Day 3 - The Flood

Daily Reading: Genesis 6-9

God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. Genesis 6:12 & 13

Footnote:  The boat Noah built was no canoe!  Picture yourself building a boat the length of one and a half football fields and as high as a four-story building.  The ark was exactly six times longer than it was wide -- the same ratio used by modern ship-builders.  This huge boat was probably built miles from any body of water by only a few faithful men who believed God's promises and obeyed his commands.

Many have wondered how this animal kingdom roundup happened.  Did Noah and his sons spend years collecting all the animals?  In reality the creation, along with Noah, was doing just as God had commanded.  There seemed to be no problem gathering the animals -- God took care of the details of that job while Noah was doing his part by building the ark.  Often we do just the opposite of Noah.  We worry about details over which we have no control, while neglecting specific areas (such as attitudes, relationship, responsibilities) that are under our control.  Like Noah, concentrate on what God has given you to do, and leave the rest to God.

Can you identify with Noah?  Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something BIG?  Something that went against what everyone else was doing or their way of thinking?  How did it turn out?  Did you do your part?  Can you testify to the ways God worked out the details?  Spend some time thinking, praying and praising God for his work in your life.  If you feel comfortable, please share!   

Keep reading -- 362 days left! 

All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV.

Day 2 - The Fall of Man

Daily Reading: Genesis 3-5

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. The the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:6-7

Footnote: The thought of two humans covered with fig leaves trying to hide from the all-seeing, all-knowing God is humorous. How could they be so silly as to think they could actually hide? Yet we do the same, acting as though God doesn't know what we're doing. Have the courage to share all you do and think with him. And don't try to hide -- it can't be done. Honesty will strengthen your relationship with God.

What did you think about Genesis 3:22? The NIV reads, "And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.' "

Why wouldn't God want us to live forever?

Footnote: Life in the Garden of Eden was like living in heaven. Everything was perfect, and if Adam and Eve had obeyed God, they could have lived there forever. But after disobeying, Adam and Eve no longer deserved paradise, and God told them to leave. If they had continued to live in the garden and eat from the tree of life, they would have lived forever. But eternal life in a state of sin would mean forever trying to hide from God. Like Adam and Eve, all of us have sinned and are separated from fellowship with God. We do not have to stay separated, however, God is preparing a new earth as an eternal paradise for his people.

Now, it makes sense! God didn't want us to live forever in our sinful state! Praise God! God is JUST but he's also LOVING!

How did you like the genealogy in Chapter 5?

Footnote: Why are genealogies included in the Bible? The Hebrews passed on their beliefs through oral tradition. For many years in many places, writing was primitive or nonexistent. Stories were told to children who passed them on to their children. Genealogies gave a skeletal outline that helped people remember the stories. For centuries these genealogies were added to and passed down from family to family. Even more important than preserving family tradition, genealogies were included to confirm the Bible's promise that the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be born into the line of Abraham.

Genealogies point out an interesting characteristic of God. People are important to him as individuals, not just as races or nations. Therefore God refers to people by name, mentioning their life span and descendants. The next time you feel overwhelmed in a vast crow, remember that the focus of God's attention and love is on the individual -- and on you!

Have you ever thought about this?

All human beings are related, going back to Adam and Eve. Mankind is a family that shares one flesh and blood. Remember this when prejudice enters your mind or hatred invades your feelings. Each person is a valuable and unique creation of God.

Thoughts anyone?  Who will be the first to respond?  Ready, set, go!

Keep reading -- 363 days left! 

All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV.

Day 1 -- The Beginning

Daily Reading:  Genesis 1 & 2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

How appropriate!  As we begin our challenge, we read about THE BEGINNING.......

Genesis 1:1 Footnote:  The simple statement that God created the heavens and the earth is one of the most challenging concepts confronting the modern mind.  The vast galaxy we live in is spinning at the incredible speed of 490,000 miles an hour.  But even at this breakneck speed, our galaxy still needs 200 million years to make one rotation.  And there are over one billion other galaxies just like ours in the universe.  

Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world.  Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency.  To say that the universe "just happened" or "evolved" requires more faith than to believe that God is behind these amazing statistics.  God truly did create a wonderful universe.

