This past Sunday evening I finished a 12 week bible study with several people at Eastside Baptist Church. I want to take just a moment and give a short review of the study for consideration for others, Behold Your God
Let me start with what I didn’t like about Behold Your God. This won’t take long… If there is a critique I could give from a participants point of view after finishing the study it is that I would liked to have heard more from Richard Owen Roberts. That’s about all the negative criticism I can give, and understand that the negative criticism is based on a bias for appreciation for brother Roberts and the impact his preaching has had on my life over these past several years.
This was actually the second time I had done the study. Renee and I did this together just before walking through this with several in our church. I was encouraged to see attendance remained strong throughout the course of time with only a few not finishing.
Twelve weeks sounds like a long time, but it actually went by very fast.
The Workbook:
- The workbook followed a similar pattern that church goers are likely familiar with. It’s really designed to be a devotional workbook.
- The workbook is designed to be completed the week before the weekly session and divided into 5 days per week.
- The time it took to complete each day varied from 20 to 40 minutes.
- The strength of the workbook was really in the weightiness of reading Scripture. This was less a study of reading man’s opinion on social matters and a quest for “rethinking God biblically.”
- If you’re not in the habit or practice of writing thoughts or expressing your thoughts then you may find the workbook invasive, but this practice is beneficial.
The Video Sessions:
- All 12 of the video session include three parts…
- biographical sketches of past saints such as; Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer, George Muller, Amy Carmichael, Jonathon Edwards and others
- Teaching from pastor/author John Snyder
- interview clips from modern men like Paul Washer, Richard Owen Roberts, Conrad Mbewe, Eifion Evans, Jordan Thomas and others.
- The video sessions are about an hour long.
- The strength of the videos are the teaching with John Snyder. His teaching is biblical, and because it’s biblical, it’s relevant.
It was my experience that the study was rich with biblical truth, helpful to cause healthy examination, leading unto repentance, encouraging to press into the character and attributes of God.
I recommend the Behold Your God without reservation.
Two early outcomes in my life personally are:
- I cannot afford to know God better without the lamp of Scripture. If Scripture is not showing me who God is then I’m depending on the experiences of others and at risk of creating a god for myself.
- A.W. Tozer was right when he said “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
“The highest priority of the day must be a full return to the God of the entire Bible.” Richard Owen Roberts
From the Author of Behold Your God, John Snyder