What is the Bible, and why do we read from it as part of our worship? Why do we preach from it? What is preaching, and how should we engage with it? How critical is the Bible in the life of the Church, and the Christian? How does our relationship with the Bible work? And what is Jesus, through His Spirit, seeking to achieve in us through the Word of God? This first session maps out the terrain of this non-negotiable of discipleship.

The Church has always respected the integrity of the human authors of the Bible, but recogises with them that they are inspired by the Holy Spirit in the sense that what they say, God says. We confess this book to be the Word of the LORD because that is exactly what it is. It is literally spoken by God, and so we approach it with utmost seriousness, and as we have seen, in humble dependence on the Spirit who wrote it.

The Bible is actually a library, a collection of books written across a vast span of time and culture. But when were they writhen, and how did the Church know which books to include, and which to exclude? The authors knew they were being inspired, but what did everyone else think? How do we know this is the Word of God? And what are we to make of claims that it was political expedience that settled these questions in the end?

What is the relationship btween Jesus and the Scriptures? He clearly knew what He thought the Scriptures were - and that should be decisive in our own thinking. But the Bible is also a profoundly Jesus-centred book from beginning to end, and that shapes how we make sense of it, and how we engage with it in our quest for discipleship.

In our culture, understanding is seen primarily as an intellectual exercise. In the world of Christian discipleship we find a far more dynamic and holistic way of thinking about how to understand the Bible, that caches up our will and our worship, our emotions and our experience. This means that we can have incredible confidence in our handling of the Bible, as we read it with a view to following Jesus’ vision for our lives.

Everything from the inception of the Scriptures to our appropriating its teaching is deeply embedded in the life and ministry of the Holy Spirit. And the ministry of the Spirit is deeply embedded in the Scriptures. This is why a Spirit-filled Church is obsessed with the Bible, and particularly with preaching. The Church’s engagement with the Word of God is not rooted in discussion, but in declaration.

Why is preaching so central to the life of a disciple of Jesus? What about other ways of accessing the Bible: dicussion and personal reading and reflection? And if preaching is so crucial, how should I listen? How can I prepare beforehand, and what should I do afterwards? What about if i’m not very good at listening? How can I most benefit from this Spirit-inspired way of hearing God’s Word?

It’s easy to look at the Bible and to feel intimidated. There are so many opinions about what it teaches… and it is a pretty big Book! This session start with the idea that God is God of communication - and that He is very good at it. Working from that basis we begin to see how ‘reading the Bible’ works, and how we can get started. We won’t understand everything first time, but over time we can build up an amazing awareness of what is in it, that can shape us in ways we never anticipated.

In spite of everything we covered in the last session, there are times when we don’t understand what’s happening in the Bible. Why is that? In this sesson we take a look at some of the reasons why this might be the case. What do I do when the problem is in me? And what do I do when it is with the Biblical text? How can I know when I’ve understood the Bible properly? And how serious is it when I don’t?

When you realise how critical the Bible is to the life of any Church, or individual Christian, you begin to develop an awareness of the complex spiritual dynamics that surround our engagement with it. There are a number of ways that Satan seeks to undermine our interaction with Scripture. But one of his most devestating tactics is to try and confuse us with people teach the Bible in a wrong way. This short session begins to explore the phenomena of false teachig, and how to navigate it.