Where to START when reading the Bible...

Summary

This video script addresses the challenge of engaging with the Bible outside of church settings. It guides viewers on how to approach reading the Bible by explaining its structure, divided into the Old and New Testaments, each with distinct categories like Law, Historical Books, Poetry, Major and Minor Prophets, and more. The script emphasizes the importance of understanding the Bible's timeline and the overarching narrative of God's relationship with humanity, culminating in Jesus Christ. It encourages viewers to read the Bible with a broader perspective, starting with the Gospels, and to grow closer to God through sincere study and prayer.

Takeaways

• 📜 The Bible is divided into the Old Testament with 39 books and the New Testament with 27 books, totaling 66 books.
• 📖 The Old Testament is categorized into the Law, Historical Books, Poetry and Wisdom Books, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets.
• 🎶 The Poetry and Wisdom Books, including Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, are written in a different style with metaphors and are considered parenthetical.
• 📚 The Major and Minor Prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Hosea to Malachi, are also parenthetical and were characters during the historical timeline.
• 🕊 There's a 400-year period of silence between the Old and New Testaments where God did not communicate through prophets.
• 🌟 The New Testament starts with the Gospels, which are biographies of Jesus from different perspectives by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• 🔗 The Book of Acts is a historical account of the early church's growth, written by Luke, and is considered a sequel to his Gospel.
• 💌 Paul's letters, or the Pauline epistles, are a collection of letters written by Paul to various early Christian churches, providing encouragement and guidance.
• 📧 The General Epistles include letters from Hebrews to Jude, written by various authors, with some uncertainty about the authorship of Hebrews.
• 🔮 Revelation is a unique category, detailing the end times, Jesus's second coming, and the final prophecy given by God.
• 🙏 Reading the Bible with an understanding of its structure and categorization can enhance comprehension and deepen the relationship with God.

Q & A

Why can reading the Bible be challenging for some people?

Reading the Bible can be challenging because it's a large text with different books, chapters, and verses, and it may not be clear where to start or how to understand certain passages.

What are the two main ways to grow closer to God according to the video?

The two main ways to grow closer to God are by reading God's Word correctly and through sincere prayer.

How many books are in the Old Testament and the New Testament combined?

There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, making a total of 66 books.

What are the five books written by Moses called?

The five books written by Moses are called the Law, also known as the Torah or the Pentateuch.

What is the purpose of the historical books in the Bible?

The historical books in the Bible recount the history of Israel as a nation, including the leadership and the people's adherence or rebellion against God.

How does the style of writing in the poetry and wisdom books differ from the law and historical books?

The poetry and wisdom books use metaphors and flowery language to teach themes like wisdom, life, suffering, and love, whereas the law and historical books are more narrative with a focus on historical accounts.

Who are the major prophets in the Old Testament?

The major prophets in the Old Testament are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

What is the significance of the 400-year silence before the New Testament?

The 400-year silence, or period without prophetic revelation, signifies a time when God did not communicate with his people through prophets or special revelation before the New Testament era began.

What is the first category of books in the New Testament?

The first category of books in the New Testament is the Gospels, which include Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Why are the Gospels considered parenthetical in the timeline of the Bible?

The Gospels are considered parenthetical because they overlap in time and recount the life of Jesus from different perspectives, which is set within the broader timeline of the Bible's historical narrative.

What does the book of Revelation focus on?

The book of Revelation focuses on the end times, prophesying events leading to the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus as a reigning king.

How does the video suggest one should approach reading the Bible?

The video suggests that one should approach reading the Bible by understanding the context and categories of the books, starting with the table of contents, and considering the overarching themes and messages.

Outlines

00:00

📖 Understanding the Bible's Structure

The paragraph discusses the challenges of reading the Bible and the importance of understanding its structure. It introduces the Old Testament and New Testament, with the Old Testament divided into the Law, Historical Books, Poetry and Wisdom Books, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets. The New Testament is categorized into the Gospels, the History Book (Acts), Paul's Epistles, General Epistles, and the final prophecy (Revelation). The paragraph emphasizes the significance of knowing the context and categorization of each book to better comprehend the Bible's message.

