{"id":4695,"date":"2024-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/october-11\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T08:33:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:33:51","slug":"october-11","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/reading-plan\/october-11\/","title":{"rendered":"October 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Insight from Ezra<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHere we find the main verb \u2018to set, establish\u2019 followed by three Construct Infinitive verbs with the preposition \u2018to,\u2019 each of which clarifies the purpose to which Ezra committed himself: study \u2192 practice \u2192 teach. This progression of action, grounded in God\u2019s Word, characterized Ezra\u2019s life and ministry and we are perhaps wise to follow his example. Sound study of the Scriptures must give rise to personal practice. Only then can we have a basis for effective teaching. But as Daniel I. Block emphasizes, far too often preachers and teachers either lose the centrality of the Word in their ministry or confuse the order of Ezra\u2019s resolve.&#8221; Daniel Block, Training Scribes and Pastors in the Tradition of Ezra, Southern Seminary Magazine [June 1999]: 6.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Some focus on teaching technique at the expense of quality time in the Word, thus substituting the shape of the message for its essence. Others are quick to proclaim God\u2019s truth but are slow to apply it to their own lives, resulting in hypocritical leaders who have forgotten that only the pure in heart will see God (Matt 5:8; cf. Ps 24:3-5; Heb 12:13). Still others apply before having studied, allowing their own definitions of right and wrong to guide conduct rather than the revealed divine will in the Scriptures.\u201d Adapted from G. D. Pratico and M. V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 3rd ed (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 250.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Insight from 2 Timothy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The answer to ignorance and instability and the means to right understanding in everything is God-dependent thinking over his revealed Word, given through his prophets. \u201cThe Profit of Employing the Biblical Languages: Scriptural and Historical Reflections.\u201d Themelios 37.1 (2012): 36.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">An interpreter is shameless before God and handles the Word rightly only when God approves of the interpretation (i.e., when we rightly grasp God\u2019s original intention through the biblical author; 2 Tim 2:15); this process takes self-discipline (\u201cdo your best\u201d) and is a central element in Word-based vocational ministry (\u201ca worker\u201d). \u201cThe Profit of Employing the Biblical Languages: Scriptural and Historical Reflections.\u201d Themelios 37.1 (2012): 36\u201337.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4695","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}