Digital Does It Better

There are many ways to reflect on the Word of God, whether it’s through a daily devotional, sermon, discussion, in-depth word study, or book on Christian living. In today’s digital age, it’s not as practical to lug around a huge selection of reference material. By going partly or fully digital, you can carry around a wall-to-wall library’s worth of books in your pocket… all while avoiding nasty paper cuts! Here are some reasons why digital Bible study does it better.

This post is divided into six categories:

• Daily Time with God
• Reading
• Gaining Context
• Using What I’ve Learned
• Sermon Prep
• Flexibility

Essentially, the first four detail the four steps of Bible study.

1. Remembering to do it
2. Reading… the Bible, your devotional, an academic source
3. Learning about what you read
4. Applying what what you read

The last two are related to how the Olive Tree App can save you time. There are a few ways that using digital resources are so much more helpful than their paper counterparts when doing sermon prep. Additionally, there is a level of flexibility that comes with using an app. And we want to point out some things you may not realize you have control over.

Let’s get started.

DIGITAL BIBLE STUDY DOES IT BETTER: DAILY TIME WITH GOD

Devotionals, reading plans, and even unstructured times spent in the Bible are so important for our growth. But you just have to remember to do it…

This is, in my opinion, the best part of digital Bible study. Sure, there are lots of fancy features and neat shortcuts. But they don’t mean much if you don’t get into the Word. So, here is a tool that can remind you.

HOW TO SET UP REMINDERS

Once you’ve started a reading plan, find it in the list of your current plans. Tap “View Schedule” and then the alarm icon in the top-right. You can choose what time you want to be alerted on specific days of the week.

But let’s talk about devotionals…

Typically, even an ebook version of a devotional doesn’t come with much. Besides making annotations, all you can do is read it. But we took some of our most popular devotionals and made them work like reading plans. Here are what they look like:

A REMINDER YOU CAN’T IGNORE

Okay so, you’re getting reminders about your reading plan or devotional. That’s good! But you can still ignore the notification if you find yourself busy. What would be really nice is someone literally taking Scripture and putting right in front of your eyeballs for you.

We can do that.

It’s called Verse of the Day, and it really isn’t a new concept. However, we are convinced that not enough people are using it the way it was designed.

See that “read” button at the bottom? If you tap it, you can read that verse IN CONTEXT. Basically, we are jumpstarting your daily Bible reading time. All you have to do is read your notification and tap on it.

Paper books on a shelf just don’t quite get your attention in the same way.

SO, WHAT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?

The last reason that digital Bible study does daily time with God better is that you can get your questions answered! At least, you can get them answered without opening every book on your shelf, going to the library, or calling up your professor from seminary.

We’ll cover this more in the Gaining Context section.

MAKE IT APPLICABLE!

“Reading the Bible regularly is an important part of growing in your faith. I’ve always had a hard time with consistency, so I’ll try out a new devotional. I’ll set reminders for weeknights at 8 PM, when I tend to be at home and quiet.”

“I’m in the middle of a busy day at work and my phone (or watch!) buzzes with a Verse of the Day notification. That’s a great perspective-check, or a reminder to take a few seconds and quiet myself and pray.”

DIGITAL BIBLE STUDY DOES IT BETTER: READING

Now that we’ve covered ways that taking your Bible study digital gets you in the Bible more… let’s talk about how it helps you read.

First, are you a person who loses bookmarks? I do—all the time. Or that little, shiny ribbon in my Bible falls out. Either way, I’m out of luck. I have to use brainpower to remember where I was at, while, simultaneously, wasting time.

Cool feature #1 of reading with an app is that it always remembers where you left off. Simple, but a game-changer.

YOU SHOULD REALLY READ THE FOOTNOTES

Sounds boring… but it isn’t. Footnotes in your Bible often have rather useful information. Footnotes in your books (especially academic ones) are priceless. But when you’re reading from paper, you have to look really closely at the bottom of the page to discern which footnote is the one you want. Or worse, the notes are in the back of the book.

Fear no more. You can SYNC your footnotes in the parallel window. Tap the reference number in the main menu. Then select “Parallel”. The footnotes will open in the Study Center.

