Zoom Out to Discover the Bigger Picture

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

In season 16 of the True Girl podcast, we’re gonna learn a simple but powerful way to study the Bible: the True Girl 4-Z Method.

One mom wrote to tell us, “Since my daughter learned this method, she can’t wait to open her Bible. It’s changed her appetite for God’s Word dramatically!” 

We love hearing reports like that. So, we’ve decided to declare 2025, The Year of Learning the 4-Z Method of Bible study. We’ll be using this simple tool in everything we do at True Girl, because understanding your Bible sure does make it more fun to open it!

This season is titled “Zoom, Zoom, Zero, Zip: A Simple Way to Study the Bible.” It’s kinda like a mini-season, because each episode will be super short! Dannah Gresh will show you how each step of the 4Z method of Bible study works, and she’ll explain what to do to practice each step on your own. I hope you’ll do that.

Let’s get zooming for the first one, called, “Step One: Zoom Out to Discover the Big Picture.” Here’s Dannah!

Dannah Gresh: Hey, True Girl! I’m so glad you’re here with me today, you have no idea. Now, it is just you and me today. 

You might be asking, “Where’s Staci?”

Don’t worry!

She is going to be back for the next season, but I really just wanted some, I don’t know, some time alone with you because I want to teach you something really special. Now, you’re going to have to use your imagination. Let’s get started. 

Imagine you're looking at a picture. It's a picture of most of your classmates at a party. And when I say "most" of your classmates, I mean, someone is missing. You. There was a party and you weren't invited. Ouch! 

Now, you’ve known about it for a while. You’ve known you weren’t going to be invited, and you’ve had this no-good, really-bad feeling about it. But now, well, you’re looking at this picture and the more you look at it, the worse that feeling that’s been stuck to you all these weeks, the worse it gets. I mean, the ache is so real. It feels like a tightening in your chest. Ugh! What could possibly make this stop hurting? I mean, you might even be wondering, Will it ever stop?

Well, guess what? True Girl, I can help you!

I’m going to show you how to, well, not how to, but where to go when you have sticky feelings that seem impossible to break free from. Because, let’s face it, we all have bad feelings that get stuck to us.

But if you learn to go to the right place and know what to do when you get there, you can be in control of those bad feelings rather than having them be in control of you!

Does that sound like something you’d like to learn?

Ok, I’ll get right to it. When you feel bad like that, you need to go to . . . you probably already know this answer, your Bible!

Of course, you need to know what to do with it when you get there. I want to help you get the most out of your Bible time. I want you to know how to read it. I want you to understand what it’s saying. And you—yes, I do mean you—you are able to do that!

When I was eight years old, my mom handed me some Bible study tools and told me, “Dannah, if you want to know and love Jesus, you need to read and study your Bible.” So, I did. And I’ve actually been doing it ever since. I’ve got to tell you, I love my Bible. I want you to love yours, too.

Now, in here comes a problem, because maybe you’ve felt like the Bible is hard to understand. Maybe you’ve wondered, How can I really know what it means? Well, if that sounds like you, this series of the True Girl podcast is perfect for you.

You see, at True Girl we developed something to help you study your Bible: we call it the 4-Z Method of Bible study. It is a super simple way to understand what you’re reading. It’s like being, I don’t know, a Bible detective! Here’s how it works:

• First, we Zoom Out to get the context.
• Then, we Zoom In to dig into the details of a verse.
• After that, we Zero In to apply it to our lives.
• And finally, we Zip It Up with prayer.

Today, I want to teach you the first step: Zooming Out for Context. Context means looking at the environment around something to understand it better.

When you Zoom Out, it’s like being a detective arriving at the scene of a great mystery. You step back and look all around and take in everything—the location, the surroundings, the clues scattered around, and how it all fits together. It gives you the big picture and helps you start solving the mystery!

A good detective asks the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, why! You’ve heard those questions before. When it comes to Bible study, those questions could sound a little something like this:

• Who wrote this, or who is speaking in this Bible verse?
• What is it about?
• When was it written?
• Where did it happen?
• Why is it important?

When we ask these questions, we’re going to start to see the bigger story God is telling us.

Let Zoom Out now using the True Girl theme verse. This verse is one that really does promise that the Bible can help with any kind of no-good, very-bad, sticky feeling you have had or ever will have. So, when you feel left out or stressed out, fed up or too hyped up, this verse will help you tell your emotions, “You’re not the boss of me!” In fact, you might wanna write this Bible verse down.

Are you ready for it?

It’s John 8:31–32. Let me read it to you. 

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

That can seem like a lot of words and may even be confusing before we Zoom Out and ask the 5 W questions.

So, let’s get some clarity by asking those questions.

First of all, Who is speaking? That one’s easy, right? It says it right there: Jesus said to the people who believed in Him. Jesus is talking to His followers.

What is He talking about? Well, Jesus is explaining what it means to follow Him as a disciple. He says, “You’re really My disciple if you are faithful to the words I teach.” That means that we know the words that He spoke and that are written down in the Bible for us. That’s what He is talking about. 

Now let’s ask the question, when. When did this happen? This particular story unfolded during Jesus’ teaching ministry when He was talking to crowds and performing miracles. And chapter 8—the one we find this verse in—- reminds us that a lot of Jesus’ followers believed a lie. What lie? They believed the lie that a life of freedom meant you could do anything you wanted to do. Anything! Even sinful things! Even rebellious things! 

But the fact was, just before Jesus said the words we’re studying, He had just interacted with some people who found out how very sad sin could make them. Or how it ends up creating the opposite of freedom. It can make you feel like a slave. A slave to lying so that you can hide sin. A slave to hiding and how that makes you feel lonely, sad, and shameful, and all sorts of other bad emotions. (Can you say “sticky feelings”?)

Okay, back to those questions.

Where? Where was Jesus? He was probably in Judea, which we know today as Israel. And He was teaching the Jewish people.

Now, our final question: why? Why is this important? It was important because Jesus was making a kind of shocking claim. He is saying something brand new about freedom. He said: knowing and obeying the truth of Jesus’ teachings is what actually leads to freedom—freedom from sin, freedom from fear, and freedom from lies. Freedom from all the bad feelings that stick to us and won’t go away. To be true, at first, it might feel a little confining to obey and live by rules, but that’s what Jesus says really makes you feel truly free.

Okay, we just talked about all of the 5 W questions. Now, let me read those words from the Bible again and let’s see if they’re easier to understand. Ready?

John 8:31–32:

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Did you notice that maybe those details in the verse sort of start to come alive? Because you’ve understood the context. Without context, we might just think Jesus is saying random words. But when we Zoom Out, we see that this is part of a bigger conversation, a bigger story about what it means to live as His follower and experience true freedom. Well, then it starts to make sense. 

And that’s something I want you to experience, when you open your Bible, my True Girl. I want you to live in the freedom of Jesus. I want it to be super practical.

Let’s go back to that picture, the one that’s missing someone: you. You know, the one taken at that party?

Here’s how the rest of that story might go if you just let your feelings be the boss of you. You keep feeling worse and worse. So you get grumpier and meaner with the people in that picture who you thought were friends. And . . . then mean girl moments follow. And it wasn’t them who was mean. It was you! Well, you see where I’m going, right? If we think about and get stuck on our sticky feelings, we become more and more enslaved, to those feelings, to the thoughts about those feelings, and that doesn’t lead us to anywhere good. 

But let’s say you remember this True Girl podcast. And you say to yourself, “Hmmm, wait a minute, what was that verse that helps me with my sticky feelings?” And then you remember. “Oh, it was in John, the book of John. What chapter? It was chapter 8.” And you go grab your Bible and you open it and then, you skim the chapter with your finger. “Where is that verse? There! John 8:31–32, that’s it!” And then you read it, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The more you read, the more it makes sense. Jesus is talking about being free from the lies that trap us—like the one saying, “Maybe I wasn’t invited to that party, because I’m not good enough.”

You pause and take a deep breath. You remember other things in the Bible that Jesus or His Word says about you. And you start to think, Well, I am going to remain faithful. I am going to hold onto what Jesus said. Not what these sticky feelings are telling you. Then you start to remember, Hmm, the Bible says I’m chosen. The Bible says I’m loved. The Bible says I belong to Jesus. 

Suddenly, that tightening in your chest, it starts to ease. The ache is still there a little, but it’s like the words of truth gently untie the knot.

You close your Bible. You feel lighter. His truth really can set you free. Wow! This actually works! 

The next time you see those friends, you’re going to be able to be kind and include them and love them even though you felt hurt that they left you out. And because you do, well, it could make things turn around for the next party. But even if it doesn’t, you’ve got Jesus. And you, my friend, have got peace!

Ah, that feels good. Doesn’t it?

You know what? I actually want to pray for you, that something like this really would happen the next time you have one of those sticky feelings that are just no good. 

Lord Jesus, I thank You for my True Girl, and I thank You that she’s here with me. I don’t have to imagine that she has had feelings that stick to her, that she might be tempted to meditate on, and fixate on, and think about a whole lot, because I’ve done that. 

But I pray that the next time she feels bad about something, about anything, that she’d open up her Bible. That she would remember this podcast. That she would go and see what Your Word says about the problem she’s facing, and that she would know the truth about her, about her situation, and about You. And most importantly, that it would begin to set her free. Help her to experience that. In the name of Jesus, amen. 

Okay, my friend, that’s just the first step in the 4-Z method of Bible study. Over the next four episodes, we’re going to really learn to use this method. And you’re going to understand these two verses so much better.

I’ve been studying these verses for years and every single time I study them, I feel like I learn something new. 

So I want to ask you to do something. 

Before you listen to the next podcast in this series, open your Bible to John 8:31–32 and use the first step in the 4-Z method to Zoom Out. Just that first step. Get the context of this Bible verse under your belt, as they say! Grab a notebook to write down the 5 Ws—Who, What, When, Where, Why. Maybe read the entire chapter of John 8. Then answer the 5 Ws. Again, that’s Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Take a few minutes to think about the big picture. What does this verse mean in the context of Jesus’ life, His ministry, and His teachings?

If you take time to learn and practice this, I know you're going to find that your Bible comes alive. You’ll understand it so much more, and that will help you understand Jesus more!

This is so important that all year long at True Girl you’re going to hear us zooming, zooming, zeroing, and zipping. At our live True Girl Crazy Hair Tour events. During our online Bible studies. There’s gonna be lots of 4-Z Method happening this year! 

And if you really want a full course in how to use the 4-Z Method, I’m hosting four True Girl Pop Up Parties throughout the country. At those parties I’m going teach you in person all the nitty gritty details of the True Girl 4-Z Method of Bible study! Hope to see you at one of those events. Ask your mom to check it out at MyTrueGirl.com.

Claire: In the next episode, we’ll dive into Zooming In, where we focus on the details that help us understand the Bible even more deeply. But for now, take some time to practice Zooming Out on John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32.

Dannah was using the New Living Translation by Tyndale House. We like it a lot because it’s easy to understand and can be trusted to be accurately translated. But you can use whatever translation you have. 

Remember, the Bible isn’t just a book—it’s God’s Word, written for you. When you take the time to Zoom Out and see the bigger picture, you’ll start to understand His story in amazing ways.

If you want more tools to help your time in God’s Word, ask your mom to check out our True Girl subscription box. We’ll send it right to your door! It’s full of activities, devotionals, and more—things for you to do with your mom and things for you to do by yourself. And we hope that it’ll help you grow closer to God! Find out more about it at MyTrueGirl.com. 

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts ,calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.