NIV, Outreach Bible for Kids NIV, Outreach Bible for Kids Sampler | Page 20

How to Start Reading the Bible
The Bible is a long book because it is made up of many chapters or books written
by a variety of ­people at different times. But the Bible is God’s story to his ­people — ​
about his creation, his love, his promises and his plan for the world and the ­people
in it. At the beginning, God had a perfect relationship with humans, but it all fell
apart when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. From that time on, God made a plan to
restore his relationship with his creation and humans. He even sent his son, ­Jesus,
to earth to bring all ­people back to him and restore the close relationship they once
had. The Bible is a collection of all the stories of how he did that.
Where to B egin
A good place to start reading the Bible is in the book of Mark (p. 812). It’s the story of
the life of ­Jesus, God’s son. The first verse of that book gives us its purpose: to give
the good news about ­Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Then move on to Acts (p. 882) to understand how the Chris­t ian church came into
being and how it grew by telling ­people about the good news of ­Jesus.
From there you should go back and start at the beginning of God’s story by read-
ing Genesis (p. 1) and Exodus (p. 44).
Then you should read these well-known portions of the Bible:
God Creates the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 1 – 2/p. 1
The Ten Commandments . . . . . . . . . . . . Exodus 20/p. 60
A Blessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Numbers 6:24 – 26/p. 110
The Shama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deuteronomy 6:4 – 9/p. 145
In Praise of God’s Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psalm 19/p. 439
The Shepherd’s Psalm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psalm 23/p. 441
A Song of Praise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psalm 100/p. 484
Our Help Comes from God . . . . . . . . . . . Psalm 121/p. 500
A Time for Everything. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 15/p. 540
Remember Your Creator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ecclesiastes 12:1 – 7/p. 546
A Description of the Messiah. . . . . . . . . . Isaiah 53/p. 600
The Christmas Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew 2 /p. 783 and Luke 2/p. 832
The Easter Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John 19:16 — ​20:18/p. 879
The Sermon on the Mount. . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew 5 – 7/p. 785
The Lord’s Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew 6:5 – 15/p. 787
Don’t Worry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew 6:25 – 34/p. 787
The Greatest Commandment. . . . . . . . . Matthew 22:36 – 40/p. 804
The Great Commission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew 28:16 – 20/p. 811
Love Your Enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luke 6:27 – 36/p. 837
Heroes of the Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hebrews 11/p. 974
The Armor of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ephesians 6:10 – 18/p. 950