I want to get into the word; where should I start?

Coffey said:

I'm sure I'll get all sorts of fun answers on this one

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and I'm nuts for Jesus, but I realize that I'm going to be at a Spiritual wall until I dive into the bible. Yet, every time I begin at Genesis and try to run it sequentially, I find myself never fully taking it in as much as I guess I could, and eventually I just put it down and never pick it back up.

So my question is where do you guys think would be a good spot to begin?

Thanks!

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Get an MP3 bible and listen to it non-stop for a while. At the beginning, getting the stories and content into your noggin is important so you can apply it. The benefits of listening to it, is 1) it was originally read out loud, 2) you cover more ground listening, 3) it's easier to get a big picture view of the scripture if you can remember the beginning when you're hearing the end.

When your brain gets tired of it, meditate on what you've learned, take notes, and think of some things that you'd like to apply. Applying what you learn is the most important part.

I would suggest you start with a couple of epistles, Ephesians and Colosians are good for basic doctrine. John's Gospel has some pretty important discussions, John spends a lot of time on the last three days. In the Old Testament I wouldn't start with Genesis, I would say the Psalms, Proverbs and maybe Job. The epistles are your best source for doctrine and Christian living, John's epistles are actually very simple. When you feel comfortable the first five books of the Old Testament are rich in history but expect to have to study some of the details out. Sometimes the genealogies and some of the laws are hard to navigate, feel free to skip over those parts. If you want New Testament history I would say Luke and Acts are priceless but there are going to be towns and words that you've never heard of.

Take your time and if you ever feel it's getting too complicated always go back to the Psalms. Browse them until you find something that hits home, most Bible study is devotional and the Psalms will be your best source of prayer and devotional reading. Nothing more important then that.

Grace and peace,
Mark

I would say get a bible that has references, and begin with Psalms.

The Psalms are the hopes, dreams, anger, cries, agony, questioning, weakness and strength of a man/men who loved the Most High God. It isn't told in a didactic way, it is expressed. Since David was learned in the Word of God Himself (you will even see him make mention of the coming Word of God), he is also able to recite the promises and Word of God as his witness! This is why the references will be useful - you can go to those specific verses he is referencing, and supplement your engagement.

MP3 Bible sounds interesting. Where from?

Lost4words said:

MP3 Bible sounds interesting. Where from?

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There are a number of websites, I used (Audiobible dot com) Audio Bible reading, KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, NRSV, NLT originally.

Action in the Bible starts happening in the Book of Joshua. Lots of things start 'going down' after the tribes of Israel start getting their own lands.

But if you plunge into Joshua, you are missing some very important commentary from God ... the script that was the forerunner. So it will pay to go back and read through Deuteronomy as well. Then everything will make sense.

Best wishes and be encouraged!!

Sorry

Coffey said:

I'm sure I'll get all sorts of fun answers on this one

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and I'm nuts for Jesus, but I realize that I'm going to be at a Spiritual wall until I dive into the bible. Yet, every time I begin at Genesis and try to run it sequentially, I find myself never fully taking it in as much as I guess I could, and eventually I just put it down and never pick it back up.

So my question is where do you guys think would be a good spot to begin?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

You've had some good suggestions on what books to begin with. But here is a suggestion. To understand the New Testament books, take enough time to read the whole book in one sitting to get the context, especially from Romans on to the end. The problem with false doctrine is they pull a verse out of context and end up with a completely different meaning than the apostle intended.

Coffey said:

I'm sure I'll get all sorts of fun answers on this one

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and I'm nuts for Jesus, but I realize that I'm going to be at a Spiritual wall until I dive into the bible. Yet, every time I begin at Genesis and try to run it sequentially, I find myself never fully taking it in as much as I guess I could, and eventually I just put it down and never pick it back up.

So my question is where do you guys think would be a good spot to begin?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would start with Matthew's Gospel.

When I first came to Christ, I read the Four Gospels a few times, then moved onto the rest of the New Testament, and then, the Old.

No clue really. When I 1st started.. a very dear like a mother to me told me to read John ove and over.. about love she said and then keep going. Remember JESUS IS REAL! That word is ALIVE! It WILL at times jump out at you.. thats HIM talking to you. Ask the sweet sweet Holy Spirit to open your eyes as you read

Someone else said, “The Bible contains the mind of God, the Bible states the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of the believers. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, practise it to be holy. It is the traveller’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, and the soldier’s sword. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.”

The Living Word of God, The Holy Bible

Coffey said:

I'm sure I'll get all sorts of fun answers on this one

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember, and I'm nuts for Jesus, but I realize that I'm going to be at a Spiritual wall until I dive into the bible. Yet, every time I begin at Genesis and try to run it sequentially, I find myself never fully taking it in as much as I guess I could, and eventually I just put it down and never pick it back up.

So my question is where do you guys think would be a good spot to begin?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I understand what you mean! The Word of God is SO big and it's an intimidating library of books! When I went before God with all my brokenness, I asked Him something similar: "what is truth?" I really wanted to know the real and One True God above what people told me about Him, which only lead to more confusion for me.

What God had me do at first was go through the Gospels. He had me do this a few times before leading me to read the OT at night and the Gospel in the morning. Once I had the "Foundation" down, He allowed me then to read the letters to the churches, including Acts.

The short answer here is to allow God to lead you into understanding. Allow Him to speak to you.

All of these suggestions are good. Everybody is different, however, so one approach might be better than another for you.

My family makes fun of me because I like to understand the plot of a movie before I start watching it. I go to IMDB and read the brief synopsis of any movie I'm interested in watching. Then I'm happy watching the movie knowing who the main characters are and what direction the plot will be moving in.

My approach to reading the Bible is similar. Way back, I discovered a resource for getting an overview of God's word that helped me keep things in perspective while reading individual books.

That resource is Chuck Missler's "Learn the Bible in 24 hours," that is available on YouTube. Give it a try. By the time you are finished you'll have a good idea of what book you want to dive into and read from beginning to end.

Another thing that isn't for everybody, but that worked for me, was an intensive study of the book of Revelation. It's impossible to understand Revelation without forcing you to delve into virtually every other book of the Bible. Again, Mr. Missler has an excellent Revelation study that is now available on YouTube. I highly recommend it.

I went through one of Mr. Missler's earliest Revelation studies many, many years ago as a fairly new believer and found that fully understanding Revelation helped me become very discerning about the huge range of false teachings and false doctrines that exist today. I was fascinated by Revelation as a new believer, and still am to this day.

But, like I said, any of the approaches others have mentioned here would all be good.

Gospel of John.

Hi coffey,

Scripture reading takes a certain amount of tenacity and perseverance. There are parts of the Scriptures that can seem fairly boring. I have found that one of the ways to keep interest is to use a bible reading plan. Most of them allow you to jump around so that you're not just reading page after page that you may find uninteresting all at the same time. Bible reading plans also allow for some flexibility in that you can read more than one day's worth, if you want. You can take a one year plan and turn it into a six month plan or even less if you have the time to devote to reading.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

Just as an additional note due to the different suggestions of bible reading plans. If you do decide to try one, I'd recommend one that does something like: passage in new testament, passage in old testament, and a psalm.

Many get bogged down just trying to read psalm after psalm after psalm because of the poetic nature of them, so unless you really love poetry and the psalms is your most favorite book in the world that you can happily read all day long (and there are some people like this) and you do a reading plan, use a plan that breaks them up and doesn't require you to read nothing but psalms for days on end until you finally get to the next book

Try reading the gospel of John, followed by the book of Hebrews (use a good study bible to check the references to old testament symbols of the new substance) then follow that with the other books from the disciples. Psalms is great too. Checking chain references or looking up the progression of a word helps to pinpoint biblical meanings. Genesis is a great place to start too for word-seed applications and follow them progressively thru to Revelation to find the final outcome of how the word has been used by the variants in the bible.

I agree with these two about starting with the Gospels, and I agree fully with Gracia Singh's approach. That is my recommendation as well.

Monk Brendan said:

Start with the Gospels.

One person suggested reading a chapter a day from the different kinds of writing in the Bible: Torah, History, Wisdom Literature, Prophets, Gospels, Acts and Epistles.

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Gracia Singh said:

I would start with Matthew's Gospel.

When I first came to Christ, I read the Four Gospels a few times, then moved onto the rest of the New Testament, and then, the Old.

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