05:01

🌟 The Journey Through the Bible

This paragraph delves into the narrative of the Bible, highlighting the chronological and parenthetical nature of its books. It explains the historical context of the Old Testament, the 400 years of silence before the New Testament, and the roles of key figures like John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles. The paragraph also discusses the purpose of the Bible's different categories, emphasizing the centrality of Jesus and the overarching message of God's love and justice.

10:01

🙏 Drawing Closer to God

The final paragraph focuses on the personal journey of drawing closer to God through dedicated Bible reading. It encourages patience and discipline in understanding God's voice and concludes with a blessing, emphasizing the transformative power of engaging with the Bible's teachings.

Keywords

💡Bible

The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that are central to Judaism and Christianity. In the video, the Bible is presented as the primary source of divine guidance and the means through which individuals can grow closer to God. The script emphasizes the importance of reading the Bible for spiritual growth and understanding God's message.

💡Old Testament

The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible, containing the sacred scriptures of Judaism. It is comprised of 39 books and covers the creation of the world, the early history of Israel, and the laws given by God to Moses. In the video, the Old Testament is described as having a specific order and is divided into categories such as the law, historical books, poetry and wisdom books, major prophets, and minor prophets.

💡New Testament

The New Testament is the second part of the Bible and primarily focuses on the life, teachings, and works of Jesus Christ and the early Christian church. In the video, the New Testament is said to have 27 books and is divided into the Gospels, the history book (Acts), Paul's epistles, general epistles, and the final prophecy (Revelation).

💡Law

In the context of the video, 'law' refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, also known as the Torah or Pentateuch, written by Moses. These books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and they discuss the origins of mankind and the laws given by God to the Israelites.

💡Historical Books

Historical books in the Old Testament narrate the history of Israel as a nation. They cover events from the time of Joshua to Esther, detailing the conquest of the Promised Land, the rise and fall of various leaders, and the interactions between Israel and God. The video script uses these books to illustrate the chronological development of God's people.

💡Poetry and Wisdom Books

These books, such as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, are characterized by their use of metaphors, poetry, and wisdom literature. They are parenthetical in the timeline of the Old Testament, meaning they were written during the events described in the historical books but offer thematic insights into wisdom, suffering, and love.

💡Prophets

Prophets in the Bible are individuals chosen by God to deliver His messages to the people. The video distinguishes between major prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and minor prophets, like Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Malachi. These books are parenthetical, as they were written during the time of the historical books and contain prophecies and messages relevant to those times.

💡Gospels

The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are biographies of Jesus Christ, each presenting a unique perspective on His life, teachings, and miracles. The video emphasizes that the Gospels are a great starting point for those new to reading the Bible.

💡Paul's Epistles

Paul's epistles, also known as the Pauline epistles, are a collection of letters written by the Apostle Paul to various early Christian churches. These letters, such as Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians, offer guidance, encouragement, and teachings on Christian doctrine. The video notes that these letters were written during the growth of the early church and are part of the New Testament.

💡Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse, is the final book of the New Testament. It is a prophetic text that describes the end times, the return of Jesus Christ, and the ultimate judgment. The video script highlights Revelation as the culmination of biblical prophecy and a vision of the future as revealed by God.

Highlights

Following God can be challenging outside of church settings.

Reading the Bible is a significant part of growing closer to God.

The Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, with 39 and 27 books respectively.

The Old Testament starts with the law, written by Moses, and includes Genesis to Deuteronomy.

Historical books of the Old Testament narrate the story of Israel from Joshua to Esther.

Poetry and wisdom books like Job, Psalms, and Proverbs offer thematic teachings on life and wisdom.

Major prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah delivered messages from God during the historical timeline.

Minor prophets such as Hosea and Malachi also lived during the historical period of Israel.

The New Testament begins after 400 years of silence, with the arrival of John the Baptist and Jesus.

The Gospels in the New Testament are biographies of Jesus, each offering a unique perspective.

The book of Acts chronicles the early growth of the Christian church.

Paul's epistles are a collection of letters written to various churches, providing guidance and encouragement.

General epistles include letters from authors like James, Peter, and John, offering wisdom and instruction.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy detailing the end times and Jesus's second coming.

Understanding the Bible's structure helps in comprehending its narrative and messages.

Reading the Bible with a focus on the overarching themes and characters provides a clearer understanding of God's message.

