The Moravian Church 
Eastern West Indies Province

	milk for the newborn, 1 Peter 2:2,
	yet solid food for the mature the believer must move on from elemental things, Heb. 5:12-6:3 (Nb. The mature are those who by putting in to practice the "milk" things now have the spirit of discernment) 2 Tim. 3:16-17 — doctrine, reproof & correction, instruction in righteousness, completion and equipping of the child of God for good work (witness).

	Privately or singularly
	Also corporately — Eph. 4:11ff, the Apostles etc. are given to lead persons to maturity. They are to teach the word, hence there is place for corporate study.

	Note that all we use are translations — the Bible was not originally written in English, so it is pointless to argue for any version as the Word of God.
	Avoid paraphrases and single "church" translations, e.g. the New World Translation Compare these verses in the different versions — John 1:1,18; 20:28; Rom. 9:5, Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20.

	translated by a body of scholars and sanctioned by a wide cross-section of denominations (old churches, new churches) — it is more likely to have less of a particular doctrinal emphasis.
	as literal as possible — read the Preface and look for the approach which the translators took.

DIRECT (SPECIFIC) GUIDELINES

A promise to claim – Psalm 31:24, Rev. 3:20

A command to obey – Matthew 5:43-46

A Sin to avoid – Matthew 5:27-28

An Example to follow – Luke 10:36-37; 18:9-14

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES — which will help in our decision making and living the Christian Life. Principles about:

God — John 4:24, 1 John 3:1

Man — Romans 3:23

The world — 1 John 2:15-17

Heaven or Hell — Revelations 22:5

The Christian Life — Luke 9:24-25; 1 John 3:13

	Diligently -  Acts 17:10-11 The Jewish Christians at Berea are described as more fair-minded than those at Thessalonica. They received the word of God with readiness and searched the scriptures. Though they were ready to hear, they adopted the approach of wanting to trace the prophecy pointing to Jesus for themselves. This is a solid approach to take in this day. There is a lot of sweet sounding preaching today, but it is not sound, some of it is not consistent with the witness of the Bible. Hence it is not beneficial. For our good spiritual health we must be diligent scholars, testing the spirits, proving what we believe. cf. 2 Tim. 3:6,13. Not that we must become skeptics, and unbelieving, but we must determine the validity of what we hold to.
	Believing - 2 Timothy 3:16
	Asking the Spirit to reveal God’s truth to you in your study, during the Sermon on Sunday, during Bible Study.