Escape the Bible Reading Rut: Practical Strategies for Consistent Study w/ James Coakley

A fun fact is that the Bible is the highest-selling and most-read book in all the world, but so many of us get stuck in a rut when approaching this gift from God. Instead of feeling inspired and energized when we read it, we oftentimes feel confused, frustrated, and disenchanted. That’s not how God wants us to feel after reading His Word! So, today our guest, Bible scholar and lover of God’s Word, James Coakley is here to open our eyes to the beautiful way in which God communicates with us and to share practical strategies to pull us out of that rut!

Book: 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible
Bible: NET Version
App: The Bible Project

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Transcript

Mentor Mama 

I’m Mentor Mama and today we are going to be talking about how to bring color and life to our Bible study time. You know, a fun fact is that the Bible is the highest selling and most read book in all of the world, but so many of us get stuck in a rut, when we approach this gift from God, instead of feeling inspired and energized when we read it, you might feel confused or frustrated and get disenchanted. Well, that's not how God wants us to feel after reading his Word so today our guest Bible Scholar and lover of God's Word James Coakley, is here to open our eyes to the beautiful way in which God communicates with us to share practical strategies to pull us out of that rut. So, James Coakley is the author of, 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible, which we will be discussing today. He has taught at Moody Bible Institute for over 20 years in both the seminary and in the undergraduate school. He is a frequent tour leader to Bible lands and a frequent guest on several Moody radio programs. He's also contributed to the Moody Bible Commentary and the Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy. He is married to Gail and has two adult children and three grandchildren, and resides in Chicago, IL. Please welcome James. 

James Coakley 

Oh, it's great to be here and great to be part of the program here and excited about our topic. And I know that you are as well. So that's what makes it fun. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. Our mission here is to help people delight in God's Word and when I saw the title of your book, I was like, oh, this is so awesome. Just like new refreshing ways to look at God's word, I know that when I knew you were coming on our program, I right away asked my two daughters if they had had you for class and my older daughter Ashley said yes, I had him for Life in Bible times and Old Testament Biblical Theology and yeah, she thought you were wonderful, she goes, but he probably won't remember me because that was when we all had to wear masks. 

James Coakley 

Yeah, because after the masks were removed, I couldn't hardly recognize students, even though I had them in class because I never saw their face. 

Mentor Mama 

I know that must have been so hard, but she said you were amazing and Taylor's boyfriend had you for Hermenutics and said you were one of his favorite teachers. So you come highly, highly appreciated.  

James Coakley 

Well, it's an honor to be a part of the program and grateful for the students sitting there accolades. 

Mentor Mama 

Well, you point out that the Bible is the most read book in all the world, but sadly it’s not read well. Tell us what you mean by that. 

James Coakley 

What I mean by that is I think we have a lot of good, good, great tools to help us study the Bible, but I don't think we have a lot that helps people know how to read the Bible. Now, what I mean by that is just what to look for is you're reading through the text, things that you can then use for further study down the road once you begin to kind of pick up what the biblical authors are doing. And so basically this is really just looking at great literary techniques that all communicators use, looking for their presence in the Bible because they're there with intentionality. And then once we begin to notice their presence, I think that people's kind of personal interest in reading of the text that comes to life. And that's really what it's done for me. And I know it's done for a lot of others as well. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. I love how you said in the book, it kind of your reading of the Bible goes from black and white to being in color because it's adding so much depth of interest. 

James Coakley 

And part of my real interest is to try to listen to the heartbeat of the text. Oftentimes we kind of come to the Bible with our questions and the Bible is great. It can address a lot of our concerns and questions and issues that we have, but I think it's a little bit kind of arrogant, might say if we only use it to answer our questions, I want to sit at its feet. I want to listen to what it has to say first. It's kind of like most good relationships say, well, you want to listen to what the other person is saying and repeat back to them before you, you know, get in with your exchange, and I think that's what it is. I want to have that kind of encounter when I come to the Bible, I want to read what the biblical author is trying to get me to focus on. And then once I do that and I feel like I get a good handle on that, then we could have further dialogue as it were about some of the other issues or concerns or questions that come up along the way. 