Jesus is central to the Bible's message, described as both God and man in the Gospel of John.

Encouragement to read the entire Bible to gain a full understanding of its teachings.

The importance of patience and dedication in building a relationship with God through Bible study.

James 4:8 is cited as a call to draw near to God, promising that He will draw near in return.

Transcripts

hey everyone so one thing that can be

frustrating sometimes is following God

it's easier to follow God at church

because people are there we sing song

someone's teaching us we all pray we

hang out and then we go home but then

when the pastor bible teacher reminds us

to read our Bibles honestly that can be

a pretty big assignment like where do

you start the Old Testament the New

Testament what book chapter what verse

is there an order that you have to read

them and what happens if you don't

understand a verse do you just keep

going and what happens if I don't

understand anything sometimes there can

be a lot of obstacles that can get in

the way of reading God's Word but

honestly reading God's Word correctly

and sincere prayer are the two ways to

truly grow with our Creator so in

today's video we will begin a new topic

that will teach people where to start

when reading the Bible and as we

continue to read the Bible this will

bring us closer to God so when you read

the Bible it's important to lay out some

groundwork first now many times people

will read their Bibles and ask what did

I just read and many times they asked

that question because they don't

understand the general timeline of the

events in the Bible now if you're

serious about learning and getting

closer to God

then please pause the video right now

and grab your Bible and then turn to the

table of contents so when you look at

the table of contents you'll see that

it's divided into the Old Testament and

the New Testament the Old Testament has

39 books and the new has 27 that's 66

books total now these books have a

specific order to them because they are

grouped in categories the first category

is called the law these books include

Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and

Deuteronomy these first five books were

written by Moses and are called

the law but could also be called the

Torah or the Pentateuch these five books

all talk about the origins of mankind

and the origins of God's people Israel

the next category of books are known as

the historical books and these books are

from Joshua to Esther these books all

talk about the history of Israel as a

nation

Joshua talks about how the Israelites

got land and later books talk about the

different leaders of Israel and how they

either followed God or rebelled against

him now the next category of books is

the poetry and wisdom books

these books include job Psalms proverbs

Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs also

known as the Song of Solomon now if you

look at this timeline you'll see that

the law first five books of the Bible

and the historical books are generally

chronological but once you get to the

poetry books these books are considered

parenthetical or in other words these

books occur or are written during

certain events in previous books for

example Jobos believed to have been

written during the times of Genesis and

for Psalms there were multiple authors

but King David was one of the main

authors and he was a king during the

historical books and then he have the

Proverbs and then Ecclesiastes and Song

of Solomon which were all written by

Solomon who was David's son these five

books have their own category though

because their style of writing is so

much different than the law in the

historical books the law and historical

books were more of a narrative with the

setting and characters in a plot that

gives us a historical account of what

happened in the past but the poetry

books contain a lot of metaphors and

flowery language to teach us big themes

like wisdom what life is about suffering

and love the next category of books are

called the major prophets and these

include Isaiah Jeremiah lamentations

Ezekiel and Daniel

now prophets were people who God chose

to be his messengers you see back in

biblical times when the whole Bible

wasn't written yet God spoke to his

people through prophets now just like

the poetry books the major prophets were

also considered parenthetical you see

these prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel

and Daniel were all characters and

historical books lamentations is

included because that was a separate

book that Jeremiah wrote and now the

final category of the Old Testament is

connected to the major prophets and it's

called the minor prophets the minor

prophets include Hosea 2 Malachi this

category of books are also parenthetical

because all these prophets are all

characters that also live during the

historical books the law and history

books are a huge timeline of events

where one event occurs after another and

the poetry and wisdom books and the

major and minor prophets all occur

during this time line now this timeline

continues in the New Testament but

please note after the timeline

of the Old Testament there's 400 years

of silence or 400 years where God didn't

talk to his people through any prophets

or any special revelation

it was after these 400 years that the

New Testament begins and God talks to

his people again through John the

Baptist Jesus and other believers so the

first category of the New Testament is

known as the Gospels these include

Matthew Mark Luke and John these books

are all biographies of the life of Jesus

all written from a different perspective

