Unpacking God’s Word

Message by Michael Gong

Notes compiled by Sarah Chen

The Bible
What use is a gift box left unopened?
Unpacking means opening the box, and finding the gift inside it. Just like the Bible.

3 Ways To Unpack The Bible

1. Learn some Jewish history and culture

• To know something, we gotta know the background first.
• Jonah 1:1-4 = Jonah ran away to Nineveh to "get away" from God, because if he didn't he afraid he might suffer at Nineveh.
• When we have more choices, God becomes only ONE of those choices.
• If we want the application, we must unpack it! Then the bible comes in, as reference.
• The more we do, the more chances we get to hear His voice.

2. Look up and look down!

• In short, read up the whole passage when we read the bible.
• Do not just pluck out verses out randomly, just because its related to a situation your facing at the moment.
• Verses come together, connected from top to bottom.
• By just plucking out one verse, the meaning could be totally different when it's put together with the verses before after it.

3. Irony

• Sometimes what we expect it not that we get.
• There are many things we have yet to know about.
• The book of Jonah shows some similarities of Jonah's situations and Jesus.
  

So in conclusion, the Bible is a gift to us, but many don't use it in full yet. One of the way to grow is through God's word.