Do you struggle to connect with God during your Bible reading? Sometimes reading the Bible can feel dry or uninteresting. What should feel dynamic, important, and alive often feels confusing, boring, or irrelevant. Biblical commentary can be intimidating or uninteresting. And we don’t know where to start on our own. Pastor and Bible teacher Nicole Unice brings life back to reading the Bible by helping you personally encounter God through His Word. Rather than relying on scholarly commentary, Help! My Bible Is Alive! empowers you to read the Bible on your own with new confidence. In this comprehensive and clear guide, you’ll find key questions to help you find the meaning in any passage of Scripture interactive lessons that teach you how to break down a verse space to journal your thoughts as you learn special reward cards that motivate you to complete each step questions and prompts to help you think deeply and discuss applications to help you practice diving deeper into the Bible Take this 30-day challenge to refresh your spirit and experience your Bible like never before. “This is the book I’ve been needing for the countless people in my church plant who are scared—but hungry—to engage with the Bible.” —Stephen Poore, MDiv, visionary pastor of Center Church “This book allows anyone to see that the Bible is unsettlingly powerful, scandalously relevant, beautiful beyond belief, and very much alive.” —Rev. Rachel Toone, dean of spiritual formation at Montreat College “The perfect guide for ordinary people who want to experience God in this extraordinary book!” —Aron Gibson, lead pastor at Lake Forest Church–WestLake

With persuasive instruction and personal examples, George Martin shows you how to read and understand Scripture in ways that help us hear what God is saying to us and that draw us nearer to him in prayer. In the most extensive revision yet of his best-selling classic Reading Scripture as the Word of God, this edition brings God's Word to life for beginners through seasoned veterans of Bible study. How can I get more out of reading Scripture? What can I do to understand Scripture more clearly? How can I hear what God is saying to me through Scripture? How should I apply the messages of the Bible to my life? Thus, the Bible becomes a window to God, so He can speak to our hearts as well as our heads. The book begins with practical suggestions for reading Scripture in order to understand both the context and the purpose for which it was written. It goes on to discuss how God reveals himself through the words of Scripture and the role of the Holy Spirit as He speaks directly to you through the text. Study guides at the end of each chapter, interesting sidebars, and directions to internet resources will stimulate personal reflection and also provide the basis for small-group discussion of this eminently practical, yet heart-centered, approach to understanding the Scriptures.

Introduction"Study the Scriptures" (John 5:39)."How do you read it?" (Luke 10:26).Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible-reading. God has mercifully given us a book which is "able to make [us] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). By reading that book we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace.Happy is that man who possesses a Bible! Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!

You've heard it said that fear is only a feeling. But your heart tells you it is so much more. Fear instigates uncontrollable emotions and undesired reactions. How can you learn to choose faith over fear in the moment? The No Fear Bible reading plan and journal provides 31 Scripture references ideal for one month of learning to embrace faith when you feel afraid. Each day includes one focus word and simple memory statement to help you remember that God is with you and there is no need to be afraid. His perfect love drives away every fear! Specifically designed to help you remember to spend time with God each day and enjoy his love letter to you, the simplicity of this Bible reading plan and journal makes it one you'll long to share with others. Through this Bible reading plan and journal, you'll be awed at the mountain-moving faith God provides when you choose to believe and trust him fully. Let your faith be bigger than your fear.

We read the Bible and interpret Scripture in order to live in grace-filled relation to God's divine purpose.When we approach the Bible as Scripture author, Joel Green, takes seriously the faith statement that the Bible is our Book; these scriptures are our Scripture. We are not reading someone else's mail--as though reading the Bible had to do foremost with recovering an ancient meaning intended for someone else and then translating its principles for use in our own lives. When we recall that we are the people of God to whom the Bible is addressed as Scripture, we realize that the fundamental transformation is not the transformation of an ancient message into a contemporary meaning, bur rather the transformation of our lives by means of God's Word. This means that reading the Bible as Scripture has less to do with what tools we bring to the task, however important these may be, and more to do with our own dispositions as we come to our engagement with Scripture. We come not so much to retrieve facts or to gain information, but to be formed and ultimately, transformed. Scripture does not present us with texts to be mastered but with a Word, God's Word, intent on mastering us, on shaping our lives.

