Judges 6:1 — Twenty times in the Old Testament the phrase “did evil” occurs. Seven times is in the Book of Judges. As a result of their evil, God delivered them into the hand of their cousins, the Midianites.
However, the relations between the Israelites and the Midianites began to sour when the Midianites joined forces with the Moabites in order to hire Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22). Later, when Israel fell into idolatry and sexual sin with the Moabite women (Numbers 25), we find that a prominent Midianite woman was also involved (Numbers 25:6). The Lord then told Moses to wage war against the Midianites (Numbers 25:17-19).
Though the Lord graciously consented to his request (as He had to a similar one by Moses in Exodus 33:12ff), Gideon’s actions should not be viewed as a pattern for believers to follow. As Christians, we do not ascertain the validity of God’s Word by asking Him for miraculous confirmation. Instead, we live according to His will by believing Him and being obedient to His Word. The Lord had already told Gideon that He would be victorious over the Midianites. That revelation should have been sufficient. By asking the Lord not to be angry with him before his request, Gideon, driven by his doubt, showed that even he knew he had overstepped his bounds. He acknowledged his faith was weak, but that he was in danger of sinfully putting God to the test (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16). The Lord could have punished Gideon for his lack of faith, but He didn’t.
Gideon and His Men Destroying the Altar of Baal
Judges 6:25 — Gideon joins a small group of people who destroyed the false altars in the land in accordance with Exodus 34:13 and Deuteronomy 7:5.
Asa (2 Chronicles 14:3)
Jehoiada (2 Kings 11:18, 2 Chronicles 23:17)
Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:14)
Josiah (2 Kings 23:15, 2 Chronicles 34:4)
Luke 22:61 — This is the only gospel to record that the LORD looked at Peter.
Psalm 95:5-6 — Note the increasing emphasis on the creation by the Creator. It starts out that the sea is His, then the land, but even more so we are made by Him!
Proverbs 14:5 — I was just listening to a radio preacher who said that he knew someone who wasn’t able to speak for 6 months due to a surgery. He said their opportunity to sin dropped almost 50%.
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: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Judges 4:8 — If Deborah won’t go with him, Barak refuses to obey a direct command from the LORD. In contrast, Daniel stood alone (Daniel 6:13).
Judas Betrays Jesus
Luke 22:36, 38, 49, and 51 — What is the normally peaceful Jesus doing telling His people to buy swords? And what about when He finally tells His people to put down their sword? In Matthew, Jesus comes across as “anti-sword” (Matthew 26:51-52), so why the contrast here in Luke 22?
Jesus, the omniscient One, knew His enemies would be coming with swords (Luke 22:52), and He was demonstrating that His followers also had weapons – not to mention that His twelve legions of angels had weapons (Matthew 26:53). It is clear that no man took Jesus’ life from Him (John 10:18), but that He laid it down, just as He told Peter to lay down the weapons (Luke 22:51, Matthew 26:52).
Psalm 94:7 — What does God call those who think He cannot see or regard something? Psalm 94:8 says He calls them “brutish and fools.”
Proverbs 14:4 — A verse of encouragement to young mothers who are discouraged over their house being a mess because of their toddlers.
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.
Judges 1:1 — The Book of Judges starts on a high note! “The children of Israel asked the LORD.” Unfortunately, it ends on a bad note (Judges 21:25).
Judges 2:2 — “… ye have not obeyed my voice.” The pre-incarnate LORD spoke, not a messenger who said “Thus saith the LORD.” And it was a rebuke. Obedience is what God desires.
Judas Sells Jesus for Thirty Pieces of Silver by Lippo Memmi1
Luke 22:5 — “… and they were glad.” 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, but these givers (although cheerful) were not giving to the Lord but to a man possessed by Satan who would help them kill the Lord.
Psalm 90:12 — There are “Death Clock” websites that allow you to enter your date of birth, sex, smoking habit, body mass index, personality, alcohol consumption, and country you live in, and it will tell you how much time you have left on earth, statistically speaking. When we number our days, we stop and think about where we are putting our most valuable resource (not our talent, not our treasure, not our tools, but our time).
Psalm 91:2 – “My God; in him will I trust.”2
Proverbs 13:24 — A goal of parenting is to set the appetite of your children. You want them to love good and be repulsed by evil. Obedience brings blessing, and disobedience brings consequences. A danger is when we overemphasize the behavior of our children; the child may be tempted to lie about their improper actions just to please you (or perhaps not to infuriate you). While we are pleased with his/her words, he/she may ultimately feel rewarded for lying about doing wrong and punished for admitting when he/she did wrong. Make sure that you’re not just encouraging verbal conformity but truth telling as well!
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: Lippo Memmi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Image2 Credit: https://www.alamy.com/us-dollar-currency-usd-inflation-us-money-image546740856.html
Joshua 24:19 — In the middle of the people claiming to serve the LORD once (Joshua 24:18), twice (Joshua 24:21), and three times (Joshua 24:24), Joshua tells them they cannot serve the LORD because He is holy and jealous! But why does Joshua say He cannot forgive their sins? Similar to Jesus warning of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:10), these passages indicate God cannot save those who have hardened their hearts against Him, only those who have repented and called upon the LORD.
Luke 21:14 — How do we reconcile this with 1 Peter 3:15? 1 Peter 3:15 is for our dispensation (the Age of Grace/Church Age), and according to Jimmy DeYoung, Jesus is here prophesying about those in Jerusalem in AD 70.
Is this the mountains that the Judaeans are to flee to (Luke 21:21)?
Psalm 89:47 — I need to remember how short my time is. That’s why we need to redeem the time!
Proverbs 13:20 — Let’s go to our good friend Patch the Pirate to teach us this verse! Think this is tied to Joshua 24:31?
Proverbs 13:20 — If you want to memorize the verse, Earl Martin can help you!
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.
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
