A couple of years ago Oprah Winfrey started something called “Oprah’s Book Club.” She had read a book that she liked, “The Deep End of The Ocean.” She invited the author on her show – they talked about it, and it immediately became a huge seller. Oprah is not one to miss an opportunity, and she started the Oprah Book Club, which has grown to millions of members, who read the recommended book individually or in a Oprah Book Club group. She offers chat rooms, video commentaries on the books, and interviews with the author. The phenomenon has grown to a point where any book that Oprah likes is an automatic best seller, and the author is a guaranteed millionaire!

One of the really peculiar things about our society is that with all the electronic media – movies, iPods, and all the rest – we still love books. Annual sales of books have been increasing by over 6% for the last few years. And as we said last week, without question the most commonly found book in an American home is the Bible. But not everyone has read it.

A lot of people have picked up a Bible at one time or another in their lives. They’ve maybe read a few pages, or flipped though it. At one time in their youth they may have had a class, or a grandmother who told them stories from this book – but they’ve pretty much decided that they don’t understand it, or that it just doesn’t apply to them, and it now sits ignored on a shelf or nightstand next to the bed, but never gets opened. 

If that’s true for you, I’m glad you’re here today, because we are doing a short series that is designed to encourage you to get into your Bible! Over the next few weeks I’m going to share with you several different ways to study your Bible – in the hope that one of them will catch your interest, and get you to understand just how capable you are of reading, studying, understanding and applying the Bible to your life. I firmly believe that each one of us in this place can have a meaningful personal routine of study in the Bible that will make a huge difference in our lives!

Today we’re going to start out with what I’m calling God’s Book Club. 

Well, God has a book club, too! And His book is unlike any book in Oprah’s Book Club! The Bible is not just a book - it is actually a collection of 66 books, each to their own target audience, with a specific theme or purpose and application to us today. The Bible was written over more than 1400 years by at least 40 different authors from a variety of backgrounds: shepherds, nomads, fishermen, doctors, kings, prophets, religious leaders and tax collectors. These authors spoke a variety of languages, and wrote in primarily Hebrew or Greek. The Bible was written on three different continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. 

Yet for all this diversity and far-ranging history, the Bible has a common storyline: the creation, fall and redemption of God’s people. The Bible has common themes throughout: God’s holy character; His amazing love for humanity, and desire for a relationship with us; and His amazing grace that is demonstrated by His patience and forgiveness.

It’s also unlike any other book in that it is inspired. Now this is different from an “inspired novel” written by Tom Clancy, or an “inspired play” written by Shakespeare. The people who wrote the Bible were not just prompted to write by a whim of emotion or as a result of their intellectual abilities.

When we say that the Bible is inspired we mean that the Bible is the result of God’s direct communication through individuals that He chose to use for that very special purpose. Peter, who himself was inspired by God to write, describes the process this way in one of his letters, “You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The phrase “carried along” means “to be carried along, as a ship is carried along by the wind,” a concept that Peter, having been raised and trained as a fisherman, with a fleet of his own boats, would have been very familiar. Paul, who was inspired to scribe more than half the New Testament writings, describes it this way in his letter to Timothy, “All Scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness.” The Holy Spirit of God moved the writers of Scripture to write the Message of God to the People of God. Because of His control over those scribes, the words they wrote were and are Truth. As they were given, those words were and are infallible – inerrant – there is not mistake, no deceit, no error in Scripture. That does not mean that every statement in the Bible is true – because the Bible records the lies of people in the stories and the lies of Satan – but the record of those lies is accurate and true!

Because it is unlike any other book in it’s style, complexity, and source, the Bible can also be read, studied and applied like no other book. It does flow chronologically, and tells a story from start to finish (literally!) so it can be read like an epic classical historical record. It also gives specific biographical sketches of great historical characters, so it can be read in smaller section. The Bible contains incredible works of poetry, advice and wisdom, and so it can be read topically, with just a few words or sentences carrying great meaning and impact. But perhaps most importantly is this fact – not only was the Bible inspired by God at the time of its writing – it is still inspired! The Bible refers to itself when it says, “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to diving soul and spirit, joint and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” 

When we open the pages of the Bible to study this playbook for life, when we turn to the owner’s manual for human existence, we open a book like no other!

Now, with that background in place, let me share with you one method of studying the Bible – One Book At A Time.

