Resources for Studying & Teaching the Bible by Richard Cravy
Resource
A RESOURCE might be websites, sources for printed materials, art, videos, charts, outlines, or any other materials that might be used in teaching, preaching, creating presentations, or doing personal study and research. It is distinct from LIBRARY in that you probably are not purchasing something in print and putting on a bookshelf.
In Bible study and sermon or class preparation, many little things come into play that are part of my routine. After 50+ years of ministry, I have pretty well defined my comfort zone for my work. This includes a certain table I like to use, which Bible I work from, and even what kind of pen and notepad I use for making my notes.
Yes, I am one of those old-fashioned guys that still takes all his sermon notes on a lined notepad. I may or may not enter the notes into the computer later, but it will always be the handwritten copy which goes with me into the pulpit.
I have mentioned before that I see printed materials as a key part of teaching and preaching. Most classes I teach include printed handouts. My Store section of this website features a few of my audio teaching series which have printed guides accompanying them.
Now I am blessed to work at Sunset International Bible Institute where I have access to several commercial full-color copier printers. This allows me to do short runs of my study guides when I need them along with handouts for various Bible classes I might teach. But copying, folding, stapling and trimming study guides is a labor intensive process even for 5 to 15 copies. And the quality, while good, is still not quite “print” quality to my eyes.
The Temple in Jerusalem that stood in Jesus’ time is commonly referred to as Herod’s Temple or the Second Temple. It was a total rebuild and upgrade of the much more modest structure built after Jewish people began to return to their homeland at the end of the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3). It was completed about 520 BC. Herd began his reconstruction in about 19 BC. Parts of Herod’s structures were still under construction even as Jesus visited it during His ministry (John 2:20-21; Matthew 24:1-2).
There are lots of resources available to help us visualize what this structure and the complex surrounding it probably looked like. These resources are helpful because the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and the current Temple Mount is occupied by an Islamic Mosque and the Islamic Dome of the Rock shrine.
Motivated by the recent documentary on Martin Luther which we recommended, today I want to touch on another aspect of Luther’s influence on Christianity – the way we “protestants” view music! “Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise,” said Luther. He also wrote, “Music is next to theology!” And, “It (sacred music) drives away the devil!”
This article is not going to be long. Instead it will link to other resources freely available on the internet to let readers learn as much as they will of the work and influence of Luther in the realm of sacred music.
But briefly I would repeat what I tell my students in our History of Christianity course. Luther wrote hymns in the language and style of the people of his day. He even published a hymnbook of his and others hymns to be used in the “protesting” churches. He strongly believed in and practiced congregational a cappella singing.
Recently I was addressing a group of young men who wanted to learn the Scriptures in greater depth. I was about to speak to them about the value of having and using great Bible resources. By resources I mean books and other physical and digital materials beyond the Bible itself which help illuminate and explain aspects of the Biblical text.
I asked the group of about 18 how many of them owned a Bible dictionary: one. How many owned a Bible commentary: two. How many owned or used Bible software: zero!
While I firmly believe the Bible alone is sufficient to teach us all we need to know in order to be saved and pleasing to God, that is not the same as saying we do not need anything else to understand (and teach) it better!
Last Fall I had the opportunity to teach a series entitled, “The Wonder Worker” at the Sunset Church of Christ. At the center of this study was a look at Jesus and His miracles. At that time I also posted an article on this website about the topic of miracles.
Maybe because I’m cut from the cloth of the “old school” Gospel preachers, there’s scarcely anything nearer to my heart than getting more books for my library. But now with the changing of times and technology, most of those books are digital. They are scattered across several of the popular digital platforms – Kindle, Apple Books, Adobe PDF – but the largest number are embedded within the various Bible software programs I own. These include Logos, Olive Tree, Wordsearch, Pocketbible, and my favorite, e-Sword.
In this article I want to mention a way to get FREE books through Logos Bible Software. If you visit their website, you will observe that their software packages range up to $10,000+! But there is a way to get some of their books and resources absolutely free. Here is the way to do it: Continue Reading
If you have not yet taken the opportunity to start listening to these short 3 to 5 minute audio lessons, I’m going to reproduce the written form of the most recent episode below.
I’m doing this for two reasons: (1) Every lesson is very good, and this one especially! (2) My overarching theme with www.EffectiveBibleStudy.com is providing good resources I use and can recommend to others who also teach God’s Word. As for this second point, a good student of the Word learns how both to dig into the text for him or herself, but also how to find and use good materials from others which also study the Scriptures. So, here’s the written form of Barry Cooper’s “Final Judgment.”Continue Reading
I wrote the following article almost exactly one year ago. But I continue to be impressed and blessed by The Bible Project resources, and want to introduce our new readers to this free set of multimedia materials. In addition they have added new resources over the last year we will talk about at the end of this reprinted article. Almost every time I visit their website or their YouTube channel, I find myself spending far more time than planned enjoying previously undiscovered great resources. – Richard Cravy
The Bible Project (www.thebibleproject.com) is a unique and valuable internet resource I greatly enjoy and regularly use for personal study. The project began in 2014 when Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins wanted to present the overall story, themes, and beauty of the Bible in a way that would connect with our modern media-centric culture.Continue Reading
As our family continues to do church at home because of the COVID pandemic, we are discovering new resources to help my grandchildren (and all of us) understand Bible concepts better. One such new resource is www.skitguys.com. These guys have produced many short skits, videos, animations and other useful stuff presenting concepts and principles from Scripture. Some of the things are free, while unlimited access is via a subscription. A quick search for “The Skit Guys” on YouTube will turn up many examples of their work. They mix a little humor with good scriptwriting and imagination to produce some very thought-provoking and enlightening material.
I especially want to highlight this short 4 minute video on Grace. The setting is Jesus’ meeting with Peter and the other disciples by the Sea of Galilee after his resurrection.Continue Reading
I am a real knock-over for any documentary that combines either archaeology or history with a conservative examination of some part of the Bible. So when a whole series comes along combining BOTH archaeology and history with the Bible, I am all in!
The Drive Thru History team led by Dave Stotts are the ones doing it again. I spoke about their earlier work over a year ago. Now Stotts is the presenter in a new series called, “Ends of the Earth”, which is examining the spread and influence of Christianity from the 1st Century until the present. Five of the planned 20 episodes have already been released on the Trinity Broadcast Network, with a new episode being added weekly.Continue Reading
Those of us who are older perhaps remember being able to purchase the entire King James Version Bible on cassette tapes recorded by Alexander Scourby! Now these many years later cassettes are mostly extinct, and it seems the CD format will soon follow.
Meanwhile, here is a great deal on the entire NIV Bible in audio format on 79 CDs for $11.99 plus shipping! This recording by Zondervan is the dramatized version with numerous different readers and a musical score at times. This is probably clearance pricing at www.ChristianBook.com, so don’t delay if interested. Several samples can be listened to at the link provided to help anyone decide if they would enjoy listening to the Bible in this form. Of course a CD player is necessary. However, a little known fact is that most DVD movie disk players can also play CDs!
In Bible study and sermon or class preparation, many little things come into play that are part of my routine. After 50+ years of ministry, I have pretty well defined my comfort zone for my work. This includes a certain table I like to use, which Bible I work from, and even what kind of pen and notepad I use for making my notes.
Maybe because I’m cut from the cloth of the “old school” Gospel preachers, there’s scarcely anything nearer to my heart than getting more books for my library. But now with the changing of times and technology, most of those books are digital. They are scattered across several of the popular digital platforms – Kindle, Apple Books, Adobe PDF – but the largest number are embedded within the various Bible software programs I own. These include 
A few weeks ago, 
Those of us who are older perhaps remember being able to purchase the entire King James Version Bible on cassette tapes recorded by Alexander Scourby! Now these many years later cassettes are mostly extinct, and it seems the CD format will soon follow.