Read thru the Bible in a Year

Start planning now.  Jan 1st is coming, make your New Years resolutions.

With this plan you read through the entire Bible once.

The unique advantage of this plan is that there are “catch-up” days:

• To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only 25 readings. Since you’ll have several “free days” each month, you could set aside Sunday to either not read at all or to catch up on any readings you may have missed in the past week.
• If you finish the month’s readings by the twenty-fifth, you could use the final days of the month to study passages that challenged or intrigued you.

I found this bible study plan at Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Pipers church).

My wife and I have gone through it once already and are going to do it again.  You read 25 days a month then the remainder days you can play catch up or take a break or keep reading and brag about how far ahead you are to your spouse  Its also formatted into nice little bookmarks.

I found that reading with someone makes all the difference. My wife and I often talk about what we are reading and what it means or how this can be applied to our life.

bible study bookmarks (pdf format)

 

Luke 10 resources

Here are some resources that can help us along with our Luke 10 discussion.

• Luke 10 manual **HIGHLY RECOMMEND**
• Organic Church
• Pagan Christianity
• Reimagine Church

Proverbs 8 – Fear of the Lord

Once again we are face to face with this wonderful phrase,

The Fear of the Lord

Since our study of Proverbs we have heard this phrase already a handfull of times.

• Proverbs 1:7

  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

  fools despise wisdom and instruction.

• Proverbs 1:29

  Because they hated knowledge

  and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

• Proverbs 2:5

  then you will understand the fear of the Lord

  and find the knowledge of God.

So the question is, what is the fear of the Lord according to chapter 8?

 

Proverbs 7 illustration

Six steps to Sheol (death)

1. Temptation
2. Enticement
3. Excitement
4. You won’t get caught
5. Pleasure
6. Death

Poem or Riddle

Silence falling
Oh peaceful night

One, and one more
Many are the fallen

Is it possible to be conquered in a night,
By something so small in my sight?

Think upon this,
Destroyed by the touch of my finger
Yet in numbers uncountable
It seizes a land
And holds hostage every creature.

(by ted mccormick)

Proverbs 6 & co-signing

Have you ever agreed to something only to wish you hadn’t? Proverbs 6 starts out with a scenario, being the security on a loan for another person who cannot be approved for it otherwise. We are told to quickly get out of such an agreement so that you may not suffer financial loss at the hands of another person.

A modern example would be co-signing an auto loan for a friend. Lets say that this friend loses their job or stops paying the loan. You are then responsible for the loan, putting your credit at risk and possible having your property taken as payment.

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,  if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,  then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.  Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;  save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. (Proverbs 6:1-5 ESV)

If you have agreed to do such a thing, proverbs tells us to go and quickly tell your friend that you will not co-sign or put up security for a loan. This will not only save you from the possible problems of debt, but will encourage your friend to work hard and save more until they can buy on their own.

Proverbs 5 – Adultery

Prov. 5:1–23

Adultery, could there be any harder subject to address then this subject? To be blunt, it is sin. It is sin as much as lying and theft and murder. Proverbs 5 basically teaches,

1. Stay away from those with whom you would be tempted to commit adultery with
2. The affects of adultery are merciless leading to death(spiritually and possible physically)
3. Enjoy sex within the marriage relationship
4. The whole of our lives are before the eyes of the Lord

Thank you Jesus for not condemning us as our sins deserve but forgiving us as we turn to you and turn away from our sinfulness.

Proverbs 5 & Discretion

…that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. (Proverbs 5:2 ESV)

Once again Solomon instructs his son to pay attention to ‘his’ wisdom and to give thought to ‘his’ understanding. The results are discretion and guarded knowledge.

How many times have I spoke and let foolishness come out from my mouth, rather then guarding my speech so that only true wisdom and understanding comes out. I suppose at times not saying anything would be wise rather than allow foolishness to come from my mouth. Job says,

Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! (Job 13:5 ESV)

Maybe thats why monks took a vow of silence.

I did not listen…

When you are old you will groan, when your body is old and tired. You will look back on your life and say “I hated when I was taught and I resented those who tried to correct me or tell me what do. I did not listen to anyone who tried to teach me, I would not seek out those who know better!”

This is my rough paraphrase of Proverbs 5:11-13 . What is striking is the feeling of hopelessness and the negative critique after a life lived for oneself. The whole of Proverbs 5 is about following after another women and the pains that inflict the man who is not faithful to his spouse. Let us burn into our memory, or as Proverbs says, lets us write on the tablets of our hearts this image of  being old and looking back on our life. Let us not be the person who groans with hopelessness in those days. Let us be among those who know ‘the fear of the Lord’. So when we are old, we will look back over the years without this groaning.

Gods Word an object of Scorn

It is written in the book of Jeremiah,

“behold the word of Lord is to them and object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.” (Jer 6:10)

Neglect of Gods word is not just limited to Jeremiah’s time but I have seen it in my own life and in the life of others today. I have spent a good part of my christian life merely paying lip service to the scriptures. Indeed I’ve spent more time in other peoples words and teachings then the Bible itself. I have neglected the words of the bible all the while participating in religious activity. I have spent so much time listening to prophets prophesy falsely and the pastors who then teach these prophesies as something wonderful and new. All the while I was not able to discern truth. I had scorned Gods words by not studying it and memorizing it & not taking pleasure in it.  I even thought lowly of those who did spend time in the Bible. They must be legalists or fundamentalists and boring. I went to cool meetings that had electric guitar and drum saturated music on a Sunday morning. I prophesied, had spiritual dreams, I was a ‘spirit filled’ christian not one of those dry christians.

God in his mercy opened my eyes to my error and today my wife and I have gone back to basics. We are reading the Bible as though we have never read it.  We have almost finished an entire reading of the bible every day for a year and we can’t wait to start again! It has been life for us.

It was Gods chosen people Israel who Jeremiah was speaking to, Gods own people. Could this be true of us christians today?  Let us say,

“I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” (Psalm 119:16)

and,

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col 3:16)