Gods book – the final chapter

Dec 282012
 

Read meTo wrap up my series on ‘God’s book’, the Bible and especially as we are near to the start of a new year, I thought we could consider going through the bible in a year.

Have you ever read the whole bible from cover to cover? It’s not as difficult as it may appear and if you were to commit about 20 minutes a day to reading it you could easily finish it in a year. There are various ways to go through the bible in a year so I thought I would give you a few links below with some suggestions:

(1)  Read it from beginning to end, starting Jan 1st at Genesis 1 and finishing the last chapter of Revelation on the 31st December. This doesn’t require too much imagination!

(2) Chronological:  Read the bible as the events occurred in real time. For example, Job lived sometime after the beginning of creation (Genesis 1) but before Abraham was born (Genesis 12). As a result, the book of Job is integrated into the Book of Genesis.

(3) Historical:  Read the books of the bible as they were written historically, according to the estimated date of their writing.

You can find these three ways of reading the bible in a year at this link http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/.  You can also choose which version to read it in.

Have a look at this site http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/.  It sort of does what it says on the tin. There are lots of ways to do it; sign up to an RSS feed, mobile phone app, print a plan off etc.

Here’s one to print off and tick after completing each day http://www.navpress.com/uploadedFiles/15074%20BRP.dj.pdf

I am going to join in with Queens Road Wimbledon daily bible reading plan. They are changing their name to ‘Everyday Church’ on 1st January 2013. Their leader is Phil Moore, who will be tweeting comments on each days reading. He is an excellent bible teacher with great insights. The link is here http://www.qrc.org.uk/biblereadingplan

I pray that God will help you to read the whole bible in a year, but don’t put yourself under unnecessary pressure. It should be a delight not a chore.

Finally, I just wanted to recommend a few resources that I have found really useful as I have studied the bible. I hope you find them useful too:

I use the following website whenever I am looking up bible verses in different versions. I also sometimes sign up to receive a free daily e-mail, they have all sorts of subjects http://www.biblegateway.com/

This website has quite a lot of resources for studying the bible, with many bible versions, daily bible readings, a daily devotional and lots more http://www.biblestudytools.com/

The following website has a vast array of bible commentaries and other material covering just about every verse in the bible. I found this site really useful for looking up all sorts of Greek New Testament words and phrases, giving a greater understanding of what is meant in the text. http://www.preceptaustin.org/

I have already mentioned the following site when I talked about bible difficulties as it is really useful for looking into apparent bible contradictions.  It also covers all the major cults and where they misinterpret the bible www.carm.org

Here is a website where you can get a free bible download service and good Sunday school resources check it our here http://www.houseandhome.org/niv-bible-download

Now we have finished this latest series, please feel free to contact me if there is anything you would like me to cover.

God bless, Adrian

 December 28, 2012  Posted by at 10:46 am Bible No Responses »

Running the race

Apr 182012
 

marathon13As it’s the London marathon on Sunday I thought I would send out my notes from the first preach I ever gave a few years ago at my church. It was on the day of the Hastings Half marathon and I wanted to remind all those watching the race that all Christians are in a race, whether you are a sporty person or not. It is based on the passage in Hebrews 12 v 1

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

(1) Encouragement

Let’s look at the first part of the verse; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” so what does that mean?

When we see the word ‘Therefore’ it means that a lot has been said before. We are in the middle of a point the writer is making. In Hebrews 11 the writer has been talking about faith. He goes through a list of the great men and women of faith who have gone before. These people have run their races and have proved that God is faithful and reliable. They are encouraging us through their example and perseverance.

It’s great to receive encouragement and you can see in a race how the runners are encouraged by a lot of people cheering for them.

In Hebrews 10:24-25 it says; “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

There are a number of ways we can give encouragement through our church community; Continue reading »

 April 18, 2012  Posted by at 6:32 pm Uncategorized 1 Response »