Let us do the hard work of keeping your footnotes up to speed with your reading. Digital Bible study wins again.

Now you’ll never miss an important piece of information.

AND YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY READ THE REFERENCES

It doesn’t matter what you’re reading: a devotional, an academic book, a commentary, study Bible notes. You’re probably going to run into one of those places that look like this:

References can be a PAIN with a paper book. Usually, you skip over them because you can’t bring yourself to get up, grab a Bible, and thumb through to find the EIGHT different verse references.

We know the pain… so we made a solution. It’s called hyperlinked verse references. All you have to do it tap. 

LISTEN HERE

Alright, so maybe you want to listen instead of read. Obviously, listening doesn’t really have a paper counterpart… but we can talk about CDs.

Not to be rude, but there are quite a few reasons to ditch the CD wagon:

• they get scratched and don’t work
• they get cracked and don’t work
• you have to have somewhere to store them
• where do you even listen to CDs now?

Sorry if we offended any avid CD-collectors. But truly, listening to audio Bibles and books in the Olive Tree Bible App can change your life. That’s because God’s Word changes lives and with the app you can listen anywhere, anytime. So many more opportunities to experience growth with digital Bible study!

Not only that, but you can read along with the audio Bible. Definitely can’t do that with a CD.

There are lots of audiobooks to learn from. Here are a few of our favorite Apologetics titles:

• The Case for Christ
• Understanding the Book of Mormon

MAKE IT APPLICABLE!

“I’m reading this eBook, and I can open the footnotes in the split window. They’ll stay in sync as I scroll! A lot of these footnotes are just references to other books, but here’s a whole paragraph of parenthetical thoughts expanding on something said in the main text! I wouldn’t have known that existed just scrolling through the eBook text.”

“In the morning, when I’m doing dishes, I love listening to my audio Bible. Later, when I want to go running, I can pick up right where I left off—but on my phone. Or maybe I want to listen to The Case for Christ…. hard choice!”

DIGITAL DOES IT BETTER: GAINING CONTEXT

If there is one thing I learned from Bible college, it’s this: Context is king.

While you’re reading difficult passages, it is always best to have several voices giving you information. With a paper library, you can organize everything to an extent. However, when you really want to know which books and resources you have that discuss a specific verse, you’re going to spend a lot of time pulling books off the shelf and thumbing through them.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Resource Guide, now is a great time to learn. Basically, we can tell you what is in your library and if it relates to the passage you’re reading—at all times.

This works with all kinds of categories:

We take digital Bible study seriously! We never want you to miss a detail.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Too many times I have wished that I could use a search bar to find something in my paper resources. Sometimes the table of contents or index is helpful. But sometimes, I really want to search for a keyword.

This is a task digital resources can do for you.

You can search through the Bible or any other book you have open in the main window.

WORD STUDIES MADE SIMPLER

Another great way to gain context is through word studies. Learning about the meaning of the word in its original language, and how it is used across all of Scripture, can bring a lot of discernment to your study!

If you’re using paper resources while doing word studies, your desk may look something like this:

When it could look like this:

Our Strong’s Tagged Bibles and Vine’s Expository Dictionary are excellent resources for word studies. Instead of going into depth here on how they work, just click the links. We’ll take you to our other blog posts where we show you step-by-step how they can change the way you study the Bible.

CROSS REFERENCES, TOPIC THREADS, & OTHER GOODIES

Using God’s Word to understand God’s Word is definitely the right way to start studying. Tools like cross references, New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, or Olive Tree Bible Topic Threads can show you information with just a tap.

If you want to learn about one of these tools more in depth, follow the link to our other blog posts:

• 6 Steps for Effectively Using Cross References
• Look Inside: New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
• Look Inside: Olive Tree Bible Topic Threads
• Halley’s Bible Handbook Deluxe Edition

MAKE IT APPLICABLE!

“I’m reading my Bible and there’s an interesting word here. I can switch to my Strong’s Bible and see the Greek or Hebrew word behind the English, see its definition, and where else it’s used. It might not even be the same English word everywhere!”

“I can remember a few words in this passage I really like… but I can’t remember where it is from! Instead of wasting time, looking through all of Paul’s writings, I’ll search instead.”

