This is a comprehensive study of the whole Bible.  It is a study guide that is recommended to run for 34 weeks.

You are committing yourself to 3 – 4 hours a week of own study and preparation plus 2.5 hours each week for 34 weeks in the weekly group meeting.  You will establish a disciplined pattern of study, choose and stick to a particular time and location for daily reading and wriging, study, reflection and prayer.

study guide is easy to read, easy to use, has great maps, is comparing issues in our Bible to relevant, and or similar issue of our world today.

Becoming Disciples through Bible Study

During the course of thirty-four weeks, DISCIPLE study groups will move through the biblical story from Creation to the New Jerusalem. The titles of the sessions along with theme words; theme words; and major persons, events, and topics will fix the sequence of the biblical story in the minds of the participants. The principal Scripture for each session follows the chronological movement of the biblical story:


Old Testament
1. The Biblical Word
2. The Creating God
3. The Rebel People
4. The Called People
5. God Hears the Cry
6. God Sends the Law
7. When God Draws Near
8. The People Without a King
9. The People With a King
10. God Warns the People
11. God Punishes the People
12. God Restores the People
13. Songs of the Heart
14. The Righteous Are Like a Tree
15. When Trouble Comes
16. People Hope for a Saviour
17. The Time of Transition (Intertestamental Period)


New Testament
18. Radical Discipleship
19. Mounting Controversy
20. The Hidden Messiah
21. God Seeks the Least, the Last, the Lost
22. Lifegiver
23. Advocate
24. The Explosive Power of the Spirit
25. The Gospel Penetrates the World
26. Put Right with God Through Faith
27. A Congregation in Ferment
28. The Son Shall Set Us Free
29. A Pastor Gives Guidance
30. Our Great High Priest
31. A People Set Apart
32. We Never Lose Hope
33. Gifts of Each Disciple
34. A Last Supper Together

Into the Word, Into the World

INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD is the second study of the DISCIPLE programme and is prepared for youth and adults who are graduates of BECOMING DISCIPLE THROUGH BIBLE STUDY (BDTBS). It builds on biblical knowledge gained through the overview of the whole Bible in BDTBS and deepens biblical understanding by probing selected portions of Scripture. Emphasis shifts from the broad view to the deeper, more detailed view.

Genesis, Exodus, Luke and Acts will be read entirely. Each week’s reading assignments will also include appropriate passages from other parts of the Bible.


Old Testament
Torah forms the foundation for Old Testament traditions. Genesis and Exodus play a distinctive role in Torah teaching.

Genesis
1. The God Who Speaks
2. God Scatters the Proud
3. God Invites
4. Carrying the Covenant
5. Conflict Within the Family
6. Wrestling With God
7. In God’s Time
8. God Works for Good

Exodus
9. The Bonds of Slavery
10. God in the Fire
11. God Opens the Sea
12. Amid the Struggle God Provides
13. No Other Gods
14. Laws of Justice
15. Protector of the Powerless
16. God’s Dwelling Place


New Testament
The teachings, sermons and life of Jesus in Luke provide the impetus for the strong movement of the Holy Spirit in the events in Acts.

Luke
17. Good News for the Whole World
18. Our Saviour Has Come
19. Teach Us To Pray
20. Despising His Goodness
21. Teaching Us to Live
22. Signs of God’s Rule
23. Hospitality for the Stranger
24. Telling the Story

Acts
25. Acts of the Holy Spirit
26. Christian Community Begins
27. Missionary Zeal
28. Count It Joy
29. Love Never Ends
30. Temples, Politics and Business
31. Faith at the Center
32. Seek First the Kingdom

Remember who you are

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE is the third study in the DISCIPLE programme and is available to adults and youth who are graduates of BDTBS.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE concentrates on the Old Testament prophets and the letters of Paul. The prophets and Paul are continually calling their hearers and readers back to their God and to a sense of who they are as a “set apart” people.


Old Testament
The Prophets and the community cannot be separated. The prophets spoke for God, out of the community, to the community.

The Prophets
1. God’s People Weep
2. God Sent Messengers
3. Starved for the Words of the Lord
4. God’s Faithfulness
5. God’s Requirement
6. God Pleads
7. God Rules the World
8. God’s Anguish
9. God Will Not Abandon
10. The Day of the Lord
11. God Renews
12. God Will Save
13. God’s Vision for a New World
14. God’s City of Peace
15. God Will Restore Zion
16. God’s Mission for Israel


New Testament
Paul’s experience of the risen Lord, his relationship to the community he addressed, his Jewish traditions, and the Greco-Roman culture of his day merged in his writing of the letters. Paul used the language of his culture to carry the message that arose out of his roots in the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism.

The Letters of Paul
17. Called Through God’s Grace
18. The Letters of Paul
19. The Lord Is Coming
20. Honest Labour
21. Seeing the Good
22. The Body of Christ
23. A Church in Trouble
24. Justified by Faith
25. Salvation for All
26. New Life in Christ
27. Fruit of the Holy Spirit
28. Christ Above All
29. Armour of God
30. Leadership in the Church
31. From Generation to Generation
32. Having Heard – Speak

Under the Tree of Life

The fourth phase of DISCIPLE concentrates on the Writings in the Old Testament – Ruth, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations and Daniel. New Testament Scriptures include the Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John; James; Jude; and Revelation.

The image of the tree of life frames the biblical story: In Genesis, in the midst of garden, but off limits. In Revelation, on either side of the river is the water of life, with fruit to eat and leaves for the healing of the nations.

The colour is gold. God symbolises the glory and majesty of God, an emphasis found throughout the Writings. A reference to gold in Job connects the biblical concept of being tested and refined with the idea of moving toward completion – “when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold” (Job 23:10). The image of light permeates John’s Gospel. We think of light as golden. And images of gold from the book of Revelation come quickly to mind: the measuring rod of gold, the street of the city that is pure gold.


Old Testament
The Hebrew version of what Christians call the Old Testament has three divisions: Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Prophets, and the Writings. The Writings include all the books that are not part of the Torah or the Prophets.

1. Redeem the Inheritance
2. The Dream Restored
3. Rise and Fall of Faithfulness
4. To Build Again
5. For Such a Time As This
6. The Approaching Kingdom
7. The Beginning of Knowledge
8. The Path of Life
9. Destined to Die
10. Life Is a Gift
11. A Just Complaint
12. On God's Terms
13. Affairs of the Heart
14. Songs of Faith
15. Songs of Pain
16. Songs of Joy

New Testament
17. The Word Became as Human Being
18. Born of Water and Spirit
19. Bread of Life
20. Light of the World
21. The Coming Hour
22. Power to Bear Fruits
23. Where No One Else Can Go
24. Weeping Turned to Witness
25. Our Life Together
26. The Power of the Tongue
27. Vision of End Time
28. Letters to the Churches
29. What Must Take Place
30. The Power of Evil
31. A New Heaven and a New Earth
32. Under the Tree of Life

The Revelation Worship Video
The Revelation Worship Video is a component unique to DISCIPLE: UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE. Worship plays a central role in the book of Revelation. Through video, UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE participants will experience the book of Revelation as worship. The video provides an interactive, sensory experience. Viewers will participate by reading, singing, listening, praying, and lamenting and will be immersed in the words, images, colors, and music that declare triumphantly that the God who is at the beginning is the God who is at the end.

This video worship experience proclaims that the book of Revelation is a message to embrace and a hope to anticipate. It is the climax to the journey DISCIPLE participants made from Creation to the New Jerusalem. The Revelation Worship Video, more than an hour in length, will be used in Session 31. The video is not optional. It is intended for the group meeting, and each study group needs access to it.