From the Woods to The Word

By Wayne Barber

From the Woods to the Word is a study for those who love to hunt, fish, or just basically love the outdoors. Observation, interpretation, and application are used to study the scriptures in the same way that hunters use these methods. In this study, you will hunt the message of living grace, which is Christ living His life in and through the believer. Analogies are made between hunting and studying God’s Word. During the hunting season, you’ll bag the game only when you pull the trigger, surrender to the truth that Christ has revealed. This spiritual venture involves four weeks of scouting, before the hunt begins. Humorous stories and illustrations about the outdoors are intertwined into each lesson. Be prepared to capture biblical truths as we hunt through God’s Word together! You may do this study on your own or in a small group study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Ankerberg
• Release date: Oct 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781941135617

Wayne Barber

For 18 years he was pastor of the huge Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was co-teacher with Kay Arthur for 14 years at Precept Ministries. He studied with Dr. Spiros Zodhiates and co-hosted with him the national radio and TV program, "New Testament Light" for 10 years. Wayne has taught the message of living grace, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory all around the world. He is President, founder and principle speaker of Living Grace Ministries. And in February of 2011 he returned to Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee as senior pastor. Wayne has authored several books. The most recent one is entitled "Living Grace: Letting Jesus Be Jesus in You." And he has also co-authored the "Following God" series of studies published by AMG.

Book preview

From the Woods to The WORD

Teaching from the Book of Philippians

WORKBOOK

By Dr. Wayne Barber

Published by ATRI Publishing

Copyright 2019

ISBN 9781941135617

License Notes

No part of this publication, including the artwork, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations in printed reviews—without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Cover Design by Beth Lamberson, ATRI Publishing, Chattanooga, TN. USA.

Contents

Title page

Lesson #1—Observe the Land—The Hunt

Lesson #2—Observe the Land—Surveying

Lesson #3—Observe the Land—Scouting

Lesson #4—Observe the Land—The Game

Lesson #5—The Hunt is On—Bagging

Lesson #6—The Hunt is On—Pull the Trigger

Lesson #7—The Hunt is On—Experienced Hunters Only

Lesson #8—Observing the Land—Prepare for Open Season

Lesson #9—Observing the Land—Look Out for Coyotes

Lesson #10—Observing the Land—Take Another Look

Lesson #11—The Hunt is On—Open Season

Lesson #12—The Hunt is On—Our Last Hunt

Lesson #1—Observe the Land—The Hunt

Philippians 1—Observe

For the purpose of this study, we are going to hunt the land of Philippians. We will refer to the book of Philippians as the land of Philippians. This land has four hollers, for all you Southern hunters, or canyons for all of you Western hunters, or just plain chapters if you want to get technical.

I truly believe you will be impressed with the game that lurks behind its pages. We are only hunting for one particular game species in this study, although there are many more that live in this land. The game we are hunting is the message of living grace. The term living grace is not a biblical term, but is my own term to describe the grace of Christ living His life in and through us, day by day, as we live yielded to Him and to His Word. Living grace is not us trying to live like Christ, but Christ living His life in and through us, which to me is the most significant truth missing in Christianity today. Once again, although there are many types of game in this book, this is the trophy we are looking for in our study.

Well, it’s time to get your hunting gear on. Let’s go hunting in the Land of Philippians!

There are many funny things that can happen to you when you don’t know things (that you really should) about the land in which you’re hunting.

I was hunting in Mississippi one year with some dear friends. I had been so busy that I could not go early to do any scouting of the area where we were to hunt, so I had to rely upon the information that my friends gave to me. I set up my tree stand on a good size pine tree, and finally got settled about 45 minutes before daylight. I think the deer must celebrate when I get into the woods, because I don’t seem to see what other hunters see. It could be because my eyes are shut soon after settling down into my very comfortable stand. Well, the morning seemed to drag on and on, and I was getting more and more sleepy. About ten in the morning, I was almost shaken out of my tree stand.

You see, I didn’t know that blowing up beaver dams was a weekly event for those in the area who raised trees for a living. No one bothered to tell me that! We were hunting on a piece of property where the trees were specifically grown to be cut down and sold at some point in their growth. Well, there were several streams flowing through the property, and they had attracted a large beaver population. These beavers love to cut down the trees with their teeth and dam up the streams, causing the water to back up on the trees. If the trees are not freed from the water, then they are not fit to be sold. The beavers must be trapped and relocated, and their dams blown up almost every week. Oh, how I wish I had known that!

I was just sitting up there in my tree, half asleep, day-dreaming the morning away when suddenly a dynamite blast exploded in my ears, shaking my tree and scaring me half to death. The first thought I had was, What caliber gun was THAT?! It really scared me!

As you approach a new place to hunt, wise hunters know that a thorough knowledge of the land is paramount