God did not need to create the universe; he chose to create it.  Why?  God is love, and love is best expressed toward something or someone else -- so God created the world and people as an expression of his love.  We should avoid reducing God's creation to merely scientific terms.  Remember that God created the universe because he loves each of us.

Genesis 2:16, 17 Footnote:  Why would God place a tree in the garden and then forbid Adam to eat from it?  God wanted Adam to obey, but God gave Adam the freedom to choose.  Without choice, Adam would have been like a prisoner, and his obedience would have been hollow.  The two trees provided an exercise in choice, with rewards for choosing to obey and sad consequences for choosing to disobey.  When you are faced with  the choice, always choose to obey God. 

Genesis 2:18-24 Footnote:  God's creative work was not complete until he made woman.  He could have made her from the dust of the ground, as he made man.  God chose, however, to make her from the man's flesh and bone.  In so doing, he illustrated for us that in marriage man and woman symbolically become one flesh.  This is a mystical union of the couple's hearts and lives.  Throughout the Bible, God treats this special partnership seriously.  The goal in marriage should be more than friendship; it should be oneness.

These are just a few interesting footnotes from this section of reading.  Do you have any thoughts or information to share?  Please comment!

This was probably a very familiar section of scripture -- one you've heard many times -- ask God to show you something you've never seen before.

Keep reading -- 364 days left! 

All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV.

The Best Book You'll Ever Read

We are about to read the most important, most accurate, most exciting, most influential, most persecuted and ridiculed book ever written!

The following is a quote from the BBC Manual:

"The Bible was written over 1,600 years, by over 40 different authors from very different walks of life, on three different continents, during times of war and peace, in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. These facts make the Bible an impossible book to write . . . if man had written it. The hands of men recorded it but the mind of God wrote it through those hands. There is a unity that cannot be mistaken. We can begin at Genesis and read through to the end. There is no jar. We can pass from one style of literature to another as easily as though we were reading a story written by one hand and produced by one life, and indeed we have here a story produced by one mind (2 Peter 1:21) though not written by one hand."

The Bible – there is no other book like it and there will never be another book like it. It is God’s Book to man.

Are you excited to seek, learn and understand what God wants to tell us through His marvelous Word?!

A couple of things to consider before you start:

1. As we seek a closer walk with the Lord, the Enemy is going to try to come against us. Let’s be PRAYER WARRIORS for each other! Do you have any specific requests to share? What do you see as being your biggest obstacle as you begin this challenge? Time? Discipline? Understanding?

2. Have you thought about when you will be doing your daily reading? It’s a good idea to have a plan. You’re always going to have those days when you are not able to read at that specific time, but for most days it will help to know what you are going to do. Will you be reading in the morning, at night, some other time?  Make a commitment to yourself.  You might think about it like this, "No Bible, no breakfast" or "No Bible, no bed." Let’s share with each other what our plan is as part of our accountability to one another.

Don't be shy........I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Challenge begins Monday, July 1st!

Bible Challenge 2013 Reading List

Are you ready?!  The new Bible Challenge begins this Monday, July 1st.

Below is the reading list for the first month.  It works well to print it and use for a bookmark.


       July
❏1   Genesis 1,2
❏2   Genesis 3-5
❏3   Genesis 6-9
❏4   Genesis 10,11
❏5   Genesis 12-15
❏6   Genesis 16-19
❏7   Genesis 20-22
❏8   Genesis 23-26
❏9   Genesis 27-29
❏10 Genesis 30-32
❏11 Genesis 33-36
❏12 Genesis 37-39
❏13 Genesis 40-42
❏14 Genesis 43-46
❏15 Genesis 47-50
❏16 Job 1-4
❏17 Job 5-7
❏18 Job 8-10
❏19 Job 11-13
❏20 Job 14-17
❏21 Job 18-20
❏22 Job 21-24
❏23 Job 25-27
❏24 Job 2-31
❏25 Job 32-34
❏26 Job 35-37
❏27 Job 38-42
❏28 Exodus 1-4
❏29 Exodus 5-7
❏30 Exodus 8-10
❏31 Exodus 11-13

This is another option for younger children who would like to participate in this Challenge.  We'll call it Junior Bible Challenge.  This list is ONE chapter a day (the major chapters or stories) through the Bible.  I have a 1st and 3rd grader who will be doing this challenge.

