Pantano Christian Church

A Guide on How to Read

and Study the Entire Bible

For Individuals or Life Groups

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE PDF BOOKLET

A. What is Book of the Month?

“Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV). The Bible is one of the primary places where we find spiritual food to feed others and ourselves. Many of us don’t have a way or a plan to read the Bible. It can be overwhelming. Here’s an effective way to get a handle on the entire Bible by reading and studying a different book of the Bible each month.

The “Book of the Month” idea is for individuals or life groups who decide to read and apply insights from God through a different book of the Bible each month. So in just over 5 years, you could read every book of the Bible and not be overwhelmed with the task.

This is a great way for folks new to following Jesus and new to the church to get into God’s Word, the Bible. It is also invaluable to folks who have followed Jesus a long time. Christians, who know Jesus and the Bible well, sometimes think the church is no feeding them through the weekend messages. In a sense, they are right. The weekend message can’t spiritually nourish a person throughout the whole week, not matter how good it is. It is not the church’s responsibility to spiritually feed everyone all they need. On the contrary it is very fair to say; “The church has not taught me to read, study, meditate, memorize, apply and obey the Bible.” It is the church’s responsibility to help you feed yourself. That’s what the Book of the Month project is about.

We prepared a Teaching series: A la Carte – Learn how to spiritually feed yourself from the Bible. God’s words are nourishment for our souls. You can get the printed notes or MP3 messages from http://pccwired.org/weekend/series/a-la-carte/

The beauty of this kind of idea is that it promotes self-study and self-discovery of God’s Word. Even better is to do this with a partner or group where you can belong and grow together.

B. How do I study a book of the Bible?

1. The first week of the month read through the entire book. Try not to get lost in the details but get a feel for the big picture. Make notes in the margins of your Bible, noting key events, persons or points. It is really important to be able to write in your Bible, so get a Bible you are “okay” writing in. Also keep a notebook or notepad handy to write down questions the first time through. It’s also good to keep a list of things you want to “study later.” Again, at this point, you are not trying to answer every question, but trying to get a feel for what the book is about.

2. During week two take some time to write out what you are discovering. Writing helps you focus your thoughts. Don’t see this as homework, but as a tool to help you discover the meaning of the book.

Here are some things to write about:

• The THEME of the book

• The AUTHOR of the book

• The SETTING of the book (what was happening during the writing or the stories)

• The PURPOSE of the book

• Major CHARACTERS or EVENTS in the book

• Key VERSES in the book

• Key IDEAS in the book

At the end of this document is a list of web sites and resources that can help you if you need help with a particular book of the Bible. But try to resist going to read what others have discovered about the Bible and find the joy of discovering the rich spiritual food of the Bible for yourself. Do a first attempt and then go to the resources.

3. Look for a verse, or story or paragraph or character that seems to really address something for you that you can meditate on, apply or obey.

4. At the end of the month, write a summary of the principles you gained from your study. Call this “Principles from the book of ______”

Some folks like to do this writing on the computer while others like to use a notebook that will become a collection of several book studies. Others see the writing as a kind of journaling.

C. How does a LIFE GROUP study a Book of the Month?

A group is two or more. You could do this with a spouse, a friend, an accountability partner or a larger group of no more than 12 people. Meeting with others provides accountability to help you be consistent. You will gain a great deal of understanding from what others have discovered.

You could meet every week or every other week. We do not recommend you meet only once a month.

Choose a leader of the week. Anyone can be the leader of the week as that person is not the expert or the answer person. The leader simply asks EACH PERSON of the group to answer one of the following questions (other questions can and should be added):

• What insights did you gain from Judges (or whatever book you are studying) this week?

• What impacted you about Abraham or The Exodus (choose a character or major event from the book)?

• What has God been saying to you personally through your study?

• What do you want to apply from your study?

• What surprised you in your study of Philippians?

D. Where can I get help if I’m stuck or clueless about something?

Books:

• NIV Study Bible / Zondervan. We recommend a good study Bible. There are many good ones available. Many people all time favorite is the NIV Study Bible. It is fair & balanced – often giving two or three common interpretations of a text.
• How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour By: Gordon D. Fee, Douglas Stuart / Zondervan / 2002
• Living by the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible, Revised and Updated By: Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks / Moody Publishers / 2007

Websites:

• The NET Bible is a very good online study Bible. We have found it to be very accurate and helpful. It gives notes on particular verses and gives overviews of books of the Bible. You can even download a free version onto your computer. http://net.bible.org/bible.php
• You can also read or compare from different versions of the Bible or do a word study by using Bible Gateway. http://www.biblegateway.com
• One of the best and free resources is E-Sword. It has multiple versions of the Bible, search features, maps, commentaries, and more. Download it free at http://www.e-sword.net

E. A Suggested Study Plan

This plan has been developed with an intentional sequence, even though at first glance it might appear haphazard. There are four months in which you do more than one book, as they are smaller and related. Psalms was broken into its natural books. Also notice one month was kept open for the group to take a break or do a specific topical study. You are free to change the order of the books listed.

Book of the Month Suggested Study Plan

Sometimes a verse or passage from the Bible is so important to us that we might choose to memorize it. There are many verses that are so important to me that I have memorized them so they are always with me to help guide me. They have had a lifelong impact on me. Here’s a way to memorize a verse:

1. Read the verse several times and meditate on it.
2. You might want to write or print it out on a card to carry with you. Some folks put it as the screen saver or wall paper on their computer screen. I know some who tape them to the bathroom mirror.
3. Learn the verse reference with the first phrase (that way you’ll also be memorizing where it is from). Repeat this several times.
4. Then add the next phrase(s) and repeat.
5. When you get to the final phrase, be sure to add the verse reference again at the end.
6. Work on saying the verse(s) audibly whenever possible.
7. Review is the key. Review the verse several times a day over the next week or more. If you review the verse for 21 days straight, you are virtually assured of having the verse memorized.

Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Peter H. Davids
F.F. Bruce
Manfred T. Brauch
InterVarsity Press
Downers Grove, Illinois
One-volume edition copyright 1996

Hard Sayings of Jesus

Many of those who listened to Jesus during his public ministry found some of his sayings “hard” and said so. Many of those who read his sayings today, or hear them read in church, also find them hard, but do not always think it fitting to say so.

Our Lord’s sayings were all of a piece with his actions and with his way of life in general. The fewer preconceptions we bring from outside to the reading of the Gospels, the more clearly shall we see him as he really was. It is all too easy to believe in a Jesus who is largely a construction of our own imagination—an inoffensive person whom no one would really trouble to crucify. But the Jesus whom we meet in the Gospels, far from being an inoffensive person, gave offense right and left. Even his loyal followers found him, at times, thoroughly disconcerting. He upset all established notions of religious propriety. He spoke of God in terms of intimacy which sounded like blasphemy. He seemed to enjoy the most questionable company. He set out with open eyes on a road which, in the view of “sensible” people, was bound to lead to disaster.

But in those who were not put off by him he created a passionate love and allegiance which death could not destroy. They knew that in him they had found the way of acceptance, peace of conscience, life that was life indeed. More than that: in him they came to know God himself in a new way; here was the life of God being lived out in a real human life and communicating itself through him to them. And there are many people today who meet Jesus, not in Galilee and Judaea but in the Gospel record, and become similarly aware of his powerful attractiveness, entering into the same experience as those who made a positive response to him when he was on earth.

One reason for the complaint that Jesus’ sayings were hard was that he made his hearers think. For some people, thinking is a difficult and uncomfortable exercise, especially when it involves the critical reappraisal of firmly held prejudices and convictions, or the challenging of the current consensus of opinion. Any utterance, therefore, which invites them to engage in this kind of thinking is a hard saying. Many of Jesus’ sayings were hard in this sense. They suggested that it would be good to reconsider things that every reasonable person accepted. In a world where the race was to the swift and the battle to the strong, where the prizes of life went to the pushers and the go-getters, it was preposterous to congratulate the unassertive types and tell them that they would inherit the earth or, better still, possess the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps the Beatitudes were, and are, the hardest of Jesus’ sayings.