Mentor Mama 

Excellent point. Was there something specific that inspired you to write this?  

James Coakley 

Yeah, just over the years, I think the standard kind of way of, you know interpretation, you know which is observation, interpretation, application has been very serviceable in terms of giving kind of the road map for how to you know try to unpack what the Bible is saying. But it always felt like I was kind of still kind of making decisions about where the text is going, and I wanted to kind of have a little bit more of an inside track, just kind of being aware that over the years that the same communication techniques that good communicators use are found in the Bible was so eye opening to me and then to realize, oh, they're not there just for aesthetics or for beauty. They're there really to help you to kind of track what is on the heart and mind of the biblical authors. And then we can, what I say, stay in the lane. I can stay in that lane more readily rather than get off track with, you know, maybe secondary or other issues that are not primary in the text. And now I feel like I'm hearing that heartbeat that the biblical text much more readily. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, and that's really what we're trying to get at too, right? 

James Coakley 

And I think that's, you know, it is good that we have these kind of questions that we come, I call them curiosity questions, but I want to have tech centered questions. I want to have an engaging kind of interaction with the biblical text and all you have to do is have some basic kind of questions that we have about, why is this passage next to this? Why is this character allowed to speak In direct speech, instead of the narrator summarizing it, why is this the same content at the beginning and ending the books? Why is this chronologically out of order when we think about the way that we write and listen to history today, and so all these things, then all of a sudden, every time I just observe those techniques, there is an “aha” moment that came along with them and then it's like, ohh, OK, I'm picking up the bread crumbs that the biblical author has put down for me to follow. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, it had such an enrichment to what's already there when you look for these, these extra things sort of, if you will, will you provide suggestions on how to read this book for maximum benefit? Tell us what they are like, what is this book and what is it? 

James Coakley 

Yeah, it's really not a complete hermeneutics book or how to study the Bible, how to interpret the Bible kind of book. There's plenty of good books out there, though it will help certainly too, you know, to help people stay, you know, in the right position to be able to do that. But it's really about how to read, what to look for as you read, and how to become a more active reader because so many of us are passive readers, we understand the importance and the value of God. And so, we just want to read it and we just kind of then kind of let those words just kind of come into our mind. But we don't have this engaging kind of relationship with what's going on in the text. And so, by just having some basic kind of understanding of the literary techniques of how these authors wrote these things, then makes me more active because now I'm saying ohh what's going on here and I'm looking for certain things. Why is this repeated? What’s the importance of the content that's at the very beginning of the book and all of a sudden you have a much more engaging because I now have a relationship and a dialogue as it were with the text. Now I certainly want the text to be dominant, but I also feel like I shouldn't just be so passive where I don't feel like I could push back and say what's going on here. What are you up to Biblical author? What are you foregrounding? What are you not saying or what are you saying that can help me to focus on truth that will really revolutionize and really help me to live a more godly life. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. So just to be clear for our listeners this is not a book on how to study the Bible, but It's going to enrich your understanding and help you look for different things that will only cause you to be more excited and want to know more and enrich your understanding, I know that happened to me this morning, but I'm going to save that for a little bit later.  

James Coakley 

Well, that's the beauty of it as well is that it gives you some handles. Sometimes we just have, you know, especially when we're studying God's word in a small group or in a in a church. We can kind of have these kind of labels that I use in each chapter and that kind of gives ownership. And also you don't have to go into a long kind of description of what we're seeing here. We can all kind of instantly kind of understand. Ohh, OK, we're dealing with direct speech instead of calling it direct speech, it's kind of formal. Let's just call it step up to the mic and all of a sudden then we get it. Ohh there's quotation Marks and we ask that question why is this character speaking now? And it really does help perk up your reading, but also in a small group study, really make it more fun and more engaging for everyone to participate. 

Mentor Mama 

Ah yes, I was thinking the very same thing when I was looking at the book. Just how great this would be to do together as a small group, but I didn't even think of it in terms of like you just said, having each person sort of dissect the same passage from one of these vantage points and that would be really, really cool. Well, OK. So you just mentioned one of the ways with your micro, what you call that one, the stuff like, OK, so tell us maybe give us another example of one of the ways that. 

