How to Study the Bible - Bible Study Made Simple - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

How to Study the Bible – Bible Study Made Simple — Christianity
How to Study the Bible – Bible Study Made Simple

As Christians, we want to experience God through the Bible… we really do!

But our good intentions fall flat when reading the Bible just doesn’t seem to help us experience God in a real way. What should feel dynamic and important and alive often feels confusing and boring and irrelevant. But it doesn’t have to feel this way.

In this bible study podcast, pastor and Bible teacher Nicole Unice brings life back to reading the Bible by walking listeners through her Alive Method of Bible study, helping us personally encounter God through His Word by giving us a practical, clear road map for understanding, interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives.

Topics covered in this podcast:

💡 Three Common Obstacles to Understanding the Bible
💡The Basics of Bible Study (Observation, Interpretation) and How to Apple the Bible to Your Life
💡Deep Dive into Bible Studies by Books of the Bible (We’ve covered Ecclesiastes, Romans, Matthew, and more!)
💡 Topical Bible study lessons on Joy, Contentment, Prayer and more
💡 Spiritual Rhythms: Creating New Rhythms in Your Life
💡 4 Principles You Need to Interpret Difficult Scripture

To find more from Nicole, visit https://nicoleunice.com/.

Copyright: © https://www.lifeaudio.com

Latest Episodes:

The Parable of the Sower (A Bible Study on Luke 8:4-15) Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

We are kicking off a new series this week! Stories Jesus Told: A Series on Parables.
Today, we’re looking at the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4-15. In light of Jesus’ resurrection, let’s look back at the way of his teaching and the relevancy of his lessons for us today.
“A parable is not to tell us something new, but to remind us of something we’ve overlooked.” - Eugene Peterson
- 1. What does it say? -
Questions we might ask:
Who are the characters in this story?
Where does the seed land?
What happens to the seeds in the various places they land?
What is the text -not- saying? (We will use scripture to interpret scripture)
- 2. What is the background context? -
Parables use a story that would make sense to the listeners at the time--and Jesus then uses that story to lay down a spiritual truth. Parables are for those who are willing to receive: so we start today with this parable of “hearing.’
- 3. What does it mean? -
This parable is explained for us by Jesus, so we don’t have to reach far to find the explanation!
- 4. What does it mean for me? -
What kind of hearer of the Word are you? In this season of life, how does the Word land for you, when you hear it or read it? How can you receive the Word with joy today?
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray, Week 6: Deliver Us from The Evil One Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

Every single day you face temptation. And every single day, you have tools to remember who you are and who you belong to. You my friend, are a child of God.
FIRST - What’s the backstory?
Remember, at this point in our reading, we will have questions! Here are a few of mine:
Does God lead us to temptation, or to sin?
How does God deliver us? Who is the evil one?
For answers, let’s look to Scripture:
James 1:13-14: When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
Matthew 4:1-11: look at how Jesus was tempted….
SECOND - What does it mean?
How does the enemy work?
1. With subtle, powerful lies:
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
Coaching work/struggle is real is about bringing out lies into the light—
What kind of lies are you likely to believe?
2. By masquerading as light:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
3. Using questions to lead us to temptation:
Designed to confuse, confound, discourage and ultimately to take us toward independence from God and suspicion toward others:
THIRD - What does it mean for me?
We will have fights to face in this world, but we don’t face them alone.
This is a daily and intentional practice from beginning to end. The fullness of what it looks like to be in relationship with God is captured in this prayer.
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray, Week 5: Forgive Us Our Debts Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

1. What Does It Say?
“Forgive/Forgiven”, “Debts/Debtors” – We are asking God for forgiveness. We also forgive our debtors. What is going on when we forgive someone?
2. What Is the Backstory?
Jesus is preaching in the Sermon on the Mount – a primer to a completely different way of life in the Kingdom of God.
This verse has a legal background – Deuteronomy 15:2. Debt must be address. We are in a deficit. And the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.
3. What Does It Mean?
This prayer is all about connecting with God – and prayer, confession and forgiveness is part of that connection. God’s holiness cannot endorse our sinfulness – we must address our sin.
God’s abundance makes stringent economic pressure on others inappropriate.
4. What Does It Mean for Me?
Do we live with a sense of superiority over others? This is fundamentally unwise. If you can’t forgive others, you have not experienced forgiveness.
(Drew also explains what forgiveness is *not*)
***
Want to go deeper than the podcast? This series includes access to a private Facebook group: you can join here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodwithnicoleunice
If you want access to exclusive content (interviews, bonus teaching and a 28-day prayer plan), you can pay for premium here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/
Subscribe to Nicole’s mailing list and get a weekly companion guide for each episode, with journal prompts and reflection questions: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray, Week 4: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

