Sunday School Notes

The Bible helps us understand life and the world we live in but, in order to gain that understanding, we first have to understand the Bible. One purpose of a Bible Survey is to look at the sacred “forest” as a whole without getting lost among the trees. It is very easy to immerse oneself in a single verse, passage or book of the Bible without seeing how that piece fits into the bigger picture.

One of our adult Sunday school classes decided to survey the biblical landscape by taking the books of the Bible in consecutive order and discussing one per week in our thirty-five to forty-five minute class. Imagine, the Book of Genesis in forty minutes! Obviously, this format allows for neither detailed study nor in depth discussion. What is accomplished in this venue is a review of the basic character of each book, identification of some key elements, and opportunity to apply lessons learned from the study to life today.

By popular demand, Pastor George’s class notes are available here for your use. They contain the basic outline followed in each class discussion along with references you may find helpful for further, in-depth study. And, thanks to the hard work of Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa in their Talk Thru the Bible series, each set of notes contains a section on how Christ is portrayed or “anticipated” in each book. After all, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (emphasis added—Luke 24:27). May your study of the Bible help you “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).