I’m full of disclaimers and caveats, and I know that there are exceptions to everything I say that follows. I acknowledge there are many ways to teach and disciple, but the Bible805 content-intensive system of teaching is what’s worked for me for many years, and it has resulted in significant spiritual growth in people that have taken my Bible classes.
To explain how I’ve come up with the methods I use in Bible 805 to enable you to know, trust, apply, and teach the Bible, we’re going to look at two apostles: Peter and Paul, the radically different audiences they faced, and how they used different methods to reach them.
We’ll then look at similar situations that occur in our world, and I’ll share how I put together the Bible805 foundation for Bible teaching, which I’ve summarized into 7 Observations:
First is a podcast of the material and then the script for it:
OBSERVATION # 1 — PETER’S AUDIENCE VS. PAUL’S AUDIENCE
This is the heart of the issue. Let’s look at the two founders of the faith, who many churches model themselves after in Bible teaching and outreach and at some critical differences that are seldom discussed about their audiences.
First, Peter’s audience
In Acts 2, often taken as a model for outreach and prayed for in many settings, we need to remember that Peter preached to Jews and God‑fearing Gentiles. These were people who:
- Knew the Scriptures
- Understood sin and sacrifice
- Expected a Messiah
Peter’s sermon got the immediate, overwhelming response it did because the audience already had the entire framework. They only needed to decide: Is Jesus the Messiah or not?
Peter declared convincingly that He was. And thousands responded immediately.
Second, Paul’s audience
Paul, on the other hand, primarily preached to Gentiles who knew nothing about the Bible.
So, what did he do?
He reasoned, he explained, he proved, he taught daily, and he stayed for months or years.
Acts tell us he spent:
- Three Sabbaths in Thessalonica
- Daily discussions in Berea
- A year and a half in Corinth
- Two years in Ephesus
For Paul, one sermon didn’t usually accomplish much. If he was fortunate, he didn’t get kicked out or stoned, he was tolerated and asked for more information. He built understanding, conviction, and life change over time.
HERE is the key point of this–Today’s world is Paul’s world, not Peter’s.
Here is how this has come about…..
OBSERVATION #2 — THE WORLD HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY IN ITS UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE
Fifty years ago, most people in America had at least a basic understanding of the Bible. Even if they didn’t attend church, because of the reality that the Bible permeated society (prayer in schools, part of any respected education, an agreed upon public morality) they knew who Jesus was, they knew the general storyline, and they respected the Bible as a source of authority.
Today? That world is gone.
We live in what many call a post‑Christian society. Others have called it a post-Bible society, which I think is an accurate description. People under 30 often have no idea what’s in the Bible. They don’t know what sin means. They don’t know why Jesus matters. And they don’t assume the Bible has any authority at all.
It’s not rebellion — it’s simply ignorance. They don’t know, and they don’t care, because the culture never taught them any Biblical reason why they should think otherwise.
That’s the outside world, but here is the problem–
OBSERVATION # 3 — MANY CHURCHES STILL TEACH AS IF IT WERE 1975
Here’s the situation: Many Boomer church leaders grew up in a world where biblical knowledge was everywhere. If you are younger (Gen X and others) and didn’t grow up in that world, chances are you grew up in churches where this was the world view of the leaders (many of whom are still around) in your churches.
Because of that, most church leaders, teachers, small group facilitators assume people today have the same biblical background.
They’ve worked hard to outwardly change with the times, churches add screens, praise bands, and social media — but the content of their communication is often the same.
They preach as if people already know the basics of what the Bible is about. They give salvation invitations as if people already understand the gospel. They assume biblical literacy that simply isn’t there. They ask people to discuss things they know nothing about.
That’s the foundation of why there seems to be so few true “disciples” or spiritual maturity in many churches today.
I don’t want to stop at just pointing out the problem, but I want to look at why it is what it is in more detail and what we can do about it and of course how Bible805 can help solve the problem.
First, some additional background on why we are where we are.
OBSERVATION # 4 —OLD METHODS NO LONGER WORK IN EVANGELISM
We may not go back to Peter as an example, but many churches still have the Bible memory of the great revivals of recent times and the methods used in them. The most well-known is probably the crusades of Billy Graham.
The Billy Graham crusades worked in the past because the audience already knew the story. Watching some of the old ones on TV, it seems like he makes a one-time plea in a very similar way Peter did and people respond.
You need to consider closely at what was really going on. Again, this was in a time when Bible knowledge was the foundation of society and the content known (even in a superficial, uncaring way) by the people who attended. It was an audience much like Peter had—people came into the stadiums already believing foundational Bible truths.
When Graham stands up and shouts, “the Bible says” people take it seriously. They knew all about Jesus and what He did, most of them in the audience simply did not realize they needed to make a personal decision to follow Jesus, to repent of their sins and trust Him as Savior. That is what “going forward” was all about.
They knew what the basic history and facts about what they believed and bought into.
AND that wasn’t the end of it. Every person that “went forward” was met by a counselor ( I know because I worked as one of them), who questioned those coming forward as to why they were making the decision they wanted to make, made sure they understood the implications of it, prayed with them, and enrolled them in a follow up Bible study that would teach them the basics of the Christian life.
It is a completely different world today. Today’s audience doesn’t know the story. They don’t know the Bible. They don’t know who Jesus is.
So decision‑based evangelism, where the good news about Jesus is presented in one short, emotional plea, as I recently observed at a public baptism where people where challenged to follow the great experience they’d witnessed by themselves trusting Jesus and being baptized can be dangerous spiritually because people don’t understand what they’re deciding about. Do they even have any idea who is the Jesus they are responding to?
