Genesis - Leviticus: God Builds a People for Himself tells the story of Israel’s roots. From the creation of all things to the creation of Israel as a nation at Sinai, this course studies God’s process of building a nation to represent Him on earth. It is the foundation for understanding the struggles and triumphs of the relationship between God…

Numbers-Joshua: The Tragedy of Fear and the Glory of Faith is a study of contrasts. Israel’s fear prevented them from entering the land God promised to give them, resulting in the story of wandering and death recorded in Numbers. In contrast, the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua record the preparation and triumph of faith as the people allowed God to…

This course, Judges-1 Samuel: Israel’s Choice From God-Rule to Human-Rule, covers the books of Judges, Ruth and the book of 1 Samuel. These books contrast Israel as they rebelled against God’s rule in the period of Judges, but Ruth gives a snapshot of obedience during that same period. 1 Samuel examines Israel’s amazing transition from having God-as-their-King to having men-as-their…

2 Samuel-2 Kings: The Difference Leaders Make will guide students through a study of Israel’s kingdom era—as a united nation and as a nation divided into Israel and Judah. It not only covers this critical time in Israel’s history, but also provides an essential foundation for studying Israel’s prophets.

1 Chronicles - Nehemiah describes the fact that while Israel and Judah flaunted their disobedience in God’s face and persecuted His prophets, He kept His commitment to His covenant promises. Chronicles traces the Davidic kings through whom God would bring His Messiah. Although God exiled His people, Ezra and Nehemiah tell how He restored them to their land and life.

Pressure and pain are realities of life. One of the verifying realities of the Old Testament record is its openness about the difficulties God’s people often suffered—and were often confused by. This course, Lamentations-Job: God’s Path Through Pain, studies three books that deal head-on with the pain and pressure often associated with being God’s people.

Times change and life’s issues take new forms. Solomon never sat in a traffic jam on the freeway and we never fret over an attack by the Philistines, but human emotions remain the same. In this course, Proverbs-Psalms: Singing the Sounds of Real Life, students will study the distilled language of Israel’s poets as they sang the songs of their…

God’s prophets stood up and spoke out when it was very unpopular to do so. As men with a message from God, they were preachers with a message that God-rejecting Israel and Judah wanted no part of. This course, Daniel-Micah: Studies of Integrity—Good Men in Bad Times, presents the men, their messages and their times.

This course, Ecclesiastes-Isaiah: God Guides His People Through Poets and Prophets, takes students through two of the Old Testament books of poetry and then introduces them to the writing prophets—who also used a great deal of poetry in their writings. Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs present the importance of living life under God’s direction. Isaiah introduces the prophetic literature, which…

In this course, Jeremiah-Ezekiel: Human Failure and Divine Success—A Study in Contrasts, students will learn about two prophets whose ministry related to Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonians. This unthinkable event—that the city where God lived in His temple could be destroyed—is studied as a threat in Jeremiah and as a historical reality in Ezekiel. Both the miserable failure of God’s…

Jonah-Habakkuk: The God of Israel and the God of the Nations is a course which demonstrates the fact that while God had chosen Israel as His covenant people, His compassion extended beyond Israel to all people. The course presents prophets whom God sent to Israel’s great oppressor and prophets God sent to Judah.

The prophets studied in this course, Haggai-Malachi: No Substitute for Obedience, ministered after Jerusalem’s destruction and, in Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, during the return and reconstruction of Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon. They demonstrate God’s concern for all His people, Jew and Gentile, and emphasize the essential place of obedience to His moral will.

New Testament Basics: Things We Thought We Knew provides an introduction to the New Testament as it surveys vital information that guides the student’s thinking in the study of the New Testament books. This information is both basic and essential to an accurate understanding of New Testament Scriptures.

Matthew - Mark: Two Presentations of Jesus introduces students to the Gospels as literature and then focuses in on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.  Students will study the specific purposes of each book and how the writers told the account of Jesus’ life to accomplish their unique goals.

