Chronological Bible Reading Plan

     Welcome to River of Life, First Baptist Lake Monroe and Ridge Crest Bible Church’s Chronological Bible Reading Plan.  Over the next several years, the members of these sister churches will be reading through their Bibles together in a chronological way, following the events of the Bible in the order in which they occurred rather than in the order in which they were recorded.  In addition the pastor and adult Bible study teachers will be teaching from the same passages we read each week.  At times, additional passages from the Psalms will be provided along with the chronological reading portion.

     I hope that you will prayerfully consider making a commitment to reading through the Bible with us.  As you approach each days’ passage and questions let me encourage you to: 

Pray – Pray before you read.  Ask God to make the scripture real to you and show you how it applies to your life.

Read – Read the scripture passage(s).

Ask – Ask yourself, “in what I just read is there a lesson to learn, a truth to embrace, an example to follow, a sin to avoid, a mistake to dodge, a change to make or a promise to claim?”

Meditate – Think about what you have read.  We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

Remember God’s promise and condition in Jeremiah 29:13

 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

If you miss a lesson and would like it emailed to you,

 send me an email at rolwebperson@yahoo.com

Want a link to read the Scriptures?

http://www.biblegateway.com/



Sunday, August 11- Read for today: Psalms 20



Monday, August 13 - Read for today: John 14

Looking for peace

     Depending on what source you check, there have been between 268 and 500 years of peace through all of recorded human history. That’s around 8% of the time. Those are years without wars. That does not include lack of peace in our homes, at our jobs, and our families. Peace is very illusive.

     In verse 27 of today’s passage, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.” Peace He leaves with us?

     It is reported that the Earl of Dundonald once fought, with his ship alone, against a line of very powerful forts in South America. Those forts raked his ship with such heavy gunfire that he could not get his sailors to man their guns, for fear that they would be killed in the next volley of gunfire. The Earl asked his wife to man one of the guns, which she did, and it so shamed his men that they returned to their guns and soon defeated the forts they were fighting against.

     Later, the Earl’s wife recounted the experience and said that the thing that she remembered the most from the battle was not the noise of the cannons and the battle. It was not the enemy’s gunfire which raked their deck. She said the thing that she remembered the most from the battle was her husband’s composure; his absolute certainty that they would win the battle.

     That is the peace, the calm assurance the Lord offers to those who follow Him. He says He gives, “Not like the world does”, a simply greeting “Peace be with you”, or “God Bless you”, or something like that we sometimes say without thought or meaning. No, He gives in a different way.

     Worldly things like pleasure, fame, and wealth, cause us to worry. We worry we will lose them, or they will be taken from us.

     And worldly philosophies don’t bring true peace, because they don’t quiet our conscience. We go to sleep at night wondering if we have done enough, or what the consequences of our actions will be.

     The peace Jesus offers is the peace of forgiveness - He knows our failures and forgives them.

     The peace Jesus offers is the peace of stillness - Martha was worried about accomplishing a whole bunch of stuff. Mary sat down at the feet of Jesus and when Martha complained Jesus told her that Mary had made the better choice. Do we have assignments and much to do before Jesus returns? Yes, but we do what He’s called us to do and leave the rest in His hands.  There is always more to do. There is always more needs to be met, but Jesus gives us the peace to know that it’s not all up to us. We do what He’s called us to do and leave the rest to Him. We sow the seeds and He brings the harvest. That’s not our responsibility. That’s His.

     The peace Jesus offers, is a lack of concern about the future. He’s prepared a place for us.

     The peace Jesus offers, comes thorough time spent with Him and a realignment of our priorities. It comes as we begin to see things from His perspective.

     You want to find peace? You will only find it through Jesus.

Questions for thought:

  1. Do you have peace?

  2. What can a person do to realign his life to find peace?

For further study:

  1. Read John 16:33. What does Jesus remind us of in this verse that can help us find peace?

  2. Read Isaiah 41:10. What promise does the Bible give us in this verse?

  3. Now a prayer: 2 Thessalonians 3:16.



Tuesday, August 14 - Read for today: John 15

Abiding in the Vine

     Chapters 15 through 17 occurred as the Lord and His disciples were walking on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. On the way they passed through the vineyards that surrounded the city. Perhaps Jesus stopped in the midst of a vineyard, took a vine, and used it as a means of illustrating to His disciples the great secret He had been seeking to impart to them in His whole discourse there in the upper room, the most fundamental and basic secret of Christian life--“I am in the Father, and ... the Father is in me” (John 14:10).

     His beautiful analogy has helped many Christians understand the relationship God wants them to know. When He said, “I am the true vine,” He did not mean true in contrast with something false, but rather real, genuine, as opposed to the mere copy or symbol. As He held this vine and its branches in His hand, He indicated that this was the copy. He was the true vine from which true life is received.

     The purpose of this vine is to bring forth fruit. A vineyard is planted not for ornamentation, but to produce grapes, to bear fruit. This is the point our Lord makes in the story. All through this account His emphasis is upon the fruit. So, the question arises, “What does this fruit stand for in our life?”

     Some people who read this and understand the fruit to be others won to Christ. How they can get this from this parable is difficult to understand, because there is nothing in it that suggests that at all. Fruit is that which is produced by the vine and is the natural outflow of the life of the vine. Though it is wonderful when a Christian has the privilege of leading others to Christ, that is no indication of fruitlessness if you never have had this experience. I know many Godly, Christ-fearing people who’ve never led anyone tenth Lord. They sow seeds.

