The Bible Year Leader Guide: A Journey Through Scripture in 365 Days

By Magrey deVega

The Bible. 365 days. You. Yes, you!

Not the type to sit down and read the entire Bible? Yes, the goal is to read the whole Bible in a year, but think about it in terms of smaller, daily goals. Think about a commitment to read a short selection from the Bible plus a concise devotional every day. You can do that – especially since The Bible Year has it all mapped out for you day by day.

Plus, you’ll also get summaries of key themes and ideas to help you better digest and understand your readings. So you’re not just reading verse after verse, you’re enriching your spiritual life, developing a deeper faith and forming a closer connection to God and to each other.

The Bible Year is also a wonderful way for small groups or even individuals to grow closer to God, while providing a common thread that will promote new and deeper friendships among members.

The Leader Guide contains 52 weeks of small group sessions based on the readings. Each session follows a concise, simple, and consistent lesson plan with discussion questions on the scriptures and instructions for using the videos if desired. Additional resources sold separately include a Devotional for every-day use and a Pastor's Guide for a church-wide emphasis.

Daily Bible goals start here!


Praise for The Bible Year

When it comes to read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year programs, The Bible Year is a game changer. Packed with devotionals, discussion guides, and resources for pastors, this beautifully written book makes journeying through Scripture less daunting and more rewarding. It’s the perfect companion for those who wish to read through the Bible for the first time or those seek to go deeper in their study of Scripture together with others.
– Ryan P. Bonfiglio, Director of the Candler Foundry and Assistant Professor of Old Testament, Candler Theological Seminary

With a pastor’s devotion to God and the people he serves, deVega has structured a truly helpful guide for reading the Bible in the span of a year. The thoughtful format is well designed to encourage steady progress in reading, and provoke thoughtful reflection. Brief section summaries allow the reader to stay on top of the larger story line, and thoughtful questions and blank spaces support a meditative encounter. This book is a welcome gift for anyone who wants to grow in faithfulness and devotion.
– Melody D. Knowles, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Old Testament, Virginia Theological Seminary

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Oct 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781791023447

Magrey deVega

Magrey R. deVega is the Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. He is the author of over a dozen books, including Questions Jesus Asked, The Christmas Letters, The Bible Year, Savior, Hope for Hard Times, Almost Christmas, and One Faithful Promise. He is also a contributor to numerous publications on preaching, worship design, and the spiritual life. He is the proud father of two daughters, Grace and Madelyn.

Book preview

SESSION 1

Genesis 1:1–11:32

Overview

In the opening chapters of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth. God makes humans in God’s image, entrusting them with dominion over all other creatures and charging them to care for the earth.

When the first man and woman follow the cunning serpent’s suggestion and eat fruit God had forbidden them to eat, they try in vain to hide from God. God drives them out of the garden of Eden into a life of hard labor and broken relationships with nature, each other, and God.

As humanity grows, so does its violence and wickedness, beginning when Cain murders his brother, Abel. God destroys the world with a great flood, but first directs Noah, a righteous man, to build a large boat in which he, his family, and some of every living species survive. God establishes a covenant—a solemn agreement—with Noah and all living creatures, and promises to never destroy the world by water again.

The world’s nations descend from Noah. When they try to build a tower that reaches the heavens, God confuses their shared language and scatters them across the world.

Opening

•Begin with prayer.

•Invite a volunteer or volunteers to summarize the week’s readings, using the overview above as a reference.

•Invite the group to share initial responses to the readings, as well as any questions they may have.

•Ask for volunteers to share some of their daily responses from this week from The Bible Year devotional.

•If you are using The Bible Year videos, play the video for today’s session now.

•Continue your discussion of the week’s Bible passages with the questions below.

Discussion Questions

1.Genesis contains two stories about God creating the world (1:1–2:4a; 2:4b–3:24). Why? How do these accounts contradict and complement each other? What questions about the world’s and humanity’s origins do they leave unanswered?

2.What does the Bible’s assertion that God is Creator mean to you personally?

3.Genesis 1 emphasizes God saw creation as supremely good (v. 31). Where do you see this fundamental goodness in the world? Where is it harder to see, and why? How are you drawing attention to the world’s goodness?

4.If humans are created in God’s image (1:27), what does this truth mean for the way we should relate to the created world, to other life, to each other, and to God? Give specific examples.

5.Why did God command the man and woman to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:17)? Why did they? What changes after they do?

6.How does the primal drama of disobedience and its consequences in Genesis 2–3 play out in the world today? In your life?

7.Why does Cain kill Abel (4:1-16)? What does the story of the world’s first murder tell us about human beings? What does it tell us about God? Where do you hear innocent blood crying for justice today? How, specifically, are you acting as your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers?

