In our last visit we began a topical study of “Joy” as found in the book of Philippians. We collected all the references on the topic and wrote down what we found. Then we correlated this information into an outline: Joy through fellowship, joy through service, and joy through worship. The title could be: Finding true joy! Based on this outline I crystallized what we found into the following applications.
1. Christian joy is found through participating with God in the developing of other lives and in creating and cultivating mutually supportive relationships. 2. I can bring joy to others by sharing what God is doing in my life. 3. I can help create an atmosphere of joy by living in harmony with fellow Christians. 4. I should rejoice if Christ is preached even if I question the motives of some doing the preaching. 5. I need to work at meditating on the person of Christ. Even if I don’t seem to have any other reason to rejoice, I do have reason to rejoice because I know Him.
In review, to do a topical study, collect information about the topic. You can limit your focus on one book of the Bible as we did in this study, or do a more extensive study by using a concordance listing all the references on the topic in the Bible. Correlate this information into an outline. Then crystallize what you learn into some conclusions or applications showing how the topic relates to and can be applied to your life experience.