James Coakley 

Step up to the mic, yeah. 

Mentor Mama 

You suggest will. Will maximize enjoyment levels for Bible readers. 

James Coakley 

Maybe the one that kind of got me started way back years ago is the one I call first impressions because it once I saw this, it's like ohh my how come I didn't see this before and nobody else has really talked about this. Now if we paid attention in English literature classes we might have picked up on some of these. But now just applying some of those things to the reading of biblical narratives really does help. And basically, what that is looking for three things really simple. Three things. When you encounter a character in the narratives, that is, what are their first actions? What do we first see that character doing? And then also what are the first words that we have recorded that comes out of their mouth? Now we know that they spoke before that, but the text that we read puts then a quotation mark around their first kind of words that you and I read when we come across the Bible. It's kind of the same thing for film. You know, when you are watching a film and you're introduced to characters, what are the first words that come out of their mouth can be really helpful for that. But then also the last thing to look for is any physical description, because the Bible is not going to give a whole lot of description about a lot of things. Including what a person looks like, but what it does, it's really helpful to kind of pay attention to that and kind of tease that out as to why would that level of specificity or that detail be a part of that. And oftentimes that is, and especially if tension in the text. So for instance, all the attractive characters in the Bible seem to have problems. And so if you come across somebody being described as attractive or handsome or beautiful look out because chances are that's going to be, you know, a point of contention in the story and it's kind of killing you and. Really, this all falls under the category of what we might call characterization. How biblical authors portray people in the text, and so the ways that they do it are the three things I just talked about, physical description, dialogue, or words that come out of that mouth and what do we see them doing? And so when we look at a character like Moses and we look at him and we see his first actions as he's an adult is that he's looking this way in that way and seeing nobody he kills an Egyptian who was beating up on one of the Hebrews. And so we see his first actions. His first words are why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew and the next day? And all of a sudden, we see, oh, those actions and those words characterize him as compassionate and very much a, a person who is very law driven, somebody who's just disoriented. And we see those things in those early encounters with his actions and his words and that portrays Moses the rest of the way. But we also see that fear and we see that anger and those negative traits are also present and those also show up down the road as well. And so, paying attention to what I say that first impressions, because the author is trying to give a little portrait, a little photograph as it were, and just by picking up on those things can help you. To kind of already be thinking about, hmm, what's making this person tick? What motivates them? And it can really engage your reading, because then you're looking for examples of where those early impressions and are played out. 

Mentor Mama 

Well, I'm so glad you picked that one because I want you to give me a grade here, Professor Coakley, because this morning this, I was really trying to apply it. I'm in Acts and it's talking about when Paul appears before Festus, and that I believe it's the first time Festus, which is the governor of Judea. Was introduced and it was interesting, like even the first sentence in this chapter says three days after Festus arrived. Which he was just taking over from the previous ruler, so I at first, I like circled 3 days and like well maybe that's gosh, that's maybe he's very prompt and then interesting later on there's two other times where another time says I didn't delay and he's talking about bringing the case to Paul and then the last one he's talking about presenting Paul to hear Agrippa, and he replied you will tomorrow, like there were three different instances, like just then kind of learning. I was that kind of what you mean, like I three times I see he gets down to business, right? 

James Coakley 

Right. No, that would fall under what I call a time management. And so you know, clock management that is you know I can a sports game, a coach at the end of a basketball game can slow down or speed up the action depending on if they want to keep the advantage of the points or try to prevent the other team. 

Mentor Mama 

That's my management one, OK. 

