Author: biblereadingchallenge

Daily Encouragement

April 19 – Cities of Refuge

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TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Joshua 19:1-20:9
  Luke 19:28-48
  Psalm 88:1-18
  Proverbs 13:12-14

The City of Refuge

Joshua 20:2 — What’s the big deal with these Cities of Refuge? Moses spent a whole chapter (Numbers 35) talking about them! John Barnett of Discover the Book explains that Hebrews 6:17-20 talks about those who have fled for refuge to Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from “Christ, Our City of Refuge:”

The elders of the city would investigate the case. If he was acquitted of intentional killing, he must remain within the city until the death of the high priest. We have fled to Jesus Christ, and He is our eternal refuge. As our High Priest, He will never die (Heb. 7:23-25); and we have eternal salvation …

  1. God Himself appointed these cities of refuge (John 3:16)
  2. God’s Word announced these cities of refuge (Joshua 20:7-8, Acts 4:12)
  3. Anyone could access these cities of refuge (Joshua 20:9, John 3:16)

Luke 19:38 — Jesus the KING enters as Zechariah 9:9 prophesied. He also rebuts the Pharisees by referencing Habakkuk 2:11, part of the passage prophesying judgment coming upon Israel (Habakkuk 2:8).

Luke 19:43-44 — Jesus the PROPHET foretells the destruction of Jerusalem, as reported by Adam Clarke:

Cast a trench about thee – This was literally fulfilled when this city was besieged by Titus. Josephus gives a very particular account of the building of this wall, which he says was effected in three days, though it was not less than thirty-nine furlongs in circumference; and that, when this wall and trench were completed, the Jews were so enclosed on every side that no person could escape out of the city, and no provision could be brought in, so that they were reduced to the most terrible distress by the famine which ensued. The whole account is well worth the reader’s attention. See Josephus, War, book v. chap. xxii. sec. 1, 2, 3.

Luke 19:45 — Jesus the PRIEST cleansed the temple again in preparation for the destruction of Jerusalem. Joel McDurmon has a long post on why Jesus cleansed the temple twice:

Jesus [is] fulfilling the role of the High Priest visiting and inspecting the touch of affliction/corruption in the house. This is described in Leviticus 14:33–53. It accounts for the multiple visitations and the repeated act of removing the corruption, then finally pronouncing the house (temple) unclean and decreeing the total destruction of the house.

Psalm 88:1 — What to do when in despair and facing destruction? Call out to the Lord daily (Psalm 88:9)!

Proverbs 13:14 — What chapter of the Bible does this sound like? Perhaps Psalm 119?

IMPORTANT: Just a reminder – I may reference other sources from time to time. Quotes and hyperlinks are not an endorsement of ministries, but they merely indicate that I found a resource interesting. No authors are endorsed by me … I can’t even endorse myself! Search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11)!

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Illustrators of the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Encouragement

April 18 – Zacchaeus and the Other John Newton Hymn!

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TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Joshua 16:1-18:28
  Luke 19:1-27
  Psalm 87:1-7
  Proverbs 13:11

Joshua 17:16, 18 — Similar to Judges 1:19. Charles Spurgeon preached a great message on “Chariots of Iron.”

Excavation at Site of Ancient Shiloh

Joshua 18:1 — The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh. In 1 Samuel 1:3, the Tabernacle is still at Shiloh during the time of Samuel. Jeremiah writes that it was the first place where God set His name (Jeremiah 7:12).

Luke 19:10 — From Earl Martin:

Luke 19:2 — Zacchaeus’ story is only found in Luke.

Here’s a video of the story:

A pastor shared with me a simple outline for preaching on this passage:

  • Jesus sees me (Luke 19:5)
  • Jesus knows me (Luke 19:5)
  • Jesus saves me (Luke 19:9)

Luke 19:13 — Occupy till I come. How are you doing with your occupying? Are you faithful, or are you burying your talent?

Psalm 87:2, 3, 5 — If you have never been to Jerusalem or the Holy Land – make plans to go! You’ll never read the Bible the same way again! John Newton, author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” used Psalm 87:3 to inspire the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken.” Instead of an English rendition, here’s a Korean rendition so you can see the worldwide impact of godly music.

Proverbs 13:11 — Diligence is a virtue. Proverbs 6:6-8, 10:4, 12:24, 13:4, and 21:5 emphasize this. As does Galatians 6:9, James 1:12, Ecclesiastes 9:10, and Philippians 3:14.

