Best Bible for Teens

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Although there are many great resources for christian teens to learn more about the truths of scripture during their teen years, there is no argument that the best way for them to live out the christian faith is to read the word of god on a daily basis.

Youth ministry and youth groups are important, and youth pastors and youth workers are great at helping high school students learn and apply the Bible to the realities of life through open discussion and Bible study, but the truth is that if teenagers are going to grow to be young adults who can live out their faith in today’s world, they need to begin to have personal devotion time.

An important factor in growing in their christian life is to find the right bible for them.

Parents ask me all the time what are the best bibles for young people and how to help their kids read the Bible on a regular basis. I believe it’s important for kids to get into the habit of including the Bible in everyday life. So today, I want to talk about the best Bible for teens.

Here’s some smart advice for you: The best Bible for teens (or anyone) is the one they will read!

Tips for Choosing the Best Bible for Teens:

Let’s talk about some tips for choosing the best Bible for your kids…

Choosing the best Bible starts by choosing a good Bible translation.

A good choice for students is the New Living Translation Bible. I recently picked up a copy of this translation, and I believe it is easy to read and helps a young person stay with the bible stories while reading it. Have you ever started your bible study, but then zone out before much time has passed because you stopped understanding what the text was actually saying? A good version of the Bible will help kids read and understand god’s love for them. Other great translations for young christians are the new international version and the English Standard Version.

Choosing the best Bible requires knowing what you want to do with it.

Obviously, you want them to read it. But there’s a difference between reading the Bible and studying it. Do you want it to be a study Bible? If so, look for the best study bibles which have textual notes, a quick view of main themes of the books of the bible, and easy to understand book introductions. Some of these study Bibles give appendices or concordances as well as dictionaries of common Biblical terminology that will help the reader see the way the bible verses can be understood in today’s world. There might even be a question and answer section where students can see how the Bible applies to areas of her life. One of the special sections that has always helped me is a list of the promises of god that is almost always included in a study Bible.

Some great study bibles are:

Study Bibles are great bibles if you want to spend time really looking at If you’re looking for a Bible that is more “devotional” in its approach, you can look for a different type of Bible. Sometimes, you want a Bible for daily life and one that you can simply use for daily readings or times to reflect on what God is saying.

Choosing the best Bible requires knowing who will be using it.

Some teen girls (and boys) enjoy drawing, coloring, or journaling in their Bibles. One of the best Bibles for that is NIV journal Bible. I have a few journaling Bibles and know that they help me take notes and occasionally “sketchnote” or draw in them. They have ample space in the margins to write or draw. Another highly popular version of this kind of Bible is the NIV beautiful word coloring Bible. Young girls especially enjoy coloring and drawing, and I know this Bible has pages that are specifically for that. It would be a perfect gift for a girls ages 12-16 (and probably older).

Teen boys (and girls) often find it difficult to get past the list of books of the Bible. The teenage years can be difficult to get boys to read. There is so much vying for their attention, and the things they find on the pages of the bible don’t always excite them. It has been a struggle to get my own kids to like to read the Bible. There are a few Bibles that resemble comic books that help boys get interested in the entire bible. The action bible, while not really a full Bible, has 215 Bible stories told in picture form that tell the story of god’s love for mankind in a visual manner. It is a great idea to get this Bible for the teen guys in your life.

Other Features to help you choose the best Bible for teens

So we’ve been over study Bibles, Bibles for teenage girls, Bibles for teenage boys, and other things, but there are some other features that I believe are important when you look for a Bible that will impact your kids.

You should ask yourself if it’s important that the Bible includes a reading plan. While there are many reading plans available online, maybe you should look to see if the Bible you’re about to get has one as well. This will help your kids stay on track to read the Bible.

Is your kid going to be a college student soon? If that’s the case, you might want to look for a Bible that will help them with contemporary issues they will be facing in the university.

