I truly believe that getting to know your Bible well by reading it in Chronological Order is THE MOST important thing you can do in the coming year and every year, not only for yourself, but for those you care for in your small groups, classes, or other ministry groups.
However, even though I feel deeply about this and have created many resources for it, I realized I hadn’t been very clear on exactly what I’ve done, the resources I have, and how I can help you in this vital area.
The podcast and video here are descriptions of the resources I have available to help you both do it for yourself and to teach others. Almost all are free, only one at a very low cost ($36 a year for all the lessons) so think of them as one last gift of the holiday season that may make the greatest impact in your spiritual life and the lives of those you influence in the coming year.
Below the podcast and video, I’ll overview the various resources and give you links to them.
To motivate people to read their Bibles in chronological order
At the links below I have videos, podcasts, blogs, and other media with the reasons WHY you should read your Bible in Chronological Order
Many people haven’t ever considered reading it that way because that isn’t the order our Bibles are in. To help them understand the benefits of it, why they probably haven’t read their Bibles that way, and why our Bibles aren’t in that order, I have these 3 background videos. Following them is ONE newly done motivational one, that can be used by itself with parts of the previous videos included in it. CLICK on any of the thumbnails to go to the video:
The most basic resource is the schedule
There are two formats in two sizes:
One that is dated if you start at the first of the year.
The other is undated and simply numbered that you can start anytime.
One is full-size pages, 4 pages for each schedule, one you can print front and back side to make one page you can fold in half (I use that and have it in my Bible)
Below are examples, cover first, then the examples of the pages, CLICK HERE to download the booklet of them. You can freely pass this on and make as many copies as you want.
I also have a free eBook, Not Safe, But Good
This eBook has reasons why you should read your Bible in Chronological Order, Reasons people don’t read it in Chronological Order, and why our Bibles aren’t arranged that way.
The eBook is free, has copies of the shorter schedule in it, and you can make as many copies as you want to share it.
I’ll be going through the lessons online and in person
The lessons through the Bible will start the first week of January.
Each week I’ll be teaching the live class at my church on Wednesday evenings.
By Friday I’ll have a podcast, links to a YouTube video, and notes available on Bible805.com.
The materials on the podcast, Bible805 website, and the Bible805 YouTube channel are free.
If you would like additional materials including a copy of the video without the ads and distractions YouTube puts in, the original PowerPoint files, plus editable notes and questions, that go along with the lessons and that you can use for your own teaching, they will be available on the Bible805Academy.com site for $36 a year (for all resources).
A little more about the Bible805 Academy
The Bible805 Academy is no authoritative, expert, highly produced resource—It is simply me sharing my teaching and what I’ve found to be helpful so YOU can teach it also.
The Bible805 Academy has my PowerPoint, notes, and associated resources you can modify and use.
I’ve been teaching people to go through the entire Bible for many years. Especially since I started teaching them to read through the Bible in Chronological Order, I’ve seen it help people grow in their faith and trust God more than ever.
I also know many of you would love to take your people, classes, churches, and home schools through the Bible, but simply don’t know how to do all the research and study to do it. To help and equip you to do that is why I put this together and there will be lots more coming on the Bible805 website and the Bible805 YouTube channel to tell you about this and help you teach the Bible.
A little more about the weekly teaching
Obviously, there is so much that can be covered in the Bible passages we will read each week and unlike some commentators, who have taken years to go through the Bible,
In doing it in one year, my weekly teaching is not verse-by-verse and is more topical on the passages and an overview of the material.
HOWEVER, going through each verse with commentary and application suggestions is highly recommended and for my class at church, we are also reading Warren W. Wiersbe’s book, With the Word. You can get a copy from Amazon.com or other Christian booksellers. It isn’t essential, but a suggestion if you want.
This will hopefully fill in some gaps in content as well as give you invaluable suggestions on application of the passages we read.
A little more about how I put the schedule together and the teaching content
I have a longer lesson, the link to it follows, for a detailed explanation if you want it, of why I arranged the material in the way I did as it is a bit different than some chronological plans you may have used in the past.
Briefly, I go through the Bible in historical order with the messages of either the prophets or apostles interspersed into the history at the time they gave their messages.
In addition, because Psalms and Proverbs were not written at one time and are beneficial for praise and wise living for all our lives, the schedule has you read either a Psalm or a book of Proverbs each day.
And there are lessons available online explaining this and briefly going over Psalms and Proverbs that you can view prior to starting the readings or anytime during them.
The adventure of reading through the Bible in Chronological order
Is a little like getting to know Aslan, the Christ figure in C.S. Lewis book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Mrs. Beaver surprises the children by saying:
“Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Commit to reading through the Bible in Chronological, Historical order in the coming year is a great adventure that might not be safe, as it might take time, effort, and will shake up and transform every part of our lives.
But it will be good.
Please join me in reading your Bible in Chronological Order in the Coming Year!
And be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you’ll get weekly updates when new lessons are posted.