Hook, Book, Look and Took remain excellent handles for structuring, developing, delivering and evaluating a Bible lesson! These four simple words were first introduced to me during my seminary days through a required reading book by Lawrence Richards, entitled “Creative Bible Teaching.” (Lawrence O. Richards, “Creative Bible Teaching,” Moody Press, 1976.) A life-changing lesson requires a few moments when the participants can respond. The Took is the “take away!” The teacher is asking the class to “graft” this truth into their life. Make sure your class has taken the opportunity to respond to your brief appeal to live out the truth you have learned together.

AN INVITATION. If Bible study is to be life-changing, let me urge you to plan for an invitation, or the Took. Teachers, myself included, often run out of time during class. In the midst of discussion on verse six, or whatever, we realize our time is gone and we call on someone to dismiss the class in prayer. Usually the prayer goes something like, “Lord, thanks for this great lesson, help us take it to heart, Amen.” Did the class really take something life-changing into the coming week?

GRAB- GRASP- GRAPPLE- GRAFT! In each of these posts I have urged you to guard your class time. There are four elements of a life-changing lesson. The first and last elements should be brief, perhaps very brief. The middle two elements will require a majority of the class time and must be balanced. All four should be well planned! 

• The Hook, a brief introduction designed to “grab” the learners’ attention.
• The Book, an explanation of the text that guides the learner to “grasp” with the truth of scripture. •
• The Look or application time is to guide the group to “grapple” with a how the passage applies to their daily lives. 
•  The Took, a brief invitation that invites the learner to personally “graft” the lesson into their life during the coming week.

IN CONCLUSION. A teacher’s invitation to live out the truth of the lesson usually comes in the last few moments of the Bible study. It does not end the lesson; it launches the lesson into the realm of 24/7. I believe it is critical that the leader bring the class back to a main point or big idea and then invite them to live it out. That usually means a time of personal reflection and prayer. Don’t panic, even if you have only covered one verse of scripture, urge them to live that truth today, or in the coming week.

LIFE-CHANGE. The Took should present a challenge, “live like this.” Usually it will include a prayer such as, “Lord, we commit ourselves to live like this.” Come Monday morning some class members may not even remember text, but they should remember that a caring teacher challenged them to “do” something and then prayed with them as they decided to “do” that one thing during the week.

ENCOURAGING. In my mind, that is what weekly Bible study is all about. You must have the courage to get deep into the lesson. Deep enough that they decide to live it. Deep enough to personally commit themselves during that personal prayer time to graft that Bible truth into Monday morning and beyond. Now, that is encouraging!

EVALUATION. How do you evaluate a life-changing lesson? I hope it is more than you simply hearing the words, “Wow, teacher that was a good lesson!” I hope you will receive a call during the week. Maybe it will go something like this, “Teacher, let me share with you how I just lived out that lesson; here is what I Took to work today that I received in class on Sunday.” It Took!

Hook, Book, Look and Took remain excellent handles for structuring, developing, delivering and evaluating a Bible lesson! These four simple words were first introduced to me during my seminary days through a required reading book by Lawrence Richards, entitled Creative Bible Teaching. (Lawrence O. Richards, Creative Bible Teaching, Moody Press, 1976.)  If we are going to call it Bible study, you must guide the class to “grasp” the Word of God. Get into the Book!

HIT A LICK. My father often used the words, “he never hit a lick” in referring to someone who totally missed the point or failed to accomplish the task. Bible study preparation begins with prayer and a personal study of the text.  If you are to guide your group to carefully read, understand a passage and apply it to their lives then you must first grapple with the content and personalize it.  Once you have personalized the passage you can prepare to guide the class to “grasp the truth.”   The lesson commentator (curriculum writer) may suggest a teaching aim, learning goal or intended outcome, but if the passage does not “grip” you with a personal message then it will be difficult for you to hit any target during class time.

PREPARATION. Good lesson preparation requires setting appropriate time to guide each critical element of the class session!  The Book, the second element in a life-changing lesson process, will require more time than the other three elements.  After a brief Hook you should be ready to take the class to the truth of the scripture passage but remember you still have application, which we will refer to as the Look; and the Took, or the invitation, ahead of you. I believe there are three critical parts to this element of the lesson.

1. Read the text well.  Regardless of whether you are teaching verse by verse or dealing with the passage as a whole, put some thought into reading the text.  Perhaps you could enlist a reader in advance who becomes a critical part of the teaching process by using appropriate voice inflection and emphasis as each verse is presented.  Let the Word speak!
2. Present the background.  No passage or scripture really stands alone and therefore, understanding of your text requires some knowledge of the author, setting, context, theme of the book and so forth. Again, great teaching does require disciplined time management.
3. Develop an understanding of the text.  Lecture moments are appropriate here but don’t just lecture.  Present the content and the key points with creativity knowing that the scripture has the power to change lives.  Teaching does require group participation so I urge teachers to plan for and allow spontaneity and interaction throughout the session but I also suggest that a good leader will safeguard this element of the lesson carefully.  You will want more interaction when the time comes for application. If you have given adequate time to personal preparation, you are a primary source of information at this point.  Don’t give in to chasing rabbits!  Make sure you take the class to the truth of scripture.

Again, before the class can apply the passage to their own life, it will be essential for them to “grasp the truth.”  Make sure you take them to the Book and they come away knowing what the Word of God says.

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Gary Bearce serves as the Sunday School Specialist for the Alaska Baptist Convention.