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“What’s the Bible All About?”
Know Jesus Through Scripture
We all have “that friend” who loves to ruin the ending of a great story. Before you can figure out who-dunnit on your own, they swoop in and spoil the whole thing by revealing the twist. It’s pretty annoying! But once you know the spoiler, there’s no escaping it — you see the clues everywhere. The surprise vanishes, but a new kind of understanding takes its place.
Spoiler alert: We’re about to reveal the plot twist of the greatest Book ever written. And once you know it, you’ll never see the story the same way again!
Let’s get to know Jesus through the Scriptures. What can seem like a big tangle of stories and teachings actually has one thread — one singular focus — tying it all together. The Bible is a guidebook, and like any good map, it’s not just leading us somewhere; it’s leading us to someone.
“How Did We Get the Bible?”
Trust the Origin of Scripture
It’s hard to get far into a new Bible study without establishing why we look to the Bible. Answering that question requires explaining what the Bible is and how we got such a special book from God. In our second Square One session, we focused on some of those issues, asking, “What does the Bible have to do with me?” To support you in questions that might arise in leading that conversation, we wanted to give a little more information on how we got the Bible.
How did God inspire the Bible?
Here’s the Bible’s description of how God wrote the Old Testament: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets ...” (Heb. 1:1). The culmination of God’s revelation came in his Son (Hebrews 1:2) but Jesus never wrote any books. Instead he gave the church apostles and prophets (Eph. 4:12ff) as the church’s foundation (Eph. 2:20).
“What Does the Bible Have To Do With Me?”
Look to the Bible for Answers
Ever since a blurry photo was printed in 1933, people have wondered if a Scottish lake called “Loch Ness” has a sea monster. It’s the kind of mystery that fuels TV shows and supermarket tabloids. As a classic sci-fi show loved to tell us, “The truth is out there!” But we’re not talking about Bigfoot or the Bermuda Triangle. What concerns us are the bigger questions — questions science can’t solve. Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going? These are the significant questions that should affect how we live.
So, where do we look for answers? Science can’t tell you what your purpose is or what happens after you die. To find meaning, we have to look elsewhere. Is there a God behind everything we see? If so, what’s God like? Aren’t those questions worth pursuing, even if the pursuit leads us to reconsider everything we thought we knew?
“4 Ways to Use Square One”
Guide Someone on Their Journey to Jesus
We’ve worked the past few months to create a series that can take someone from square one — knowing next to nothing about the gospel — into discipleship. As we launch our Square One series, I want to share a few suggestions on different ways you can use these resources.
“What’s Broken?”
Reflect on What’s Not Working in Life
If you told your doctor it hurts when you touch your arm, the last thing you'd want to hear is, “Then don’t touch it.” A dad joke is a terrible remedy for a real ailment. When we’re trying to get to the root of our aches and pains, we need a real diagnosis, not a clever deflection. This is true for our physical health, and it's even more true for the deeper issues we face in life.
Let’s reflect on what’s not working in life. Maybe it’s personal issues with money, relationships, or health. Perhaps it’s a constant anxiety about the future or a bitterness about the past that you can't seem to shake. Beyond our own lives, we see the brokenness in the world: poverty, disease, hatred, political unrest, and war. These are all real, significant problems, but they’re symptoms, not the root cause. We have a long history of misdiagnosing our condition, treating the surface-level problems while ignoring the chronic disease that lies just beneath it all.
“Meditating on Four Favorite Verses”
Celebrate the Bible’s Impactful Verses
This year’s Bible Bracket featured 64 beloved verses. After all the matchups and votes, one verse was left standing. All of our one seeds — the “chalk” favorites to win, John 3:16, Genesis 1:1, Matt. 7:21, and Ps. 23:1 — went down early, some in the first round! It left us with a surprising but fantastic Final Four.
But the point of all this isn’t the fun of drafting and voting. It’s an opportunity to engage with each other and ourselves in reflection on the Word of God. Let’s meditate at the Final Four and consider why they hold such meaning for so many people.
“Guiding Gospel Conversations”
Set Yourself Up for a Successful Study
Just when you thought we were done with our Getting to Square One Guided Study, in Episode 226, we’re back at it, diving deep into some practical stuff about leading gospel studies. We hope this will be helpful as we gear up for our full Square One Guided Study this season. Think of this as a little behind-the-scenes chat about how we approach guiding these conversations.Here are the seven key questions we tackled:
1. How Do You Get Started?
2. How Much Should You Prepare?
3. What If They Ask a Hard Question You Don't Know the Answer To?
4. How Do You Set Expectations?
5. How Do You Guide the Conversation?
6. How Do You Ask and Answer Questions?
7. How Do You Conclude a Study?
“It's Draft Time! Bible Verses Edition”
Choose Your Favorite Bible Verses
In Episode 225, "Okay, So We Need to Talk" we dove headfirst into our annual Bible Bracket draft, and this year, we tackled Favorite Bible Verses. It's always a fun and challenging process to narrow down the vastness of Scripture into a bracket-style competition, but we think we came up with a pretty solid list this time around.
For those new to the Bible Bracket, here's a quick rundown of how it works:
Four Regionals: We've divided 64 verses into four thematic regionals:
Timeless Wisdom
Precious Promises
Hard Truths
Trust Builders
Single Verses Only: This year, we decided to make things extra challenging by only allowing single verses. That means no multiple verses strung together.
Snake Draft: We take turns picking our favorite verses in a snake draft format. And even though we're not competing against each other, we tried our best to get the ordering right (this time)!
Voting: Once the draft is complete, we open up the voting to you, our listeners! You can head over to biblegeeks.fm/bracket to cast your votes and help determine which verse will "reign supreme."