Matthew and John were personal disciples

of Jesus Luke was a physician and Mark

was a companion of Paul and Paul really

quick was a strong Christian who wrote

many of the New Testament books the next

category is known as the history book

and this history category only has one

book in it which is called the ex the

book of Acts is about the history of how

the church began and grew it should also

be noted that the book of Acts was also

written by Luke who wrote one of the

biographies of Jesus Acts is generally

known for being the sequel of Luke after

the history book are Paul's letters also

known as the Pauline epistles after the

book of Acts is Romans and Paul wrote

Romans all the way to Philemon Paul was

a man who became a Christian in the book

of Acts his name used to be Saul and he

used to arrest Christians but then he

became a Christian and wrote letters to

different churches to encourage them he

wrote letters to the Church of Rome

Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philip I colossi

and Thessalonica which are where we get

the books

Romans Corinthians Galatians Ephesians

Philippians Colossians and Thessalonians

now after the Pauline epistles you have

the general epistles these letters are

from Hebrews to Jude the general

epistles or the general letters are the

letters written by various other authors

might I mention though that among the

general epistles Hebrews is the one

letter that we are not 100% sure who

wrote the book some people believe that

Paul wrote it and others believe in

other authors after Hebrews is James 1st

and 2nd Peter

1st 2nd 3rd John and then Jude Peter and

John were the disciples who were

probably the closest to Jesus and James

and Jude were Jesus's half-brothers

you see Jesus was born of a virgin but

after he was born

Mary continued to have children and

James and Jude were among his brothers I

say half-brothers because Jesus didn't

share the same dad with them James and

Jude were born of Joseph but Jesus was

born of the Holy Spirit through a virgin

according to the Bible after the general

epistles is the revelation and

revelation is its own category because

it's the final prophecy given to us by

God and this book tells us what will

happen during the end of the world and

it describes Jesus's second coming Jesus

came at first time as a humble servant

to teach us about the kingdom of heaven

and to die for our sins which we read in

the Gospels and now Jesus in the book of

Revelation will come back as a reigning

king to judge the nations and to bring

peace to the earth so in summary the New

Testament is categorized by the Gospels

the history of the church Paul's

epistles general epistles and the final

prophecy / end times please also note

that Paul's epistles and general

epistles are also parenthetical meaning

that these letters were written during

the birth and growth of the church so

the timeline that continues from the Old

Testament looks like this the Gospels

which are all parenthetical technically

because they all overlap then the Acts

and then present time because we in 2019

are part of the growth of the church and

then the revelation which is the end of

the world and the coming of a new age

where Jesus rules so the reason why we

went over all of this is because many

times people read the Bible not knowing

what they're reading and it can get

confusing if you don't have any help so

as you continue to read the Bible on

your own look back at the table of

contents and see what book you're

reading and what category it's under

when you read the Bible you need to

start thinking big picture God is the

one character that doesn't change in the

Bible he is the same yesterday today and

tomorrow

he is always loving and at the same time

he's also full of justice who will judge

people according to their actions

the whole Bible is written so that we

can know who God is

he is the powerful God who created the

world and people who faithfully led his

people Israel

where they became a nation and he

lovingly sent his son Jesus through that

nation so that people can be saved from

the penalty of their sins the whole

Bible revolves around the person of

Jesus Jesus is described in John 1:1 and

John 1:14 where it reads in the

beginning was the word and the Word was

with God and the Word was God

and the word became flesh and dwelt

among us and we beheld his glory the

glory as of the only begotten of the

Father full of grace and truth

essentially the word is God and the word

became flesh who we later read as Jesus

Jesus according to the Bible is God

incarnate God who became a man so that

we as human beings can know and

understand who God is and so I encourage

you if you haven't read the entire Bible

try to read it through go to your table

of contents and start checking off the

books that you read completely every

book of the Bible has a different theme

with important lessons that God is

waiting to teach you if you've never

read the Bible before any of the Gospels

are great starting points in our next

video we will dive deeper into the key

events of the Bible so that you can have

a greater understanding of the

characters and overall message staying

close to God takes dedication discipline

and hard work and like all great

relationships it takes time so be

patient as you read and listen to God's

voice James 4:8 reads draw near to God

and He will draw near to you cleanse

your hands you sinners and purify your

hearts you double-minded god bless you

as you take the steps to draw closer to

him and we'll see you next time god

bless

[Music]

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