Bible Challenge Archives - Page 3 of 6

Kirkers Read 01

Ben Zornes on June 4, 2018

Let’s get this Bible Reading Challenge show on the road…

Read the New Testament over a span of three months. A rather simple and straightforward goal. We’ve organized a few things in order to help cheer you on in that goal: these weekly blogposts, the Facebook group, and the weekly Kirkers Read podcast (hosted by the Christ Kirk podcast). Remember, if these help spur you on in reading your Bible, great. But don’t let these become a good thing keeping you from the better thing of, you know, actually reading your Bible!

Week One – John’s Gospel

A couple things to keep in mind as you read through the Gospel of John in this first week. Of the four Gospels, John was written last. Matthew, Mark, and Luke largely present the public ministry of Christ––His miracles, teachings, passion, and resurrection––in a chronological fashion. These Gospels present a factual gospel proclamation. By contrast, one thing to notice in John’s Gospel, is that it carries a reflective quality. John has clearly spent his life preaching, defending, and explaining the gospel, and his Gospel record unpacks the theological implications of Christ’s Incarnation, Life, Death, and Resurrection. Leon Morris points out that “it is undoubtedly an interpretive document. In selecting its material it omits much that the other Gospels include and includes much that they do not.” We should not view this difference with the other Gospels as contradictory, but as complementary. John’s Gospel is a barrel of well-aged whiskey, which offends both Jews and Greeks with its theological presentation of Christ’s saving work.

Another thing going on in the background, is that John employs Greek philosophic terms, but in adopting them, he adapts them and incorporates them into his theological presentation of salvation in Jesus Christ. The most prominent and famous example of this is in the “prologue” of John (John 1:1-18) where John speaks of the “Word made flesh.” “Word” here is the Greek word––and philosophical term––logos. Morris again comments: “Though John would not have been unmindful of the associations aroused by the term, his essential thought does not derive from the Greek background. His Gospel shows little trace of acquaintance with Greek philosophy and less of dependance on it.” In essence, John takes Hebrew ideas, shows Jesus as the fulfillment of those ancient doctrines and prophecies, all in terms of Greek philosophical notions.

Finally, as you read, notice the motif of “signs” throughout the book. For John, presenting the miracles of Christ was not a means of showing the mere wonder of the miracle; rather, the miracles were a means of signifying something beyond the amazement of the act itself. All of this culminates in the epilogue of the book: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:30-31).” John wants to make sure that these miracles compel us to evangelical faith in the salvation found in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Happy reading!

Summer Bible Challenge #1

Becky Pliego on June 4, 2018

¡Hola, hola! Welcome to the Summer Bible Reading Challenge! We are so very grateful that you are joining us and look forward to hearing what the Lord will be doing in your life through this challenge – let us know through email or on our Facebook page!

Our plan is designed for us to abide in the Word of God with much intentionality through the summer. We have two plans running simultaneously: one will take you through the New Testament once reading only 4 chapters a day, and the second option will take you through several epistles three times and a few psalms, reading 6 chapters a day. Each week we have readings assigned Monday through Friday, and Saturdays are set apart for you to review and meditate on the Scripture passage that we will be considering closely each week (Saturdays are called “M-Days” and of course you can use them as catch-up days too!)

I recommend that you print your weekly memory/meditation card and have it ready by Monday. That week read it and meditate on it, pray it, and even try to memorize it by reading it 5-6 times a day. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of memorization. Keep it at hand and be intentional about reading it and meditating on it several times a day, and then on Saturday – our M-Day – you will be surprised to see how much you actually remember. Note that our plan is not organized following the order in which the books appear in our Bibles, but rather in a unique, well-thought order. We will start with the gospel of John, followed by his three epistles, and then the book of Revelation, which he also wrote. Pay attention to what John chooses to tell us in his gospel about Jesus and then see how these things closely relate to the doctrines he develops in his letters. Note themes like light/darkness, dead/life, confession of sin, repentance, loving God and His people (but hating the world!). Those of you choosing to do the extended plan will be reading almost twice this per week. I am sure you will find many connections with what we will be reading in John’s writings while at the same time finding so much encouragement in seeing how our justification is through grace by faith alone.

The meditation/memorization passages are chosen to tell one story if you put them together. In June we will memorize John 3:16-21, 1 John 1:5-10; and Revelation 21:1-4. If you take a moment to read them all at once you will see that we are going to be meditating on the gospel message: The Father sends His Son to the world to save the world, to bring many to the light, and God is the Light and in Him there is no darkness at all, so we must repent (instead of saying that we have no sin!) and believe and trust that only the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us and not only forgive us but cleanse us from all unrighteousness! And then in the passage of Revelation we will read how, when we are in Him as part of His church, we will be in a restored relationship with Him. He will dwell among us, He will be our God and we will be His people forever! Sin will no longer have dominion over us, but all things will be made new in Christ Jesus! Alleluia!

