Welcome to the Life Giving Bread Bible Study Group (LGB)!
- Before reading scripture, always ask for protection from the Holy Spirit. Everyone who reads the bible may discern it differently. Therefore, we must pray to God to send his Spirit to protect us while we study the bible, so that we only discern what we should . . . that God’s message gets through to us. . . that evil does not interfere.
- Study Guide – To study the bible, I recommend using a bible study guide. You may choose any study guide that you prefer. My recommendation is the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch (henceforth referred to as ICSB).
- Bible – In addition to a study guide, you may choose to use a Bible. This will allow you to look up Bible versus relevant to your study but not included in your study guide (i.e. Old Testament scripture).
The New American bible can be found online. Here are a couple of links:
Books of The Bible – US Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Study Time – Determine a good time of day for you for bible study. (I am reminded of this phrase from the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread.”) I found that if you do it daily, it is easier to not put bible study “on the back burner.” However, you may decide to take 20 to 30-minutes once or twice per week. Do what works best for you.
To get started:
Step 1. Introduction to the Bible – I recommend reading the introduction in your bible and/or read “Understanding the Bible” by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible/
Step 2. Introductions in Your Study Guide – If you are using a study bible, study guide, or other study material, I suggest reading its introductions so that you can fully utilize the information contained within the book(s). For this group, I suggest reading “Introduction to the Ignatius Study Bible” located in the group study book, ICSB, as mentioned above.
Step 3. Introduction to the Book – Read the “Introduction” in ICSB. If you have any other resources regarding the bible study topic (i.e. bible, study bible, study guide), read those as well.
Step 4. Your Study – On the LGB website, you can view the “Schedule.” The LGB group will follow this Schedule to encourage everyone to continue their study.
There are several chapters in each book of the bible. The “Schedule” will show which chapters to study that week. In the menu at the top of this website, find “Schedule.” You can then click on “Schedule” to see the full schedule for this group.
There are no requirements to be part of this bible study group. Its purpose is to help us grow spiritually, not to be another form of stress. Therefore, following the study schedule is encouraged but optional. Go through the material at a pace that works for you.
Step 5. Share! – One of the main purposes of the Life Giving Bread Bible Study group is to allow for group sharing. Not everyone can make it to a bible study meeting. Therefore, this online group was formed to allow people to be part of a bible study group without having to take out more time during their busy week to meet. To participate in group discussions, read the scheduled chapters in the Bible and any corresponding notes (on this site, study bible, your bible, etc.), then share with the group by commenting on the week’s page on this website, on the Life Giving Bread Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/lifegivingbread, or on the Life Giving Bread Private Chat Room (contact me for admittance to this private chat group).
If you ever have any comments or questions, feel free to let me know or you can post them to the group as a whole. Plus, if you have relevant information not mentioned in the study book or on the LGB website, or if you find errors, please let me know and I will add/correct them.
Life Giving Bread 