The person making the plea, though I’m sure was very well-meaning, assumed he was talking to Peter’s audience—people who knew all about Jesus and knew what accepting Him as Savior meant, but that is often not the case today, because today’s audience is often spiritually confused and biblically illiterate.
People may have wildly inaccurate ideas about Jesus (“avatar…divine spark…genie”) and no understanding of the Bible’s authority or even basic knowledge of its content. They think following Jesus will make all of life easier; they have no idea that becoming his disciple means taking up a cross. They don’t even know what a cross refers to in the Bible or even that Jesus made that a non-negotiable criterion of following Him.
This lack of knowledge about the basics of salvation is why the next observation takes place.
OBSERVATION # 5 —THE SOCRATIC METHOD (“the what do you think? Way of conducing classes”) OFTEN FALLS SHORT IN MAKING DISCIPLES
What follows might step on some toes and there are certainly times when this method can be useful. The key is to know your audience. If you are talking to Peter’s audience—people who already know the Bible well, who have a resource to draw from, the modern “What do you think?” approach to Bible classes, Bible studies, small groups, etc. can be beneficial to all.
BUT here is the key, this “What do you think approach” or to use a fancy term, “the Socratic method,” assumes people have something biblical inside them to draw out. That is not always a correct assumption, even in churches.
If someone’s worldview is shaped by TikTok, Instagram, doom scrolling, constant news feeds, and secular culture, what exactly are we drawing out?
As the often repeated saying puts it: Garbage in, garbage out.
I am not trying to be cynical and negative as I say this, and I realize some of my personal observations come from where I live, but I find the extend of Biblical knowledge in the church today to be incredibly limited, often confused, and ill-informed.
I live in Southern California, arguably a more secular culture than perhaps the deep South, but perhaps more biblically knowledgeable than some parts of Europe today. But Biblical knowledge is at an all-time low and this is not only my opinion. I have another short podcast where I go over the studies in more detail, but two studies were done in 2025 on Biblical literacy and here is the summary statement from the American Bible Society.
Across multiple sources, the data is clear:
- Biblical literacy is collapsing across all age groups.
- Young people — including church kids — know less about the Bible than any previous generation.
- Cultural references to Scripture no longer make sense to most Americans.
- Even basic Bible facts (Gospels, Moses, David & Goliath) are no longer known.
- Churches cannot assume any background knowledge whatsoever.
Obviously we are living in the Apostle Paul’s world and we need to structure our outreach and discipleship strategies in response to it:
So finally, my
OBSERVATION #6 — HERE IS THE REPONSE OF BIBLE805, WHY I DO WHAT I DO AND WHAT’S AVAILABLE FOR YOU
If we want to fulfill the Great Commission — not just “make converts,” but make disciples — we must communicate like Paul.
That means—
Giving them lessons that give them CONTENT—that tell them, “This is what this portion of scripture, topic, or book of the Bible teaches.”
People need to build their faith journeys by simply knowing the content of the Bible, knowing what the Book says.
I can help you do this for your people with these 3 Bible805 Resources
#1 Bible805 Resource #1—Content—heavy studies—there are dozens of them on the Bible805 website, and you can see the current lesson series posted online for what I’ll be doing through Fall 2026 (if you are listening later, all the lessons will be online).
For each of these lessons, I do an approximately 30 minutes of Biblical content. I use a PowerPoint presentation, and people follow along with notes that are basically a transcript of the lesson.
They also have discussion questions that are used when after the 30 minutes of Bible content where people can break into smaller groups where they can discuss the topics. I also have application ideas and prayer suggestions. All of this is available in a printed handout that goes along with the podcast and video of each lesson.
In doesn’t stop with just studies for you to listen to and download as an individual
All the materials I used to put together the lessons are then freely available for you to TEACH them. I make available the original PowerPoints in versions with both images and text only, notes, discussion guides, ad-free videos and audio files of the lessons, all in their editable, original form, downloadable from the Bible805 Academy. All are free, editable, and do not require attribution for you to teach them.
I then created the Bible805 Academy because I know many pastors, teachers, and other leaders in small churches, under sourced churches, and ones in countries other than the U.S. are often overwhelmed with the practical work of ministries and simply don’t have time to prepare the in-depth teaching materials needed nor can they afford expensive curriculum. Everything to do that is free and editable through the Bible805 Academy as you can take all my teaching resources and modify them to meet your needs.
Bible805 Resource #2–Continuous emphasis on reading your Bibles—to emphasize, your people simply need to know what the book, the entire book says. They need to see it as ONE story of salvation.
To encourage this, I have 2 levels of help:
Start Here, a plan for curious people to begin reading the Bible, an 8.5 x11 paperback book, a reading plan of selected books from the New Testament only based on the idea of this is what people in New Testament times needed to know about Jesus, overviews of books, tips on choosing a Bible translation and helps, a reading schedule and journal pages. It is available to buy on www.amazon.com, HERE.
Numerous resources to encourage and enable you to read your Bible in Chronological Order, which is the order the events in the Bible took place. The books in our Bibles are not placed in historical order because of that, books like the prophets make little sense. When people go through the Bible in Chronological order they understand it in a way they haven’t before and it is life changing. I have seen that again and again.
Bible805 Resource #3 — A variety of ways for you to take in the content. The resources just mentioned are available in print, audio, and video formats, both long and short form, in podcasts, infographics, blogs, and books.
Everything except for my books that are for sale is free. However, you or your people want to take in Bible content, it’s available in that format.
Finally, the audience, the world we want to win for Jesus is challenging and in many ways very similar to the one at the birth of the Christian church. We don’t have the comfort of a Bible-believing, Bible-friendly world that understands our messages easily.
And so, in a world similar to the one Paul preached in, let me close with the word he gave to Timothy—
I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2
Bible805 is there to give you basic resources to do that good teaching.