8.What does the story of Noah’s Ark tell us about how God regards and responds to human violence? Why does the covenant between God and every living thing . . . on behalf of every future generation (9:12) matter today?

9.Why does God stop the people from building their tower (11:1-9)? What do you think about this story’s explanation of humanity’s linguistic and geographic diversity as an act of God? Are humans still trying to build such towers today? If so, how?

Closing

•Ask for several volunteers to summarize what they have found most meaningful about your discussion or about the biblical text this week. How might God be calling them to respond to it?

•Invite the group to raise any prayer concerns or lift up any reasons for joy and thanksgiving.

•Lead the group in a short closing prayer or invite a volunteer to do so.

SESSION 2

Genesis 12:1–30:43

Overview

God tells Abram to travel to a new land God will show him. God promises to make Abram father of a large nation, one family through whom all families of the earth will be blessed. God later repeats this promise in a formal covenant signified by male circumcision. Abram (Abraham) and his wife Sarai (Sarah) obey the call and—after a sojourn in Egypt, where the pharaoh takes Sarah for himself for a time—settle in the land of Canaan.

After leaving Egypt, Abraham fathers a son named Ishmael with Hagar, an Egyptian girl enslaved to Sarah. After Sarah bears a son named Isaac in her old age, she sends Hagar and Ishmael away. God promises to make a great nation of Ishmael, but Isaac is the son through whom God will fulfill the promise to Abraham.

God tests Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice Isaac. God stops the sacrifice at the last possible moment, and Abraham sacrifices a ram instead.

Isaac marries Rebekah. Their twin sons, Esau and Jacob, struggle with each other from conception. Jacob ultimately cheats Esau out of the birthright and their father’s blessing. Fleeing from his brother, Jacob has a dream in which God reaffirms for him the promise made to Abraham and to Isaac.

While away from home, Jacob works for his uncle Laban, who tricks Jacob into marrying Laban’s daughter Leah before marrying Rachel, the woman Jacob loves.

Opening

•Begin with prayer.

•Invite a volunteer or volunteers to summarize the week’s readings, using the overview above as a reference.

•Invite the group to share initial responses to the readings, as well as any questions they may have.

•Ask for volunteers to share some of their daily responses from this week from The Bible Year devotional.

•If you are using The Bible Year videos, play the video for today’s session now.

•Continue your discussion of the week’s Bible passages with the questions below.

Discussion Questions

1.What does God promise Abraham (12:1-3)? Why? How many ways is God’s promise threatened in this week’s stories? Have apparent threats to God’s promises ever made you worried or afraid? How might these stories help you or others deal with such worries and fears?

2.Briefly describe each of the characters in this week’s stories: Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Esau, Jacob, Laban. Do you recognize yourself in these characters? With whom do you identify most closely?

3.What do the stories of these individuals in Genesis tell us about God’s willingness and ability to work with and through human beings?

4.Sarah and Abraham make their own plans for bringing about God’s promise (16:1-16; 21:8-21). What happens? When and how, if ever, have you taken it upon yourself to hurry God’s future along? What happened?

5.Islam regards Ishmael as an important patriarch and prophet. In the New Testament, Paul calls those who believe in Jesus the children of Abraham. What does Abraham’s significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims suggest about how the three Abrahamic religions should relate to each other, globally and in your own community?

6.Why does God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (22:1-19)? Was Abraham right to obey? Why or why not? Has God ever asked a great sacrifice of you? What did you do? Would you do the same thing again?

7.The stories of Jacob tricking Esau (25:29-34; 27:1-45) and of Laban tricking Jacob (29:15-30) show the family through whom God decided to bring blessing was not perfect. What are your most pressing concerns about your family? What do you do about them? How do you entrust them and your family to God?

Closing

•Ask for several volunteers to summarize what they have found most meaningful about your discussion or about the biblical text this week. How might God be calling them to respond to it?

•Invite the group to raise any prayer concerns or lift up any reasons for joy and thanksgiving.

•Lead the group in a short closing prayer or invite a volunteer to do so.

SESSION 3

Genesis 31:1–Exodus 12:30

Overview

A prosperous Jacob returns to Canaan. The night before he reunites and is reconciled with his brother, Esau, he wrestles with a mysterious man who renames him Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.

When Jacob’s son Joseph dreams he will rise to greatness, his envious brothers sell him into slavery. As a slave in Egypt, Joseph’s gift for interpreting dreams and skill in planning lead to his appointment as Pharaoh’s highest official.

When famine strikes Egypt and surrounding lands, Joseph’s grain distribution plan saves many lives—including those of his brothers, who come to Egypt for food. After Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them, they come with Jacob to live in Egypt.

In time, a new pharaoh, afraid of his country’s Israelite (Hebrew) population, enslaves them and tries to kill their baby boys. One Hebrew baby who survives is Moses. Through him, God will free the