Luke - John: Two Interpretations of Jesus provides two different renditions of Jesus’ life and ministry.  Adding the perspectives of Luke and John to those given by Matthew and Mark will provide additional detail and explanation to the incredible life of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

During Jesus’ time in Galilee, He introduced the basic rules of life for the Kingdom He was offering to His people.  This course, Jesus in Galilee: Popularity and Misunderstanding, studies the great Galilean phase of Jesus’ ministry, which is the setting for the Sermon on the Mount, and then actually studies the Sermon itself.

As amazing as it seems, the people Jesus came to save actually rejected Him.  In Luke-John: Jesus in Judea - Opposition and Rejection, students will survey the Judean phase of Jesus’ ministry and gain insight into His teachings and actions that increased the Jewish opposition to the point where they would turn one of their own countrymen over to the…

Most people recognize the fact that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the turning point of world history. After His resurrection and ascension, His disciples spread His Church across the Roman Empire and changed the world. Acts: Crucifixion, Resurrection & Proclamation will add depth to the student’s understanding and appreciation of these world-changing and individual life-changing events.

The New Testament epistles to the Galatians and Thessalonians are Paul’s earliest preserved letters.  In them, he began to lay a theological and behavioral foundation for Christian belief and conduct.  This course, Galatians - 1 Corinthians: Paul’s Earliest Letters, surveys these early writings.

The Corinthian church was planted in a moral cesspool. The people who came to Christ and formed that church brought a wagon-load of philosophical, religious, and moral baggage with them that made this a tough church. The two letters we have from Paul to the Corinthians deal with some of the most thorny spiritual and moral issues addressed anywhere in…

Rome was the capital of the world. Although Paul hadn’t yet visited there when he wrote his epistle to the Christians at Rome, he wanted to make certain they were clear on what the Gospel really was. In the Roman epistle, we have Paul’s great theological statement on God’s salvation. Later, Paul was imprisoned in Rome while waiting for his…

This course, 1 Timothy - Hebrews: Letters to Pastors & a Church Struggling to Believe, combines three letters of instruction to young pastors and a letter to a church struggling with its foundational beliefs. The Pastoral Epistles provide doctrinal and tactical help to those who lead God’s people; and Hebrews presents Jesus Christ as the sovereign Savior and Lord of…

Unlike Paul’s epistles, the general epistles were not addressed to a particular city or person. These letters deal more with the broader topics of suffering and the dangers of false teachings and unbelief among Christians. This course, James - Jude: Letters to Everyone – General & Johannine Epistles, covers these epistles.

In Revelation: The Book of Revelation – The End and the Beginning, the New Testament and the Bible culminate with this glorious description of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. All of history’s events are culminated in this fantastic story of Christ’s ultimate triumph over evil and the restoration of all things to their created design.

The term hermeneutics can be intimidating. It sounds academic and is foreign to most of our vocabularies. However, the act of interpretation is as common as communication itself. This course will instruct in various parameters for biblical interpretation and will show how specific methods are applied to Bible study.

This course is designed to introduce you to the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. The teaching method is systematic, but it locates each topic within Scripture and with reference to formative historical concerns. The course assumes that you have some basic familiarity with the Bible.

The course recognizes that the discipline of theology itself is not well understood, and…

Church history is the heart of His story, God’s kingdom work on earth. This course explores the development of the Christian church from Pentecost to the present day. It covers key people and events that God used throughout history to bolster His Church and also those negative influences that infected her.

Faithful Christians have always recognized the importance of the progress of biblical history, especially as it relates to humanity’s fall into sin and to God’s redemptive work. The discipline of biblical theology arose as a means to study this progress in responsible ways. Much like systematic theology, biblical theology organizes theological ideas in ways that increase our understanding of Scripture. But whereas…

Spiritual formation is a topic of discussion in many circles. We all long for intimacy with God, but how is spiritual growth and maturity developed? What are the dynamics in which God most often works in the heart of believers to make them like His Son, Jesus Christ? In this seminar, Dr. Richard Averbeck addresses these and other questions in…

How is spirituality formed both in private and in community? This course explores the meaning of biblical Christianity and its relation to faith and practice, giving special attention to spiritual formation through prayer, meditation, and personal disciplines. The lectures form a paradigm of spiritual growth and maturity that will affect both the individual and the church.