James Coakley 

From from score. Thing and so biblical authors can speed up or slow down, but then they can also bring in these time stamps to kind of keep that pacing going at a certain way, but also, as you notice, to kind of portray, you know, people in certain ways better than whether they do it immediately or whether they wait. And so, yeah, no, there's so much going on in the book of Acts, and yeah, you're beginning to to pick up on that. And the notion is oftentimes too, it's there's another chapter called, Deja vu. Where all of a sudden, if we compare the life of Paul at the end of his life with the life of Jesus and you see so many comparisons, there's three trials. They both appear before 3 courts and all of a sudden like hmm, that's more than coincidence. So you're seeing Paul presented as someone who is like Christ. And so that's what Paul is saying. I'm suffering just like Jesus suffered. But then there's also a meal with bread before a night of where death is going to occur, or with Paul at the ship and all of a sudden we see all of these parallels between Paul and Jesus, and basically I think it's signaling to us the reader that we are if we're going to be like Paul and like Jesus, we should expect, you know, in a sense, suffering to kind of come along with that. And so even if it's not spelled out that way. It's like you're going to suffer. Like I am going to suffer, it's just laid out in the details of the. And that's what makes stories kind of fun, but also very challenging because we're used to epistles that tell us straight out what we should think or do or believe. But narratives kind of just show these characters live out their lives, and we have to look for the lessons that messages, the themes, the application. Through looking through the details of how the story is told. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, that's incredible. Wow, that's a study for a whole another day looking at all those similarities. 

James Coakley 

Well, that's the thing. I want people to realize that just with these techniques, the Bible is opening up constantly to me. Now you don't have to read commentaries as much as I love having, you can see I got some books behind me. I love resources, but I want people to be able to see this on their own. And so just by having, you know, just an awareness of these techniques and be looking for them really does make you more able to kind of look for the themes and applications that are right in line with the biblical authors focusing on. 

Mentor Mama 

Well, do you have one that's a favorite of yours? 

James Coakley 

Yeah, they're all like my babies. So they're all there. But I think the one that really kind of stands out to me kind of quite a bit is book ends, which is where content at the beginning and ending of a book or even the whole Bible begins and ends with the same way. I mean, the whole thing of Genesis 1, the four is mirrored in Revelation 18:22 so many parallels between the two, so alpha and Omega beginning in the end we see, you know, the things about water and trees and all those kind of things. But the idea is, is that, you know, even the simple one, like Matthew's gospel. It begins by talking about Jesus. His name shall be called Emmanuel. For God that means God with us. And then you get to the last chapter of the great commissioned passage, where Jesus takes his disciples and he takes him up on a high mountain. And he says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And lo, I am with you always. So the idea of God's presence is at the beginning and end. They're technically called an inclusio. What we just call them bookends and they it's amazing how many books of the Bible begin and end with similar. Content and then it helps the reader then not just as they. Oh, isn't that nice? Isn't that beautiful? But it really helps to kind of set a theme that you can look for. Then in the middle. Of the book and all of a sudden you can be tracking then as you're reading Matthew, looking for other examples of where God's presence is. A element in the in the account. And all of a sudden, then, your Bible is fresh and uh, you're really then picking up the, the, the data that bread crumbs, as it were, that the biblical author wants you to be focusing on. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, yes, absolutely. I know something else that's stuck out to me with your first impressions. 1/2 was just that. The author of these books of the Bible, they have so many things they could have said, but what they did say. Right is really significant. 

James Coakley 

And that's, you know, that's why paying attention to the step up to the mic, paying attention to where a character speaks in the story, because the narrator, the author, can summarize the whole account without letting us hear the characters own words. But then when they turn over the microphone, just like you and I are having a conversation and you ask a question, you turn it over to me. I respond, people can see and hear, you know, my interests, my concerns, my thinking, and so it. It helps, then, to kind of, you know, really zero in on what the more salient or important point. Are and so the biblical authors can't say everything about everything, and so when they do say something, it's there for us to kind of look at. So even when we think about clock management, the whole life of Abraham is 175 years. But there's only about 25 years that we really focus on and then there's a 13 year kind of missing gap in that thing when Ishmael is born to when Isaac is born. And so there's only about 12 years out of 175 that the biblical text really foregrounds. And so then it's like, well, we're not getting the full biography of Abraham. We're getting select incidents from a small little window of his life. Because it focuses on faith and obedience. The lessons that the biblical author. Moses wants us to be thinking about as we breathe through the life of this man. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, and I find that really encouraging to think of it that way because I feel like sometimes we get frustrated like, oh, why didn't they tell us more, for example, like Jesus's life? Like I want to know more and but instead we can say OK, let's really look at what they did tell us, because this must be really. 

