Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble and
I'm your host for the Bible Recap [Music] [Music] if you've ever closed your Bible and thought what
did I just read the Bible recap is for you and the good news is you're not alone lots of people
struggle in their relationship with scripture most people who struggle try to stick to the Psalms
and Proverbs because at least those make sense to them or maybe they flip around in their Bible and
try to find something relatable but then they hit something confusing or off-putting and they can't
seem to make sense of how it all fits together maybe they decide to start a Bible reading plan
usually at the beginning of the year when they're working on New Year's resolutions they launch
out with ambition and Zeal on January 1st but they begin to lose interest in a few weeks and
by mid-February they've fallen off the wagon all together this was me too it was like okay I've
read through Genesis eight times but nothing beyond that can you relate are you on track
to being a Genesis scholar right along with me or maybe you've never even ventured into the Old
Testament at all because you're only comfortable with scripture after Jesus seems to show up on
the scene maybe you didn't know he's actually throughout the whole Old Testament as well
that it's actually all about him some people are so perplexed by scripture that they just leave
their Bible on a shelf and use a daily devotional instead they figure obviously I'm not capable
of hearing from God firsthand so I'll just hear from him second hand don't get me wrong some
devotionals are great I love some of the stuff by Spurgeon and Chambers but a lot of the things
we're consuming today are self-focused or fluffy bordering on self-help it's basically Tony Robbins
in a prayer shawl not that there's anything wrong with that maybe you've tried it all and you
wonder if you'll ever love reading the actual Bible or if you'll always just feel intimidated by
it are you tired of losing steam after six weeks or maybe you've never tried to read through the
Bible at all because you aren't quite sure if God is even real or which religion is right if he
is real but at least you're curious and proactive enough to try to take a step toward getting
some information otherwise you wouldn't be here and I'm glad you're here you're not alone either
this is a place where you can ask your questions without fear of being shamed regardless of where
you're coming from the Bible recap is here to help so let me tell you who we are and how we'll help
I'm also using the Royal we because it's mostly just me Tara Lee Cobble you can call me Tara Lee
or even TLC since those are my initials and I'll be here walking you through this every day here's
how it works imagine yourself sitting down each morning with a friend who's read through the Bible
several times also Imagine This friend lives in your phone it's me you'll spend about 12 minutes
each day reading that day's verses then you'll open up your device and we'll have an eight-minute
conversation about what we both just read I'll point out the things that I've learned about
that particular passage on that particular day but also through years of reading and studying it it's
that simple that's what we'll do together if I've done the math right this trip you and I will take
Through the Bible together will represent my tenth time doing this particular reading plan and then
our next prep episode I'll tell you more about how I learned to love reading the Bible because
I didn't always it took me a long time so be sure you subscribe to this Channel today because I
have a feeling a lot of you are going to be able to relate to my story since this isn't my first
Genesis to Revelation Rodeo I'll be able to speak from the vantage point of the whole meta-narrative
so you can begin to see how this all fits together and understand why things happen the way they
do not that there won't be some mystery still involved God can be super mysterious when he wants
to but overall I think this tool will be really helpful to you and not just reading scripture but
loving it because you'll finally understand it in case you can't tell I'm not exactly an academic
I didn't go to Seminary and I'll only occasionally mention what the original Hebrew might mean and
even then chances are I'm going to mispronounce it overall my Approach in these Recaps will be less
like a scholarly Bible commentary and more like an overview and highlight reel rolled into one
what that means is I'm less inclined to use big theological terms and more inclined to point
to the character of God as it's revealed in that day's reading I want to help you learn how
to find and see and know God and his character more than anything else I don't care if you never
know what year the temple was built and destroyed and rebuilt and redistroed those are great
details to be aware of but they will never serve you like the personal knowledge of God they
will never bring you Joy or sustain you in trials they will never draw you in to spend more time
with God out of sheer joy and Delight so each day I'll be summarizing the overarching storyline
so that we can keep Pace with the metanarrative at the end of each episode I'll point
out something we saw about who God is we call that section the god shot which is
basically our way of saying this is the picture or the snapshot of God and his character that
we saw in today's reading yours will probably be different than mine because there is
so much to see about God in each Passage by the way this is not an application point
or a to-do list that you're looking for this is not to do this is to behold we're looking
for God in the godshot now just a bit about the plan we'll be doing together we'll be doing a
one-year chronological plan you could either print out your own paper copy of the reading plan
from the start page of our website for free or you can use a free app to help keep you on track the
app is called the Bible app by Life church but it's also known as the YouVersion app since there
are lots of different chronological plans on this app be sure you search for the plan called the
Bible recap with Tara Lee Cobble look for our logo we've linked you to it in the description box of
this video and on the start page of our website and it's all free you don't even have to buy a
chronological Bible in fact we encourage you not to because it may be laid out differently than the
order of our plan I love this plan we're doing the chronological plan because unlike a front to back
plan or the plans that have you read a little of the Old Testament a little of the New Testament
and Psalms each day the chronological plan takes you through the story of scripture as it happens
our Bibles aren't laid out in that order so this plan will occasionally have you flipping back
and forth but again you don't need to buy a chronological Bible in order to do this the Bible
app will tell you what to read each day or if you prefer you can use that printable plan from our
website thebible recap.com then you can read each day's chapter on the app where you can have the
app read it to you if you want it takes about 12 minutes on average or you can open your regular
print Bible and read it there that's what I do in the Bible I'm using most days readings are
about three pages long by the way you can read any version of scripture you'd like I happen to
use the ESV the English Standard Version so that's the version I'll be referencing each day I also
want to say a little bit about Bible translations because I know that can be confusing there are
a lot of different Bible translations and it seems like everybody has a favorite Some people
prefer readability other people prefer precision I think the ESV has a great mix of both now it's
not necessarily the most readable translation but I've chosen it over other translations that are
slightly easier to read because it's a word for word translation I bought it when I first
started reading through scripture because I figured if I'm going to invest a year of my
time reading the Bible I want to get as close as possible to the original ideas God wanted to
communicate the options that are slightly easier to process like the New Living Translation or
The New International Version are often phrased for phrase translations not word for word like
the ESV and some versions like the message for instance are best read as commentaries because
they're more of a retelling than a translation feel free to use whatever version you'd like or
even change it up one of the great things about the Bible app is that you can test out all kinds
of versions for free then once you find the one you want to use I recommend getting a print Bible
in that translation I know this is the digital age but when it comes to scripture having a tangible
Bible can often serve as a reminder to read it you're less likely to forget the Bible exists if
it's sitting on your dining room table instead of buried in a folder on the third page of your
phone each day we'll open the Bible app to see what we're reading or you can use that printable
reading plan on our site that I mentioned then you'll open your Bible and read the chapters when
you're done you'll come watch that day's video of the Bible recap and we'll talk about what we
just read most video episodes are about eight minutes long but sometimes I get really excited
and it's kind of hard to shut me up on days that I do manage to keep it at about eight minutes both
your Bible reading and my Bible recapping will take most people about 20 minutes that's only one
percent of your day and it will change everything in addition to that we've designed some tools
to help you with this process we have the audio podcast we have the Bible recap in book form
which is great if you're a visual learner it's a very polished version of the podcast content for
all 365 days and you just read two pages a day we've also got a Daily Journal that's customized
for this reading plan you can write your answers in it we have a daily study guide which has
about five questions per day if you want to study deeply these questions are designed
not only to help you learn more but also to equip you with some new tools for studying
scripture that you can carry with you forever The Daily Journal and the daily study guide are
both intended for you to use on your own if you're doing the Bible recap with friends and we hope you
are or even through your church home group we also have a weekly discussion guide it's a great tool
for helping Foster reflective conversation about what we've read each week the questions in the
weekly discussion guide are entirely different from the ones in the journal and the daily study
guide but they're all three designed to work together beautifully to get your copies of these
or to see sample pages from each click the store Link at the Bible recap.com we truly believe these
tools will not only help you stick with your Bible reading plan each day but to love it here's what
I'm picturing for you this year picture yourself being drawn to God and his character instead of
feeling alienated by the god of the Old Testament picture understanding his motives behind his
actions instead of feeling confused or even frustrated by what he does picture yourself
actually hearing from God in his word and feeling closer and more intimate with him than you
ever have before just because you've committed to spending the first 20 minutes of your day with him
if all you gain from this is one new insight about God that might legitimately change the rest
of your life and your relationship with him I believe this is your year I believe this is
the year you read through the whole Bible and your relationship with God grows in joy and
Delight I believe this is the year where you gain freedom in areas where you've struggled
as a result of just delighting in him more and I believe this is the year you learn to hear
from God firsthand by reading his word instead of being confused or disengaged or only hearing from
him second hand so let's do it Bible readers click subscribe to this Channel today don't wait jump
in now because I promise you he's where the joy is