Isaiah 39:3 — Joshua said the same thing about the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:6). Seek the LORD first before you start making alliances (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Isaiah 40:3 — John the Baptist quoted this to identify his role (John 1:23, Mark 1:3).
Isaiah 41:10 — Another great verse to memorize thanks to another good friend, Earl Martin:
Ephesians 1:1 — We’ve read Paul’s doctrinal discussions with the Romans, his dealings with the deep troubles of the Corinthians, his disputations with the defecting Galatians, but now we read of his delight in the Ephesians!
Ephesians 1:11 — Notice how “inheritance” is used three times – we’ve obtained an inheritance through Christ (Ephesians 1:10), the Holy Spirit is the “down payment” (Ephesians 1:14), and there is unknown riches of glory ahead (Ephesians 1:18). All things, starting with our redemption, are through Jesus Christ!
Psalm 66:3 — As we mentioned before, the English language has devolved. “Terrible,” from the Latin “Terreo“ 66:18 — The psalmist shares with us this important truth about prayer. As we see sad tales of pastors falling into sin, we realize that their sins were done in secret. What’s sad is that, like David, it’s possible to spend a year as the leader of God’s chosen people, and yet not spend any time with God (2 Samuel 11:27).
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.
Isaiah 37:1 — We read earlier in Kings and Chronicles that Hezekiah finally, after losing 46 cities and strip mining the Temple for the gold, entered the temple to pray.
Isaiah 37:2 — Interesting that Eliakim and Shebna are working together. Isaiah 22:20 says that Eliakim was more devout and replaced Shebna from his position. Also, interesting that instead of Isaiah speaking, Isaiah is spoken to.
Isaiah 37:6 — “Fear not” is found 48 times in the Old Testament. “Be not afraid” is found 19 times.
Isaiah 37:14 — God had delivered once through disinformation (Isaiah 37:7) but allowed the threat to return – this time Hezekiah went to God first!
Isaiah 37:16 — What makes the God of Israel different from other gods (Isaiah 37:12)? This God is the Creator of heaven and earth! No other god has created anything – much less heaven and earth! In fact, they were no gods (Isaiah 37:19).
Isaiah 37:33 — He shall not shoot an arrow? Nor come with shields? Let’s look at the Lachish Reliefs (now in the British Museum). This miracle would be done not for the faithfulness of Hezekiah (took him 46 losses to turn to the LORD), but for the LORD’s own name’s sake!
Sennacherib’s Siege of Lachish
Isaiah 38:5 — The LORD who took life in Isaiah 37:36, now gives life (Isaiah 38:5).
Hezekiah shares his testimony: “My life was miserable (‘great bitterness’), but God so loved me that I should not perish, because He has forgiven me!” As the Psalmist says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psalm 32:1)
Hezekiah was a good king (Isaiah 38:3), but his goodness could not save him for Hezekiah was still a sinner (Isaiah 38:17). But God forgives those who call upon His name – The LORD is ready to save (Isaiah 38:20)!
Galatians 6:1 — At the Christian school I work at, this was one of the verses I challenged our staff with at In-Service. We have a responsibility not just for ourselves but for our fellow brethren as well. Restore the fallen. Bear their burdens (Galatians 6:2). It’s not enough to say, “I’m ok – but the Joneses are struggling.” Love one another!
Galatians 6:6 — It is appropriate and good to share financially with those who have shared with you spiritually.
Galatians 6:9 — The Christian School teacher’s life verse! Pray for those who are serving in high stress fields!
Galatians 6:13-14 — Paul exposes motives. Those teaching obedience to the Law really don’t care about the Law, only about getting a following. Paul didn’t care about a following but in being faithful!
Psalm 65:7 — Who stills the noise of the seas (Psalm 89:9, Psalm 107:29)? The God of our Salvation (Psalm 93:4)! Interesting that this predated God’s calming of the seas after Jonah (Jonah 1:15), and the LORD’s calming of the sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:26). Yet the disciples didn’t connect His action to His deity (Matthew 8:27).
Proverbs 23:24 — Is the joy of a father found in the hours spent at the office or in the raising of a wise and godly son? Steve Jobs was an interesting example. A brilliant inventor, but by most accounts, he was a bad father. While he was alive, his fame for invention grew, but now his tales of parenting are edging out his reputation.
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.
_____ Image Credit: Sennacherib’s Siege of Lachish. generationword.com/bible_museum/biblical_artifacts/Sennacherib_siege_of_Lachish.html.
Isaiah 33:15 — More of the “disciplines of a godly man” – walking right, speaking right, spurning dishonest gain, controlling his hands, ears, and eyes. Self-control is the marks of a man following the Lord!
