Reading the Bible in a Year
With the new year comes a new chance to get on a Bible reading plan. As a family and at the mission we are doing the Chronological reading plan according to the folks at ESVBible.org. If you have never read the Bible all of the way through, or if you’ve never had the adventure of reading it through in the order that it happened, I suggest you check this out.
ESV Chronological Reading plan at ESVBible.org
ESV Chronological Reading plan as a printable and checkoffable worksheet.
I want to plug reading the Bible at the website: If you buy an ESV study bible they give you a free unlock for all of the study Bible notes online. You can also use the notes section to write your own notes and then every few months dump them to Evernote for archiving. It’s really cool to be reading the Bible and come across a digital note you made 2 years ago (and not be distracted by 1,253 other people’s notes at the same time.)
The other thing is don’t let this reading plan be an opportunity for pride or shame. If you miss a day, press on, don’t give up. If you work 5 days ahead, shut up and praise the Lord. I’m currently in the 5th year of a “through the Bible” reading plan that was only supposed to take one year!
Nothing grows you spiritually like reading the Bible deeply and responding daily.
WCAGLS Session 7: Mark Burnett
Session 7: Mark Burnett
This is the hollywood guy.
Interview. They always interview the people that are a little unpredictable.
He’s the guy that made the Bible show. And Survivor. And Shark Tank. And The Voice.
In doing what God called you to do, take the offense. Don’t be apologetic, don’t be hesitant.
Which takes us back to the theme for the day:
Be Strong and Courageous!
I might be running out of note-taking steam.
The Bible series beat the opening day of Hockey in Canada. “I thought hockey was the religion in Canada!”
It’s hard to get people to talk about the Bible sometimes, but it’s easy to strike up a conversation about the Bible TV show.
“Choose your travelling companions before you choose your road.”
This is a berber saying amongst nomads in Morocco. The travel is hard, but choosing the wrong companions is harder.
I want to raise up people, but I won’t keep energy suckers on my team. Unresolved emotional conflicts will suck your day dry way too fast. Not everyone is the right player on the right team.
He forces creative people and finance people to work together. He makes duos on all of his teams. He creates every management job as a co-job that has to work together with the other. One is worrying about the camera shot, the other is worrying about how much the pyrotechnics are going to cost and where to buy the safety harnesses.
“I don’t allow producers in the edit bay. That’s why we have editors!” He leads people just past an arms reach.
If somebody pitched a show to me without a timeline and a budget, I’d worry about how I was going to fire them tomorrow. That would be crazy and irresponsible.
It’s ok to dream big, but we have to make it.
“This is not a game. This is serious business.”
Every one of us could use a little of this guy’s liveliness and intensity.
“The Bible is the greatest love story in the world. We really wanted people to be a part of it.”
“Just because it’s Christian doesn’t give me license to make it crappy.”
I think it should be noted that he said crappy.
Mary did you know song, pretty amazing. Had to close the laptop and cry.
Bill closed it up with a benediction to go leverage your skills and go do stuff that will make an impact for Jesus.
I find that I’m terribly judgmental of this guy. I need to put that gun away. It’s so crazy how it’s so easy to judge, but this guy’s work is changing the freakin world!
Don't talk bad about the building or the customs!
There is a section in Acts 6 that shows how sometimes the things people argue about aren’t really the things they are thinking about.
Acts 6:11
Then they secretly instigated men who said,“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Acts 6:13-14
and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
I can count three times these guys change their story. As you pick apart their words, it gets a little more revealing every time.
- Their story is that Stephen is against Moses and God. The Law is a big deal and it came from God to Moses, so those two are the sore spots in Judaism. You can talk ideas all day long, but don’t talk against them specifically
- Their story is that Stephen is against the holy place and the law. Ok, now we are getting more specific, and seeing that it isn’t really God or Moses that Stephen is talking about, but the holy place and the law. The building is a building. It represented a lot to the Jewish people, but at the same time the building they were in was far beyond God’s design and had a ton of improvements from an evil Gentile ruler. Kind of like hanging a “Brought to you by Jack Daniels and Victoria Secret” backlit electric sign on your church. Sure, it was intended to be a holy place, but it was funded and built up by evil.
- (This one is really the best.) Their story is that Jesus of Nazareth (whom they killed and claimed His body was stolen) is going to destroy the temple and change the customs of Moses. If their story that Jesus’ body was not really back from the dead but rather was stolen, then how is this possible? And have you seen the temple?! A man can’t tear that thing down anyway! I think it is so interesting that they bring that as an accusation because it’s either preposterous to think something is possible or there is some genuine fear.
All in all, the truth comes out that God isn’t really the point of this at all, but their building and their customs.
So Much More Than a Book
Sometimes I read something in the Bible that moves me so much I can’t contain it. Like right now when I’m sitting at a table at Starbucks and I can’t make my eyes stop watering, can’t stop my face from grimacing, can’t stop laughing at the glory and awesomeness of God! I’m sure if anybody notices me they’ll think I’m manic.
The next thing I pray is “GOD! PLEASE LET ME TEACH THIS AMAZING THING FAITHFULLY! PLEASE HELP ME TO EXPLAIN THIS TO OTHERS WITH THE POWER YOU JUST EXPLAINED THIS TO ME!”
And then inside there is a still, small voice that says, “No Dan, sometimes they are just for you.” and then I cry more.
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