Understanding the Bible: A Guide to Reading the Scriptures will inform your reading and enrich your understanding of the Bible from historical, literary, and faith perspectives. It is ideal for use regardless of your background, your beliefs, your questions, or the Bible translation you are reading. Inside are articles that explore the Bible in its faith, historical, and cultural contexts. The Bible is looked at as literature too--its genres and literary forms. There are articles introducing the Old and New Testaments, specifically the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Wisdom and Poetry Books, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, and Revelation. The history and differences of translations are discussed, and other tools to help you unlock the Bible are introduced. Additional aids include maps, charts, a timeline, and a glossary. Together these aids further investigate the Bible and the world in which it was written, as well as the progression of scholarship that helps us understand the Bible today.

The New Believer's Bible is uniquely designed to help the new Christian read, study, and understand the Bible. It includes features that help Christians develop and deepen their faith, while providing a foundation for their new life in Christ. This expanded edition has been newly typeset and includes all of the original New Believer's Bible notes and features plus an expansion to the existing topics and some new ones from the Start! Bible. All content has been refreshed for today's language and needs. The New Believer's Bible contains a number of special features to give you the biblical knowledge you need to grow as a Christian: "Cornerstones" notes cover the basics of Christian belief. Here you will learn about the Trinity, angels, Satan, Heaven, hell, forgiveness, peace, joy, love, and other essential teachings of the Bible. "First Steps" notes help you know God and his plan for you. Discover how to know you are saved, find the right church, study the Bible, resist temptation, talk with God, and much more. "Off & Running notes" show you how you can enjoy God's blessings and direction in all areas of your life: career, marriage, family, finances, and relationships. "Big Questions" notes tackle those difficult issues you may be dealing with right now as a new believer. How You Can Know God: Discover how to be saved and how to be assured of your salvation. Glossary of Christian Terms: An explanation of key biblical and doctrinal terms in language you can easily understand. Special Charts: A resource that highlights key biblical information. Fifty-two Great Bible Stories: A brief summary, Scripture reference, and page number for the best-loved stories from God's Word. Prophecies about Jesus: A list of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament. Memory Verses: Effective steps for memorizing God's Word; highlights over 130 of the most important verses to commit to memory. How to Study the Bible: An easy-to-follow strategy for getting the most out of your Bible reading. It also includes two simple reading plans. Overview of the Bible: A concise overview of each book of the Bible, including author, date, style, and summary of contents.

The acclaimed Bible scholar and author of The Historical Jesus and God & Empire—“the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation” (John Shelby Spong) —grapples with Scripture’s two conflicting visions of Jesus and God, one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God, and explains how Christians can better understand these passages in a way that enriches their faith. Many portions of the New Testament, introduce a compassionate Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But the Jesus we find in Revelation and some portions of the Gospels leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true revelation of the Messiah—and how can both be in the same Bible? How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian explores this question and offers guidance for the faithful conflicted over which version of the Lord to worship. John Dominic Crossan reconciles these contrasting views, revealing how different writers of the books of the Bible not only possessed different visions of God but also different purposes for writing. Often these books are explicitly competing against another, opposing vision of God from the Bible itself. Crossan explains how to navigate this debate and offers what he believes is the best central thread to what the Bible is all about. He challenges Christians to fully participate in this dialogue, thereby shaping their faith by reading deeply, reflectively, and in community with others who share their uncertainty. Only then, he advises, will Christians be able to read and understand the Bible without losing their faith.

What would it be like for modern readers to sit down beside Jesus as he explained the Bible to them? What life-changing insights might emerge from such a transformative encounter? Lois Tverberg knows the treasures that await readers willing to learn how to read the Bible through Jewish eyes. By helping them understand the Bible as Jesus and his first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to readers today. Combining careful research with engaging prose, Tverberg leads us on a journey back in time to shed light on how this Middle Eastern people approached life, God, and each other. She explains age-old imagery that we often misinterpret, allowing us to approach God and the stories and teachings of Scripture with new eyes. By helping readers grasp the perspective of its original audience, she equips them to read the Bible in ways that will enrich their lives and deepen their understanding.

Is Reading the Bible the Fastest Way to Lose Your Faith? For centuries, the Bible was called "the Good Book," a moral and religious text that guides us into a relationship with God and shows us the right way to live. Today, however, some people argue the Bible is outdated and harmful, with many Christians unaware of some of the odd and disturbing things the Bible says. Whether you are a Christian, a doubter, or someone exploring the Bible for the first time, bestselling author Dan Kimball guides you step-by-step in how to make sense of these difficult and disturbing Bible passages. Filled with stories, visual illustrations, and memes reflecting popular cultural objections, How (Not) to Read the Bible is a lifeline for individuals who are confused or discouraged with questions about the Bible. It also works great as a small-group study or sermon series.