Using sermons in the Olive Tree Bible App is a great way to get accurate yet relatable commentary on the Bible text. We have sermons from preachers still alive and from those long gone. When you read sermons from various preachers, you get the opportunity to see Scripture from a new perspective, whether that be from a different century, culture, or denomination.
If you haven't downloaded your sermons yet, you will find the download steps for your device(s) in this Help article.
In this Help article, we will go through a few ways to use sermons in the Olive Tree Bible App. We will be using the Spurgeon's Sermons, The Complete Set (63 Vols.) in our iOS app as an example, but these steps should work with most sermon collections and within any of our apps on supported devices.
Open in the Main Window
One way to view your sermons is in the main window. This will allow you to read the sermons as you would an eBook. Open the sermons from the Library. To access the Table of Contents and navigate between sermons, simply tap on the navigation menu.
This will reveal the Table of Contents.
Linked Verses
Many of our sermons offer a handy feature called Linked Verses. This means that as you're reading, you can simply tap on the hyperlinked verse referenced in the sermon to have a pop-up display of that verse.
You can even set a default Bible version for Linked Verses, so that your preferred translation shows in these pop-up windows. Here are the steps you can follow to set this up:
- Tap the Settings icon on the toolbar (gear icon).
- Tap Advanced Settings.
- Tap Hyperlinks.
- Tap Default Bible for Hyperlinks.
- Tap your desired translation or the Last Opened Bible.
Please note the above steps are for the iPad/iPhone app platform, so exact steps to change your default Bible for hyperlinks may vary.
Open in the Parallel Window
Another way to view sermons is in the Study Center's Parallel window. This option will allow you to have the sermons open side by side with your Bible text. For this example, I have opened the English Standard Version (ESV) in the main window. You can choose any Bible from your Library.
Next, tap the green 'Open Study Center' bar at the bottom of the screen.
Select the 'Parallel' option and tap on your desired sermon set from the list of resources.
This will display the sermons side by side with the Bible text.
Open in the Resource Guide
Your sermons may also be enhanced to work with the Resource Guide. You can see if your sermons are enhanced by checking the product page.
This feature allows you to open your preferred Bible translation in the main window and see relevant “hits” from your sermons in the Resource Guide that correspond to your location in Scripture in the main window.
First, select the green 'Open Study Center' tab.
Next, select the 'Resource Guide' tab (lightbulb icon) to make sure you have the Resource Guide open. By scrolling down to the Sermons section, you will be able to see all entries that are related to the text you are viewing in the main window.
Conclusion
We hope that this introduction to using sermons in the Olive Tree Bible App has been helpful for you. You can find all of our sermon titles on our website!
If you have any more questions, please submit a request to our Customer Support team here. They are happy to help!