Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

Copyright © 2012–2025 DiscipleMakers, except guest articles (copyright author). Used by permission.

You are here: Home / Archives for Check it Out

3 Reasons to Teach Your Kids the Bible

By

Ken Mbugua offers 3 reasons to teach your kids the Bible:

  1. It is your God-given, joyful privilege.
  2. God still speaks through His Word.
  3. The Bible is a light.

If we don’t teach them the Bible, what will they find instead to guide them through life? How will they hear from God? How will they know him? For those reasons, we’ve sought to provide help with teaching not only the content of the Bible but also the skills for children to read and understand it themselves.

As Mbugua declares, “The call to teach our children about God is not a modern idea but a timeless command rooted in Scripture.”

Check it out!

Might Your Teaching be Preventing People from Learning?

By

Bryan Elliff has a wonderful and provocative piece called “Less Lecture More Learning: Ideas for a Better Sunday School Hour.” In that article, he describes situations where church members faithfully attend Sunday school classes for decades but still don’t know how to read or study their Bibles.

One of the biggest contributors to the problem is lecture-style teaching. That may surprise you, but I think it’s true. Let me paint the picture. One willing and perhaps gifted person spends a lot of time at home preparing during the week. On Sunday, he marches to the front of the classroom to speak at the group for an hour. Maybe a few minutes are given for discussion at the end and the listeners file out to go to the worship meeting where they will listen to a speaker again.

The problem with this is that it doesn’t teach the people how to read the Bible. It just serves up a finished product that they think about for a few minutes. Most likely, unless the teacher is an exceptionally good speaker, they’ll forget it rather quickly. It’s kind of like inviting someone over for a meal once a week and expecting him to learn how to cook.

In other words, there’s too much teaching and not enough learning.

Elliff goes on to suggest some practical ways you can turn your lectures into an academy for vibrant learning. His suggestions are quite close to my model for teaching Bible study in church.

Check it out!

Your Buying Guide for Bible Study Resources: Updated for 2025

By

If you’re in the market for gifts to encourage Bible study, here are our top recommendations. We’ve reviewed most of these products on this site at many times and in many ways, but here they are in one place for you.

Bibles

readers-bible-6-volumeYou can’t beat a good Bible. Our top recommendation is to get yourself or someone you love one of the best editions of the Bible to hit the western world: the ESV Reader’s Bible, 6 Volume Set.

Our first review. Second review.

Get it at Amazon

And while we use the ESV translation more than any other, we must mention that the 4-volume NIV Sola Scriptura Bible Project has perhaps the most innovative layout and presentation of the Scriptures, which make it a sheer delight to read.

ESV Reader's BibleIf 6 volumes seem too much to you, the single volume ESV Reader’s Bible is still well worth picking up.

Our review

Cloth over board: Get it at Amazon | Westminster

Reader’s Bibles are arriving with increasing frequency in other translations as well. See our reviews of the CSB, NIV one-volume, NIV 4-volume, and ESV Gospels. They’re even producing some editions for kids.

And for something completely different, consider getting an entire book of the New Testament on a single page spread, with the ESV Panorama New Testament.

Chronological Bible

The ESV Chronological Bible is worth your attention. It’s not what you want for deep study, but it’s wonderful for extended reading or reference. Here is our review. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

Study Bibles

There are so many options. See our buying guide for recommendations about which ones succeed at promoting OIA Bible study.

Markup Bibles

For something you can write in with greater ease, see our recommendations. Also consider large print and journaling Bibles. Or Scripture journals. If you prefer more space between lines of text, see the Inductive Version of the Journaling New Testament.

Journibles

If you or a loved one like the idea of copying out the Scriptures by hand, you might want to consider a Journible.

Audio Bibles

The Dwell app for mobile devices is a remarkable tool designed completely for listening to the Bible. NIV Live is a terrific dramatized audio Bible.

Bible Study

For a snapshot of the OIA process, see this blog post.

For a little more explanation of the principles, see our free booklet.

To go even further, with lots of illustrations, examples to follow, and exercises to practice, see One-to-One Bible Reading or Peter’s book Knowable Word (now revised and expanded).

If you’re familiar with the OIA model, and you’d like to hone your skills to perfection, consider getting Methodical Bible Study by Robert Traina. This book is dry and doesn’t tell many stories. But it delves the depths of the model like nothing else.

