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What You Need To Know
(Tips Before Your Read)
The bible is a story of what we believe
concerning God. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re
not all about this life yet. That’s the point of
this program. To help you discover the truth for
yourself. To let you explore the scriptures
with your own eyes and see the bible and even
God the way you’ve never seen Him before.
• The bible is not your average literary work of art.
Although it is the best selling book in all of history,
it can’t actually be described as simply a book.
• It holds a collection of 66 books together. It groups
historical accounts, books of poetic expression,
personal letters, community letters, geneologies,
short tweet-length verses of wisdom, eternal laws,
temporary laws and biographies.

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• We don’t read the bible the way people look at tarot
cards. To tell us about our future, or how we can fix our
lives. We read it to shape our lives to fit into God’s great
eternal story. By doing that our lives become better as
a byproduct.
• The bible is split up into two major sections. The Old
Testament and The New Testament. They are both
equally important in telling the story of Jesus.
• It is a book which points to the person of Jesus
Christ. Everything in it will somehow point to him
and the message of salvation.

What You Will Need
• A paper bible
• Notebook
• Pen
• A digital bible / access to the internet
• 30 minutes a day (reccomended)
• Now That I’m A Christian
By: C.Michael Patton (optional)
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Where Do You Start?
(Reading My Bible)
Everyone has their own opinion about this. What
I have seen be the most common thread amongst
bible teachers and scholars is...don’t start at the
begining. Doesn’t make sense does it?
You see as you read earlier, the bible is not a normal
book. It is not written in chronological order and it
is not a light read to be curled up with while enjoying
a Starbucks Moccafrappalacciato or whatever. It is
an acient artifact which unlocks the meaning of your
souls salvation. And we should treat it as such while
reading it. Taking every word heavily and researching
it as if we are scientists by proffession.
So instead of starting at the begining, I reccomend
the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
I chose to start with Luke. Not nessisarily because it
is my favorite gospel, although it does have some of
the best parts in it. But for other reasons.
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Why Luke?
(The Gospels of Jesus)
Every gospel has a similar, almost identical account of what Jesus did
and his life. They were written by four different people who were
inspired by the holy spirit.
Imagine if you and three of your friends saw something incredible and
all chose to write about it. They would all be similar stories however,
the details might vary due to your personal interests and attention to
detail. The same goes for the gospels. It is the reason God has ordained
four versions of the same story.
Luke, in particular was a doctor. He was also a traveling companion to
the Apostle Paul. In other words, he traveled with one of the most
important people in the new testament but did not ever meet Jesus
while he was on earth.
The reason Luke knew so much was because of his research. His attention to detail and his docorate sensibilities left him seeking the truth as
he went from place to place interviewing every single person Jesus
encountered.

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Luke investigated Jesus the man. He took account of every story
that was ever told and much like a CSI agent he put together a
cohesive story. Then he wrote it alsongside the Holy Spirit and
we have our gospel of Luke.

How To Read Your Bible?
(From Now On)
Just as we discovered the backround of Luke and why
he wrote the way he did. We should do the same for
each book we read.

1. Identify the Author
2. Get to Know the Author
3. Get to Know the Culture it was written in.
4. Get to Know the Timeframe it was written in.
5.Understand the type of book. (Poetic? Letter?)
6.Picture the story play out.
The culture scripure was written in was not a western civilization. It
was a hebrew one. So when things seem weird, or shocking to us, odds
are they were perfectly normal back then.

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As we will notice, Hebrew culture is an upside down culture compared
to American/western culture. Becuase of this, it is vital to our
understanding of scripture that we learn as much as we can about
the culture in those days. If not we are missing a big part of the picture.

Feeling Overwhelmed?
(UGHHH FORGET IT!)
Just like anything else in life, the only way to learn is just by doing.
The bible may seem complex but I can assure you with prayer, it will
become as natural as the air you breathe.
This is also why I have put this together. Now there is a road paved for
you to start on. A direction in the scripures for you to begin. My advice
is to find someone in your local congregation that you trust and who
knows the scriptures, who can help you with anything you may be
confused about. This way you have someone as your own personal
program director! So lets begin!

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Luke 1

Dedication to Theophilus
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that
have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it
seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may
have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,[a] of
the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking
blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had
no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on
duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to
enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of
the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared
to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12
And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But
the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been
heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name
John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong
drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and
he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make
ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

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18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man,
and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I
stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this
good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that
these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were
wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to
speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he
kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service
was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked
on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Breakdown
No just like any other story, Luke begins this book with a preface. He tells us who he is
writing to (Theophilus) and why. Theophilus literally means “loved by God” and since no
one really knows who Theophilus is, it’s assumed Luke is writitng this to a close friend.
The story of John the Baptist is crutial because it leads up to Jesus. Just like any cinematic
plot you’ve expirienced, certain things had to happen for the hero to become a hero. John
the Baptist is that- said thing. Because of his life and ministry, Jesus had a platform when
God decided He was ready to start Jesus’ mission.
Johns parents Zechariah and Elizabeth both had their faith tested. Zechariah, has a very
similar story to Joseph, Mary’s husband. This is a clear example of how God uses patterns
and aligns people all through scripture.
In ancient Hebrew culture, if a woman couldn’t concieve, she was societally frowned
upon. So when Elizabeth finally concieved, she thanked God for taking away her shame
among people. Little did she know the purpose behind her son.

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