James Coakley 

Well, that's even John's gospel says that there's many more things I could have written about, but these things I have written, again, all the miracles, all the I am statements I have written that you might believe. And I think that's really then as a helpful thing for me as a reader to realize that, oh, these are not just stories. These are not just accounts of. People, places and events they're meant to do something. When I read them and they're meant to encourage me to think about my walk and to think about my actions, my attitudes. And it's not just a one. For one, you know, be like this character or be don't be like this other character. But it really is more thinking about the nuance about how these texts all come together. So for me, the Cain and Abel story I use as an example of what I call launching pad, that story sets up so many themes for not just the Book of Genesis, but for the whole Pentateuch. And even the Bible. And one of the themes is brothers. Deeper and so you know, the whole emphasis again, you can say that again. Chapter talks about repetition. Brother is mentioned seven times in that passage, but it's all about what's going on there. Why is that? Cain and Abel story there? Well, it's not just history. It is, I believe it. But it is also meant to have the reader. Think about their relationship with their fellow humans, and so even when Moses is writing the final pages, as it were. The Pentateuch. I think the idea of brothers keeper should be resonating in the minds of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manassa as they're on the other side wanting to just be content with that space. But no, Moses is basically encouraging them by recording the event of Cain and Abel to say yes, you are your brother's keeper. You must go over, so it's not just a insulated. Uh, the story it's really intended to kind of affect the people's actions and attitudes and where they become more, as it were. You know what, in God of you know, actions and attitudes more Christ like as it were. If we're going to use that term, even with the Old Testament. 

Mentor Mama 

Oh, that's incredible. Well, you also give examples of literary devices that are used in the Bible and also in modern film and literature. Tell us a little bit about that. 

James Coakley 

Yeah, that was kind of one of the things I enjoyed kind of researching is where are these examples? Because if these are examples of good communicators, they're found throughout literature, you know, great literature and film throughout the days. And we see all these things that kind of present. I know there's a lot of, you know, at the be careful with using examples. Because, you know, sometimes the film or the OR the the book has issues or concerns that might not be, you know, Christ honoring. But you know, we have the Bible too with its very graphic detail of sin and. Obedience that is there. But for instance, I think of like the bookends I think of like Forrest Gump, a kind of a silly film from years ago. But it starts with a feather floating kind of in the air, and then the last scene of the film is the same thing. This feather kind of floating and it's like, that's a bookend. But it also though helps to realize that that is kind of a fitting kind of video for the whole middle of the whole, the whole, the film, because he flits around from job to job, from place to place. And so that floating feather kind of, you know, randomly kind of drifting around. Is a perfect analogy of what's going on. Now. That's a made-up story, but we have all sorts of examples too. In in film, I think of Star Wars where you know we have this kind of what we call foreshadowing or heads up where we kind of get this advanced kind of information. About what these could be happening. And again, for those who know Star Wars, you have Obi Wan Kenobi. When he first meets Anakin, who is again going to turn out to be Darth Vader. He you know, he says. I'm sure you will be the death of me and that's what we first read there in, you know, in their first encounter, one of their first encounters. And sure enough in the first film, this the number four in the in. The in the in the whole Star Wars ecosystem is where you have Darth Vader killing Obi Wan, and so that little heads up kind of thing is there. And so, a lot of the great films and great literature used these techniques. And so we're not saying that these are by Hidden Bible. Things these are just ways that all good communicators use and so hopefully our readers, when they look at those examples, we'll kind of, Oh yeah, I see. And that's what now makes kind of watching film and reading books more even fun for me realizing. OK, I can pick up on some of these techniques and really get benefit, not just out of reading my Bible, but also watching film and reading good literature. 

Mentor Mama 

Absolutely. I love how on just on the back of your book, you say that the Bible is God's masterpiece, a gift to you and claim it for all its worth. And. I feel like these different techniques that you give us really do help us bring it to life, and if there's anyone listening to this podcast, perhaps I know when I was younger and remembered reading my Bible and thinking it was so hard to understand and I'll I feel like this would be. Such an encouraging book to get to kind of to, to bring it to life. And if someone was going to do that, where do you suggest like that they start? Like if they're reading through your Bible or your book using the different examples and things that you asked them to do and. 