As you meditate on each week’s passage, I hope you see how important it is to consider the immediate context of the text, and it’s context within the whole letter. This will make your meditation richer.

Friends, we are praying that you will be nourished as you come to the Scriptures every day this week. Remember that we don’t need more willpower to persevere, we need more hunger and more thirst, and we cannot produce those ourselves. Ask God to give you more hunger and more thirst of Him, He will surely answer you and draw closer to you as you draw closer to Him.

May our prayer this week be, “ Father, help us abide in your Word as your true disciples do.” (John 8:31)

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

Bible Challenge #37

Becky Pliego on May 25, 2018

¡Hola, hola! Friends, we are here, this is our last week of the first round of our Bible Reading Challenge! Praise the Lord! We thank God for each one of you and for the work of His Spirit in your lives. The testimonies we have heard have been really encouraging, and as I mentioned in some other email, the common thing in all these was hearing how much His Word changed you and sustained you through the hardest seasons you went through. This is wonderful to hear because we see again and again that God’s Word is alive and working in us, feeding us, sustaining us, transforming us. We can say with assurance that we never read our Bibles and pray in vain.

We have walked a long trail with some easy parts and other harder parts, and now we have arrived at the top of the mountain and can see the most amazing view: God’s grand redemptive story laid before us. From Genesis to Revelation one main story line, “the reconciling of all things to Himself, whether things on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Jesus’ cross” (Col.1:20). And this makes us not only know the Lord more and understand our place in the story even better, but we also love Him more.

But as rich as these past eight months have been, we cannot live by what we got from being in the Word these past months. Our lives depend on the Word of God as much as we depend on oxygen and water to live. So we will not stop here. We will take the Book of God and read it, and meditate on it, and pray it, and continue to be transformed by it. We don’t know what lies ahead of us, but we now Who is ahead of us, and we know how our Father works all things together for our good and the glory of His name. So we take courage and do not lose heart, but take our two sleeved habit and wear it every day: reading and praying the Word.

This Summer we will continue reading the word and praying, but will also pay attention to the seam that binds this habit we now love to wear: meditation (memorization). Our summer plan (which starts on Monday, June 4) includes a passage that you will be memorizing (or meditating) starting on Monday of each week and reviewing on Saturday. You can print the passages and carry them with you in your purse, your pocket, and read them 5-6 times a day meditating on them, praying over them, considering them carefully. We really hope you can join us as we dig in deeper into the New Testament this summer. All the information can be found here. (Also, we will not have webinars during the summer, but the weekly emails will continue to be delivered to your inbox.)

This week we will be reading ten psalms and finish with Psalm 119 (the Psalm with which we started), and I trust that you will find it a joy to read and will see how much more the Lord has increased your love for His Word these past months. You will, I am sure, read it with more delight than when we started this challenge.

On our last day, we will read Romans 8 (bonus reading is Romans 1-10). This chapter is a fantastic one to meditate on as we close our Bible Reading Challenge. The chapter shouts good news: “No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” In Adam we fell, we died, we were condemned, the Law was given to show us our desperate need for a Savior and our impossibility to save ourselves. But God always comes to seek and save the lost, so He became man and came, and dwelt among us and being humbled to that point, He died on the cross to redeem His own and deliver us from the condemnation that was upon us. His grace – irresistible grace – broke the yoke and through grace by faith we have been set free, free from all sin, free from all guilt of sin, free from the punishment of sin, free! Free to love God and our neighbor, free to serve Christ and His church, free to proclaim the good news to all, free to live in joy, free to ground our identity in Christ and not in our achievements, failures, neither sins we have committed or sins that have been committed against us. We are free! Free indeed by the blood of the Lamb!

May our prayer this week be, “Father thank you for the freedom we have in Christ, we pray now, give us the assurance we need to boldly proclaim in the midst of our circumstances that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Important end note: Since Monday I will be traveling back home form the other side of the Atlantic, I will be recording our last webinar today, Friday, May 25 at 10:00am, maybe you can join me live?

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the team of Ladies Fellowship from Christ Church

Bible Challenge #36

Becky Pliego on May 18, 2018

¡Hola, hola! Welcome to week 37 of our Bible Reading Challenge. As I type this, I cannot thank the Lord enough for the many ways in which it has pleased Him to bless this endeavor. He has been so kind to us in drawing us to Him, and in drawing Himself closer to us. Since the very beginning of the BRC, I have mentioned (especially in the webinars) how God wants to be known, and has made Himself known to us. And now as we come close to the end of this challenge, we can attest that by the help of Holy Spirit and after being intentional and diligent in reading the Word of God, we know Him more than when we started. And this, my friends, is a true gift. From His fullness, we have indeed received grace upon grace.

