Keeping the Main Point the Main Point

Many times I've heard the analogy of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  As we have been going through 1 and 2 Kings I am again reminded of this idea.  There are so many good tidbits of information that it can be easy to dive in way so deep that we lose track of the point of the lesson.  I admit it, I'm guilty of it.  After a week or more of study of a particular passage I could write a 10 page paper expounding on what we have learned.

One of the things I like about our curriculum is the Biblical Truth and the Lesson Goal.  Continually keeping these two in mind as I study the passage of Scripture,has helped me to keep the main point of the lesson, the main point of my teaching.  My goal as a teacher is not to fill my students heads with Biblical knowledge or to share all the details of my 10 page paper.  My overall goal as a teacher is to teach my students to love the Word of God and to see it transform their lives in real life application.  My goal for a particular week's lesson is to teach the Biblical Truth and to help instill the Lesson Goal into my students lives.

How do I satisfy my own desire and need for depth of study, yet not get trapped so far in the details that I'm missing my goal as a teacher?  A very practical way is something that Pastor Albert shared with me a few weeks ago.  Using a mind mapping tool helps me to flesh out my thoughts and add as much detail as I need so that I can fully understand the Scripture.  Then I can collapse the details and focus on the main point of the lesson.

I happen to be using xMind and they have a very helpful training video to get started.  Below is an example of the mind map I drew up for a recent lesson with the details expanded..

Then as the latter part of the week approached, I narrowed my focus on the main points.