James Coakley 

Right. It's a kind of book that's probably not good to read from start to finish. You know, it's really something that you should kind of take kind of like a vitamin kind of take regular dosage. So I would encourage readers either study in a group and use it as a small group study and take the time to you know, walk yourself through the content, look at the examples, and then I even give some further study kind of text that we can see these kind of things at play. And then find somebody to dialogue with about them, because it's going to really cinch it more in your thinking if you can have a conversation with others about it. But also you can help others come along and improve their kind of more active reading skills to be able to do this. I mean, that's the that's to me is the is the is the joy of it is the, you know don't go through start to finish I mean if it is you'll be like drinking from a fire. But the idea is even if you are a Bible teacher or a small group leader, a pastor and you're reading through this book, you'll get all sorts of fresh ideas for concepts you can preach or teach, so hopefully it'll stimulate you on that way. But it's really more than just giving content. I want to teach skills and I think that's as a teacher. That's my desires. I don't want to just give content. There's plenty of great content out there. I want to improve people's reading skills so that they can see this on their own, and so that that, you know, parable of, you know, if you give a man a fish, he'll, you know, he'll feed himself for a day. But if you teach a man how to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime. And that's really my desire with this book is I want to give people the tools to be able to. Be able to really. Enjoy the Bible and read it with skill. That they could do this without having to sit under a podcast under a pastor, under a commentary where they can really get some exciting insights just on their own, just by following these techniques. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. And I love how you lay out the book with like the sort of chunk of information at the beginning of each chapter that sort of gives you a summary right of what is this particular one about? 

James Coakley 

Right. 

Mentor Mama 

And then something that we haven't yet talked about and maybe can share a little bit is the prevalence. These different techniques apply to some parts of the Bible and not necessarily all parts of the Bible. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that? 

James Coakley 

Yeah, I I've always been frustrated when it's even like with how to study the Bible. You think that this is a technique that's going to be present everywhere. Well, a lot of these techniques deal with narrative, but then others can deal with any kind of text. So the X marks the spot kayasa M that can be found in all sorts of texts, so that's pretty prevalent. But when we're talking about step up to the mic and looking for quotation marks, that's going to be only in those narrative books. So, you know, Genesis, Joshua, you know, acts the Gospels. It's not going to be found. Typically, in a in an epistle, and so just to be aware that you know you have to have some sensitivity to kind of the style of writing or what we call the genre that you're ready. Because the biblical authors have certain rules or techniques that work well in those different styles and don't always work across the board, and so being somewhat sensitive to the fact that that and I think for most of us, if we're sitting down and reading large chunks, just being aware of. Of some of these things will really help and they can really in a sense, freshen up your engagement with God's word and make it more to where you're invigorated. And I think that's what it's done for. Me because now. Whenever I open up a page of the scriptures, I'm looking for these things and I'm finding great, great. Observations to kind of work with. Then for me to kind of slow down and ponder and but yet the frustrating thing and I think this is something that expectation I think we have to do it the biblical authors are not going to Telegraph what they're focusing on all the time, they have little clues, little things, and so God is amazing that he's given us a mind. He's given us the ability to process and think about these things some of these are slow cooked kind of meals. And they're not going to come, you know, like a 2 by 4 upside the head. They're going to they're going to just kind of, you know, kind of subtly sink in. And all of a sudden, ohh OK, I see what you're up to here. And it's not that they're trying to hide it. They're not trying to, you know, be, you know, keep these things, but they want the reader oftentimes because subtleness is really the importance. Any parent knows that you know you have to be, you know, kind of subtle with how you respond to your children. And so I always kind of. Use the example when my middle grandson was, he wasn't eating for a while, and so we would have these kind of fruit loops kind of dry cereal when we would go out. And I say don't eat the green ones. Grandpa likes the green ones. Well, I knew exactly what I was doing. I couldn't care less about the green ones, but he could. I could see him picking up the green ones and eating them. 

Speaker 

Oh boy. 

