You and your students are about to begin a wonderful journey together — the joy of personal Bible study. The Bible is a powerful book! It has the potential to change kids' lives! However, too many children view this amazing book as one that adults study and then tell them about.
In these lessons, you will introduce children to four inductive Bible study steps. First, they will learn how to survey a Bible passage (Zoom!); next, how to carefully observe a passage (Look!); then, after learning how to correctly interpret a passage (Think!), they will discover how to apply biblical principles (Live!). Soon your students will be exploring their Bibles in a whole new way!
Lesson 1: Zoom! How to Survey a Passage
In this lesson, the children will meet the famous detective Surething Combs and his trusty assistant, Dr. Whatiz, who will help them learn the four inductive steps to studying passages of the Bible. The first step they will learn is how to survey a passage, using the nickname Zoom! They will learn how to zoom over a passage, reading it all the way through to find out what the major themes and ideas are or who the characters are in the passage.
Lesson 2: Look! How to Observe a Passage
In this lesson, the children continue their adventures with the famous detective Surething Combs and his trusty assistant, Dr. Whatiz, who introduce the second step to inductive Bible study — Look! Children will look deeper into a passage for clues to what God is trying to teach them. They will learn to identify key words and phrases that will help guide them toward the main ideas of the passage.
Lesson 3: Think! How to Interpret a Passage
In this lesson, the children continue their adventures with the famous detective Surething Combs and his trusty assistant, Dr. Whatiz, who teach them the third inductive Bible study step — interpretation. That's a big word for kids, so it is simplified to Think! The children will learn correct rules for identifying the meaning of words and how to determine what the correct meaning and purpose of a biblical passage is in order to avoid needless errors.
Lesson 4: Live! How to Apply Biblical Principles
In this lesson, the children conclude their adventures with the famous detective Surething Combs and his trusty assistant, Dr. Whatiz, by learning the fourth and final of the inductive steps to studying passages of the Bible — application, or Live! They learn that the Bible is meant not only for head knowledge, but to change our lives as we live out biblical truths in the choices and decisions we make each day. They will learn how to translate what they learn into application steps they can apply to their lives.