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Modern Khirbet Seilun, Abraham Sobkowski OFM, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Encouragement

April 17 – Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior

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TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Joshua 15:1-63
  Luke 18:18-43
  Psalm 86:1-17
  Proverbs 13:9-10

1750 Map of Palestine

Joshua 15:63 — The Jebusites weren’t driven out in the time of the Judges (Judges 1:21), and the Levite refused to spend the night in Jebus (Judges 19:10). It wasn’t until 2 Samuel 5:7 that Jebus was taken and became Jerusalem.

Luke 18:18 — This passage is the first to note that he was a ruler. Interestingly, this account is in all three Synoptic Gospels.

Luke 18:37 — Like the blind man, let’s call on Jesus before He passes by!

Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Psalm 86:1 — What kind of person will the LORD hear? The poor and needy (Psalm 40:17, Psalm 70:5, Psalm 72:13, Psalm 109:22, Jeremiah 22:16). The contrite (Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 66:2). The poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). The brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51:17, Psalm 147:3). The humble (Psalm 9:12, Psalm 10:12, Psalm 10:17, Proverbs 16:19, Proverbs 29:23).

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5, James 4:6).

Proverbs 13:10  — Speaking of pride, it not only separates you from God but from your friends through contention.

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Lotter, Tobias Conrad, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Encouragement

April 16 – Revive Us Again!

biblereadingchallenge

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Joshua 13:1-14:15
  Luke 18:1-17
  Psalm 85:1-13
  Proverbs 13:7-8

Joshua 13:1 — A pastor and his wife called their kids together to let them know that the mother was expecting once again. Growing up with the KJV, one of the kids replied, “But mother, you’re well stricken in years!” We’ve seen Moses lead and pass on, and now it’s Joshua’s time to pass on. But there is still work to be done!

Joshua 14:6 — Notice some things about Caleb’s request of Joshua – he was asking for the scariest part of Canaan – the land of the children of Anak that scared off the other ten spies (Numbers 13:22). We have here an …

  • Old promise (Joshua 14:6) given to an …
  • Old man (Joshua 14:10) who was eventually buried in an …
  • Old tomb (Genesis 23:19, Genesis 25:9, Genesis 49:30, Genesis 50:13) … this was where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried 450 years ago!

Because of Caleb’s faithfulness, he regained the burial place of the Patriarchs and the monument to God’s faithfulness to His people. He left his descendants a legacy:

  • Place of refuge (Joshua 21:13)
  • Place of miracles (Judges 16:3)
  • Throne of David (2 Samuel 2:11)

Joshua 14:12 — As we talked about earlier, Caleb waited 45 years to take the mountain. That inspired the song:

I want that mountain! I want that mountain!
Where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of Eshcol grow,
I want that mountain! I want that mountain!
The mountain that my Lord has given me.

Luke 18:1 — From FaithLife:

George Mueller

GEORGE MUELLER, the great Victorian Christian and social reformer, tells a story of persistent prayer in his diary:

In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted.

Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two, sons of one of Mueller’s friends, were still not converted. He wrote, “But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.” In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray daily, without interruption, for these two men, they were finally converted—but after he died! Mueller understood what Luke meant when he introduced a parable Jesus told about prayer, saying, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).

Are you crying day and night to Him?

Psalm 85:6 — Revive us again!

We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

Proverbs 13:7 — Riches are not obtained by accumulation.

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Encouragement

April 15 – God’s Warning about and Protection from Horses

biblereadingchallenge

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Joshua 11:1-12:24
  Luke 17:11-37
  Psalm 84:1-12
  Proverbs 13:5-6

Assyrian War Chariot

Joshua 11:6 — Interesting to note God’s warning against trusting in chariots and horses. In Deuteronomy 17:16, God commanded that the kings of Israel should not multiply horses. In Deuteronomy 11:4, Moses reminds the Israelites that God took care of the army of Egypt and their horses and chariots. In today’s reading, Joshua faces a number of horses and chariots (Joshua 11:4), but God says that Joshua will hough (“hamstring”) their horses. He can’t capture them, but he can disable them. In 2 Samuel 8:4, David houghed most of the horses, but not all. In 2 Samuel 15:1, Absalom prepared for himself chariots and horses. In 1 Kings 4:26, Solomon built stables for 40,000 horses (a clear violation of Deuteronomy 17:16), and even worse, they were Egyptian horses (1 Kings 10:28 and Deuteronomy 17:16)! However, God is not against horses – He happens to have chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17).

Luke 17:19 — Because of the faith of the unclean Samaritan leper, he not only had physical healing, but he had spiritual healing, too!

Luke 17:34-36 — From Jimmy DeYoung:

At the Rapture those who are Christians will be “taken” into the heavenlies to join Jesus, forever. However, when a passage is referring to the Second Coming the ones “taken” are the ones who go to “judgment” and the ones “left” will “rule and reign” with Christ in His Kingdom to come.

To better understand this principle Jesus gives us the last verse in Luke 17. When asked where the people would be “taken” the Lord said, to “where the eagles be gathered together”, verse 37.

In that context, you may want to read Job 39:27-30 which explains that where the “eagles gather together is a place of judgment.” Therefore, those “taken” in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17 and 21 are all taken to judgment.

The ones “left” are the ones who will join Jesus to rule and reign. At the Rapture, a different event from the Second Coming, separated by at least seven years, the ones “taken” are the Christians.

Psalm 84:2 — What is your heart longing for?

Proverbs 13:6 — There doesn’t seem to be a middle way between righteousness and wickedness.

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/old-engraving-illustration-of-assyrian-war-chariot-royalty-free-image/1459138992

Get Ready

Get ready to join us for the 2024 Bible Reading Challenge!

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Welcome to the 2024 Bible Reading Challenge, presented by VCY America. Join believers around the world as we together read through the entire Bible in 2024. Many people start a Bible reading plan but get lost in the genealogies, lack an easy to use reading plan, or just need friendly encouragement to keep going. We’ve provided the tools to help you succeed in your 2024 Bible Reading Challenge!

  1. Motivation from research about the need to read God’s Word each day
  2. A detailed list of what God’s Word can be for you
  3. Three easy to use tools (print “daily reading” Bible, online mobile app Bible plan, or a booklet with the passages for each day) to help you track each day in the Word.
  4. Joining our email team – we’ll encourage you each day to stay faithful. We’ll share observations, testimonies, and ways to get the most out of the Bible.
Get Ready

What will your obituary read? The memoirs of James H. Brookes

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brookes2c20james20h-crop
James H. Brookes

I was researching some figures in Church History and came across James H. Brookes, a Presbyterian minister who led the Niagara Bible Conferences – an interdenominational meeting committed to the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. From Chapter 12 of his memoirs:

 

Many and many a time Dr. Brookes has been asked: “How did you obtain
your mastery of the Scriptures?” His answer was to the point: “By studying it.”

His idea of Bible study, however, was very different from that of most men. So familiar was he with the Scriptures, that it has been said in all seriousness by admirers: “If all the Bibles were destroyed, Dr. Brookes could produce one from memory.”

On one occasion, while preaching at a conference in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the editor of a New York semi-religious publication was present. He had heard of Dr. Brookes’ marvellous power of quoting the Scriptures, and he determined to test it.

On a note book, during the sermon, he jotted down every verse quoted. Utterly amazed, the man went to Dr. Brookes after the sermon, and pointed out that he had quoted verbatim, almost a hundred separate Bible texts; giving not only the words, but the chapter and verse.

From his earliest youth Dr. Brookes was a Bible student.

As a child he had been expected to learn and quote much Scripture; and his mother was scrupulously careful that the quotation was faultlessly exact. She held that to misquote in the slightest degree was something almost a sin. It was God’s Word, she said, and must be studied, and repeated exactly, or not at all.

(Alas, how would her soul be torn if she heard some of the wretched misquoting of the Scriptures — where any is quoted at all — in many pulpits, even Presbyterian pulpits, today! A sermon was heard by the writer in a St. Louis Presbyterian church, in 1897, in which the Savior was “quoted” as saying certain words which no man, even with a magnifying glass, can find in any portion of the New Testament.)

The influence of that training was marked throughout Dr. Brookes’ career. The Bible was his vade mecum (a handbook or guide that is kept constantly at hand for consultation). He pored over it. He, so to speak, absorbed it. He knew it, and he knew everything worth knowing that had been written about it.

He kept himself thoroughly posted, too, as to the work of the destructive German critics (and their servile American “Men Fridays”) whose hope of recognition and worldly success, in the former country — and to a growing extent in our own— lies in their power to win notoriety, and gather about them a following.

There have been certain deluded men who have ignorantly implied that Dr. Brookes knew little but the English Bible.

It would not be charitable, though doubtless true, to say that he could have taught them Hebrew, Greek and Latin. But it is only a simple fact to state that he was an expert scholar in ancient languages. While in German and French he laid no claims to a profound study, as in the ancient tongues, yet he could easily read both those languages. He studied the German theological professors’ “sensation”-seeking utterances in the original, something which (let it be said under the rose) it is to be doubted if many of their subservient followers in American seminaries can do, with all their I’m-holier-than-thou air of philologic eruditeness.

This acknowledged champion of the Plain People’s English Bible knew all that they did concerning the Bible in the original [languages], and a great deal more, in numerous instances. Having delved deeply into the roots of words, and the textual study of men and times, he was fully equipped to battle with the destructive Biblical critics in their own camp. He saw through the pretensions of many alleged great textual scholars, and despised their lofty and exclusive assumption of sacred learning….

On blank pages of his Bibles, and on the margins of the printed pages, in small, perfect penmanship, he wrote down with the utmost care the rich results of his life-long labors. Only a photograph can adequately describe those marvellous “notes,” and only the multitudes who “heard him gladly,” and the greater multitudes who have read his books in many languages, know the value of them.

bible notes

To make himself certain as to the use of any one word, he thought nothing of reading the entire Bible through for that particular purpose. If the word appeared three times that fact he established for himself. He believed in being his own concordance. (It should be added here, that he was urged scores of times to
write a concordance.)

It was often his custom to read the Bible through three or four times during a summer vacation.

When he wished to fortify himself as to any doctrine from the Bible, he, of course, read the Bible through with such especial end in view. The passages were carefully marked.

When he reached the end of Revelations, every text bearing on the topic was at his tongue’s end. He had gone to the court of last resort, and all was settled.

The results of that tremendous labor would then be written down, briefly and beautifully, in a portion of his Bible. Dr. Brookes was constantly urging men
to study first the Bible itself, and then the books about the Bible.

He believed too many preachers, young and old, held the books “about the Bible” to be far too important.

Yet he was a great bookman, and his library was a “thing of beauty.” The four walls of his large study were crowded with theological lore, and to the day of his last illness he kept close watch on new works, and secured all the worthy ones.

 

Williams, David Riddle. James H. Brookes: A Memoir. St. Louis: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1897.

Read it online free at Google Books 

Get Ready

Stats on Bible Reading & Morality

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Have you read thru the entire Bible?

53% of people think the Bible should be read at least once, 40% say more

But only 20% have read it even once, and only 9% read it “over and over”

Do you read the Bible daily?

  • Barna Research: 13% of Americans read it daily
  • Indiana University: 9% of Americans read it daily

On a totally unrelated note…. people believe we are in a moral decline

Four out of five adults (81%) believe the morals and values of American are declining.

  • 72% of Millennials
  • 83% of Gen-Xers
  • 86% of Boomers
  • 93% of Elders
  • nearly all Bible Engaged adults (95%)
  • the majority of Bible-Skeptics (59%)
  • the majority of Bible-Hostiles (63%)
https://1s712.americanbible.org/cdn-www-ws03/uploads/content/State_of_the_Bible_2017_report_032317.pdf

There’s still time to join us for the 2018 Bible Reading Challenge!

Get Ready

Crosstalk America: Jim & Randy share the 2018 Bible Reading Challenge

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2018 Bible Reading Challenge
​Date:        December 6, 2017
Host:        Jim Schneider
Listen:      ​MP3 ​​​​| Order Jim began with a question for Randy: How is our Bible IQ as a nation and as a church are we reading our Bibles?

Randy’s response my sound shocking but it’s true. He indicated that many people aren’t reading anything. A recent study found that one out of four adults haven’t opened up any book in the last year.

Randy quoted the following statistics from Al Mohler:

–Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.
–Many Christians can’t identify more than 2 or 3 of the disciples.

According to data from the Barna Research Group:

–60% of Americans can’t name even 5 of the 10 Commandments.
–82% of Americans believe ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is in the Bible.
–The majority of adults believe the Bible teaches that the most important purpose
in life is taking care of one’s family.
–Over 50% of graduating high school seniors thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were
husband and wife.
–A considerable number of respondents thought the Sermon on the Mount was
preached by Billy Graham.

Obviously this shows a great lack of biblical literacy. This shouldn’t surprise us when you consider that only 45% of those who regularly attend a church read the Bible more than once a week. 1 out of 5 people who attend church regularly never read the Bible at all. And the most scary statistic Randy found? 80% of Americans have never read the Bible through even once.

On the flip side, Back to the Bible’s Center for Bible Engagement did a study of those who read the Bible just 4 days a week. Here’s what they found:

–You’re 57% less likely to get drunk.
–You’re 68% less likely to have sex outside of marriage.
–You’re 61% less likely to engage in pornography.
–You’re 74% less likely to engage in gambling.
–You’re 228% more likely to share your faith with others.
–You’re 231% more likely to disciple others.
–You’re 407% more likely to memorize Scripture.

The key is to have a plan and a way to get started. One way to do that is through the 2018 Bible Reading Challenge that was presented on this edition of Crosstalk. It involves use of The One Year Bible published by Tyndale. This King James Version paperback is divided into 365 portions. Each day (15 minutes per day) you’ll read a portion from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms and Proverbs.

More Information:

To obtain your KJV paperback edition of The One Year Bible for a donation of just $15 or more (price includes shipping) call 1-800-729-9829 or go to www.2018bible.org