As I said before, a specific author wrote each book of the Bible, for a specific purpose to a specific audience. When we choose to do a Book Study, our intent is to completely immerse ourselves in that Book with the intent of understanding everything we can about it. Who is the author? What is his story? We want to understand the setting and circumstances that prompted the writing. Is this a book of history, chronicling the work of God in a specific period of time, or is it a letter, written to a particular group, addressing some explicit issues? Is it a book of poetry or song? Finally, we want to grasp the application of the material to our own lives. The lessons of the Bible are eternal. Every time we open our Bible to study we must open our hearts and minds as well to the relevance of it’s meaning to our daily life.

Before you begin any study of the Bible – take time to pray. We’ve already said that the Holy Spirit “moved” the people who wrote these words – that same Holy Spirit can and will guide you into His truth. Ask Him to lead you to the type of study to embark upon, and where you should direct your efforts.

If you’re going to do a Book study, I recommend you start with a shorter book. If you want to do a study of a biography of Jesus, I would recommend the gospel of Mark – it is the shortest and the most action-packed of the gospels. If you want to do a book study of some other book, start with James, Philippians, Ephesians or Colossians. In the Old Testament, perhaps Nehemiah, or Ruth. Now, if the Holy Spirit leads you to Jeremiah, or Romans – be obedient to Him! I’m just giving some general guidelines here…

Once you’ve felt the leading of the Spirit to a specific book of the Bible, get into it! Read the Bible first! You will use other sources in future steps, but at this point, just get into the Word! I recommend setting up a reading schedule at first. If you are doing the Ephesians, for example, you can read the book through every day – it only takes about 30 minutes! If you’re doing a longer book, decide to read it through once a week, maybe 3 or 4 chapters a day – but read it – and read it multiple times. The first few times, simply read it through. Take your notebook/journal and jot down questions that you may have – things you don’t understand –and keep reading. When you find a verse that stands out to you, jot it down, or perhaps underline it in your Bible. When you find a promise, a warning or a command to do something, make a note of it. As you finish the book, and restart it, some of those original questions will be answered because you now have the full perspective of the book in your mind. As you go through the book again, those promises and warnings may have even greater meaning.

 
Along with those notes that you may have, see if you can identify the following from your reading:

1. Does there seem to be an outline of the writing that you can pick up? 
2. Is there a theme that seems to be central to the book? 
3. Is there a key verse or passage that sticks out to you? 

Now it’s time to do some real study…that’s right, reading is not study! Study is when we invest time and energy into understanding and applying the meaning of the material to our lives. When you are looking for a doctor, do you want a person who read his medical books, or one who studied them? Well, the same goes here – if we want to really allow the Word of God to impact our lives, we need to study it – and that means we work.

After reading the book a few times, now we can get some additional input. If you have a study Bible, it may have some introductory notes that tell about the author, the recipients, and the circumstances of the book. If you don’t have a study Bible, there are resources available at the church library or online. Look those over. Take notes in your journal. You will also find, in some study Bibles, a proposed outline of the book, and perhaps a key verse listed. How do they compare with the stuff you wrote in your journal? Here’s the thing – don’t think that because your outline doesn’t match someone else’s that yours is wrong! The notes in a study Bible are not inspired – they’re just someone’s personal thoughts! You can gain some important insights by reading those other people’s thoughts, and they can really help your understanding of the book, but they are not infallible, and it may be that the Holy Spirit will talk to you through a passage differently than he did to the person who wrote those notes. 

Continue to read and study the book until you feel you have become very familiar with the message and content of it. If you feel led, toward the end of your book study, sit down and write out a personal commentary – chapter-by-chapter, paragraph-by-paragraph – write down your thoughts from beginning to end. When you’ve completed that commentary, and feel you’re ready to move on to another book or perhaps a different method of study – review your journal – notice the maturity that has taken place from those earliest notes to the final thoughts. Pause and thank the Lord for His powerful work in your life, commit yourself to conforming your life to His Word, and share your experience and insight with others!

In recent weeks, I’ve seen news reports of one of the new books in Oprah’s Book Club – in one little sound-bite I heard her say, “This book has changed my life, and I want everyone to read it!” Folks, no book by any human author can change your life like this book – it is not written by some flawed human intellect that has mixed motives of helping others, getting rich, seeing his name in print, and topping a best seller list! It is written by the God of the Universe – the Creator, the Lord of all. His book is living, and vital – it will transform your life – if you will let it. My prayer through this short series is that each of us will be prompted by the Spirit of God to read, study and apply His Word to our lives – and that our lives will, in turn, impact the world.

Prayer.