1. What does it say?
“Give” – We need something outside of us to supply sustenance. How much do we believe that we are the source of love and life for ourselves and others?
“Us Our” – This prayer for all of God’s children, for a community of people. This is communal prayer. We are praying for ourselves, but also for a community of people to be provided for, by God.
“This Day Our Daily” – This isn’t tomorrow’s bread or retirement bread. It’s today’s bread. Are you anxious for provision months away? This prayer challenges us to focus our prayers for today’s needs and come back to him daily.
“Bread” – Our most basic, daily needs are food and water, and God wants us to ask for our daily needs.
2. What is the backstory?
In Matthew’s gospel, this verse comes in the middle of the Lord’s prayer. This verse comes right after the part of the prayer that is totally focused on God and what he has done. This is the shift in the prayer that focuses on us and what we need.
Further out context – this is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This prayer comes amid teaching about the Kingdom of God and how to live life in the Kingdom.
3. What does it mean?
Whole-bible context: God provided manna in the desert during the Exodus. It was literally a daily provision of food from God to his people. God provides for our needs. Are you grateful and aware of his daily provision?
Jesus’ miraculous abilities are shown through providing food – think of the thousands he fed, and The Last Supper. Bread is a symbol of community, and a symbol of his body, broken for us.
4. What does it mean for you and for me?
God provides in all seasons of life – in hard and good seasons, through neighbors or friends – if I accept my neediness, then I will be able to accept God’s provision in my life through these various means. Life becomes a gift to receive, not a trial to endure.
***
Want to go deeper than the podcast? This series includes access to a private Facebook group: you can join here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodwithnicoleunice
If you want access to exclusive content (interviews, bonus teaching and a 28-day prayer plan), you can pay for premium here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/
Subscribe to Nicole’s mailing list and get a weekly companion guide for each episode, with journal prompts and reflection questions: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray, Week 3: Thy Kingdom Come Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

Jesus is always using stories to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. He uses imagery to help us humans - who are not yet in heaven – understand a little bit of what heaven is like.
Week 3 Scripture: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. - Matthew 6:10
This week, we’re looking at three specific things in this verse – “your/thy,” “kingdom,” and “will.”
Reflection Questions:
1. What does the Bible say about the kingdom of God?
2. What does the Bible say about His will?
***
Want to go deeper than the podcast? This series includes access to a private Facebook group: you can join here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodwithnicoleunice
If you want access to exclusive content (interviews, bonus teaching and a 28-day prayer plan), you can pay for premium here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/
Subscribe to Nicole’s mailing list and get a weekly companion guide for each episode, with journal prompts and reflection questions: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray, Week 2: Our Father in Heaven Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

We have a Father in Heaven and are invited into a relationship and purpose with him! Today we are diving into the first verse in the Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:9.

Listen to Week 1 of the How to Pray Series: https://apple.co/46R7bkO / https://sptfy.com/Opwv

What does Matthew 6:9 say?
1. “our” father – we are immediately placed in community. This is not an individual prayer.
2. “father” – we all have emotional underpinning to this word. If I say the word father, what is the first word that comes to your mind? Check out Romans 8:15 and think about what it means that God is your Abba Father. We have a framework here for how we can approach our Father in Heaven – with freedom and confidence.
3. “hallowed be your name” – God is not only our intimate father, but also to be revered as set apart and holy. God wants to be intimately a part of your life, but not as a genie, but as God of all creation. Lord -help us to know you and set you apart the way you are meant to be known and set apart
***
Reflect:
1. Do we need to ask our Father in Heaven – “Lord, what does it mean that you are my Father?”
2. We have a shared Father in heaven, we want to know him and for him to be known as holy.
“God the Father is ours, and we are his.” - Dale Bruner
***
Want to go deeper than the podcast? This series includes access to a private Facebook group: you can join here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodwithnicoleunice
If you want access to exclusive content (interviews, bonus teaching and a 28-day prayer plan), you can pay for premium here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/
Subscribe to Nicole’s mailing list and get a weekly companion guide for each episode, with journal prompts and reflection questions: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
***
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to Pray: Prerequisites to Prayer Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

Want to go deeper than the podcast? This series includes access to a private Facebook group: you can join here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodwithnicoleunice
If you want access to exclusive content (interviews, bonus teaching and a 28-day prayer plan), you can pay for premium here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/
Subscribe to Nicole’s mailing list and get a weekly companion guide for each episode, with journal prompts and reflection questions: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
In this first episode, we’re going to talk about the little passage that leads into The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:5-9.
A. What does it say?
3 Praying People in These Verses:
1. The hypocrites – what do they do? They love to be seen in prayer, and they already have their reward.
2. The righteous – they pray private prayers (at least in this context), and God rewards them later on.
3. The pagans – they babble on with many words, thinking they will be heard – do not be like them.
This passage is not a formula for prayer. If we take this too literally, we will miss the principles, the general framework, that we can grab from this passage.
B. What is the backstory?
Hypocrites were known to pray as performance, and Jesus was addressing that during the Sermon on the Mount – his sermon introducing his upside-down kingdom and what is required of those who choose to follow him.
C. What Does it Mean?
Prayer should not be performance, but personal.
Jesus is setting up a framework that says, there is a way you can pray that helps you connect to a Father who knows you and loves you.
Notice: Jesus does not say “here is ‘what’ to pray.” But rather, “here is ‘how’ to pray.”
D. What Does it Mean for Me?
Am I making space for private, personal prayer? Or am I praying to be seen? Don’t pray for others’ affirmation.
These next few weeks is an invitation to create a place of intimacy and connection with your heavenly father. If you have felt like you are missing something because prayer does not feel like what you think it should – if you have those questions, you are in the right place.

