This podcast episode highlights the unique characteristics of the Bible 805 plan, which focuses on reading the entire Bible in chronological order. Unlike traditional verse-by-verse studies, this series offers overviews of key themes and historical contexts of each book, enhancing our understanding of biblical events. The episode emphasizes how archaeological findings, such as those related to Abraham's background, can reshape our perception of biblical narratives. We also discuss the availability of various resources, including downloadable schedules and lesson materials, to support listeners in their journey through the Bible. Overall, this series aims to deepen our trust in God and our understanding of His Word.

Takeaways:

1. The Bible 805 plan offers a chronological reading of the Bible, enhancing understanding of historical events.
2. Listeners can access schedules and journaling materials through the Bible 805 website to aid their study.
3. This podcast emphasizes key themes and historical contexts, differing from traditional verse-by-verse studies.
4. Understanding the archaeological background enriches the narrative of biblical figures like Abraham.
5. The series includes application challenges that encourage personal growth and deeper engagement with biblical themes.
6. Resources are available for both individual study and group discussions, making them versatile for various learning environments.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. bible805.com
2. blueletterbible.org
3. youtube.com/bible805
4. bible805academy.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Bible 805
2. Blue Letter Bible
3. Amazon
4. Warren Wiersby

Listen to this First!

I want to share with you the unique characteristics of this plan from Bible 805 of going through the entire Bible in chronological order, which is historical order, the order that the events happened in, and why this series of lessons is a little bit different from some others that you may have either read or listened to or whatever.

Now, these lessons follow along with the schedules that are available on the Bible 805 website www.bible805.com where you can download this schedule in little pages that you can put into your Bible, and check off the boxes as you read. I also have journaling pages, everything that you need to go through it.

But let me tell you a little bit why this this particular podcast is different.

Format of the Lesssons

First of all in the format, the most distinctive thing about it is it is not a verse by verse study.

Now, there are good studies out there that read a passage and then comment on that particular passage right there, verse by verse. And that's excellent. I highly recommend all of them, really, but this one is very different.

I go through overviews of the key themes in the book, how they relate to similar teachings elsewhere in the Bible.

Plus I give you quite a lot of added historical information on each book that will, among other things, clarify and illustrate the dating and the cultural setting of the book.

For example, now I'll either show you on the video or describe to you in the podcast the archaeological site that has uncovered streets and homes in Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham lived before he was called by God to become the founder of the nation of Israel.

Now, in addition to seeing the where they dug up the homes and, you know, all the pottery and all that sort of thing, it really shows you and I talk about this in the podcast, how advanced and rich this civilization was.

When I discovered this and really looked at the archeology and what it really meant and what that showed the society to be, it totally changed my view of God's calling.

With Abraham, I thought, and I don't know why I thought this, but I didn't have any reason not to think otherwise, that Abraham, when God called him, he simply moved from one desert tent wilderness to another. But that's not the story at all.

When you really look at the archaeology, you look at the true cultural setting, you realize it was more like moving from a bustling city like LA to the Mojave Desert and pitching a tent there. That puts Abraham's backstory in a whole different light.

It also explains, I think, why when God said, okay, it's okay for you to leave Canaan and go down to Egypt to stay for a little while while there was famine. I think that kind of explained why he wasn't too excited to leave Egypt. He probably enjoyed being back in the city again.

I mean, I don't know, but it helps when you can actually see the historical setting of things. And also too, the historical context is not simply interesting tidbits tacked onto Bible stories.

They are interesting--I show you fascinating pictures and studies and maps and things like that, and it does help us get a true picture of biblical characters.

But it also, and even more importantly, when we study it in the historical sense, we get a true timeline of when things were talked about in the Bible and when they were fulfilled.

When we can match up what happened in world history with biblical history, with prophecy foretold and then with prophecy fulfilled, we have clear evidence that shows us how our God exists outside of time, is able to tell us and fulfill the one story that he's written that we read in the Bible. In addition, these lessons also contain application challenges on the themes that are presented in the various books.

Now, if you want verse by verse commentary, if that's what you're looking for, and I actually recommend when I teach this to a live audience, that people have maybe a Bible handbook that they can get some of those little nitty gritty details if they want them. The one that I recommend I really like and it's really simple. It's Warren Wiersby's book: With the Word, a chapter by chapter Bible handbook.

It's really simple, it's accessible, informative. You can just get it off of Amazon for not very much at all.

