BACK
Bible Study Lesson Books by Matt and Lauren Bassford available for viewing or downloading (in pdf format)

A Still More Excellent Way: Understanding 1 Corinthians. (26 sessions) The religious landscape of today is filled with challenges to the unity of God's people, both without and within the church. Although their form is different, these challenges are essentially the same as the challenges Paul addressed in his first letter to the strife-ridden church in Corinth. As we study Paul's powerful call to humility and love, it helps us to understand not only how the Corinthians could solve their problems, but how we can solve our own.

And This I Pray: Learning From the Prayers of Paul. (26 sessions) Prayer is one of the most powerful tools available to the Christian and the church, yet too often, we pray only infrequently and have no idea what to pray for when we do. This workbook aims to revive our prayer lives by examining the prayers of one of the most committed Christians of all time: the apostle Paul. As we study the prayers of Paul, they teach us not just how we can pray, but how we can share the mind of Christ.

As He Walked: Living Godly in the Present Age. (26 sessions) As the modern United States wanders farther and farther from God, the seductive appeals of Satan have enticed many in the church to follow the world, a step or two behind, but headed in the same direction. This book examines many of the issues where this spiritual drift has become most apparent and exhorts the Christian to remain firm in his devotion to the principles of God's word.

El-Elohe-Israel: Meeting God in the Old Testament. (26 sessions) In our study of the Old Testament, we spend a great deal of time examining the lives of Moses, David, and other Bible heroes, but we often overlook the greatest hero of them all: God. This book explores the character of God as it is revealed through the saga of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. Such a survey provides us with crucial insights into the nature of the God whom we still serve today.

Sonflowers: Young Women With Faces Turned Toward Jesus. By Lauren Bassford. (13 sessions) Mature sunflowers always face toward the sun, turning their heads from east to west to follow it as it moves across the sky. In the same way, young Christian women should be Sonflowers, so that no matter what their situation, their faces are always turned toward Jesus. This workbook explores a number of the unique challenges that face teenage girls in today's corrupt moral environment, and it encourages them to keep oriented toward the Son.

The Hymn and the Heart: Revitalizing Our Worship. (26 sessions) In the Lord's church, we are well aware that God expects our song worship to take the form of congregational singing. However, the Bible reveals that God has expectations not just for the form of our worship, but for its content. This book takes a Biblical look at the requirements, process, and attitude of song worship, while also studying many of the great hymns that give us the greatest opportunity to teach one another and glorify God.

The Power of God to Salvation: Exploring Romans (26 sessions) Romans is one of the most significant books of the New Testament. It is simultaneously Paul's systematic defense of Christianity and his appeal to his Jewish kindred to turn to Christ. Romans speaks to us today with equal force as it describes the salvation we and Paul have in common, a salvation based not on works and merit, but on the obedience of faith.

The View From the Mountain: Our Lives in the Sermon on the Mount. (26 sessions) The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon of the greatest preacher of all time. In a short series of discourses, Jesus turned hundreds of years of Jewish tradition on its head, summoning His hearers to a religion not of form and ritual, but of the heart. We are tempted in this no less than the Pharisees, as Satan induces each one of us to don a mask of hypocrisy concealing a spirit of corruption. We still need these timeless teachings of Jesus to renew us in the heart that God wants us to possess.

Treasure in Earthen Vessels: A Study of 2 Corinthians. (26 sessions) The Christian existence is in many ways a study in contrasts. We live two lives: the visible life of the body and the invisible life of the spirit. In 2 Corinthians, Paul appeals to the church in Corinth to pay more attention to the spiritual side of this dualism, both in himself and in themselves. In a world filled with materialism and other distractions, Paul's appeal still sounds clearly upon our ears, an appeal that we need to hear, to reject the flesh and embrace the spirit.

I would like to thank Max Dawson, David Banning, Helen Mercer, Lauren Bassford, John Meyer, and Joe Bunch for their work in reviewing, proofreading, and editing these workbooks, as well as for their constant encouragement and support. Also, I would like to thank Bob Priest, webmaster for the Margaret St. Church of Christ, for making these available for download.

If you would like permission to use any of these lesson books in a Bible-class setting, please e-mail: workbook.permissions@gmail.com

If you have questions, comments, feedback, or anything else that is not a request for permission to use in Bible class, please e-mail: MandLBassford@gmail.com.

Suggestions for Production of This Material

• Comb-bind the books. Experience has proven that this kind of binding will survive through an entire quarter, where other kinds may not. In addition to being durable, comb-binding is also inexpensive, at least if the church possesses its own comb-binder and volunteers to do the binding.

• Double-side the pages. In addition to sparing the conscience of anyone who balks at the unnecessary murder of trees, double-siding also costs the church half as much paper. All of these books have been designed to be double-sided. Double-siding works best with heavier paper, say 24 lb. instead of 20 lb., which is the usual grade of copier paper.

• Print the covers at an office-supply store. The covers of most of these books look miserable and unprofessional if printed in black-and-white on the church photocopier. Printing 60 covers on an inkjet printer is expensive, time-consuming, and still doesn't look as nice. Most office-supply stores, Staples, OfficeMax, etc., have a custom printing department with large, capable color-laser printers, and they will typically print photo-quality covers on cardstock for around a dollar a page. The covers will look their best if printed in this way, and they contribute a professional air to the Bible class, which leads to members and visitors alike taking the study more seriously.