John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
It may seem strange to say that Bible study can help you build your church, but realize that you're in a spiritual battle. Satan's goal is to destroy what Christ has built, both individual Christians, and the church as a whole. Just as God works through people, so does the Devil, and he will use people from within and outside the church to attack you if you attempt to build up the church, through the power of the Spirit. Just realize that people aren't the enemy; just as Paul points out in Ephesians. As we saw in the last chapter, prayer is your spiritual food; it gives you strength to sustain you in your daily walk, and to overcome obstacles the devil puts in your path. The Bible, the sword of the Spirit, is an offensive weapon; you can use it to defeat Satan. It is beyond the scope of this book to talk about our defensive armor, but it is important to be protected from the the Enemy's attacks. Read the entire passage in Ephesians 6 about your spiritual armor.
Remember Jesus when he battled Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11, and in Mark and Luke)? In response to every attack, his answer always began with "It is written". Written where? In the scriptures. The Bible is full of promises like the one above in James about resisting Satan, but if you don't know what they are, you can't use them. Notice, too, that it's not enough to resist the Devil; you first have to submit yourself to God. We looked at that in the last chapter, but it's vitally important to recall the words of Christ: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5). A couple of verses later, he says "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7).
How do we allow the Word of God to live, or abide, in us? Memorizing Scripture verses is good, since it allows us to call to mind passages we can use to battle Satan's attacks. It's much more than that, though. Jeremiah wrote about it long ago: "Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." The promises he made to Israel apply to us as well, for we are now his people, in Christ.
That still, though, begs the question: What does it mean that the Word "abides" in us, and how does that happen? Most people, most Christians even, read the Bible just as if it were another book, written in all but incomprehensible seventeenth century English if they use the King James version. Here's what Paul wrote: "1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." When we read the Word of God, we have to do it, first, as we should do all things: prayerfully. Pray that God will open the meaning of the passage to you through his Holy Spirit. Don't read too long a passage at once; stop after a few verses, even one sometimes, and ask the Lord to show you something in it you've never seen before. If nothing else, find what you think are the key words in the passage, and look up related passages in a concordance, but without the Spirit's direction, that won't help much. If nothing happens, if nothing is revealed, don't linger or feel guilty. Be persistent; come back to the same passage later, or go to a different one.
Think about what's going on in your life, and write down a list of words that describe your situation. Next, go to a concordance, and look up passages that deal with those words, or related words. If you don't have one, there are many Bible sites on the Internet that have Bible search boxes. You can find mine at the Jesus Is the Bridge King James Bible pages. When the words of scripture, the words of Christ, live in you, they become a part of your daily life. Once the Spirit reveals scripture to you in that very special way that comes only from him, you won't forget that passage again. The words will come to mind whenever you have an experience that they relate to, often in ways you would never expect, even if you can't quote chapter and verse. After all, Jesus didn't give Deuteronomy 8:3 as the source of the rebuke he gave Satan, when the said, "Man shall not live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4); the citation system we now use didn't exist then anyway. The important thing is the Word is inside you, available when you need it.
Here's where the application to building up your church comes in. Remember what we looked at above? If we abide in Christ, and if his words abide in us, what happens? You can ask whatever you want to ask, and God will do it for you. That doesn't mean praying for money and cars and houses, because if we abide in Christ, those things won't be important to us. God provides for our needs, if we trust him to do it; everything he provides beyond that is for the use of his Kingdom.
We come back, again, to prayer, as we will throughout this book. In order to get answers to our prayer, we have a close relationship with Christ, and we have to have his words as a part of us. Not all Bible study should take place in a church setting, but there are things you can do in church to help in your daily study. Make your Bible study, or Sunday School, at church about how to study the Bible. Don't read a Sunday School quarterly and think you've done your duty. If your pastor, or someone in your church, spends at least half an hour a day studying the Bible, and has done so every day for years, then have that person tell you how they approach Bible study. If there isn't anyone, then find someone in the community who will come and share with you. Technically, this is called a "seminar", but that word often turns people off, so don't use it in this case.
Next, set a goal in your church to have all of your adult members, or all who are active and will participate, to commit to read through the Bible in a year. Again, there are many places online you can look for a Bible reading calendar. Once you've completed your class on studying the Bible, in church, work through the book of Acts together. Read how the early church prospered in spite of persecution, arrest, trial, and even death. If your church does begin to grow -- when it begins to grow -- expect to have problems with people in the surrounding community; that's just the Devil at work. Face each problem with united prayer, and with confidence that God will give you the right response out of his Word. Grow in the Word, and your church will grow as well.
Reading the Bible is not enough; you must learn to meditate on it as well. Think of meditation as chewing your food well before you digest it. It goes down better that way, and is more easily digested. How do you do that specifically? There is a multitude of resources available to help out, but basically meditation is thinking about what a passage means to you personally. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you an application you've never thought of before. As to the mechanics of studying the Word, you can study a particular topic, read straight through the Bible according to some reading calendar, or do an in-depth study of a particular book. Here again, there are many books that can help.
Like prayer, Bible study needs an ongoing commitment. When we take its message inside of us, we have both ammunition to fight the Enemy, and resources to face the challenges, great and small of daily life. Get these first two principles right, and your church will grow, spiritually and in numbers. Everything else follows after.