Is there a student edition of the Bible you’re thinking about buying? I remember getting a student edition of the NIV Bible when I was younger, and it really helped me to spend more time reading God’s Word.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no one “best Bible for teens.” There are many factors that come into play when we are trying to find ways to help our kids come to know Jesus Christ. I hope these thoughts have helped you as you look for the right Bible and that you will find what you are looking for.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, and I’ll try to help you find a great Bible for your teen.

Father’s Day Sermon Ideas

It’s almost mother’s day in the United States, which means Father’s Day is right around the corner, and social media is about to be inundated with pictures and posts saying, “Happy Father’s Day!”

I thought it would be a great idea to find out what the Word of God says about the kind of father we should be. The best way to learn about fatherhood is to look to the perfect father we have in heaven.
As pastors begin to prepare their fathers day sermon, they will no doubt speak of our heavenly father as an example to be a good father and a godly father here on earth.

When I was a little boy, I looked to my earthly father as an example of who I should strive to become. He definitely taught me a lot about how to tell dad jokes and was a great spiritual example. I love him and hope he has a happy fathers day.

As I have grown in my Christian life and into a greater understanding of the love of God, I know that no human father can be the best father they can be without the help of the Holy Spirit. When I had my own children, I gained a different perspective of what the Bible means when it teaches us about the kingdom of God and the idea of God being a loving father.

What I want to do with this article is give some father’s day sermon outline ideas as well as a look into what it takes to be a christian father. I hope they will help us learn more about the father’s plan and help men grow into great spiritual fathers and the godly man that God wants them to be.

Here are some sermon ideas (or lessons for a Sunday School class) that can be used for Father’s Day. I have also included some Bible verses to get you started as you prepare for your church service.

Father’s Day Sermons

The apostle Paul and his relationship with Timothy: This is a great way to show the importance of godly role models for young men. You can find most of the relationship between Paul and Timothy in 1 and 2 Timothy, especially the parts where he calls Timothy his son and speaks to him directly, giving him instructions and speaking to him as if he were his own father.
God as the ultimate father of every Christian: When Jesus teaches his apostles to pray (in Matthew 9:6-13 and Luke 11:2-4) he shows them a lot about the family of God. His prayer beginning with “Our Father” gives us a lot of insight into how God is our Father. You could potentially use this as a springboard to showing God’s fatherly love for His followers.
The heart of God for the entire world: In John 3:16, the Bible expresses the father’s plan to send our Lord Jesus Christ to the whole world. This shows God’s heart for the world as that of a father who wants to save His people from their sins.
The story of the prodigal son and the father’s response (Luke 15:11-32): Even though we (and our kids) make a huge mistake, the love of God never fails. We always have an opportunity for a second chance.
The relationship between the Father and His Son Christ Jesus is evident throughout the gospels. There are many passages that speak to the love and communion between the Father and the Son, which makes their relationship a great example with practical ideas for us in our earthly relationships.
What does the Old Testament teach us about Father’s Day? There are examples of Fatherhood (Abraham and Isaac), instructions for fathers (Deuteronomy 6), and many other ideas that you could use from the Old Testament for a father’s day sermon.
Father’s giving good gifts out of their great love for their children (Matthew 7:11): The New Testament passages talk about how the Father gives good gifts. The goodness of God and His grace and mercy towards His children are evident throughout the Bible, and these could be used to preach a Father’s Day sermon or teach a Sunday School lesson about the goodness of God and how we can seek to imitate Him in our relationships with our sons and daughters.
God the Father as the perfect example for how to treat our own children: This one goes with the above, but even deeper, you could go through many qualities of God as the perfect example of fatherhood.
The importance of teaching the way of the Lord to our children (Ephesians 6:4): Father’s day would be a great time to remind parents of their responsibility to disciple their children. Even the man who is a young father should understand that he needs to teach god’s word to his children. Single parents can also do the little things to bring up their children the right way according to what God teaches in the Scripture.

