Start Your Own Berean Fellowship!
A Berean Fellowship is a group of believers that are committed to searching the scriptures daily and testing what they hear others teach as being Biblically authoritative to discover whether or not what they say is actually so.
It is as simple as that.
Discover the Berean Method of Bible Study
What is the Berean Method of Bible Study?
The Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method would be considered an INDUCTIVE method in contrast to a DEDUCTIVE method.
It is simply asking yourself questions as you read a passage.
So Very Important
Practically, it doesn't matter how much one believes the Scriptures or knows the Scriptures if they do not have authority over their lives.
I recall someone talking about a "condensed" version of the Bible.
It may be that the "shortest" or most condensed version of the Bible is the one that we live. If we were to write down all of the Bible verses that we routinely LIVE OUT from day to day ... we may find that we have compiled a short version indeed!
This brings us to Question #10 in the Berean Bible Study Method: Does this Portion of Scripture Contain any Actions that I Should Take?
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