For the Western world today the hardness of many of Jesus’ sayings is all the greater because we live in a different culture from that in which they were uttered and speak a different language from his. He appears to have spoken Aramaic for the most part, but with few exceptions his Aramaic words have not been preserved. His words have come down to us in a translation, and that translation—the Greek of the Gospels—has to be retranslated into our own language. But when the linguistic problems have been resolved as far as possible and we are confronted by his words in what is called a “dynamically equivalent” version—that is, a version which aims at producing the same effect in us as the original words produced in their first hearers—the removal of one sort of difficulty may result in the raising of another.

For to us there are two kinds of hard saying: there are some which are hard to understand, and there are some which are only too easy to understand. When sayings of Jesus which are hard in the former sense are explained in dynamically equivalent terms, then they are likely to become hard in the latter sense. Mark Twain spoke for many when he said that the things in the Bible that bothered him were not those that he did not understand but those that he did understand. This is particularly true of the sayings of Jesus. The better we understand them, the harder they are to take. (Perhaps, similarly, this is why some religious people show such hostility to modern versions of the Bible: these versions make the meaning plain, and the plain meaning is unacceptable.)

Lectio Divina is Latin for “spiritual reading” or “divine reading.” It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to ponder, listen and, finally, pray from God’s Word. Early Christians did not have their own Bibles (that was not common until the last couple hundred years!), so they learned to have someone read the Scripture and they listened carefully with their spiritual hearts attuned to God. Lectio was most often done in community. This exercise can be done in life groups as well as individually.

Prior to reading, it is important to move to a more contemplative and prayerful state. A few moments of deep, regular breathing and a short prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to guide the prayer time helps to set the tone and improve the effectiveness of the Lectio.

In the 12th century, “The Four Movements” were developed to guide the Lectio. Once the stage is set it is time to begin the four phases of the reading – prayer.

Begin by choosing a passage that is “self-contained” which means a story or a teaching that has a common theme.

• Read. Read the passage several times.
• Meditate. Reflect on the text of the passage, thinking about how to apply to one’s own life. Gravitate to any particular phrase or word that seems to be of particular importance.
• Respond. Respond to the passage by opening your heart to God. This is not primarily an intellectual exercise, but more of the beginning of a conversation with God.
• Contemplate. Listen to God. See centering prayer for guidance on how to do this. This is a freeing oneself from one’s own thoughts, both mundane and holy. It is about hearing God talk to us. It is opening our mind, heart and soul to the influence of God. Any conversation must allow for both sides to communicate, and this most unfamiliar act is allowing oneself to be open to hearing God speak.

One pattern of Bible reading it to start in a book of the Bible and each time read until you sense that God is saying something directly to you. Begin by asking God to speak to you. Tell him you are ready to listen. Then begin reading. Sometimes you’ll read just a verse or two and you’ll hear God speaking directly to you and your situation. Then have a conversation with God about that. Other times you might read quite a bit before something “hits” you.

Some Christians are afraid of meditation because it is confused with Eastern religious practices of “emptying the mind.” Christian meditation is focusing all our thoughts toward a topic or idea. But this is more than just “focus” as it is in fact opening our mind to a single thought or idea until it actually fills us and becomes a part of us. It is a process of letting God and his Word sink deep within us.

Here’s a personal example. I once spent several weeks just meditating (focusing on) the words of Jesus – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You would think that a day or two would be sufficient, but after a week I began to discover new truths and deep concepts “hidden” in those simple words. It was life changing. I was drawn closer to God through the process. I began to see things that I relied on and that were “substitute” bread replacing my need for God.

Kinds of Meditation:

• Meditation on a passage of scripture (the most common form)
• Meditation on a word or phrase of scripture
• Meditation on a quality of God
• Meditation on an aspect of creation
• Meditation on an event, an experience of personal awareness, etc.

See chapter 2 of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline for more help on how to meditate.