READING THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR

Luke 12 & 13 are about aligning ourselves and our passions toward God and our neighbor, and ultimately toward God's mission. God is reminding us that greed is a very human feeling. And more so, God is also calling us to align our lives toward God and neighbor. Our lives and possessions are not our own. They belong to God. We are merely stewards of them for the time God has given us on this earth.

Jesus commissions seventy-two of His followers for a unique mission. They are sent into towns and villages, preparing people for Jesus' ministry. Those who accept the message will be blessed; those who reject it will be left behind. The disciples return celebrating what they have seen and accomplished. The section on prayer can be divided into three short teachings. In Luke 11, Jesus agrees to the disciples' request to teach them how to pray by presenting what is often called call "The Lord's Prayer." The words reveal that we are dependent on God for the smallest things, both physical and spiritual.

Jesus heals the man by putting mud on his eyes and sending him away to wash. The end result is a man who can see, though he'd never been able to before. The ideas of light, sight, and blindness are often used in Scripture as symbols of spiritual knowledge.  In John 10, Jesus is giving one of His most passionate and intimate illustrations portraying His people as sheep and Him as the Good Shepherd. He is also the Gatekeeper who watches over us as long as we follow His voice of instructions.  

First Timothy 2:1–8 provides a perspective on prayer. Christians are not only supposed to pray, but to pray for all people. This even includes kings, rulers, and government officials. The basis for this is that God wants to see such people saved; His love for them is as great as it is for anyone else. We need to pray for our leaders, each and every day.

The first chapter of 1 Timothy frames the situation Paul is concerned about. In particular, he is worried about the false teachers plaguing the Ephesian church. These men are misusing the law, teaching false doctrines, and rejecting the importance of a clear conscience.

The transfiguration story is directly preceded by a conversation about Jesus’ identity. When Jesus asks who others think he is, the disciples answer, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen” (Luke 9:19). Jesus responds with a follow-up question: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “The Messiah of God” (Luke 9:20). This means that when Jesus takes Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray in Luke 9:28, the audience has very recently heard Peter’s Messianic confession. Jesus’ identity should be fresh in their minds.  Enjoy today's Bible Study!

Jeremiah shows us the riches of the new covenant. Through this new covenant, God deals decisively and finally with sin, writes his law on the hearts of his people, and promises "I will be their God and they shall be my people." That is the good news that can change the world. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians from Corinth in AD 51 within months of writing the first letter. Since the subject matter of the second letter has a number of similarities to the first, Paul probably had received a second report from the city detailing continuing questions or problems regarding the end times. Several of Paul’s references indicate that some in Thessalonica were deliberately misleading these new believers, even to the point of false teachers forging letters to make them look as if they had come from Paul.

Again, we see two different accounts of the life of Jesus as written by Matthew and Mark.  Mark's Gospel is a narrative that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God, whose death and resurrection paid the penalty for our sins and achieved victory over satan, sin, and death. With this joyful announcement comes the call to all believers for faith and cross-bearing discipleship. Matthew begins his story of Jesus quite differently than Mark does. He begins by laying out a large line of generations of people up to when Jesus was born. I believe he does this in order to prove that Jesus was not some random person that people knew nothing about and/or where he came from. He uses this to show that Jesus was a real person, with real parents, and that he was born of Mary, Joseph’s wife.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”