Many have asked for clarification on the ideas I gave for developing a Christian mind through more intentional Bible study. Let me review what I said and then list the resources I went over quickly. My points were subsumed under this mnemonic “P.S.” (Preaching and Study). I’ll take up preaching in the next post. For now I’ll just list the steps and resources I mentioned for personal Bible study:

1. Survey: I suggested reading through the Bible in one or two years using a One or Two-Year Bible. Harvest House publishes a Daily Bible that not only gives a one-year plan but provides some study notes and a chronological guide. Unfortunately, I could not find a Two-Year Bible in NIV. Maybe a Christian bookstore could help you find one. If you do locate one, please let us know.

2. Study: Then I proposed that you use a study Bible to dig deeper into each book. The best ones are the NIV Study Bible, Geneva Study Bible (NKJV), ESV Study Bible, Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, and Sproul’s Study Bible. You could read a chapter per day with the study notes. Or just use it as a resource as you continue with your One-Year Bible.

3. Synthesize: Next I suggested reading the Bible chronologically to get a feel for the progress of God’s redemption from Creation to the Cross to Consummation. There are chronological guides to download, there are chronological Bibles and there are chronological Bible story books like Catherine Vos’s, Dena Korfker’s and others.

4. Systematize: Finally, I suggested that you gain a systematic theological grid into which you put the themes of Scripture. For this step I proposed Louis Berkhof’s Summary of Christian Doctrine which was originally written for high school students. We use it in officer training.

 For people with demanding schedules I would suggest taking one year for each step. If you have a little extra time or are an overachiever, it is possible to do all four in one year (90 days per step—by the way there is even a 90 Day Bible!).