Isaiah 33:22 — America was born with a split of governing authority. The King of England, on the other hand, could dismiss judges if he didn’t like what they did. The LORD in His theocracy exercises the role of all three branches of government: the judicial (judge), the legislative (lawgiver), and the executive (king). Social critics say that power corrupts, so we in America try to have a “balance of power,” but when the Lord rules, no one can (or needs to) check the power of the King!
Isaiah 34:8 — This is the last reference to the “Day of the LORD” in Isaiah, and the first mention in the Old Testament that ties the Day of the LORD to vengeance. Job and the Psalmist often cry for God to right the wrongs in this world. He will!
Isaiah 34:11 — What’s a cormorant? It’s derived from the Latin for “sea raven.” The bitterns are a subgroup of herons.
Little Pied Cormorant1
American Bittern2
Isaiah 34:12-13 — The nobles and princes will be gone, the palaces and fortresses will be abandoned. The powers of today will not stand in the Day of the LORD.
Isaiah 35:4 — Isaiah gives the signs of what will happen when God comes. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The lame will leap. The mute will sing. Roughly six hundred years after this prophecy, another prophet sat in a prison cell discouraged. He sent some of the few people who would listen to his words to seek an answer to a question he had: “Art thou he that should come?” Jesus told these messengers that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear (Matthew 11:5). Yes, Jesus, the one whose name means “Jehovah is Salvation” is the God who came to save. He’s the One that Isaiah prophesied about. The vengeance will be coming soon, but we’re in a narrow gap of mercy. Peter declared that the gap between Isaiah 35:6a and 35:6b is not millennia, but just a couple of days (2 Peter 3:8). God is just waiting for some sinners to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)! It’s not until the last sinner comes to repentance that the vengeance will fall (2 Peter 3:10), and the world will be restored (Isaiah 35:6b).
The Taylor Prism3
Isaiah 36:1 — This is the third time we’ve read about this incredible miracle. Mat Staver recently talked about this at a VCY rally in Milwaukee. Sennacherib was 46-0 when it came to tallying battles against the fenced cities of Judah. We know this from the Taylor Prism in the British Museum.
Isaiah 36:10 — God doesn’t take kindly to false prophets. Be careful when you say, “God told me.” Deuteronomy 18:20-22 prescribes the death penalty for any who presume to speak for the LORD.
Isaiah 36:18 — The LORD is not the god of Hamath (a town in Syria, just north of modern Lebanon). He is not a god made with hands. He is the Creator of heaven and earth!
Galatians 5:14 — The 613 laws of the Torah are fulfilled in the Second Greatest Commandment. Paul doesn’t say that we’re excused from it. Now, as heirs of Christ, we must by love serve. By love we must reject the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:24 — There is no middle ground. Have we crucified the flesh with its lusts (Galatians 5:19-21), and are we displaying the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? The challenge is that Christians today are mixing the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. A 1994 study on college students, religion, and drinking found that 1 out of every 8 college students who came from a total abstinence Protestant denomination were self-described regular drunks.
Psalm 64:9 — Declare God’s works! Share the testimonies of what He has done in your life!
Proverbs 23:23 — Charles Spurgeon preached on this verse Sunday night, June 26th, 1870.
John Bunyan pictures the pilgrims as passing at one time through Vanity Fair, and in Vanity Fair there were to be found all kinds of merchandise, consisting of the pomps and vanities, the lusts and pleasures of this present life and of the flesh. Now all the dealers, when they saw these strange pilgrims come into the fair began to cry, as shopmen will do, “Buy, buy, buy—buy this, and buy that.” There were the priests in the Italian row with their crucifixes and their beads. There were those in the German row with their philosophies and their metaphysics. There were those in the French row with their fashions and with their prettinesses. But the one answer that the pilgrims gave to all the dealers was this—they looked up and they said, “We buy the truth; we buy the truth,” and they would have gone on their way if the men of the Fair had not laid them by the heels in the cage, and kept them there, one to go to heaven in a chariot of fire, and the other afterwards to pursue his journey alone. This is very much the description of the genuine Christian at all times. He is surrounded by vendors of all sorts of things, beautifully got up and looking exceedingly like the true article, and the only way in which he will be able to pass through Vanity Fair safely is to keep to this, that he buys the truth, and if he adds to that the second advice of the text, and never sells it, he will, under divine guidance, find his way rightly to the skies. “Buy the truth and sell it not.”
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.
_____ Image1 Credit: Wikipedia contributors. File:Microcarbo Melanoleucos Austins Ferry 3.jpg – Wikipedia. 29 June 2009, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Microcarbo_melanoleucos_Austins_Ferry_3.jpg#filelinks. Image2 Credit: Seney Natural History Association, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Image3 Credit: Images by David Castor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Isaiah 30:18 — The LORD will be gracious to those who refused His rest and confidence. The ones who resisted God (Isaiah 30:15), He will have mercy upon.
Isaiah 30:22 — Mercy is associated with repentance, the turning from idols!