For more in depth verse by verse commentaries, you can go to the Blue Letter Bible website, which is www.blueletterbible.org.

it's free and you can find lots of commentaries on it, easy to understand ones by people like Don Stewart and David Gezik and a lot of the classics, which I actually like quite a bit, even though they're a lot harder to plow through. Matthew Henry is excellent. Jamison, Fawcett and Brown, also John Calvin, among others.

I mean there's, there's a lot of others that you can go through and read and they really are all very, very good. So if you want more of that kind of thing, you can get that there. But my, again, my study is different.

I would just encourage you check it out if you like it. It might be something that you'll want to listen to then for the entire year.

But the way I look at it too is what I'm sharing with you is part of the overall, you might say, conversation that God gives many Christians where they comment on different books of the Bible or different lessons or whatever. And none of us have the whole thing figured out.

But all of them work together, I think, to help us see just the real, you might say, all the facets of this great jewel that God has given us in His Word.

Now, to go along with the PowerPoint presentations, I do have quite a few other things that you can Download from the Bible805 Academy.

I have lesson notes and I just have figured out how to put together. (I might show you how I did that in the Ministry Miscellany podcast and video series) but I now have not only the notes that you can download, but a new handout that consists of both a Discussion Guide and I also call it journaling prompts. It has a summary of the lesson, icebreaker question, discussion question and application suggestions, and a prayer focus.

Now, you can use it in two ways. You can either use it as a discussion guide for larger groups.

When I teach through the Bible for a fairly large group, I then break that group into smaller numbers of, say, four to six people and have them discuss the lesson. You can, you know, use it however you want and however time permits in the discussion there.

But then if you're not doing it in a group, if you're just listening to these lessons by yourself, you can also use this material as a journaling prompt. Again, I'll have them where you can download them. I'll also be putting it into a little book form within the next few weeks.

And you can, you know, just instead of asking answering the questions in a group, you can just answer them right there and it'll give you a little bit more of a chance to think it through. And it also has application suggestions and a prayer focus for you. One more note for teachers of this material.

Now, not everyone would want to do this, but something that I started adding to my live classes is after people discuss things, I tell them, well, I either have it printed up or I tell them verbally. It just depends on the class. I say come up with a question to ask Yvon. It can either be one on the lesson itself or the Bible overall.

Now, I have found that to be just an absolutely delightful time. And some people have said it's their favorite part of the class.

Not every teacher would feel comfortable doing this, but if you are, I highly recommend it. It gives you a chance to see where your people are at, some of the questions they ask you, thinking oh my goodness, didn't we cover that already?

You know, wasn't I? But that's good for us in that way. But also you really get a pulse of where people are in what they want to know about in their Christian lives.

So think about doing something like that.

Now that's pretty much the unique aspects of the Bible 800:5 Chronological Bible reading plan.

Now let me talk a minute about the availability of the content.

A new podcast will come out weekly on Wednesdays and it'll be on most pager podcast network.

So as I'm relaunching this, I'm having a little bit of a challenge getting some of the things changed around. But it is for sure from day one available on the Captivate website, which is my new host for it.

And there is a link to that through the Bible805 www.bible805.com website now. One advantage of listening to it through this site is that on the little player for the podcast if you go online it has a link that you can download a transcript of the lesson which can be very, very helpful. I have in the handouts for this and on the website where you can just click to go to go right to that.

I also have the YouTube channel where you can view the PowerPoint of the lesson. That's just YouTube.com/bible805 and then if you want to teach the lesson, this is a resource that I'm very excited about.

Hundreds of people from all over the world are using it. I encourage you to use it, pass it on, especially to missionaries, to smaller churches, to people that may not have the resources.

It's www.bible805academy.com it on that site I have PowerPoint lesson notes, discussion guide, journaling prompts, all of that. Plus I have the ad free videos of the presentation of the PowerPoint lesson and audio files. Now you can use these for either personal study.

Again, resources to pass on. You can edit the PowerPoints, the notes, add additional questions, whatever you want to do and it's all for free.

It's my ministry and I encourage you to download, use it, pass it on to get to it. It's www. bible805academy.com now one last encouragement.

In many years of teaching the Bible, one of the most life transforming things you can do for your students is to take them through the entire Bible in chronological order.

It will deepen their trust in God and confidence in the Bible more than anything else you can do now this series of lessons has everything you need to do it again. Lessons, notes, videos, podcasts, application materials, everything.

I pray that you'll make the most of them as you help your people follow Jesus more closely and become more like him from their time in His Word. I'm Yvonne Prand with Bible 805.