Reading the Bible is Like watching a sunrise, like eating, like filling your cup, and like exercising

I wrote this post initially at the end of 2016. I'm updating it now (Dec 2020) because I want to use it to encourage you to read the Bible and specifically to invite you to join a Bible Reading group I'm starting on Facebook. We plan to read through the New Testament in 24 weeks together starting on January 1, 2021. You will be able to read either online or use your favorite Bible at home. We will each read individually, but will share encouragement, insights, questions, and thoughts as we read God's Word. You may find and join the Facebook group here:

Treasuring God's Word

Updates to this post will be in blue italics.

Shortly before Christmas, I finished reading through the whole Bible.  I started on January 4^th of this year. (I read through the Bible again in 2018 and it was a blessing again! Since then I've been reading and studying it, but not reading straight through it.) What a blessing reading through the Bible has been!  Every time I pick up God’s Word and read, He blesses, encourages, and guides me.  Sometimes people say “every time”, but they mean “most of the time”.  But I really mean “every time”.

Reading the Bible is like . . .

Watching a beautiful sunrise

Just because you have seen many beautiful sunrises does not mean that seeing a sunrise tomorrow morning will fail to fill you with a sense of God’s glory and majesty. Each sunrise is a little different, even though it is the same sun.  In the same way, even though I have read the Bible many times in my life, God always shows me new beauty from His Word.

Also, as you watch the sunrise you see the world around you more and more clearly.  In the same way, the more I read the Bible the more I see and understand how God is working in my life and in the world around me.

Eating

“I ate yesterday, so I really don’t feel a need to eat today.”  I never say anything like that!  In the same way that we need physical energy and nutrition every day, we also need spiritual energy and nutrition every day.  Do we want to be spiritually stronger and healthier?  We should read our Bible regularly.

Filling your cup with good stuff

A friend of mine explained that we are all like cups full of something.  As we go through the day, whatever we are full of will spill out on others whenever we are “bumped”.  If you are full of the Holy Spirit, then God’s love, truth, and power will spill out and bless others around you.  If not, well, it isn’t pretty.  Prayerfully reading God’s Word each day fills us with good blessings which then bless others around us.

Exercising

When you first start exercising it is hard and you can’t do a lot. But the more you exercise the stronger you get and then you can exercise even more.  In the same way, when a person first starts to read the Bible they often do not understand much of it.  But the longer you read it, the more you will understand it.  But reading the Bible is different from physical exercise in this way:  as we get older our ability to do physical exercise often diminishes.  But even as we grower weaker physically, God allows us to continue to grow stronger and deeper in knowing Him.

Broad and Deep

Now after saying all that, I admit that I’m not planning to read through the entire Bible again in 2017.  Is that hypocritical?  I hope not!  I believe it is good to alternate between Bible intake that “broad” and Bible intake that is “deep”.  Reading through the whole Bible in a year is a good example of “broad” Bible intake.  Memorizing passages of the Bible, repeatedly and thoughtfully reading the same passage or book of the Bible many times, meditating on the Bible, and in-depth Bible study are methods of “deep” Bible intake. Broad and deep are both good when it comes to feeding on God’s Word!

Practical Help for Reading through the Bible in a Year

If you’ve never read through the entire Bible, or if it’s been a while, I recommend reading through the Bible in 2017 (update: 2021!).  There’s nothing wrong with just starting in Genesis and reading straight through until you’re done (in which case you will need to average 3.26 chapters a day).  I’ve done that before.  But I find it easier to use a Bible reading plan.  You can find and print out a copy of the Bible reading plan I used this past year here:

http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/files/2013/12/DeRouchie-KINGDOM-BRP.pdf

If you want more Bible reading options, including options to read through the Bible at a slower pace over two years or options you can start any time of year, see the great collection of plans and information at Justin Taylor's blog here:

http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2015/12/28/reading-the-whole-bible-in-2016-an-faq/

Here are a few tips to help with any Bible reading plan:

1.  The sooner you get started the better!  Why not start today or tomorrow?

2.  Set apart a regular time, like early in the morning.  It doesn’t take that much time.  At an average reading pace, just reading would take an average of about 10 minutes/day.

3.  Always pray before you read.  Be willing to stop and pray often while reading.  This may expand your reading time to 15 or 20 minutes.  It will be worth it as the Holy Spirit applies God’s Word to your heart, life, friends, family, church, and work.

4.  If you miss a day, or even several weeks or more, don’t let that defeat you.  God is full of grace.  Just start back where you left off.  As soon as you do, you’ll notice the blessing!  And if it takes you more than a year, that is not a sin.  It’s not a race or a competition. But it is a battle.  The world, your own flesh, and the Devil will try to stop you. With God’s help you can overcome!

5.  If you get stuck in the tough parts (such as some of the rules in Leviticus, some of the genealogies and records of families, or some sections in the prophets which are hard to understand), don’t give up.  If you need to skim through these sections or even skip some of them, that’s ok. There is some good stuff even in the “tough sections”, but it’s better to skip them than to get bogged down and give up.  Still, if you can make it through them, I think you will be glad you did.  One advantage of the reading plan I used is that it combines sections from different parts of the Bible each day, always including something from the New Testament.

Most of all:  Just Do It!

May God bless you through His beautiful, powerful Word in 2017.

Update for 2021:  As mentioned above, we have a Facebook group for friends who will be reading through the New Testament together the first half of this year.  Here is the link:

Treasuring God's Word

We plan to use this Bible reading plan, which allows reading online or even listening online, or you can still read the "old fashioned" way.

