Bible Study Resources

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on October 21, 2012 under Other | Be the First to Comment

This site is a repository of Bible study resources I have developed over the last 14+ years.  Many are lesson notes I have used to present to our adult Bible study at church, but there are also more developed resources I have written for use by church leaders in remote areas that have been published in various forms.

The format of the lessons is typically pretty obvious.  The lessons have varying levels of detail on a skeleton outline, but hopefully the direction will be pretty clear.  Most have blanks after each of the questions, but for some I have recorded either suggested answers or answers given by class members in a handwriting-like font.  Some older lessons have duplicate half-pages for copying.  Most references are quoted from the NASB, unless stated otherwise.  Recently I have begun posting audio recordings of my presentation of the material.

All Bible study resources on this site may be freely used in any Christian ministry without restriction or cost.  They may be distributed freely as long as it is done without restriction or cost.  I would appreciate attribution.  No other authorship may be claimed.  All other rights reserved.

God, how do you do that?!?!?

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on June 10, 2022 under Blog | Be the First to Comment

I’m in tears praising God for His presence, faithfulness, and kindness.

This morning in my quiet time, I read 1 Samuel 24-30 about a key time of David’s development. His “Biggest Issue” was that Saul and 3000 of his best warriors were chasing him to kill him due to Saul’s misplaced jealousy. And at this point, David had already proven unequivocally that he was not trying to kill Saul and in fact was completely loyal to him, and had received Saul’s assurance he would stop trying to kill him! It’s telling that this period in David’s life was what drove his writing a number of the Psalms.

With David’s “Biggest Issue” in the background, it’s really cool that God designed a little life lesson to remind him that He could and would vindicate him at the right time. 1 Samuel 25 contains the story of David’s interaction with Nabal, a rich man who David and his small band of warriors apparently served as a protective guard for some period of time. When David asked Nabal for food for his companions, Nabal refused. And as David was apt to do in those days, he gathered up his 600 troops and went to kill Nabal and take the food had requested, plus everything else.

Nabal’s wife Abigail (an “intelligent and beautiful” woman) heard what her worthless husband had done and that David was on his way to kill him. She quickly gathered a huge feast worth of food and drink and loaded up her donkeys to try to stop David and his men before they found Nabal. She found him, and her excellent persuasive speech and demeanor turned David’s anger, and even prompted him to bless her for her wise behavior and her stopping him from the mistake of taking the matter into his own hand.

Abigail left David and found her husband, who was hosting (and fully participating in) a big party. The next morning she told him what had happened, and the impact of what Abigail had saved him from stunned him into unconsciousness. Ten days later, he died.

In the bigger flow of David’s story, this could be seen as an irrelevant sideshow. But as you read David’s response in verse 39, you see that David saw God’s hand in his life, protecting him, vindicating him, and teaching him.

In reading this story in the bigger context, I realized that God was showing / reminding David that He was present with him, helping him, and could handle David’s concerns without him taking them into his own hands. And David learned the lesson, as evidenced in his next encounter with Saul’s army in the following chapter.

God used this smaller issue to help David deal with his “Biggest Issue”!

It’s not often that God not only gives me some sort of insight into His Word in my quiet time, but then nearly immediately plays it out in my own life. Today he did.

Like David, I have a “Biggest Issue”, as we probably all do. It feels incessant, intractable, and interminable. I often wonder if God will ever intervene, even for a moment of relief. Sometimes there is little hope it will ever go away.

Well, a little while after my quiet time, within four minutes of each other, I received a phone call and a text that instantly resolved two separate big issues I have been struggling with for over 1.5 years in one case, and two months in the other.

My immediate response to God was, “God, how do you do this?” He is so amazing in His power – and His timing! Even to the point that as I was beginning to praise God out loud for these two miracles, the song “Egypt” that happened to be playing on my computer confirmed, “You’re the God who fights for me, Lord of every victory, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” I can’t express my joy and gratitude!

And then God brought it home for me like he did for David. “I’m here! I’m able! If I can handle these matters in a moment as if they were nothing, I can handle your ‘Biggest Issue’, too. It’s just not time yet.”

The Book of James – Chapter 4

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 29, 2017 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our study through the book of James continues into chapter 4 with good momentum and incredibly practical and challenging content from the text.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 4A

James 4:1-2a – A Life Dominated by Pleasure (December 11, 2016)

Audio coming soon

James 4:2b-5 – The Matter of Unanswered Prayer / The Real Cost of Living for Yourself Instead of God (January 22, 2017)

Audio coming soon

James 4:6-10 – How to Return to God (January 29, 2017)

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  45 min., 22MB

Audio Player

Challenge for 2017

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 15, 2017 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

Here we are at the beginning of another year!  This lesson is a break from our James study, though the topic flows directly from our discussion from the first two verses in James 4, and we will actually land right back in James 4 for our conclusion.  God had given me this topic back in October for our annual New Year’s lesson, and I had been thinking about it since late 2015.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about “casual Christianity” in church and among our leadership.  The more I think about it, the more concerned I am that I and many others are practically living exactly that type of Christian walk, and aren’t even aware of it.

It is because of that possibility that this study compares Jesus’ “greatest commandment” and our lives to see if we are living up to His expectation of us – and our commitment to Him.

The Most Important Thing

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  39 min., 19MB

Audio Player

The Book of James – Chapter 3

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 7, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our study through the book of James continues into chapter 3 with an appropriate balance and reasonable speed.  You’ll notice that my study notes changed format with this study.  My Bible program of 20+ years finally broke with the latest MacOS update, so I had to (hurriedly) buy and get up to speed on the excellent, but incredibly pricey Logos.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 3A – The Dangers of the Tongue

James Section 3B – Wisdom from Above

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  xx min., xxMB

Coming soon!

The Book of James – Chapter 2

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on October 9, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our class decided it would be cool to change our tack a bit and do a Bible book study instead of our typical topical studies.  I’m not sure they’re still glad they did because we (I) are taking quite a bit of time going through, and I’ve gotten a bit too technical in the presentation.  I think we’re doing well with a better balance of background, application, and velocity in Chapter 2.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 2A – Partiality Condemned

James Section 2B – Faith and Works

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  xx min., xxMB

Coming soon!

The Book of James – Chapter 1

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on August 14, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

In our class times together, passages and themes from the book of James kept coming up and we decided it would be cool to change our tack a bit and do a Bible book study instead of our typical topical studies.  I’m not sure they’re still glad they did because we are (I am) taking quite a bit of time going through, and I’ve gotten a bit too technical in the presentation.  You’ll notice as we get close to the end of chapter 1 that I started doing better with that, and I think we’re doing quite well with a better balance of background, application, and velocity in Chapter 2 (next post).  Here are the notes divided into four sections along with a bonus (no extra charge!) simple worksheet that I created for my kids since we are studying it with them in parallel.

James Introduction

James Introduction (Pt. 1 of 2) – March 13, 2016 – AAC, 42 min., 21MB

Audio Player

BTW, if you’re interested in the discussion in the introduction about the actual name of the author of the book of James, you should also listen to the first eight or nine minutes of the Palm Sunday lesson, since that topic came up at the beginning of our time together that next week.

James Introduction (Pt. 2 of 2) – March 27, 2017 – AAC, 39 min., 19MB

Audio Player

James Section 1A – Trials

James 1A – I, 1:2-4 (Pt. 1 of 6) – April 3, 2016 – AAC, 42 min., 21MB

(Sorry for the frequent audio issues.  Due to a family emergency I was receiving incessant texts and numerous phone calls while I was teaching.)

Audio Player

James 1A – II, 1:5 (Pt. 2 of 6) – April 10, 2016 – AAC, 45 min., 22MB

(Sorry.  Still having audio issues.  Not sure why.  Need to replace my audio engineer.  (me))

Audio Player

James 1A – III, 1:5 – Faith (Pt. 3 of 6) – April 17, 2016 – AAC, 54 min., 27MB

Audio Player

James 1A – IV, 1:6 – Faith, the double-minded man (Pt. 4 of 6) – April 24, 2016 – AAC, 49 min., 24MB

Audio Player

James 1A – V, 1:6-12 – Double-minded man, the poor (Pt. 5 of 6) – May 1, 2016 – AAC, 41 min., 20MB

Audio Player

James 1A – VI, 1:12 – Rich, and summary of trials (Pt. 6 of 6) – May 15, 2016 – AAC, 47 min., 24MB

Audio Player

James Section 1B – Temptations

James Section 1C – The Role of God’s Word

James worksheet

More coming soon!

Palm Sunday – The Last Week of Jesus’ Life

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on March 20, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

This lesson is a detailed timeline of the last week of Jesus’ early ministry, and will likely be very controversial for those who are stuck on a traditional Good Friday crucifixion.  But, I believe it is the best fitting explanation of all of the biblical data.

Palm Sunday – Last Week of Jesus’ Life

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  46 min., 23MB

Audio Player

The following week began with more discussion around this topic.

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  10 min., 5MB

Audio Player

Valentine’s Day 2016

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on February 14, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

This lesson contains a couple of helpful things I learned while reading two books by Shanti Feldhahn, For Men Only and For Women Only.  There is good insight for both husbands and wives.

Valentine’s

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  48 min., 24MB

(I apologize for the audio quality.  I set the gain too high on the lapel mic.)

Audio Player

So Fresh and So Clean for 2016

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 17, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

LOL!  As you can see below, my title for the lesson was boring.  This title came from my dear wife who always has a knack for spicing things up!  Anyway, this lesson (intended to be just one Sunday, but ended up being three…) is what I believe is God’s challenge for our class members for the new year.

Ministry Focus for 2016

Here are the recordings of my teaching this lesson (AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices):

(My new lapel microphone does a much better job getting my audio, but a much poorer job picking up audio from the group, so I remove those silent gaps.  That results in some odd transitions, but it’s better than wasting your time.  I have purchased another microphone so I can record both.)

Week 1 – Ministry (12/20/15), 31 min., 15MB

Audio Player

Week 2 – Leadership (1/10/16), 42 min., 21MB

Audio Player

Week 3 – Personal Holiness (1/17/16), 44 min., 22MB

(I apologize for the sound quality of this lesson.  It’s all the fault of my sound engineer.  (Me.)  As mentioned above, I purchased an additional microphone to capture ambient sound (discussion from the group) and used it this week.  As it turned out, I didn’t make it through all the clicks needed to start my lapel microphone so I only have audio from the new ambient microphone (which is actually pretty impressive).  But there is lots of noise from the lectern that the microphone was sitting on, along with my iPad and my hands.  Lesson:  get something for the microphone to sit on that will isolate it from the lectern noise.  And get a better app that requires far fewer clicks to get it working.)

Audio Player

Where Are You Going?

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 6, 2015 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment