July 21, 2025
What The Bible Is
What comes to mind when you open your Bible—excitement, confusion, or maybe even a little bit of both? In today’s episode, hosts Richelle Alessi and her husband Chris Alessi are here to guide us as we explore the foundational question: what is the Bible? Together, we’ll discover the unique structure of the Scriptures, why it’s more like a library than just one book, how its different sections and stories fit together, and practical ways to approach it with confidence. Whether you’re a longtime reader or just starting out, we’ll learn valuable tools to make the Bible approachable and meaningful in our daily lives.
Let’s join together as a community in prayer and devotion, seeking a deeper understanding of God’s Word and encouraging one another on our faith journey.
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WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.680
You're listening to my Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1316.
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.559
Today's Devo is called what the Bible Is.
00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:25.519
Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven.
00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:59.170
This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. Good morning, everybody, and happy Monday. My name is Rachelle Alessi, and I get the privilege of being with you guys this week. And I'm actually very excited because I'm bringing in my husband, hey, hey, Chris Alessi, to help me with this entire week. And the reason why I wanted to do this is because I know that we've been actually answering questions that you guys have been asking us to answer. I wanted to bring him in to just answer the question, what is the Bible? And this is even something we discussed on a Sunday morning.
00:00:59.409 --> 00:01:13.569
Yeah. Here at our church. And we just wanted to give you guys extra tools that when you open up your Bible, not just when you listen to us, but when you go back home and you open up your Bible and you're reading, you feel confident enough to know what you're opening.
00:01:14.049 --> 00:01:17.810
And it also makes you just not so intimidated by the Bible.
00:01:17.969 --> 00:01:35.659
And so listening to us is a great start, but what we really want is for you to open up your own Bible. And so I have my husband, Chris Alessi, so take it away. Well, I'm glad to be here and thank you for asking me to be here. So a couple weeks ago, I just preached a message on the Bible and you kind of talked about.
00:01:36.060 --> 00:03:06.370
We were talking back and forth about, like, really just providing the basics, because there's a lot of talk about what the Bible is. And, you know, part of the goal of our heart, even as a couple, is to get people in the Bibles. And so I think this could be a great start for it. And as we're providing you your daily dose of heaven this morning, I'll tell you, you'll get your daily dose of heaven when you read the Word and you do it as often as you can. And so one of the things that we wanted to do was just to be able to kind of present points that will help make the Bible more approachable, more understandable, and make it to where everyone can have a good relationship with it. So the first point about what the Bible is, you know, maybe you've heard this before, but the Bible really isn't a book. It's a library of books. And that's important to understand because it's not like some people will say, like, oh, it's a love letter. And it's like, yes, there's an aspect of a love letter. They say, oh, it's like a training manual. It's like, yes, there's definitely an aspect of a training manual. Well, the reality is that before it's any of those things, it's a bunch of individual books written by different people. In fact, like, this point is actually really cool, but it's written by over 40 different human authors over a span of 1500 years, originally written in three different languages. And only 12 to 15 of those authors ever even met each other. And so it's important to understand that the Bible is, like, amazing because it was the Spirit working through people over a long span of time.
00:03:07.180 --> 00:04:15.449
And so one of the things that people always ask us is like, where should I start? And I think every pastor might have a different answer for that. But to give you kind of a sense of what the Bible actually is and what those books are, the Bible is laid out thematically. It's not laid out chronologically. So if you read left to right, you're not going to read the order of the events. You'll read the themes that the Bible was put in. And so the first five books of the Old Testament. The Bible is made up into two testaments. The Old Testament is 39. The New Testament is 27 books. But the Old, the first five is the law or the Torah or the Pentateuch. It's really the foundation of Israel. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They're written by Moses to tell us the story of creation, Israel's origins, the covenant, and God's laws. And you should really be thinking, if you're reading it, that Moses is trying to encourage a people that had been through a lot, which means when these books were written, they weren't in the promised land yet. So he's writing to people who have been wandering in the desert. So we're supposed to be encouraged if you happen to be reading the first five books.
00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:55.329
That's the purpose of it. He's trying to bring order to the people while they're in the desert. Of course, the next couple are the historical books. Joshua through the Book of Esther. They're just telling you some of the history once they enter into the promised land. It covers the conquest of the promised land, the years with Kings, David and Saul and the rest, their years of exile and even their return, which I read this morning in the Book of Ezra. And then you move into the wisdom and poetry books, which is Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon. These are all about a deep reverence for God. Songs, prayers, Proverbs, deep questions about life. Why do we hear about Job?
00:04:55.910 --> 00:06:20.899
Because it gives us such a picture of the depth of grief and questioning God and what that looks like without ever sinning. You get into the major prophets, which is Isaiah, all the way to Daniel, which is the prophets warning Israel and pointing to a future hope. They're only considered the major because they're bigger, they're longer. Because then you get into the minor prophets, which is Hosea, through the end of the Old Testament in Malachi, which are just more prophetic books, still powerful, just shorter. Real quickly, the New Testament, the first four books are the Life and Ministry of Jesus. They're the Gospels. You move into the Book of Acts, which is really the story of the early church, the spread of the Gospel, and ultimately the history of Paul. It's important because the Next group are 13 letters that are really given to Paul. Paul wrote these 13 books, Romans all the way through Philemon, written to churches, individuals. They unpack theology in Christian living. And this is really important because to go back to church history, the reason Acts ends up being so Paul specific is because people needed to know before they read Paul's words that Paul was not Saul anymore, that he was now Paul. Then you get into some just general epistles, Hebrews all the way through the Book of Jude. These are just kind of like the prophets, but they're just fleshing out more of the theology that Paul even laid out and Christ had laid out.
00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:42.629
And then you get into Revelation, which to end very quickly. The point of Revelation is to encourage you that we win in the end and God could be trusted. So we've already gone over a minute, but the main point here is to know when you find yourself in Scripture. There are points to the books that you're reading, and those points will really reflect what you're pulling away from them.
00:06:42.629 --> 00:07:08.149
So hopefully that gives you a sense of what the Bible is today. Yeah. And like we said, this is meant to just encourage you and give you confidence. When you open the Bible, you know a little bit more about it and it's not so scary. And when you break it up in these little categories and even gives you a desire to say, I want to go learn about this. I want to read this and so push through. I promise you you're going to love this week.
00:07:08.149 --> 00:07:15.240
It's not just full of information, is tools to help you read your Bible in your own time. Chris, can you pray us out? Yes Lord.
00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:33.439
I just pray that you would help everyone through your spirit to get into your word and pull your truth from it. It is what our greatest foundation could ever be built on. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:49.180
We pray these devotionals empower you to take take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.680
You're listening to my Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1316.
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.559
Today's Devo is called what the Bible Is.
00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:25.519
Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven.
00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:59.170
This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. Good morning, everybody, and happy Monday. My name is Rachelle Alessi, and I get the privilege of being with you guys this week. And I'm actually very excited because I'm bringing in my husband, hey, hey, Chris Alessi, to help me with this entire week. And the reason why I wanted to do this is because I know that we've been actually answering questions that you guys have been asking us to answer. I wanted to bring him in to just answer the question, what is the Bible? And this is even something we discussed on a Sunday morning.
00:00:59.409 --> 00:01:13.569
Yeah. Here at our church. And we just wanted to give you guys extra tools that when you open up your Bible, not just when you listen to us, but when you go back home and you open up your Bible and you're reading, you feel confident enough to know what you're opening.
00:01:14.049 --> 00:01:17.810
And it also makes you just not so intimidated by the Bible.
00:01:17.969 --> 00:01:35.659
And so listening to us is a great start, but what we really want is for you to open up your own Bible. And so I have my husband, Chris Alessi, so take it away. Well, I'm glad to be here and thank you for asking me to be here. So a couple weeks ago, I just preached a message on the Bible and you kind of talked about.