Summer is right around the corner, and we are ready to jump into our summer habits, we are eager to wear pretty, warm colors every day and put cheerful flowers on our tables to brighten our homes. And in the same way we must start planning our summer bible reading and praying habits. The Ladies Fellowship of Christ Church has been planning a summer reading plan that we trust will be a huge blessing to you.

The plan for the summer is to read through the New Testament and focus on a few passages for memorization or meditation each week (“M-Days”). The plan begins on June 4th and runs through August 31. There are two options for reading pace – four or six chapters a day. The four chapters a day will take you through the entire NT and the six chapters will mean reading several epistles three times. There is no assigned reading on Saturday (M-day) so that you can have more time to review the verses you worked on through the week. And on Sunday, we don’t assign any readings because we all go to Church to read the Word with the body of Christ and receive it as our own pastors preach from it.

We hope you will join us and will share this with other women you know! Click here to find more information.

This week we will be reading only Psalms, and I think it is very appropriate to finish these last weeks of the BRC this way. Most of these Psalms are not Psalms of lament, but psalms that celebrate the reign of our Lord. These psalms exalt God’s character and warm our hearts to praise Him fervently. As you read them, find what they teach us about God’s character and see how knowing His character helps us to pray better and worship Him more.

You can choose to divide this week’s readings in three parts, so that you can read two psalms in the morning, two at midday, and two at night. Read them, pray them, sing them. Our God reigns, let us praise His name!

Note about this week’s webinar: Because I am traveling overseas I will record the webinar for week 37 today, Friday May 18, at 8:00AM PST. I know it is too early for many and maybe you will read this email after that hour, but remember that you will be able to find the webinar ready to be watch at your most convenient time on our website. Thank you for your understanding!

May our prayer this week be, “Our Creator, Redeemer, and King, we ask you to give us soft hearts as we read your Word this week, deliver us from reading your Word and hearing your voice and hardening our hearts in response. May we be humble to receive your Words of encouragement and correction. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen” (Psalm 95:7-9)

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Ladies Fellowship at Christ Church

Bible Challenge #35

Becky Pliego on May 14, 2018

¡HOLA, HOLA! Can someone please explain to me how did we get to week 35 in a breeze? YAY! Maybe, after all, this daily wearing of our habit truly became our daily habit. I hope you feel comfortable in it, and I trust that all those around you can see how well it looks on you. We know that habits cannot be hidden for too long, all become visible at one point or another, and so it is the same with the habit of Bible reading and prayer. Be encouraged, Sister. Every time you read your Bible, the Word of God is at work in you!

I want to share with you something that puzzled me this week. I listened to a Podcast in which a renown author was being interviewed on how he read the Bible. To my surprise, he said that he didn’t necessarily have a plan. In fact his approach was that, if he didn’t feel like he was getting much from, let’s say I Kings, he would happily skip to his favorite passages somewhere else. Now, the question we must ask ourselves is this: do we really need to have a plan to read the Bible? (And I know that this question is an odd question to add when we are almost done with our Bible reading plan! But we always need to be thinking about what we are doing and why we are doing it.) Well, no, not necessarily, but if you choose not to have a plan, you must build some sort of structure (a plan? Ha!) so that you will not only read your favorite passages, but read all the Bible. We need all of God’s Word to feed our soul, edify us, and transform us. We need to read all the Word of God to
begin to understand all the Word of God. This leads us to say that yes, having a plan laid out is a wonderful thing to help us get to our destination on time and without missing anything as we go. And we have already seen this, right? We have been encouraging one another to keep walking, to keep turning pages, because we all want to get to our destination, we all want to stand together at the top of the mountain and be amazed at the wonderful view, to see the whole Story of Redemption laid our before us in all its glory!

So, Friends, get ready: our plan will continue! We are already working on the Summer Bible Reading Challenge, the reading plan is done, and now we are working on the graphics and design. And we can’t wait to start a new journey with you!

This week we will finish reading Zechariah, and then we’ll read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, and we will start Revelation and 2 Corinthians along with Psalms 81-84 and Proverbs 31. We have a catch-up day on Thursday in which I recommend you read 2 Peter.

Remember what we said in our last webinar: Read as you pray and pray as you read. Don’t skim over the harder passages. And those things you do understand, take heed and apply in your daily life. God will bless your coming to His Word this week too!

May our prayer this week be, “Lord, direct our way to you and make us increase and abound in love for one another, so that our hearts may be established blameless in holiness before you, our God and Father.” (I Thess. 3:11-12)

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship