I mentioned a while ago that I am participating in a year long Chronological Bible study for the second year in a row.

I think I am way more excited about the study this year though because my eyes have been opened to what an incredible opportunity it is to go through this study again.

The Chronological Bible Discipleship study was written by Iva May, a pastor’s wife who realized that something was very lacking in today’s Church.

The mentorship of younger women by the older women of the church.

She also realized that women are involved in Bible studies where they study a piece of Scripture here and a piece of Scripture there, without really taking a look at the Bible as the narrative that it is.

The Bible tells a story.

The greatest story ever told.

The Chronological Bible Discipleship study teaches the Bible in the chronological order of events that they occurred from the creation of the world to Paul’s revelation about how the world will end in the book of Revelation.

And woven through the Bible – from beginning to end – God has revealed Himself to mankind. Certain themes are seen throughout the entire Bible such as: God is good and does good all the time; God desires us to have faith in Him and trust that he is “good and does good” and God is merciful as he extends mercy to mankind over and over again as we continuously do the wrong thing and sin against God, turning away from Him.

CBD is an incredible way to study Scripture and see how God truly is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

In the teaching manuel Iva May writes how so many women in the church are Bible alliterate because we’ve overlooked the value of knowing the “big story” of the Bible chronologically. We’ve been taught bits and pieces of the Scripture without being taught the big picture of the Bible and how God reveals Himself to us through the stories written.

CBD breaks the Bible up into 14 different ERAs of time. They are as follows:

1. Creation, the Fall, and the Consequences
2. Patriarchs
3. Exodus
4. Conquest
5. Judges
6. Kingdom
7. Divided Kingdom
8. Captivity
9. Return
10. The Silent Years
11. Gospel
12. The Church
13. Missions
14. End Times

Within each ERA, we will study the stories of the Bible in chronological order to gain understanding of the big picture of the Bible.

ERA 1 (Creation, the Fall, and the Consequences) has four focal points for study: Creation, The Fall, Cain and Abel & Noah.

The material of this Bible study is Scripture and the stories - the narratives - that have been written by men who were inspired by God to write them. (2 Timothy 3:16)

This is how this Bible study differs from all the other ones out there. There are no “fill in the blank” workbooks, no videos and no self-help steps.

Each week we we simply open up the Scripture and dive in together to discover the Core Truths about GOD.

Learning about God through the way He reveals Himself through Scripture will totally change your worldview.

As a Christian, we want to learn to filter everything through the truths found in the Bible. We want a Biblical worldview so that we are asking ourselves, “What does the Bible tell me about xyz?”. The world is constantly influencing us but we must learn to use the Bible as our filter and not make decisions based on what the world thinks.

CBD helps women get to this place as they dive into the Bible and uncover the redemptive story of man and God.

I’m excited for the journey ahead!

- Elaine