 
 

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .

What is it Like to be Delivered from 7 Demons?

I have been preaching through the wonderful Gospel of Luke.  This last Sunday I was up to Luke 8:1-3.  There are a number of truths which can be drawn from these three verses, and I covered some of these in the first half of my sermon.  But as I was preparing to preach, one phrase especially stood out to me:

Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out

As I worked on the sermon, I felt that this short phrase should be the main focus and climax of the message.  I spent time reviewing what the Bible teaches about demons and deliverance from them.  From this prayerful study came the last twenty minutes of the sermon.  Now you might not expect a discussion of demonization to be encouraging and uplifting.  But when Jesus gets involved and there is deliverance and amazing grace and stunning transformation, a message which discusses demonization suddenly becomes a message of great hope and encouragement.

I know this is subjective, but I felt like the Lord wanted me to share just the part of Sunday’s message which is about demonization and deliverance.  It is my earnest prayer that God will use this message in the lives of those who watch it in the following ways:

1.  If anyone who watches it is being oppressed by evil spiritual forces, I pray that they will find the same deliverance in Jesus which Mary Magdalene found.

2.  I pray that God will use some of you to help other people who are oppressed by the enemy to find freedom and transformation in Christ.

3.  I pray that everyone who watches the video and thinks about this Biblical account will be greatly encouraged by God’s amazing grace and be filled with hope as we realize what God does for people.  God takes very broken people and not only heals them, but transforms them into valuable servants for His Kingdom work.

Here’s the video.  It’s just twenty minutes.  May God bless you and guide your thoughts as you watch it:

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .

Thanking God for Other Christians

This Thanksgiving take some time to follow the inspired example of the Apostle Paul and thank God for other Christians you know.

I found 14 Bible passages where Paul is giving thanks for other Christians.  Here they are.  You should be able to place your cursor over any of these and see it pop up:

Acts 28:15

Romans 1:8

Romans 6:17

1 Corinthians 1:4

Ephesians 1:15-16

Philippians 1:3

Colossians 1:3-4

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

1 Thessalonians 2:13

1 Thessalonians 3:9

2 Thessalonians 1:3

2 Thessalonians 2:13

2 Timothy 1:3

Philemon 1:4-5

Paul gives thanks to God for other Christians for many reasons, including:

encouragement he receives from them

their faith serving as a testimony to God’s good work

their freedom from sin and obedience to God

their love

their partnership in the gospel, which included supporting Paul

their hard work, labor, and endurance for the cause of Christ

. . . and more

Paul gave thanks for specific Christians, for Christians in churches he helped to start or helped to grow, and he even gave thanks for Christians whom he had not personally met but only heard about.

In general, we thank God for other Christians because every new Christian is evidence that God’s great plan is succeeding.  We thank God for every Christian who is growing in their faith because we see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work.  We thank God for every believer because they are a source of light and love in this world.

I want to follow Paul’s example and give thanks for other Christians.  I hope my example here will encourage you to thank God for other Christians you know and hear about.

* I thank God for my parents and the Christians at Montrose Baptist Church who helped lead me to the Lord when I was a child.

* I thank God for Pastor Jim Schneider and the huge way God used him in my life during the time God was preparing Hope and I to serve Him overseas.  I also thank God for the other dear brothers and sisters in Christ at Pleasant Valley who blessed Hope and I in so many ways and helped us to grow.

* I thank God for David Finell, Bill Jones, and other professors at CIU who helped train, equip, and prepare Hope and me for service among an unreached people group.

* I thank God for our dear Indonesian brothers and sisters in Christ whom we love so much.  I thank God for their courage, strength, and faith as they serve our Lord and spread His truth in a difficult setting.

* I thank God for those who served alongside us in Indonesia.  I thank God for a couple now living on the West Coast who were a source of constant encouragement to us and many others through all sorts of difficulties.  I thank God for another couple whose many years of service in Southeast Asia and perseverance through many trials has been an inspiration to myself and many others.

* I thank God for all those Christians who gave some of their own money to help support Hope and I and the work we are called to, both during our years overseas and at the two churches we have served in since returning.

* I thank God for some faithful believers who stood with me through a very painful and difficult time at my previous church, and especially for one brother in Christ who helps many people in many ways (he recently helped fix a small hole in the roof of our house after the last big storm, and I have seen him helping many people in similar ways).

* I thank God for the very supportive members of Severn Baptist Church.  I thank God for the way they use their many gifts to serve both in and outside the church.  I thank God for the “Women of Faith” who are such an outstanding example of Christian love for one another.

* I thank God that He has blessed me with a brother who is a brother and two sisters who are sisters.  Karen, Kim, and Craig are constant sources of encouragement and blessing in my life.

* And of course I thank God for Hope and Joy!  Being blessed with such a wonderful, godly, beautiful, wife and daughter is a gift so valuable that I know it can only be a result of God’s amazing grace!

The only downside to sharing my thanks to God for other Christians in a list like the one above is that I cannot possibly include everyone I am thankful for.

I have learned to follow Paul’s pattern.  There is nothing at all wrong with thanking other people directly when they help or bless us.  But there is something even better:  thanking God for other people and telling them that we thank God for them.  When we thank God for other people, and let them know we thank God for them, they are encouraged and God is glorified.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Today and throughout the year.)

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .