Where do I start reading the Bible? I’ve heard so many people ask this question, and it’s not always a cut and dried answer!
Let me give you a few ideas that might be helpful…
1. Start with Jesus
While there are 4 gospels (accounts of Jesus’ life), I recommend starting with the book of Luke.
It covers the coming of Jesus (his birth) and takes you all the way through his resurrection from the dead. If you want to keep reading, the Book of Acts picks up right where Luke leaves off and tells the story of Jesus’ ascending into heaven and the start of the early church. Acts tells us how Jesus’ disciples are transformed from “fraidy cats” to those who willing die for their faith.
2. Get Wisdom
There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs, which makes it easy to divide up into a chapter a day every month. Proverbs gives us lots of short sayings that will reflect what wisdom looks like in our everyday lives.
3. Read the Songbook
The book of Psalms is a book of “songs” that lead us to worship God for who He is truly is. This book isn’t edited and sanitized, the psalm writers are honest and raw, sometimes wishing their enemies to die! So, the goal isn’t always to sound like these writers, but to be set free to be real about how we feel before God. King David is probably the writer of more than ½ of the Psalms. We can learn a lot about God’s character as we read and think about the words of the Psalms.
Reading Resources:
1. You Version App for Phones and Tablets
This resource is free and is rich with resources. You can choose plans where you can listen to the Bible or read it, or have both at the same time. There are reading plans that you can follow every day, or just use an “everyday” plan but take your time going through it more slowly.
After downloading: search “Bible Project Introduction to the Christian Faith” for a nine day reading plan. It gives you verses to read every day, a video to watch that ties the theme of that day together. You can even do this with friends and leave comments that others can see within the app.
If you want to read through the Bible, you can search for “Bible Project Biblical story line.” It is a 366 day journey complete with videos and follows the order of the Jewish Bible. While this order shouldn’t throw you off (as you are only looking at one book at a time), it can be a fascinating way to read through the Bible. However, don’t feel pressured to read through the whole Bible in one year.
2. Other Websites to Read Commentary
(to help you better understand)
All these resources have tools and explanations for what you are reading that are very helpful. Most of you will be looking for a tab labelled “Commentaries” which are what people have written to explain cultural nuances, insights, other verses that tie to what you are reading and general explanation.
3. Overview of the Bible
In working on this series, we have enjoyed looking at www.overviewbible.com
Jeffrey Kranz does an excellent job making YouTube videos explaining the Bible and breaking down information. He has a PDF file that is available on his website to purchase for $10 that I found quite helpful. He boils down each book of the Bible to one sentence that you can learn and memorize if you so desire. We are thankful for his contribution to Bible learning.
4. The Bible Project
No list I would make would be complete without full endorsement and praise for Tim and Jon at the Bible Project. Their videos (most in cartoon form) have made very complicated Bible themes and concepts understandable. You can download the Bible Project App and dig deep into blogs, sermons, videos, audio, etc. If you are reading anywhere in the Bible, it’s a great idea to watch the overview video they have produced about that particular book. This will give you the overall themes and context that is important to understand.
www.bibleproject.com or download the Bible Project app
Happy reading friends… hope this helps you as you study God’s Word!
I look forward to seeing you next Sunday at our Worship Service in the Dome at 10:00 a.m.
You can also live stream our service on Facebook and YouTube at 10:00 a.m.