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Release Fear to Experience Fierce Love (A Bible Study on 1 John 4) Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

When there is more love, there will inevitably be less fear. The more we believe and accept God’s love for us, the more we trust him. And the more we trust him, the less we will fear, even when life is not going the way that we want.
1. Context and backstory:
Division within the church, with people in the church teaching something other than the gospel. John returns again and again to the fruit of people’s actions, specifically how we love our Christian brothers and sisters.
2. What do these verses say:
More love = less fear. Fierce love requires an ongoing acknowledgment and release of fear.
3. What does it mean for me?
A. God calls us to fellowship locally with believers. Are you in fellowship with believers in a face-to-face way?
B. When you are in a pattern of fear, name the things that only God can handle in your life. For example: your identity can only be entrusted to God. Also: your soul, your calling, your future.
C. If our identity and calling are secure in the Lord, we can begin to love others with God’s love as the source. We don’t want to give love in order to get love.
D. “Keep yourselves from idols” What does John mean by that? We must keep our spiritual house in order. Anything that takes top priority in our hearts, when we begin to link our identity and the way that we decide if life is worth living to those things, our spiritual house is chaotic and messy.
Isaiah 42:8 says it this way: “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” God is very inclusive in his invitation to find life in him, BUT he is very exclusive about his positioning in our hearts. He demands priority in our hearts, not for his good, but for our good.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodromans/
**Don’t Miss Our How to Pray Series!** Starting in March, we will be walking through Lent with a special series: How to Pray. We will be looking closely at the Lord’s Prayer together. Find out more at: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Make Space for God to Speak to You (A Bible Study on 1 John 3) Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Have you made space (silence) in your life to hear from the Holy Spirit? This week, Nicole helps us understand the connection between making space in our lives for the Spirit and the spiritual freedom we want but don’t know how to get.
A. Principle in this Passage:
1. God loves us as his children (1 John 3:1). Can you take a moment today and imagine God’s love for you. Imagine the most loving parent you have ever known. God loves you even more perfectly and completely than that. Allow his love to meet you today.
2. If you can’t believe the feeling of God’s love, believe the fact of his love: Jesus Christ laid down his life for you. (1 John 3:16)
B. What Is The Backstory?
John was correcting divisions in the church. The way they could know who was living in the love of Christ: how they loved others.
C. What This Means for Me:
Obedience in Action (v. 18) – If you experience this love of God, out of that overflow of love there will be an immediate and recognizable change in how you treat believers.
Confidence in Discernment (v. 20-21) – God hears everything and hears your prayers. If you’re feeling less than or have regret, confess to God and he is faithful to forgive – have confidence before God. If your heart feels clear, good! You’ll want to do what pleases him.
Know God Lives in You by the Way You Are Led by the Spirit (v. 24) – make space in your life this week. 5 or 10 minutes to start. Be quiet. Say, “search me or know me. Engage with me, help me know how to engage in this world.”
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodromans/
**Don’t Miss Our How to Pray Series!** Starting in March, we will be walking through Lent with a special series: How to Pray. We will be looking closely at the Lord’s Prayer together. Find out more at: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

What It’s Like to Really Know Jesus (A Bible Study on 1 John 2) Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

In this passage, John gives us a series of tests for our faith – not tests like the kind we take in school that you can pass or fail, but tests that reveal to us the genuineness of our faith – so that we can have full assurance of our salvation and so that we can recognize true believers.
Test 1: Obedience Out of Love
Test 2: Live as Jesus Lived
Test 3: Having Love for Brothers and Sisters
Principle in this Passage:
1. I know him
2. I love him
3. I love others because I love him
What does it mean for me?
1. Apply: What is the motivation of my obedience?
2. Apply: What does increasing love look like for my brothers and sisters in faith?
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/walkingwithgodromans/
**Don’t Miss Our Lent Series!** Starting in March, we will be walking through Lent with a special series: How to Pray. We will be looking closely at the Lord’s Prayer together. Find out more at: https://nicoleunice.com/howtopray/
Follow Nicole:
Website: https://nicoleunice.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicoleunice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleunice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.unice/

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Related Podcasts