James Coakley 

He was accomplishing what I wanted him to do, which was to eat. And he was thinking you were using sinful human nature, kind of having one up on Grandpa. Which that was my goal. And so I'm smiling by him doing that, but yet if you look on the surface, it looks like he's being disobedient, but it's really, you know, the beauty of how communicators work to kind of bring across what they want to do, but not always in the straight-line way. 

Mentor Mama 

Ah, that's I feel like that is such a gift too. I mean, I think we can all get to those conclusions. But some people are so gifted at it. I was thinking of our pastor, Pastor David Giese, and like when your pastor shares a message too. I love how you know you if you've been reading some of these books of the Bible on your own, and then you hear the in the sermon illustration, I think it will. Like all those things just coming together, it's layer upon layer of information and just adding to your knowledge and understanding and certainly the overarching theme of the Bible and seeing how. God is at work. 

James Coakley 

Amen. Amen. 

Mentor Mama 

Well, tell us about as we start to wrap things up here. What challenges did you encounter when writing this book, and how did you get through that? 

James Coakley 

Well, first of all, any author knows that there's challenges with even just pitching a book to get published. I remember having conversations with Moody Publishers, a great partner in this, but like, who's your intended audience? That's like, OK, anybody who reads the Bible but they want, you know, that they want more specific cause. You know, they have to mark it. They have to target the these different, the kind of resources. So, once I got over that, that was hard, but to get in. But then they've been great to work with, you know, have great editors and the great promoters. And so it's been really fun. I think the challenge for me is, I wanted the book, the principles that just kind of standing alone without me being in the light. And they kept on pushing back. You need personal illustrations. You need examples here. They humanize this. And say I just want just the techniques to speak for themselves and so they kept on pushing me to put in personal analogies and illustrations, and it did make it a really strong book. But I was fighting it because I think you know, as I'm a teacher, but not everybody is like that and I need to realize that you know they it is helpful to kind of realize that you know, putting some human touches and personal and illustrations and analogies does make the book more engaging rather than just straight content. But for me, I I can deal with straight content and just put into practice, but so that was. That was a big challenge, but I think I really want to thank my editors for pushing me, even though I was kicking and screaming in the process. But it does make it. A strong book. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, and I loved your personal examples. That's kind, I think, as the reader gives me encouragement too, sees that you're one of us to encountering the different things that we do just in our daily lives and how you can use God's word and. Well, Jim, tell us how anyone can learn more about both you and your book. 

James Coakley 

I mean, getting a copy of the book is paramount. So of course you can order it through Amazon or through Moody publishers and get it. And you know and just get a hold of it and just start looking leafing through it. At first, I think you'll get a good overview just by kind of perusing it. And then just, you know, find the chapter that really you don't have to read it from. You know, chapter one to chapter 14. You can pick up and kind of start anywhere. They don't really build upon necessarily each other, but that's what I would say. But I would say get a study buddy, get somebody that you can partner with. I know a church is going to use it for small group for Sunday school, so I'm excited already to see that and that's really what I kind of designed it for is to kind of be lessons that can easily kind of be used in a small group or in a in a church groups kind of setting and that's really. Where I think it would really kind of take root more more deeply if people, you know, kind of talk about these things and be able to see that kind of come together like that. 

Mentor Mama 

And I imagine the more you do it. The more it. Does kind of become second nature as you go on to your next book of the Bible that you're studying? 

Speaker 

Your brain will sort. 

James Coakley 

And that was one of the things. 

Speaker 

Of to look. 

Mentor Mama 

For those things. 

James Coakley 

Yeah, that was an aha moment for me with this book. Cause I wrote all 14 chapters and said, well, let me because you know it's kind of like cherry picking. You know you can give examples of just about anything, you know, throughout the whole richness of the Bible. I said, let me just choose a book of the Bible and look for how these techniques are all present in. One book, and sure enough, the book of Daniel, they're all present now. Some of them are not as strong as maybe others, but they're all present there. And so it really was confirmation to me that, yeah, this can help you not just to pick up a few things, but really any kind of having a strategy. Anytime you read a book of the Bible. They have these strategies in in play, really will freshen up your engagement with God's word. 