DIGITAL DOES IT BETTER: USING WHAT I’VE LEARNED

So, you’ve been reading and learning, learning and reading… but what does it mean to apply it in your digital Bible study?

A good amount of that is on you: how you choose to participate in the world and pursue God. And there are resources that can help you think though those things. But one way we can help you with is how you save what you have learned. That way, when it is time to review or share, you can quickly find your thoughts.

CATEGORIES

Inside the main menu, tap on “Notes” and you’ll be able to make a new category. Unlike paper folders, you can have an unlimited amount. I like to have three: one for personal study, one for sermon notes, and one for prayers.

You can add notes and saved passages to these categories. First, lets look at notes.

NOTES

Writing in your Bible can be challenging to do, even if you have one with space on the side specifically for writing. There’s not enough room to come back time and time again!

But you can make an unlimited amount of notes in the Olive Tree Bible App and organize (and re-organize) them however you like. You can even change the icon that appears in the Bible.

Not all of your notes have to be connected to a verse, though. Just go into “notes” from the main menu to make a new one.

If you include a verse reference in your note, it will automatically turn into a hyperlink. Just tap it to read the verse in context! And, when you’re reading the Bible, we’ll show you notes that you took on that passage in the Resource Guide.

No more thumbing through notebooks to find your thoughts on last year’s sermon series!

SAVED PASSAGES

To add a saved passage, tap the verse reference number and “save.” You can leave the title of it as the reference, or customize it.

To find your saved passages, go inside the main menu (top-left). You’ll see an item called “Saved Passages.” If you tap on it, you’ll be able to search through all of your categories, saved passages and notes. You can even add your saved passages to a specific category. Lastly… you can add TAGS.

TAGS

Create your own tags or use our topic tags to organize your notes and saved passages as well.

MAKE IT APPLICABLE!

“I’m at my church’s small group and someone asks ‘What has God shown you in the Bible this week?’ I have been dutifully tagging, saving passages, and taking notes. By sorting my annotations by date, I can see everything I’ve pondered this past week.”

“I’m reading my Bible and I see a verse that gives me comfort. I’ll highlight or add a Saved Passage and tag it with ‘Comfort’. I was talking to a friend recently who is going through a hard time – later I’ll see them again and I’ll be able to look at all my annotations tagged with ‘Comfort’.”

“I’m sitting in church taking notes on the sermon. I’ve got folders of notes from different sermon series and topics. Later I’m reading my notes in small-group meeting, and the verse references are hyperlinked for me automatically. I can share what I wrote and easily read the passage without having to pause and look up the Scripture.”

DIGITAL DOES IT BETTER: SERMON PREP

When you’re in the research stage, keep things organized with multiple windows and lots of resources. You can really rely on the Resource Guide to give you insight on your passage for the week.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR IDEAS

Think of a great idea and try to add a saved passage? We’ll let you know if you’ve done that before. You’ll also want to take full-advantage of the info in the previous section. With organized notes, tags, and saved passages—you’ll be ready to sit down and piece together next week’s sermon.

BE INSPIRED

Study sermons by other pastors. We’ll let you know in the Resource Guide if there is one on the passage you’re preparing.

USE YOUR NOTES WHILE PREACHING

If you choose to use your notes while preaching, remember the hyperlinking verse references! If you type them ahead of time, you can just tap while you’re preaching. Then the passage will immediately pop up for you to read.

DIGITAL DOES IT BETTER: FLEXIBILITY

Last, but not least, is our miscellaneous group of features that we believe showcase the flexibility of digital Bible study.

DARK MODE

Reading from paper in dark light can be hard on your eyes. But reading with a bright phone before bed is not a good solution either. We’ve made a dark theme for our apps, along with a dark mode for Mac. This way, digital Bible study can always be a healthy option.

CHANGE THE FONT

In the quick settings, you can change the font inside the app. We love this feature because we were able to include the OpenDyslexic font. So, if you have dyslexia, hopefully this will make reading the Bible easier!

MAKE CHANGES

You can edit and delete notes. You can make your highlighter your favorite shade of blue and then change it to a purple underline. Anything is possible… no erasers required.

Do you believe us that digital does it better? Hope so!

Put some of these features to work today by getting into God’s Word.