If you’re not careful, Thanksgiving comes, and the Christmas crush is on. And it does just that. It crushes us with the busyness and the stress and all that we’ve got to get done and check off our list. Then, all of a sudden, the whole thing is over, and we’ve missed the miracle that is Christmas.
And that’s why it’s important to slow down and consider the rhythm of the Advent and Christmas season. Advent, at its core is about waiting. Specifically, it’s about waiting in expectation, and remembering that God comes through on his promises.
You might be in a part of the story right now where you can’t see how all the pieces are coming together, God’s working right now amid the waiting. While you’re waiting on God, God is working his plan in your life.
Here are the Top 5 Bible studies from trusted teachers on the waiting season of Advent.
As we stand at the threshold of a new year, many of us are drawn to the idea of starting something or ending something—a fresh start, a clean slate, and the opportunity to become more like our Savior.
As we step into the new year, it’s the ideal moment to dive into the richness of the Scriptures, seeking wisdom, solace, and inspiration to grow in our relationship with God.
In this blog, we’ll explore 4 Bible studies that can have on your spiritual growth. Whether you’re a seasoned believer or new to faith, these Bible studies can illuminate your path and empower you to embrace the new year with a renewed sense of purpose. So, let’s embark on this spiritual journey together, discovering how the ancient wisdom of the Bible can bring about a new you in the coming year.
Here are the Top 4 studies from trusted teachers perfect to start off the new year.
1. Don’t Look Back – Christine Caine
With a rallying cry to “remember Lot’s wife,” Bible teacher Christine Caine motivates us to stop looking back, to let go, and to move forward into what God promises for our lives. With the strategies Christine shares, this study will equip you to:
• stop looking back and start looking to Jesus;
• invite Jesus to help you let go of whatever is holding you back;
• step into God’s plans, purposes, and promises.
Jesus told us to remember Lot’s wife because he wants us to trust him with our future and to boldly follow him into the opportunities and plans we simply don’t yet see.
Difficult questions arise when we read the Bible. Is God pro violence? Does God endorse slavery? Should we all be vegetarians? Are tattoos sinful? Why does the Bible feel so anti-women and anti-science? Questions like these have caused many to walk away from faith – likely you or someone you are close to. We need to address these issues that come up about the Bible.
In a casual and non-threatening way, pastor Dan Kimball explores these objections and more. The good news is that there are reasonable responses to these good and understandable questions. If church has burned you, bored you, or simply never been of interest, come take a deeper look at Jesus—and find out why the Bible might just be more beautiful than you can imagine.
3. Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools – Tyler Staton
Prayer doesn’t begin with you; it begins with Jesus
Paul wrote, “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Interceding. That’s what Jesus is doing right now. He is praying for you. He is the bridge between the Father’s heavenly resources and your earthly life. Every prayer you have ever prayed, and every prayer you ever will pray, is a response to his prayers for you.
Join pastor and author Tyler Staton for a five-session Bible study that takes you to the starting point of a journey that will lead you from receiving the intercession of Christ to interceding with Christ. Along the way you’ll make four stops, summarizing the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught into four core practices: adoration, confession, petition, and intercession. But it all starts and ends not with our prayers, but with Christ’s.
Tyler invites you to join him on a quest to Pray Like Monks:
Parenting happens in habits. We make meals, shuttle our kids to events, answer their questions, discipline them, and do bedtime. But did you know that even these ordinary routines can serve as extraordinary opportunities to live out God’s love in profound ways?
In Habits of the Household, you will discover simple practices you can implement around your daily routines and seemingly mundane moments that will lead to a lifetime of growing closer to God—both for you and the members of your home. Each session includes practical examples of prayers, liturgies, and activities that you and your family can put into practice right away. As you create rhythms around your everyday routines, you will find your family has a greater sense of peace and purpose as your home becomes a place where you learn how to love each other and love God.
If you’re not careful, Thanksgiving comes, and the Christmas crush is on. And it does just that. It crushes us with the busyness and the stress and all that we’ve got to get done and check off our list. Then, all of a sudden, the whole thing is over, and we’ve missed the miracle that is Christmas.
And that’s why it’s important to slow down and consider the rhythm of the Advent and Christmas season. Advent, at its core is about waiting. Specifically, it’s about waiting in expectation, and remembering that God comes through on his promises.
You might be in a part of the story right now where you can’t see how all the pieces are coming together, God’s working right now amid the waiting. While you’re waiting on God, God is working his plan in your life.
Here are the Top 4 studies from trusted teachers on the waiting season of Advent.
1. Waiting Here for You: An Advent Journey of Hope – Louie Giglio
A season overflowing with anticipation, Christmas comes the same time each year with great hope and promise of a baby born long ago. But this season meant for joy is often consumed by busyness, pressure, mixed emotions, and is gone as quickly as it came.
What is it all for?
In this four session study, pastor Louie Giglio reminds us that it’s in the richness of Advent – a season of expectant waiting and preparation – that we find our answer. And it is throughout this waiting season that we prepare our hearts to greet December 25th with joy, peace, hope, and refreshed promise in our newborn King.
2. Because of Bethlehem: Love is Born, Hope is Here – Max Lucado
No one expected the Messiah to come the way he did. Yet the way he came was every bit as important as the coming itself. The manger is the message.
Because of Bethlehem, God knows what it’s like to be human. Because of Bethlehem, when we talk to him about tough times, he understands. He’s been there. He’s been here. Because of Bethlehem, we no longer have marks on our record…just grace.
For some, Christmas is a time of excitement, celebration, and family, while for others it is a time of loneliness, grief, and loss. No matter what this season holds for you, the promise of Christmas will bring you a lifetime of hope.
3. The Case for Christmas: Evidence for the Identity of Jesus – Lee Strobel
During his faith journey, Lee Strobel investigated the real meaning behind all those nativity scenes he saw outside of churches. In this four-week study, Lee reveals what he discovered from consulting experts on the Bible, archaeology, and messianic prophecy as he sought to separate the truth from the tradition.
Regardless of whether the center of your Christmas decorations is the nativity set on your mantle or the presents under the tree, The Case for Christmas study invites you to look beyond the familiar traditions of the season, challenge you to examine the evidence for yourself, and consider why Christmas really matters and why it’s still so relevant today.
Four thousand years ago, God promised he would do something through the bloodline of Abraham. Two thousand years later, Jesus was born. And two thousand years after that, we’re still talking about it.
Why?
The story of Jesus’ birth was not what anyone expected: a baby . . . born in the armpit of the Mediterranean . . . to save us from sins that no one thought we needed saving from.
This Christmas season, join Andy Stanley as he unpacks why the improbability of the Christmas story is what makes it so believable. No one could have or would have made it up.
