Stan Guthrie - Gods Story in 66 Verses: Understand the Entire Bible by Focusing on Just One Verse in Each Book

Praise for Gods Story in 66 Verses

The old, old story of the gospel is rooted in Gods story of his kingdom, which is the theme of the whole Bible. With his arresting single-verse skill, and moving fast, Stan Guthrie shows how every biblical book contributes to both stories. Excellent!

J. I. Packer, Board of Governors Professor of Theology at Regent College

Thomas Cranmer once said that the Bible was meant to be read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested. This book is a spiritual digestive for an up-close and personal encounter with Gods Wordkey verses from each of the canonical books. A great resource for devotion and prayer.

Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and general editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture

Stan Guthrie provides a much-needed tonic to our sleepy, biblically illiterate culture. This book will help many people move beyond the shallow, simple-minded myths of what the Bible is about, to actually grasp its grand narrative. And it does it one verse at a time. Buy it, give it awayand dont forget to read it yourself.

Josh Moody, senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois

So often we read little bits of the Bible with little sense of how they fit into the larger book and therefore we miss the real point. In Gods Story in 66 Verses, Stan Guthrie presents little bits of the Bible that actually lead us to the real point of each book of the Bible. This will be a great help to those who are new to the Bible as well as to those of us whove been reading the Bible a long time and tend to ignore the parts we just dont get.

Nancy Guthrie, author of the Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study series

The Bible is a book so deep no mortal will ever get to the bottom of it. Nevertheless, because God has revealed His wisdom to us, all benefit by seeking to understand the Scriptures as best they can. Though we never get the last word about the Bible, it is possible to have a sure word. Stan Guthrie has produced a book that gets to the sure word, and makes it accessible to all. His approach is relatively simple: find the central verse of each book of the Bible that clarifies the theme of that book. For those who want to go deeper, begin with Gods Story in 66 Verses.

Jerry Root, PhD, associate professor at Wheaton College and visiting professor at Biola University

This helpful book can overcome our tendency to, as Francis Schaeffer put it, see the world in bits and pieces. In the Bible, we find the truest story there is of all things and all of us. And Stan Guthrie lays it out carefully and creatively.

John Stonestreet, speaker and fellow, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview; senior content advisor, Summit Ministries

With his characteristic clarity and depth, Stan Guthrie highlights Gods story from all of Scripture, serving a delectable feast of biblical truth. If you are hungry for Gods Word, look no further.

Chris Castaldo, director of the Ministry of Gospel Renewal, Wheaton College

Stan Guthrie combines a clever approach to remembering the biblical books collectively with a concise approach to the books individually. His clarity and brevity are refreshing and readable.

Jerry Pattengale, assistant provost, Indiana Wesleyan University and executive director of Green Scholars Initiative

I never miss a Stan Guthrie book. I consider him one of the most refreshing and cogent Evangelical thinkers writing today.

Jerry B. Jenkins, owner of the Christian Writers Guild

We face an epidemic of biblical illiteracy in our culture. Most Americansespecially those in the younger generationhave scant engagement with Scripture. And getting them to read the Bible is no easy task. Its a big book! For a generation that doesnt know Paul from Potiphar, it can be daunting just to crack the cover. Thats why Im excited about Gods Story in 66 Verses. Guthrie has created a brilliant way to introduce readers to the broad themes of Scripture. With crisp prose and a disarming tone, Guthrie distills the biblical witness while showing how all of Scripture points to Christ. I pray many people will read this important book and come to know the Scriptures and the God whom they reveal.

Drew Dyck, managing editor of Leadership Journal and author of Yawning at Tigers: You Cant Tame God, So Stop Trying

What a great idea for a book, and how skillfully executed! Gods Story in 66 Verses will help make the Bible accessible and compelling for a distracted generation perpetually on the move.

Louis Markos, professor of English and Scholar-on-Residence, Houston Baptist University

The most common mistake in reading the Biblewhether by laypeople or theologiansis to emphasize certain texts in a way that conflicts with the whole arc of Scripture. Stan Guthries new book provides a superb corrective to that tendency, to which all of us are vulnerable at times.

John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture

2015 by Stan Guthrie

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Some material on the book of Psalms was adapted from the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1988, edited by Walter A. Elwell, Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

ISBN 978-1-4002-0643-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Guthrie, Stan.

Gods story in 66 verses : understand the entire Bible by focusing on just one verse in each book / Stan Guthrie.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4002-0642-1

1. BibleIntroductions. I. Title. II. Title: Gods story in sixty-six verses.

BS475.3.G88 2015

220.6'1dc23

2014005812

15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To John Wilson... friend, colleague, encourager

Contents

HOW DO YOU, AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, EAT AN ELEPHANT? ONE bite at a time. How do you digest the Bible? One verse at a time. The Bible can be a difficult book for the average person to understand. Written over the span of a millennium and a half, and completed nearly two thousand years ago, the Book of books sometimes seems like a mishmash of stories and literary styles. We can get so caught up in the Bibles details that we lose sight of its big picture.

Its easy to see the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as simply a collection of familiar narrativesthe Flood covering the earth, the Israelites going through the Red Sea on dry land, Lazarus being raisedand characters such as Adam and Eve, Moses, and the apostle Paul. For many people, Scripture is a confusing collection of ancient literature without a coherent theme. And indeed, with nearly twelve hundred chapters in a dizzying array of literary genrespoetry, history, parable, and so onthe Bible can seem like a big and intimidating book.