00:01:36.060 --> 00:03:06.370
We were talking back and forth about, like, really just providing the basics, because there's a lot of talk about what the Bible is. And, you know, part of the goal of our heart, even as a couple, is to get people in the Bibles. And so I think this could be a great start for it. And as we're providing you your daily dose of heaven this morning, I'll tell you, you'll get your daily dose of heaven when you read the Word and you do it as often as you can. And so one of the things that we wanted to do was just to be able to kind of present points that will help make the Bible more approachable, more understandable, and make it to where everyone can have a good relationship with it. So the first point about what the Bible is, you know, maybe you've heard this before, but the Bible really isn't a book. It's a library of books. And that's important to understand because it's not like some people will say, like, oh, it's a love letter. And it's like, yes, there's an aspect of a love letter. They say, oh, it's like a training manual. It's like, yes, there's definitely an aspect of a training manual. Well, the reality is that before it's any of those things, it's a bunch of individual books written by different people. In fact, like, this point is actually really cool, but it's written by over 40 different human authors over a span of 1500 years, originally written in three different languages. And only 12 to 15 of those authors ever even met each other. And so it's important to understand that the Bible is, like, amazing because it was the Spirit working through people over a long span of time.
00:03:07.180 --> 00:04:15.449
And so one of the things that people always ask us is like, where should I start? And I think every pastor might have a different answer for that. But to give you kind of a sense of what the Bible actually is and what those books are, the Bible is laid out thematically. It's not laid out chronologically. So if you read left to right, you're not going to read the order of the events. You'll read the themes that the Bible was put in. And so the first five books of the Old Testament. The Bible is made up into two testaments. The Old Testament is 39. The New Testament is 27 books. But the Old, the first five is the law or the Torah or the Pentateuch. It's really the foundation of Israel. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They're written by Moses to tell us the story of creation, Israel's origins, the covenant, and God's laws. And you should really be thinking, if you're reading it, that Moses is trying to encourage a people that had been through a lot, which means when these books were written, they weren't in the promised land yet. So he's writing to people who have been wandering in the desert. So we're supposed to be encouraged if you happen to be reading the first five books.
00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:55.329
That's the purpose of it. He's trying to bring order to the people while they're in the desert. Of course, the next couple are the historical books. Joshua through the Book of Esther. They're just telling you some of the history once they enter into the promised land. It covers the conquest of the promised land, the years with Kings, David and Saul and the rest, their years of exile and even their return, which I read this morning in the Book of Ezra. And then you move into the wisdom and poetry books, which is Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon. These are all about a deep reverence for God. Songs, prayers, Proverbs, deep questions about life. Why do we hear about Job?
00:04:55.910 --> 00:06:20.899
Because it gives us such a picture of the depth of grief and questioning God and what that looks like without ever sinning. You get into the major prophets, which is Isaiah, all the way to Daniel, which is the prophets warning Israel and pointing to a future hope. They're only considered the major because they're bigger, they're longer. Because then you get into the minor prophets, which is Hosea, through the end of the Old Testament in Malachi, which are just more prophetic books, still powerful, just shorter. Real quickly, the New Testament, the first four books are the Life and Ministry of Jesus. They're the Gospels. You move into the Book of Acts, which is really the story of the early church, the spread of the Gospel, and ultimately the history of Paul. It's important because the Next group are 13 letters that are really given to Paul. Paul wrote these 13 books, Romans all the way through Philemon, written to churches, individuals. They unpack theology in Christian living. And this is really important because to go back to church history, the reason Acts ends up being so Paul specific is because people needed to know before they read Paul's words that Paul was not Saul anymore, that he was now Paul. Then you get into some just general epistles, Hebrews all the way through the Book of Jude. These are just kind of like the prophets, but they're just fleshing out more of the theology that Paul even laid out and Christ had laid out.
00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:42.629
And then you get into Revelation, which to end very quickly. The point of Revelation is to encourage you that we win in the end and God could be trusted. So we've already gone over a minute, but the main point here is to know when you find yourself in Scripture. There are points to the books that you're reading, and those points will really reflect what you're pulling away from them.
00:06:42.629 --> 00:07:08.149
So hopefully that gives you a sense of what the Bible is today. Yeah. And like we said, this is meant to just encourage you and give you confidence. When you open the Bible, you know a little bit more about it and it's not so scary. And when you break it up in these little categories and even gives you a desire to say, I want to go learn about this. I want to read this and so push through. I promise you you're going to love this week.
00:07:08.149 --> 00:07:15.240
It's not just full of information, is tools to help you read your Bible in your own time. Chris, can you pray us out? Yes Lord.
00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:33.439
I just pray that you would help everyone through your spirit to get into your word and pull your truth from it. It is what our greatest foundation could ever be built on. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:49.180
We pray these devotionals empower you to take take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.