Leading

If you’d like to grow as a Bible study leader see Peter’s book Sowable Word or Colin Marshall’s terrific book Growth Groups.

Commentaries

See our page with recommended commentaries that promote OIA Bible study skills. We don’t have recommendations for every Bible book yet, but we update this page as we come across helpful volumes.

Beginners

Great places for beginners to start in gaining familiarity with the Bible’s layout and message are The Beginner’s Guide to the Bible (see Peter’s review), The Visual Theology Guide to the Bible (see Ryan’s review), and The Visual Word (see Ryan’s review).

Software

Peter still happily recommends Logos Bible Software, as it has drastically improved the speed and quality of his Bible study. See his reviews of Logos 7, Logos 8, and Logos 9 for details. Logos is now more affordable than ever through subscriptions (see Peter’s review of this latest development). Here is a link for a 30-day trial.

While Logos is remarkable with its reference libraries and powerful features, it’s not for everyone. If you are more interested in slimmer, free software, you may want to check out E-Sword or STEP Bible.

Children’s Resources

The best thing you and your church can do for your children is to buy them a Bible and teach them to use it. In my household, that means we buy ESV pew Bibles (the cheapest we can find) almost by the case. These things will get beat up and need to be replaced often, so there’s no use in getting the authentic-porpoise-leather-imported-from-Mars-heirloom-editions just yet.

When children are first learning to read, it may be helpful to give them the NIrV. This builds their confidence in reading the very words of God in their own language. Remember, the story Bibles are good, but God’s undiluted word is even better.

And before dipping into the supplemental resources below, perhaps you’d consider printing out a few simple devotional pages for your kids, so they can explore the Scriptures for themselves before hearing what others have to say about the Scriptures.

Ages 0-2

The Big Picture Story Bible – A marvelous overview of the Bible’s rich storyline: The people of God under the rule of God in the place God gives. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

Read Aloud Bible Stories – Brief Bible stories that draw in young children, letting the children know these are their stories. Get it at Amazon.

Ages 3-5

The Gospel Story Bible – Retellings of 156 Bible stories, synchronized with the Gospel Story for Kids curriculum, and devotionals Long Story Short and Old Story New. The best part of these stories are that much use is made in the retelling of the actual text of Scripture. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

God’s BIG Promises Bible Storybook – Traces 5 major promises through the Bible from beginning to end. Great to read aloud to preschoolers, or to have young elementary students read themselves. See our review. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

The Jesus Storybook Bible – Gripping gospel focus, though it sometimes seems to suggest that Bible stories are not meant to serve as examples (contrast with 1 Cor 10:6, 11, etc.). Get it at Amazon | Westminster

Ages 5-7

Mark’s Marvellous Book – I still hope this becomes more of a trend: A children’s story Bible that follows the shape and themes of a book of the Bible (rather than cherry-picking certain stories, ignoring the fact that they were written to an audience in a context). See my review. Get it at Amazon.

God’s Daring Dozen – Similar to Mark’s Marvellous Book, these short volumes each follow the shape and theme of a book of the Bible. These sets work through the twelve minor prophets, from Hosea to Malachi. And they are simply extraordinary. See my review. Get box 1 (Amazon | Westminster), box 2 (Amazon | Westminster), or box 3 (Amazon | Westminster).

The Big Picture Story Bible – A marvelous overview of the Bible’s rich storyline: The people of God under the rule of God in the place God gives. Read this to your kids at ages 0-2; then have them read it to themselves at ages 5-7. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

radical-book-for-kidsAges 8-14

The Radical Book for Kids – This is the kind of gift you get for your kids, but it’s also, sort of, partly, perhaps, for you. You know, like Legos, football tickets, or family room surround sound systems. It’s an engaging and delightful handbook of the Christian faith. See my review. Get it at Amazon | Westminster

The Really Radical Book for Kids – Just as wonderfully radical as the first one, only really so. See my review. Get it at Amazon | Westminster. Or get a deal on both Radical books at Westminster.

Or perhaps you’d like to consider getting them their own beginner reader’s Bible.

Family Devotions

I highly recommend the series of devotionals by Marty Machowski. These volumes don’t merely communicate Christian truth, as important as that is; they train children to study the Bible and find that truth for themselves. In addition, the “daily” family devotions take only 5 days/week, and they truly take only 10 minutes per day. The payoff is high, but the price of entry is low. This makes it more likely you’ll be able to stay consistent with them. Every volume in this series has the same high quality; each also has the same basic structure for each day’s devotion. See my review.