Isaiah 31:1 — Eight hundred years earlier Moses warned about this exact same issue (Deuteronomy 17:16) – Egypt and horses. God wants us vulnerable so we can trust the Holy One of Israel!
Isaiah 31:3 — Isaiah points out the obvious!
Isaiah 33:2 — Take some time to wait for the LORD. Don’t run ahead of Him or behind Him but wait for Him. The LORD will deliver you!
Galatians 5:2 — Nothing! Paul says that the highest value of the Jews (circumcision) was worth nothing! Not even Jesus values circumcision (Galatians 5:6)!
Galatians 5:12 — The KJV uses a euphemism for Paul’s wish for the Judaizers.
Psalm 63:1 — As we shared 6 months ago, here is John Zimmer’s song based on these verses:
Proverbs 23:22 — While only children are commanded to obey their parents, all are commanded to honor their parents.
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.
Isaiah 28:15-16 — Note the contrast. Even though we’re in the prophetic books, it’s really poetry. The imagery of a human boast as a “covenant with death” and an “agreement with hell” versus “a sure foundation” is striking. There are only two sides; it’s time to choose which one you want to be on!
Isaiah 28:18 — Remember yesterday (Isaiah 25:28) where death for the believer is swallowed up in victory? Today, the covenant with death for the unbeliever is disannulled. Those who thought they had a non-interference pact with death have lost.
Isaiah 28:22 — A warning similar to that from Proverbs but with added caution – those who mock will be punished worse than those who just ignore.
Isaiah 29:13 — This chapter (and most of Isaiah) is not easy to read. But this is the material that our LORD drew from when arguing with the Pharisees (Mark 7:13).
Isaiah 29:16 — This is the start of God’s argument across the Bible, comparing man to pottery. He’ll have Isaiah reiterate this point in Isaiah 45:9-11 and Isaiah 64:8. He’ll send Jeremiah to the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18), and He’ll use this as the key point of Paul’s argument for God’s sovereignty in Romans 9:19-21.
Clay Rotting Pit and Potter’s Wheel
Isaiah 29:18 — The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, and the poor will rejoice! Isaiah is teasing a prophecy that will be very significant (Isaiah 35).
Isaiah 30:1 — Great poetry (not that it rhymes, but that it expresses a unique thought in a few words)! Woe to them “that take counsel, but not of me.” They “add sin to sin.”
Isaiah 30:11 — Good thing we’re not like those Israelites who wanted the Holy One of Israel to depart. Right? But how much better are we when we spend just 2.4 minutes per day on religious activity?
Galatians 3:24 — The Law is our schoolmaster. From Ray Comfort:
God’s Law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The Law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.
And the tragedy of modern evangelism is that, around the turn of the century when it forsook the Law in its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to therefore find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of life enhancement. The gospel degenerated into “Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.”
Galatians 4:7 — We who were servants are now sons, heirs of God. GotQuestions.org says:
Think of all that means. Everything that God owns belongs to us as well because we belong to Him. Our eternal inheritance as co-heirs with Christ is the result of the amazing grace of God.
Galatians 3:9 — The heirs of God – which is far better than being heirs of Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos – want to return to chains! Paul argues so vehemently that he’s afraid he’s become their enemy (Galatians 3:16).
Galatians 3:23 — Those who wanted to leave salvation by faith for salvation by Moses prided themselves on being an Israelite (the recipients of the blessings of Abraham). To those who claimed works, Paul says you’re related to Abraham, but not how you think! You’re the son of Hagar, not the son of Sarah! Those who are under salvation by grace are the children of promise, i.e. Isaac (Galatians 3:28)!
Psalm 62:1 — Salvation is a theme of the Bible. Count how many times the psalmist uses the word. (vv. 1, 2, 6, 7). Like Paul just told us, trust only in the LORD, not in your ability to be spiritual on your own. May He alone be your rock (Psalm 62:2, Psalm 62:6)!
Psalm 62:12 — A portrait painter was told by an old woman, “Do me justice!” The painter replied, “What you need is mercy!” Thank God we get mercy in addition to what we get for our work!
Proverbs 23:20-21 — What does the Bible say about drinking?
“Be not among the winebibbers.”
“The drunkard shall come to poverty.”
The US National Institutes of Health’s statistics tell us that 1 out of every 3 people who have ever sipped a glass of alcohol was drunk in the last 30 days. Be careful; if you let someone think that it’s okay to drink, they have a 1 in 3 chance of ending up drunk. Unfortunately, the statistic doesn’t refer to just once in their lifetime, but to once this month! Romans 14:21 – don’t let your brother stumble!
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.
_____ Image Credit: “Fig. 3 : Fosse De Pourrissement De L’argile Et Tour De Potier (F….” ResearchGate, www.researchgate.net/figure/Fosse-de-pourrissement-de-largile-et-tour-de-potier-F-Lesguer-2016_fig2_327572448.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
