Hebrews: The Nearness of King Jesus, Member Book

by Lisa Harper

The Hebrews Member Book includes 6 weeks of homework that can be completed between group sessions and leader helps. Homework can be completed at the learner's pace as it is not in daily format. The Book of Hebrews is a rich, dense section of Scripture that can intimidate the most scholarly biblical student. But Lisa Harper makes digging into Hebrews fun and doable, as only she can, without losing an ounce of depth. Hebrews was a sermon for a specific people and culture in the midst of martyrdom and persecution, but is also so relevant for us today, reminding us to continue walking toward Jesus regardless of our culture or our circumstances. Join Lisa as she journeys through this bridge between the Old and New Testaments to get to the heart of the Jesus is our accessible King. He is not a faraway God, but an up-close Redeemer who draws near to us. Hebrews helps women make the connection between God the Father and God the Son and reminds us that Jesus is supreme, but He is also compassionate, empathetic, and loving to no end.

Genres: Christian, Christian Non Fiction, Faith

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Lisa Harper is a hilarious storyteller and theological scholar―a gifted communicator whose writing and speaking overflows with colorful, pop-culture references that connect the dots between the Bible era and modern life. “Her God-given ability to not merely teach the Word but package it in a way that stirs the heart and calls to action is incomparable” says Priscilla Shirer. For six years Lisa served as the director of Focus on the Family's national women's ministry where she created the popular Renewing the Heart conferences. The next six years found her serving on the local level as the women's ministry director at a large church in Nashville. As the author of eleven books, and a Masters of Theological Studies with honors from Covenant Seminary, she is now a sought-after Bible teacher and speaker. Lisa was on the Women of Faith national arena tour and speaks at many other large events as well as at hundreds of churches all over the world. Lisa describes her greatest accomplishment to date as getting to be Missy’s mama.

Reviews

[Delynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Bible study group did this study along with the DVD. Lisa Harper is a wonderful presenter and I was excited to introduce her to my group. I had done a prior study of Harper's called Luke. I liked the Luke study more then this Hebrews study as I think I got more out of the Luke study. The study book didn't have as much to study during the week as her Luke study and it also had more personal questions instead of scripture reading between sessions.

[Rosemond Cates · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LOVE Lisa Harper! Her video that accompanies this book are awesome. I felt like the book itself could have had more in depth homework, etc. Well written, just not quite what I was looking for...

[Ms. Tongate, TLC Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lisa Harper is an incredible speaker. Although the study book doesn't match her video sessions and no connection between the two.

[Alessandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa just has a way of communicating the Gospel. I’ve never read something so real, vulnerable, funny and intellectually stimulating. One minute you’ll be laughing with her as she tells one of her stories, the next my mind was blown from some major theological concepts she threw down and the next I’m crying as she’s bearing her heart in such a beautiful way.

I did this for a women’s bible study and the way this ministered to me and the group of women was amazing. I would DEFINITELY recommend this to any one and everyone.

My biggest takeaway? Don’t stop. Don’t give up. The eternal promise of Heaven with Jesus is forever worth it even amidst the most dire of circumstances. He’s a Jesus who draws close and comes down to our level. A Jesus who loves us where we are and with His love lifts us to new levels of grace and mercy.

Thank you, Lisa, this was an amazing study!

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used this book to teach a seven week Women’s study. Lisa Harper is an entertaining speaker and the group loved her videos. Her writing and speaking were engaging, laugh out loud funny, and sincere in their tender moments. The information in the videos did not line up with the book particularly so it required time and effort to put together a lesson to teach. Still there was plenty material to teach and the group seemed to enjoy it. The author’s approach is more evangelical fundamentalist than my own or my church’s, so there were a couple of times where I found it necessary to point out that not all Christians agreed with the author regarding a couple of things. All in all though, I would teach one of her studies again.

[Christine Polli · Rating 2 out of 5]

We did this Hebrews study for our women's bible study. I was looking forward to doing it since I haven't really studied Hebrews. I still don't feel like I've studied Hebrews. Lisa Harper is a dynamic, funny, devoted believer. Her passion is clear and her down to earth attitude is great. I just felt that we didn't really read Hebrews and study it fully. Many of the questions in the book just didn't seem to make sense or be relevant to the intent of Hebrews. That was frustrating. It seemed chopped up and and I am not even sure we read through all the chapters. I understand the purpose of Hebrews, but I would like to know it better.

[Sep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Harper wrote an interesting and challenging Bible study on Hebrews that really met my needs. I was involved in a Bible study at my church and we had the DVDs that have her teaching each week. The "homework" was personal and the discussion questions at Bible Study were from the DVD. I felt like this was very user friendly. If I couldn't do the daily "homework" I could still attend and get a blessing from the lecture and discussion. She also had an "extra credit" question if I had more time and wanted to find out more about the subject.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did this with my Women's Bible Study Group at church this Spring. It was my first Lisa Harper study-- and I loved it! She is hilarious-- but extremely deep. The study was my first in-depth look at Hebrews, so I learned a lot. It wasn't as much of a personal growth study for me as other's have been, but still good.

[Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sythesis of the book of Hebrews is a bit of a fly-over persepctive, but that's what you're asking for when you do a study that lasts only seven weeks. Lisa is both delightfully real and hilarious, while been intentional in her look at the scripture. You will conclude this study with the same encouragement as me from the book of Hebrews: Don't give up. Jesus is greater.

[Lauren Faulk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful interactive study of Hebrews. I also found the video sessions on this website: https://calvarylife.org/hebrews-study...

It gave me a great guideline to study the book of Hebrews in my Bible and if you don’t know about Lisa Harper, she’s a wonderful story teller and can make any concept make sense with a good analogy. Loved this study so much!

[Bree Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself was an enjoyable read. The discussion questions are a little too open ended at times. I did like the bonus history sections at the end of each session. The videos are amazing! Lisa manages to be entertaining while making the Hebrews story relevant and understandable.

[DeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Biblical illustrator articles about historical significances the best. Some of the questions leading up to the main themes seemed frivolous and forced.

[Robin Fuson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent study! I highly recommend this study to do alone or with a group.

[Amy Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harper is hilarious and entertaining bringing the Word into every day living. I do feel like the study was not very deep and was a little disjointed. It was kind of all over the place.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa is just so easy to read and study. She weaves together stories that bring life to this study. I think that’s my favorite thing about the study are the applications with the stories.
I do feel like some of the discussion questions don’t gel with the topic. This is mainly reviewing the workbook part and what I have seen in our small group setting.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this with my women's group, in conjunction with the videos. Lisa Harper does a good job telling about grace, and I loved her analogy about drifting away from the faith and the rescue she had to do as the only available lifeguard at the beach. I don't think I will ever think of that verse the same way. She also did well telling other funny stories as well as the more serious one about Jesus' conversation with Peter after the resurrection. The other ladies liked how well they could relate to Lisa Harper and that she didn't put herself on a pedestal.

The women who stayed with me to the end of this study are wonderful and the discussions were good, but Hebrews is an intimidating book due to its depth in topics and we had a lot of women drop out. And sometimes the discussion questions brought only silence. I had to be OK with waiting for people to think through the questions, and/or having a backup answer of my own. I'm thinking that while I personally love the book of Hebrews, we might've been better off studying something simpler with this group of women - like maybe one of the gospels. I do think that the depth and understanding of Hebrews is important to today's Christians, but just that these particular women were not ready for it yet. That is interesting to me because I recently heard a complaint that today's Bible studies don't have much depth, and yet this one does. So, maybe it's something we as a group need to grow into. In the balance between understanding and action, this study leans more heavily into understanding, although the last session spoke about action. Most of the group had a hard time with one of the final questions explaining how the book of Hebrews leads us to "live differently."

[Wendy Stackable · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too much fluff. Not enough scripture.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lisa Harper is hilarious and can tell a great story. While doing this Bible study with a small group we all kind of concluded it was a great study to do in the summer. It was an easy read compared to other studies published by the same publisher. Sometimes the personal questions were based upon Lisa's own experience and were not applicable to many of the women in the group. For example one of the questions was "What's the craziest outfit you've ever worn to make a point or highlight a theme?" Some of the women had never dressed up and couldn't relate. Some of the personal stories were great and really connected to a Biblical application while others may have been stretched a little to get the point across. The Scripture focused portions of the study are great and her videos have great messages as well.

[Cathie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was looking for a Hebrews study for couples, but this is more suited to women's study. Really like all the personal stories.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Harper is great. Her humorous and real personal interjections mixed alongside her teaching was wonderful. It made the videos so realistic.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Bible study! Lisa Harper is an excellent teacher and speaker.

[Jencey/ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently committed to do a bible study at the church I have been attending recently in John’s Creek Georgia. I have read passages in Hebrews from the bible, but I had never studied it in a bible study. Lisa Harper's Hebrews THE NEARNESS OF KING JESUS is the first study I have done with her. I gathered with a group of ladies that were also new to the church to begin this short six week bible study.

I have featured other bible study teachers such as: Beth Moore, Elizabeth George, Jen Hatmaker, and Priscilla Shirer. So Lisa’s style is new to me. I found her teaching style to be humorous but also very pointed. The teaching seasons are brief lasting no longer than 30 to 40 minutes at the most. Some other teachers can last longer than that. I am not naming names here but if you have experience with these teachers then you know who I am talking about. The sessions cover various chapters of Hebrews. The structure is that Lisa would teach on in the video session Chapter 1 of Hebrews. Then the homework would be in Chapter 2 of Hebrews.

The homework is short most weeks. The homework starts with her sharing a story with readers. Then a passage of scripture which is followed by a section titled Lean Into Scripture. This section focuses on the actual scriptures that will be focused on in the homework that week. The next section Live the Story Out Loud is where Lisa has four tasks that you can do as part of the homework. There are also articles about Hebrews at the end of the sessions as well. Participants can choose to read them or not. She includes links where the scriptures come from in case a participant wants to go deeper.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed and learned a lot from this study. I have an enhanced appreciation for the book of Hebrews from the bible. I also learned what the book was trying to communicate to its audience of the time. Lisa is a good teacher and people will find entertaining. My only wish was that I would have had more time with the study. The study guide is written well with great points and humorous anecdotes.

This is a study worthy of your time. Lisa Harper teaches live in a series by Lifeway named Abundance. Also check out her latest book and study.