Happy gift shopping!

Disclaimer: Links in this post to Amazon, Westminster, and Logos are affiliate links, which means this blog receives a small commission when you click those links. Doing this helps us to cover our costs, enabling us to continue recommending decent resources. Thank you.

Leading Small Groups with Teenagers

By

If you work with a youth group or have opportunity to lead small groups of young people, how can you pique their interest and make best use of the time? Douglas Allison has some helpful suggestions. Here is a taste:

Most often, we tend to think of small group time as a chance to fill in gaps in the students’ knowledge or understanding. But a large part of the benefit of small group does not come from filling in the gaps but exposing them. Students who do not know that they have gaps in their understanding that materially affect how they live are not likely to be motivated to fill them in. For students, small group is not helpful so much for filling in gaps but helping the students to see the ones that are there.

Check it out!

7 Tips for Small Group Questions

By

We’ve provided lots of guidance on this blog for leading small groups. For another angle, consider this helpful post from Derek Fekkes with 7 tips for small group questions. His tips:

  1. Locate authority in God’s Word, not the facilitator
  2. Help the group discover what the text says for themselves
  3. Avoid questions that spark unhelpful theological debates
  4. Choose your rabbit trails wisely
  5. Don’t make questions too hard—or too easy
  6. Include some boilerplate questions
  7. Move questions beyond personal opinions & feelings

Check it out!

How the OT Presumes Resurrection

By

Bruce Henning asks a fascinating question: When defending the doctrine of resurrection against the Sadducees from the Old Testament, why does Jesus appeal to Exodus 3:6: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”?

He casts doubt on common answers, such as the assertion that the Sadducees recognized only the books of Moses as authoritative. Then he offers an alternative from the Old Testament’s more basic logic of resurrection.

The covenant wasn’t about a bodiless existence in heaven but a physical one, living in the tangible land. And this land prophetically anticipates the entire world (Rom. 4:13). Since God promised the land personally to Abraham and he hasn’t received it, Jesus expects his audience to conclude he must be raised from the dead and receive his inheritance (see also Heb. 11:19).

If Henning is on to something, it’s worth considering how much of God’s old covenant promises similarly presume the fact of bodily resurrection.

Check it out!

How Much Time Should Be Spent Reading the Bible?

By

Tim Challies was recently asked a pretty common question:

I was recently part of a panel discussion when a question came up that I have heard various times and in various forms. It goes something like this: How much time should I spend reading the Bible compared to the time I spend reading other books? The question usually comes from someone who enjoys recreational reading, whether in the form of just-for-fun fiction or feed-my-soul nonfiction. He usually finds that he spends more time reading other books than he spends reading the Bible, and this leaves him grappling with guilt.

Challies chose to answer the question with another set of questions that are far more helpful. In so doing, he tries to help us view Bible reading less like “reading” and more like “hearing God’s voice.” When you perceive your time in Scripture as time with a trusted friend and master, it will reshape the way you approach that time.

Check it out!

How to Increase Your Love for God’s Word

By

The Bible’s longest chapter (Psalm 119) is all about inflaming love for God’s word. Kenneth Berding recently studied that chapter with a view to synthesizing what the Bible itself says about how to foster love for the Bible. Berding came up with ten practices.

Here are the first five:

  1. Regularly praise God for giving you his Word.
  2. Pray that God will teach you as you read.
  3. Consciously engage your affections.
  4. Think about the benefits of God’s Word in your life. Consider ways God has changed you through his Word.
  5. Connect your love for God himself—including his attributes—to loving his Word.

Berding shows each of these habits from the text of Psalm 119. He then gives 5 more ways you, too, can increase your love for the scripture.

Check it out!

How Exodus Confronts our Generation

By

Crossway recently posted an excellent overview of the book of Exodus by Mark Dever, where Dever identifies three major themes that are directly counter-cultural in our generation:

  1. God works sovereignly
  2. God works sovereignly to save a special people
  3. God works sovereignly to save a special people for his own glory

How are such ideas counter-cultural? Here is one example:

In fact, Exodus directly challenges the idea that God does everything for humanity’s sake. Humans are not the ultimate purpose of creation. God’s own glory is!

Check it out!