Mentor Mama 

Ah, yes, absolutely. Well, we will put a link in our show notes so you can purchase the book. I was thinking too, even for my own self like kind of making a laminated sheet of like that I could just kind of slip in my Bible so that I can remember. 

James Coakley 

That's a good that's a good thing.  

Mentor Mama 

But just your names here, like, launching pad, OK that we need to focus on the content of the first chapters and just the little notes that will bring it back. Well. I want to ask you a couple of questions here. Our favorite questions before we let you. What Bible is your go to Bible and what translation is it? 

James Coakley 

Boy, it has moved around over the years and that as a teacher I have gone through I whenever people ask me what's my, you know, book that I use. What Bible that I use? I always say it all depends on what I'm studying or what I'm doing. If I'm, if I'm studying, I really like the American standard. If I'm just kind of in a group setting the I think the ESV has been great. I do like the NET Bible because it's a combination. The text is more what we call a functional translation text, but the notes are like formal. They give me the details of the Greek and Hebrew, so I really like that man. There's just any one of them I. Really, I like to kind of share the wealth of the different strategies and beauties of the translations that we do have available. So I'm not the 111 book one Bible only person I got to share the wealth there. 

Mentor Mama 

I'm familiar with ESV, I'm not familiar with the NET. 

James Coakley 

Yeah, it's the NETt Bible. It's not the Internet Bible. It's a New English Translation. It was put together by a number of people from Dallas Theological Seminary. And so for the for a long time, it was really only available on the Internet, but now you can get it in in hard copy form and it really is a good all-around Bible tool because the notes are extensive but they cover kind of the you know the issues they raise because oftentimes we don't know what the. Bible translators did to make a decision about how they're rendering the text. With the net Bible, the notes kind of give you clues as to why they rendered it a certain way, and it really does kind of give you an insight kind of behind this. The smoke and mirrors of the translation decisions that were made by the different publications, and so you can kind of get it right there in front of you to look at. So that's a great resource. 

Mentor Mama 

Ah, OK. We'll make sure we put links to all those in the show notes. How about do you have any favorite journaling supplies or anything that you like to use to enhance your Bible study experience? 

James Coakley 

Yeah, I tend to avoid writing in my books. I like pristine reading, you know, without those kind of things. But I do. One of the things I do quite often is I will listen to audible Bibles audio, you know, oral renditions of the Bible. And so, when I'm doing walking or I'm commuting and I like to listen to whole books. So, you know, having the whole book from start to finish. So, you know, listening to the Gospel, Matthew, in a couple of hours or if I'm out walking just to pop in one of the books of the Bible, especially one that I'm studying. I'm going to be working on the book of Matthew for today, and the word devotionals for next year. And so I'm going to start, you know, listening to Matthew on a really regular basis. And one of those will be just constantly listening to different versions of the of the Gospel of Matthew and different translations, and that really to me really kind of gets my juices flowing. 

Mentor Mama 

I love that suggestion. OK. Great idea. Lastly, what's your favorite app or website for Bible study tools? 

James Coakley 

Yeah, probably the I do like the Bible Project. I think they are doing some great work. And so, I listen to their podcasts on a regular basis. I also use some of their videos in class and they really are. I think helping people to get more. Engage with the Bible and to track along the themes of the of the biblical authors themselves. And so, I think they're doing a phenomenal job. And so, I really and kind of enjoy listening and using their resources. And I know a lot of others do as well. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, uh, excellent resource and we'll put their link below as well. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. 

James Coakley 

Ohh you are so welcome and I'm I hope that all of our listeners will just be encouraged by the fact that they can. They can really ramp up their Bible reading and it's not hard. It's not like you need a college degree. These are really simple things you can put into practice and just by by tracking some of these things, it really will make your Bible really come. 

Mentor Mama 

It sure will. You can pick up a copy of James Coakley's book, 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible. We will have the link in our show notes. Do that today and get started. Lastly, head over to the Coffee and Bible Time website for our prayer journals that will help guide and document your prayer life at coffeeandbibletime.com. Thank you so much for joining us on our podcast today. We love you all. Have a blessed day.