Very Good - Bible Study Book with Video Access

Women today wonder if God is for them, if the Bible is for them, and if the church is for them. From Genesis to Revelation, we learn that our Creator offers life, purpose, joy, and conviction to us—women made in His image. Our God is generous, merciful, and immeasurably loving. In Him, women have profound freedom and security to live the lives we were made for.

In this 7-session Bible study, Jen Oshman helps you see how God delights in women and calls them to be an essential part of His eternal, redemptive story. Through a careful study of passages in Genesis, the Old Testament law, the Gospels, Acts, and Paul's Letters, you’ll discover the truth of what God's Word says about women. Encounter women like Deborah, Esther, Mary, Priscilla, and others, who embraced God’s call on their lives. This study will unveil the joy it is to be a woman, created by God, and living in step with Him and for His glory.

See how very good it is to be a woman.

Features: 

• 7 teaching videos from Jen Oshman, approximately 21-30 minutes each, available via redemption code printed in the Bible study book 
• ​7 group sessions and 6 weeks of in-depth personal Bible study unpacking passages throughout the Bible on the value and role of women
• Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groups

Benefits: 

• Decipher the culture and context for Old Testament laws related to women and New Testament teaching on women in the church and home.
• Gain perspective on the value, worth, and purpose of women, created in the image of God, living out God’s mission in the world. 
• Learn to interpret Scripture for yourself, gain confidence in talking about it with others, and practice living out its truth.
• Move from confusion to clarity on what the Bible says about women throughout the whole story of Scripture and why it matters to women today.
• Investigate what the Bible does and does not say about gender expression, roles, and stereotypes.
• Disentangle modern cultural perspectives on women from timeless biblical principles.

• Session 1: God's Creation Is His Joy (25:30)—If we are to know ourselves, we must first know the God who made us, including His character and purposes. This teaching session reveals that just as our salvation in Christ is a grace, so is our origin. Creation itself is the expression of a generous and loving God. It releases us from a performance mindset, or any false burden that we must earn God’s approval or love. God’s creation of humans—and therefore us as women—is the overflow of His love and pleasure. A right understanding of our Creator is key. Understanding His delight in us makes us free to enjoy him and glorify Him.
• Session 2: The Creation of Eve: What She Means for You and Me (30:34)—It was not good for Adam to be alone. God made a helper (a strong Hebrew word) for him so that the two might carry out God’s commission to them in His creation. The creation of Eve is beautiful and rich with meaning. Not only was Eve essential for the commission and calling God gave to humanity, but she’s essential to the story of Christ. Her union with Adam points to the mystery of our union with Christ!
• Session 3: Was It Good To Be a Girl in Ancient Israel? (29:22)—The Old Testament Law easily offends the sensibilities of modern-day women. Laws about menstruation, jealousy, and widows appear to be sexist and brutal. If we believe our God is good and unchanging, we cannot ignore the Old Testament, including His Law and His relationship with Israel. In this session we will look at three different laws and seek to better understand God’s purposes and character, as well as the context of ancient Israel. Ultimately, we will see how Jesus fulfills the law, and we will rejoice in the forgiveness and righteousness that He alone can give.
• Session 4: You Are Here: Redemption + Mission (27:26)—In this teaching, we’ll look closely at the women who were on mission with Jesus in Luke 8:1-3. We’ll see that women are not only invited, but necessary, for the mission of God to go forward. Though we wonder and waver at times, Jesus has definitively revealed that women are invited and required on mission with Him!
• Session 5: Does Paul Want Me to Wear a Head Covering? (35:04)—What is God’s role for women in ministry in the age of Redemption + Mission? We start with a teaching session on this passage on head coverings and women because it will afford us two opportunities. The first is to dip our toes into the waters of gender roles in the New Testament. The second is to demonstrate how to do good biblical hermeneutics. There is a way to show up in worship and in the world, which honors God, our gender, our spouses, and our churches.
• Session 6: We Are Family: Sisters and Mothers on Mission Together (31:26)—The primary way the Bible refers to Christians is family. We belong to Jesus, and we belong to each other. We are redeemed brothers and sisters, on mission together. Our primary and eternal family as Christians is our faith family. While our earthly families have value, they will not last for eternity, as our faith families will. Under Christ, our mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers are other Christians. We’ve been adopted. Jesus is not afraid to call us brothers and sisters.
• Session 7: Women Restored in the New Heaven and New Earth (30:46)—In this last session we admit the elephant that has been in the room all along. While it’s Very Good to be a woman, it’s also very hard. Women and girls endure a disproportionate amount of violence, discrimination, and inconveniences in a world that feels like it favors men. But this world is marked by sin, and the next world will not be so. We are destined for the age of Restoration in the new heaven and the new earth.