       July
❏1   Genesis 1
❏2   Genesis 2
❏3   Genesis 3
❏4   Genesis 4
❏5   Genesis 5
❏6   Genesis 6
❏7   Genesis 7
❏8   Genesis 8
❏9   Genesis 9
❏10 Genesis 10
❏11 Genesis 11
❏12 Genesis 12
❏13 Genesis 13
❏14 Genesis 14
❏15 Genesis 15
❏16 Genesis 16
❏17 Genesis 17
❏18 Genesis 18
❏19 Genesis 19
❏20 Genesis 20
❏21 Genesis 21
❏22 Genesis 22
❏23 Genesis 23
❏24 Genesis 24
❏25 Genesis 25
❏26 Genesis 26
❏27 Genesis 27
❏28 Genesis 28
❏29 Genesis 32
❏30 Genesis 33
❏31 Genesis 35

Print your bookmark and prepare to read the best book ever written!

Week 52 - Matthew 28:19 & 20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Life Application Study Bible, NIV, footnotes:

Jesus' words affirm the reality of the Trinity.  Some people accuse theologians of making up the concept of the Trinity and reading it into Scripture.  As we see here, the concept comes directly from Jesus himself.  He did not say baptize them into the names, but into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The word Trinity does not occur in Scripture, but it well describes the three-in-one nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The disciples were to baptize people because baptism unites a believer with Jesus Christ in his or her death to sin and resurrection to new life.  Baptism symbolizes submission to Christ, a willingness to live God's way, and identification with God's covenant people.

How is Jesus with us?  Jesus was with the disciples physically until he ascended into heaven, and then spiritually through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit would be Jesus' presence that would never leave them.  Jesus continues to be with  us today through his Spirit.

What have we learned from the commands of Jesus?

Repent.........................................Let your Light Shine....................Be reconciled
Keep Your Word................Go the Second Mile.........Love Your enemies......Be Perfect
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven..............Seek God's Kingdom...........Judge Not............
Do Unto Others...............Choose the Narrow Way..................Beware of False Prophets
Pray for Laborers.............Fear God, Not Man.........Take My Yoke.......Honor Your Parents
Beware of Leaven......Deny Yourself............Despise Not Little Ones.....Beware of Covetousness
Forgive Offenders..............Ask in Faith...................Bring in the Poor.........Love the Lord
Love Your Neighbor............Await My Return...........Take, Eat, and Drink.........Be Born Again
Keep My Commandments.........Feed My Sheep..............Baptize My Disciples! 

This is our final verse in this Bible Challenge!  Hope you have enjoyed studying, memorizing and meditating on God's Word.

Consider taking the next challenge!  It starts next Monday, July 1st!

COMING SOON......

The 3rd BIBLE CHALLENGE!

This challenge is almost over!  52 weeks of memorizing and meditating on God's Word.  We started off the challenge utilizing "The Wheel" illustration which uses scriptures to help Christians learn what they are called to do as disciples of Christ.  Then we moved on to looking at scriptures that were all "commands" of Christ.  If you stuck with the challenge in any capacity, I know that you have been blessed by studying the Bible.

For the third challenge, we are going to go back to our roots!  This challenge began as a challenge to read through the Bible in one year and we're going to do it again!  God's Word is living -- he can speak to you in new and different ways all over again.  It will be exciting to get back to reading the history -- OUR history!

Prayerfully consider taking this challenge.  It will be worth any amount of sacrifice you think you might be making and you will most likely begin to see that it's not a sacrifice at all but rather a privilege to have God's Word, to be able to read God's Word, and to even have the freedom to possess God's Word.

If you live in America, you live in a world that really doesn't even know what it means to suffer for Christ.  People in other parts of the world are persecuted and even die for the opportunity to have a Bible.  Don't take God's Word for granted.

Watch this video -- it will take 6 minutes of your life.  If you receive this post via email and you can't get the video, go to the blog at biblechallengeblog.blogspot.com.  It's worth it!

CONSIDER TAKING THE CHALLENGE!

The next Bible Challenge starts in 1 1/2 weeks!