I hope these sermon ideas will help you as you celebrate Father’s Day this year.

A few other things to remember are that not all families are the same. A quick search on the internet will show you that fatherlessness statistics that say that 25% of all children live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. This leads to many consequences. There is much stress on this special day, and many children suffer from abuse or lack of parents in their lives. Many people have a distorted view of what fatherhood is because of the lack of examples in their lives. The church can help with this by doing the small things and helping both young people and adults understand what God intends for the family.

I hope you have a happy father’s day and that these ideas help you with your preparation for such a special day.

You Don’t Have to “Be Triggered” By Others

I overheard a conversation today where the person was describing a situation in which they were “being triggered” by someone 😡. They responded by getting in a fight and are now going through a lot of consequences of their actions. As they sat there explaining their current situation and all of the things they are going through as a result of this one incident, I thought about “being triggered.”

There are a lot of things that people do or say to us simply to get a response from us. It’s easy to fall into the trap of responding to a negative or instigating comment with one of our own.

I’m guilty. I’ve done it.

But it’s not something we “have to do.” The girl describing the situation made it seem like she had no other choice but to fight back (and, consequently, get the police called on her).

It doesn’t have to be this way.

One of the things I want my kids to understand is that they do not have to “get triggered” by what someone else says or does. Someone else’s negative actions or words do not have to start a spiraling effect where one responds aggressively because they are “triggered.” In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite. The Bible says that a gentle answer turns away anger. We don’t have to respond the way we selfishly want to respond.

My kids need to learn that they can respond with self-control even though the rest of the world says they ought to be triggered or respond either violently or at least confrontationally. A fruit of the Spirit is gentleness and self-control. If we, as God’s children, could just respond to those “triggering incidents” with gentleness and self-control, we would live much better lives and reflect God’s glory to those around us.

This is what I want my kids (and me) to learn, remember, and practice.

Christmas Humility

I recently had the incredible opportunity to preach at Gulfcoast Fellowship in Palm Harbor, FL, (it’s available on Facebook). I preached from Philippians 2, and during the week as I was meditating on the passage, I wrote this:

“Even if Jesus would have been born to extraordinary fanfare in the most extravagant palace to the most powerful ruler in the modern world, the simple act of the incarnation would have been more humble than the most humble act you or I could ever imagine.”

I invite you to read that phrase again and just sit in it for a minute.

The reality is that Christmas is the beginning of the ultimate act of humility, which is summed up in “the Christ hymn” in Philippians 2:5-11.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God has called us to be humble like Christ. He has proven over and over again that “Humble obedience is exalted by God.”

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that exalts self-promotion.

Our kids are not wired to put others ahead of themselves. Let’s be honest, neither are we. However, it is the way of God to put others ahead of ourselves and be humble. Thinking not only of our own interests, but also of the interests of others.

Imagine what the world would be like in 10 years if we instilled humility in our kids and a sense of helping others. Something I want for my kids is that they will be humble people who seek to help others.

As always, the best way for my kids to become people who are humble and seeking others’ interests is for me to model that in my own life and to show them what it’s like to be that kind of person.

As we continue in the advent season and seek to lead our families well, my prayer is that I can be an example of humility and obedience to my children.

I want them to see me serving others. I want them to see in me the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, and I ultimately want them to have that as well, putting others above themselves.

As you run around this last week of Christmas craziness, let me encourage you to put others ahead of yourself and lead your kids to be like Jesus in humility.

019 – Leading Kids with Special Needs with Kevin Kolbe

Kevin Kolbe and his wife have the privilege of being parents to Elias, also known as “Little Dude.” Elias was born with some very challenging health issues, and in this episode of the Podcast, Kevin shares a lot about their journey and how they have adapted, how God has been involved in the entire process, and gives a lot of encouragement and insight both for parents of special needs kids and other families who know someone with special needs. I know you’ll enjoy hearing Kevin’s insight.