Stone Soup for Five: DIY Personalized Gospel Notebook Tutorial

DIY Personalized Gospel Notebook Tutorial



What is the gospel?  A couple of years ago I realized that I didn't have a great answer for that question beyond a basic one.  And I knew I needed to spend some time thinking through a decent working definition of what the gospel is.  I wanted it to be a personal understanding that affected my life... not someone else's definition.

Step one, of course, was to make a journal dedicated just to this.  After adding to it for about a year, I want to share it with you because it's not only deeply meaningful to me, but it also unexpectedly became a wonderful reference tool for my prayer times, and a great go-to for when I'm discouraged or overwhelmed.  

So here's the step-by-step tutorial on how to set up your own Gospel Notebook


Supplies:
  • A pretty and sturdy journal (Just a small notebook or composition notebook would be great—my first one was actually a small 5.5x8” notebook I had from MacKenzie at Bold Turquoise.  Then I made another one with a Traveler's Notebook insert by Webster's pages, but there are some less expensive ones too.)  Make your own notebook something you like, but not so crazy expensive that you are afraid to write in it. 
Set up:
  • Divide your notebook up into 6 sections and stick a sticky note or tab on the start of each new section for now.
  • Label your tabs:  
    • quotes
    • I was
    • Christ did
    • I am
    • Christ is
    • why?
  • Now look through your sections, you might want to adjust them slightly to make the quotes section bigger, and the "I was" section a bit smaller.
And that's it!  Your journal is set up and ready to use!  Now when you hear or read anything that is true of the gospel, write it on the correct page.  I’ll give you some scriptures to start with.  Some might fit onto more than one page, go ahead and write them on any and all pages where you think they should go.  This book is yours to do what you want, so don’t get locked up with perfectionism, instead use it as another way to soak in the truth of God’s word and worship Him.  Mistakes are allowed!




Here are some verses to get you started.
· Ephesians 1  (in this chapter there are truths to write in just about every section of your gospel project!)
· Mark 10:45
· Romans 5:8
· Romans 6:23
· Romans 8:1
· Romans 8:32


 · 2 Corinthians 5:21
· 2 Corinthians 8:9
· 1 Timothy 1:15
· 1 John 4:10
· Revelation 5:9
· Galatians 3:13
· Ephesians 2:4-5

 · Philippians 2:6-8
· Colossians 1:19-20
· Colossians 2:13-14
· Titus 3:4-7
· Hebrews 2:14-17
· 1 Peter 2:22-25

When you are done with these verses, keep reading your Bible and finding more truths to add.  Add quotes you hear, definitions you read, anything Gospel related to the notes and quotes section too.  I keep this notebook with my Bible so every time I read I can jot down notes in it.

Also, if you are a subscriber, I've also made some free PDF files for you to print out and use.  The password to access the page is in all the emails you'll get from me now on, including the one you got for this blog post!  


29 comments:

  1. Yay, I cannot wait to get started on this (so I'm not!)! Thank you, Kari, for putting this together. You work and everything you share is such a blessing!

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  2. As an avid journaler, I am always looking for ways that other journalers use to keep their thoughts and ideas. This is perfect. Thank you for sharing this.

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    1. Awesome! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

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  3. Love, love, love. <3, <3, <3 (I hope that's right... I'm not all that up on textspeak)

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  4. I'm curious...could you give an example of a quote that you have in your Gospel Project notebook? :)

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    1. Great question! I think as you start doing this, these quotes will stand out more and more to you, I know they did to me. Here are a few: "The gospel is a declaration: Jesus is Lord. Jesus finished the work of salvation." -JD Greear "The gospel redeems and re-forms." -Pastor Kerry "The word of the gospel is a word of mercy, grace, and pardon." -John Owen "The gospel isn't about making bad people good-it's about making dead people alive."

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    2. Oh, those are great - thank you!

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    3. The last quote, "The gospel isn't about making bad people good - it's about making dead people alive," took my breath away. Praise God!

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  5. I am getting an URL error when I try to open the pdf file after putting in the password. Are others having the same problem?

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    1. I am not getting an error. Maybe it is your browser? I accessed it from my PC in Chrome.

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    2. I got the same URL error in Chrome. When I used IE, it worked just fine.

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    3. I got the same error then I went back and put it in ALL CAPS then it worked

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  6. I'm rather new to studying the bible. Could you give a few examples from each one of these categories as a little clarification so I can get a better idea of what to look for? I see in the picture the "Christ is" section and in from the comments some "quotes" but some examples from the others to get me started would be a huge help. Like I said, I'm new to all this and I seem to bee getting easily overwhelmed even tho these categories sound self explanatory.I love this idea and look forward to using it to grow in my understanding off Christ, just need a little help getting started. Thanks!

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    1. These are great questions. I will do another post with some more information!

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  7. I can't wait to start this project. As a new believer this is a great study tool. Thank you

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  8. This sounds like it would be good to do and I am going to try it. I love the tabs and the example you gave. Thank you for this.

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  9. This is an older post but I can't tell you how much it blessed me today. We are studying discipling others in my small group and I started a notebook of resources es and the is perfect! I love how God timing works! Is it okay if I share it with others in my group?

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    1. Of course! So thankful you found this. I need to do an updated post because mine has definitely grown!

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  10. Just found your site and stumbled on to your two year old Gospel notebook post. Don't know if you will see this and can answer, but could you please clarify what the "I am" and "I was" sections represent? Thank you for sharing.

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  11. Kari, I am trying to get the PDF files for the tabs for this journal, but both links on the subscriber page just bring me to this tutorial page. HELP!

    Thanks!

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    1. Hi Linda, click on the box that says gospelnotebook tabs, not the words and that will take you there. I'll fix that link error. Thanks!

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  12. Is there another post giving examples of each category? Or can you give an example of each category?

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  13. Kari, What an inspiration, I am a GRANDma, and my boys are in their late 20's to thirty's. I am retired now and really have enjoyed your bible and prayer journal yout'tube videos. I am a perfectionist and it halts me. I say I have diarrhea of ideas and constipation of results. So I am as of today just going to start. God doesn't expect me to be perfect. I just need to start! So I am, I have paper started and hopefully going to keep replacing section by section as I go. When I do make them I hope to make all at once a few to give to my prayerful friends. A personal gift inspired by you. Thank you, please continue to post, you are a blessing and an inspiration. Thank you and stay safe during Covid it is dangerous out there!

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    1. Yes! Just start! Keep me updated!

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    2. Haha! That's me! Diarrhea of ideas and constipation of results. I love to gather supplies, but when they're all in front of me, I freeze up. I don't want to mess up the supplies. =)

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  14. Thank you Kari for this. I am starting my journey with the Lord.

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