Bible Studies
This page is a collection of Bible
study worksheets and other resources that Jeff has used in a
Sunday morning Bible study that
he has led or in other Bible study venues. He has also used some of these studies with his
family and in studies with other families. They are appropriate
for use by:
- Individuals
- Families
- Group study with other families
- Small groups
- Sunday school classes
We've posted these worksheets here so that some others may
benefit from them. Therefore, you are welcome to use these
worksheets yourself, either with your family, with a small group, or a
Bible study group. If you find these studies useful,
we'd be encouraged to hear from you!
Send us an e-mail
and let us know how you are using them. Click
here to read testimonies of others that are using these lessons.
You'll need the Adobe® Acrobat
Reader. If you don't already have it, you can download and install it
for free! Just
click here, or on the logo below.
After the Adobe Acrobat reader is
installed, you should be able to click on a handout below and view it in
your browser. Use your back button to return to this page
after viewing the study notes.
Problems Downloading or Viewing?
- Make sure you are using
version 5.0.5 or later of the Acrobat Reader. Some have reported
problems using previous versions.
- Uninstall your version of the
Acrobat Reader, download and install the latest version of
Adobe's Acrobat reader, then try here again.
- If that fails,
contact Jeff to request that the
studies be e-mailed to you. Let him know which ones you want.
Contents
Bible Detectives Series
These lessons explore issues in
the Bible, using a detective motif. These are particularly well-suited
for families. The detective motif is designed to be engaging
for younger students while still discussing serious topics.
Introduction to Christianity, the Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is a
fast-paced narrative and provides an ideal introduction to the life
and teaching of Jesus. This study guide is provided in a worksheet
format, guiding you through your own study. It is not a commentary,
and answers are not always provided. Instead, you will research and
discover the answers on your own, with the help of a teacher or
other small group members.
These lessons began with the idea of
making a quick
pass through the gospel of Mark, covering the highlights of Jesus'
life and ministry. It turned out that our class was interested in
details, so you'll see that we began slowing down and covering the
events in more detail after the first few lessons.
We sometimes use The Message
to give us a fresh look at familiar passages, but don't use it as our
primary translation. Most class members read from the NIV, so some
questions in these studies use the language of the NIV.
If you'd like to print a
single lesson, you can select the page range to print within the
Acrobat Reader.
If you'd like to duplicate the
whole contents for your class: many print shops will accept the .pdf and print the
contents for you, or you can print one copy and take it to the print
shop. You should be able to duplicate the lessons (2-sided)
and bind with a spiral binding for $5-$10 per copy.
Acts of the Apostles
We used these lessons following
our study of the book of Mark. The book of Acts is a historical book;
that is, it reveals the who, what, when, where and so forth of the
start of the Christian church. We want to learn more then mere
facts, however. As the historical material is
studied, be alert for how what you learn can impact you today.
If you'd like to print a
single lesson, you can select the page range to print within the
Acrobat Reader.
If you'd like to duplicate the
whole contents for your class: many print shops will accept the .pdf and print the
contents for you, or you can print one copy and take it to the print
shop. You should be able to duplicate the lessons (2-sided)
and bind with a spiral binding for $5-$10 per copy.
The Ten Commandments
I wrote these lessons to use during a summer study with our
high school and college students, many of whom volunteered
in Awana during the school year. These lessons were designed
to stimulate discussion.
If you'd like to print a
single lesson, you can select the page range to print within the
Acrobat Reader.
If you'd like to duplicate the
whole contents for your class: many print shops will accept the .pdf and print the
contents for you, or you can print one copy and take it to the print
shop. You should be able to duplicate the lessons (2-sided)
and bind with a spiral binding for $5-$10 per copy.
The Romans Road
The Romans Road is a set of
verses from the book of Romans that can be used to explain God's
plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. This publication expands
upon these traditional verses by including a question and answer
discussion guide. For each verse in the Romans Road, some
suggested questions (and answers) are provided to help you study
these topics yourself, or guide a discussion with another.
This is not a fill-in-the-blank study. It is a discussion
guide.
This is also available in a
tract format. I keep a copy in my wallet. With some
careful two-sided printing, a stapler and scissors, you can make
four tracts using the cover and contents here:
If you have a Pocket PC handheld computer, this guide is
available as a free eTract. Visit
Laridian
for details.
Miscellaneous Topics
One thing that we've noted about
children's Sunday School materials is that they often bounce around
from one biblical story to another. Moses one week, Saul the next,
John the Baptist, then Joshua. As a result, many adults (even those
that faithfully attended Sunday School as children) have missed the
"big picture" of God's chronology. This material is a simple
summary of that chronology, putting people and events into
chronological order.
There are a variety of tools
available to help study the Bible. This next study is a brief
introduction to some of the available tools.
Next are some brief
studies and discussion guides of how the Bible applies to family life.
The first introduces what the Bible reveals about men, husbands and
fathers. The second introduces what the Bible teaches about women,
wives and mothers. The final lesson is some practical
application.
Next is a workbook for studying
1 Corinthians 11:1-16. This is printed in a booklet format,
which will require printing (2-sided printing will work best) and
folding.
The Purpose Driven Life
Our church began an emphasis
titled 40 Days of Purpose based upon Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life in
April 2004. The Purpose Driven Life contains extensive
Scripture quotations from a variety of English Bible translations
and paraphrases. Each verse quotation is footnoted; to determine the
actual verse reference and translation used, the footnote number and
chapter must be looked up in Appendix 3. That appendix identifies
the verse reference and translation.
While in general I agree with
the premise that using different translations can help us gain new
perspectives on the Scripture, I also prefer to study from a
specific translation. Currently I use the New American Standard
Bible (NASB) or the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV). Therefore, in order to
check the quoted verse in The Purpose Driven Life — often
quoted from a more interpretive translation or paraphrase — with a
more literal translation such as the NASB or ESV, it became
necessary to read the quote, turn to the appendix, find the
Scripture reference, and then look it up in my Bible. That was
a very tedious and time-consuming process.
I searched the Internet for a
document containing these references in a more useable format, but
didn't find anything. So, as an alternative, I decided to use
my old QuickVerse 4 program to create an index file containing all of the
referenced Scriptures. I then exported the verses from the
index file in my choice of translations (I chose the NASB) and
created a document in Microsoft Word that contained the footnoted
verses.
The Lockman Foundation
graciously provided written permission for me to publish the
resulting document containing text from the
New American Standard Bible.
You can do something similar with QuickVerse 4,
your licensed QuickVerse 4 Bible translation, the purpose.inx index file
below, and your word
processor. However, if you'd like the results from the NASB,
I've done the work for you.
If you have QuickVerse 4 (or
some older version of QuickVerse for Windows), then you can use this
index file to create your own similar document, using your own
preferred translation. Please note: this index file is
compatible only with QuickVerse version 4 and older. It is not
compatible with QuickVerse version 5, 6, 7, 8 or newer. You
must use QuickVerse 2, 3 or 4 to use this file. Also note that
your use of the resulting verse text may be restricted by the
copyright of the translation.
Testimonials
"I started to use your studies for small groups on Mark
about six weeks ago. I find it to be a very useful tool in my classes.
We have a scant forty five minutes to cover each lesson but it has
worked out very well as far as being able use it to foster discussion
and keep interest."
— Leonard J.
"The timeline is very helpful to me in creating my
children's Bible studies. I also enjoyed the two detective studies
that you have created. They are very innovative and give the
kids a chance to find answers for themselves."
— Mariann
"You have some wonderful
content and I was especially impressed with how you questioned the
reader about the road to salvation in The Romans Road and your Bible
studies."
— Carla
"This is great. It is very
hard to find Bible studies that can be used for family study."
— Katherine
"I have been using your study guide for the gospel
of Mark for my family Bible study. We are learning and growing;
thanks."
— Leslie
A Note About Our Copyright
We've published these items here
in the hope that you will find them interesting and helpful.
However, the studies and publications printed here are copyrighted
material. The purpose of claiming our copyright on these original
publications is to protect our authorship and rights of
publication.
You may print
and duplicate this material for your non-commercial use. You may:
- Print and reproduce the
studies and publications for your personal use.
- Print and reproduce the
studies and publications to use as teaching material, such as to use
in small group Bible studies.
- Print and give away copies of
the Romans Road tract without limit.
You may not make commercial
use of this material. You may not:
- Sell this material in any format.
- Republish this material
in any format, such as including it in a book or on another Web
site.
- Sell the material to your
students, though you may recoup reasonable costs of printing and
duplication.
You may provide a link from your web site to this
material without requesting permission.
For any questions about
use, contact us.
May the words of my
mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord,
my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14 (NLT)
Site contents copyright © 1999-2007 by Jeff Wheeler.
All rights reserved.
Scripture marked (KJV) is from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked (NASB) is from the New
American Standard Bible. Scripture quotations taken from the New
American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The
Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture marked (NIV) is from the HOLY
BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by
International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Publishing
House. All rights reserved.
The “NIV” and “New International Version”
trademarks are
registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by
International Bible Society.
Use of either trademark requires the
permission of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©
1996. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
