The latest book in the Spelunking Scripture series is out! It’s titled, Spelunking Scripture: Acts and the General Epistles of the New Testament. The book explores important passages from Acts, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John.

This is the third volume in the series, following the first two volumes which were released in August of 2021 – Spelunking Scripture: Christmas, and Spelunking Scripture: The Letters of Paul. The Tuesday morning Ladies Bible Study Group at Village Baptist Church in Bowie, Maryland has begun using the Christmas book for their weekly meetings. The Crossroads Class at First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C. is also using the Christmas book as a study guide for their weekly sessions. Both groups are meeting online. When such groups are able to resume in-person meetings is still undetermined. Copies of the first two volumes are available in the church offices of VBC and FBC/DC. I’m hoping to have the latest volume available as well.

Like the first two books, Acts and the General Epistles of the New Testament explores important passages from selected books of the Bible. One of the principles of the Spelunking Scripture approach to Bible study is that not all passages of scripture are of equal value. Some passages are more important than others. Another principle is to distinguish cultural conditions from God’s eternal purposes. Frankly, some passages of scripture reflect the culture in which they were written, and thus may not be applicable to our time.

Another principle of the Spelunking Scripture approach to Bible study is seeking to move from the “what” question to the “so what” question. Most Bible studies aim to discover “what” the passage says. Spelunking Scripture seeks to move to a deeper level of understanding, namely, “so what” does the passage mean for me, and for us? Spelunking Scripture involves moving beneath the surface to explore the underlying meaning(s) of important Bible passages.

One technique for Spelunking Scripture is the use of storytelling, to draw connections between the story of the ancient text and the story of our lives today. That is why the sermons that illustrate the studied texts are replete with stories. For example, the scripture passage for Chapter 1 in Acts and the General Epistles of the New Testament is Acts 1:6-9, commonly called “The Ascension of Jesus.” The scripture story is about the risen Jesus ascending into heaven in a cloud and leaving the disciples to carry on without his physical presence. I illustrate that story with the story of our 15-year-old daughter Amy leaving us to spend a year in France as an exchange student. Amy ascended to the sky in an airplane (not a cloud), but she too was taken out of our sight. And we missed her being with us, just as the disciples missed Jesus being with them.

You get the idea. Storytelling can connect the biblical story with our stories. Storytelling can help us move from “what” to “so what.”