     The figure of the vine is used many times in the Scriptures. These disciples would immediately think of several places where it was used. One is in Isaiah 5: “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7a). Israel was that vine. As Isaiah tells us, God cleared out the rocks in His vineyard and built a hedge around it. He built a tower; He protected the vineyard and cared for it. He did everything possible to cause it to produce grapes. But when He came into His vineyard and looked for grapes, He found instead sour, tasteless grapes. Isaiah tells us what that represents in verse 7: “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress” (Isaiah 5:7).

     God came looking for justice and righteousness; instead, He found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and indifference to the needs of others. It is evident from this parable that the fruit that God expects of the vine is moral character or, as described in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit. The life that is in the vine produces fruit that Paul describes in Galatians 5 as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. The fruit, in other words, is Christlikeness. And our Lord is indicating that the very purpose of the vine is to produce such fruit.

Questions for thought:

  1. Do you see much evidence of the “Fruit of the Spirit” in your life?

  2. How does one go about “abiding in the vine”?

For further study:

  1. Read Hebrews 12:10-11. How does the Lord treat those He loves?

Wednesday, August 15 – Read for today: John 16

 The Same God but a New Relationship

     The disciples enjoyed a wonderful relationship with Jesus while He was here on earth but His departure was now at hand.  Jesus taught his disciples many things but they could not understand them all.  Jesus of course was aware of this and brought them along in time but the promise now of a new relationship was surely very encouraging as well as intriguing. The only one true God remained the same but now the third person of the trinity (The Holy Spirit) would be coming upon the departure bodily of Jesus.  Jesus would go back to be with His Father in heaven but would communicate with the believers on earth through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would do three things as mentioned. He would convince the world of sin, reveal the goodness of God and the deliverance from judgement.  The disciples could not understand everything now but the Holy Spirit would help them later.  The Holy Spirit would bring honor to the Lord and assist the disciples in their understanding.

     When the Holy Spirit would come on the day of Pentecost a new relationship would come into being and believers could come directly to the Father in the name of Jesus. Today we still enjoy this wonderful relationship as the indwelling Spirit of God teaches us the truths of the Bible, assist us in our prayers and encourages us in our Christian walk with our Savior. Jesus spoke of trying days ahead in His arrest and death on the cross when fear would grip their hearts.  He would go alone to the cross yet His relationship to His father would remain intact forever. We as believers today should take heart that Jesus has overcome the world and as our King He will rule forever. Because of this fact we can have great peace even in the middle of great storms. The Holy Spirit, our great comforter, is the new relationship that Jesus spoke of. The same God as always but an indwelling power in the Holy Spirit that instructs and gives glory to our Lord.

Thoughts to consider:

John 14:17- Think on the joy of having a close relationship to God through the Holy Spirit that lives in us as His children. Consider what the world is missing by not even having a conscience of the Spirit.

Romans 8:9- See here the identity with Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

For further study:

I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; II Timothy 1:14—Think on the life of the Apostle Paul and how the Holy Spirit surely helped him by living in him.

I John 2:27-Consider here the sure promise of the indwelling of the Spirit and His gift to us in teaching us all things we need to know. We should also learn of our responsibility to abide in Him to honor God in our lives. To abide means to walk with Him daily for instruction and encouragement in Bible study and prayer. How is your walk with the Lord?





Thursday, August 16 - Read for today: John 17

The Church United

     In verse 23 we read, “I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

     Jesus prays for unity three times. What is this unity?

     It is not an organization like the World Council of Churches, which dilutes everything it believes in an attempt to include as many churches and denominations as possible. My word, you can dilute things so much that the word “Church” or “Christian” means nothing. Heaven knows there are plenty of people claiming to be Christians in the world today who have relationship with Jesus. He’s not saying that we all unite under one banner, and basically agree that anything goes. If that’s not what He means, what is this prayer for then? What is the nature of that unity? Several things in this passage give us a clue.

     The first is in verse 21--“that all of them may be one.” What does this “all” mean? If you look back in verse 20 you will see that Jesus prays, “not for them alone.” Who are “them”? The apostles, the eleven for whom he has been praying in the previous section. He continues, but “also for those” who are to believe in him through the apostolic witness--the great body of Christians around the world and through the centuries. These two groups, He now says, are all to be joined together, “that all of them may be one.” In other words, the unity of the church is a unity with the apostles. And since the primary task of the apostles was to give us the truth about Jesus, this unity is that of shared truth--one faith delivered unto the saints, one set of beliefs about Jesus given by the apostles. Thus, the basis of unity in the body of Christ is the unity of shared truth.

     Another aspect of unity is found in the words, “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity.” That is the glory of a shared life. Jesus in us, the Father in Him, and thus, in the remarkable words of Peter, we “may participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Do you ever think of yourself as linked with the life of God--so much so that you cannot be known or understood apart from that life? The understanding of that is what produces unity among believers. Here is what Jesus is praying--that we may understand the sharing of truth, the sharing of power, and the sharing of life, and that we may be one.

     What is the purpose of this unity? Jesus tells us twice--once in verse 21: “so that the world may believe that you have sent me,” and again in verse 23: “to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” When the church begins to demonstrate the unity of faith, the unity of shared truth, shared power, and shared life, the world is hit by an inescapable impression that Jesus is Lord, that He indeed holds the key to history and to reality, that He is indeed the revelation of the invisible God. In other words, this unity that Jesus prays for, is that all believers will share the Gospel, demonstrate His love to the world and to each other in such a way that people can’t help but tell that we are different.

     Jesus prays that we will spend time sharing the Good News about Him, instead of spending time fighting among ourselves.

Questions for thought:

  1. Do you pray for unity among Christians and for unity within your church?

  2. Do you spend more time building up other churches, or talking about their weaknesses?

For further study:

  1. What did Jesus tell us in Matthew 12:25?

  2. How did Jesus say we would be known in John 13:34-35?



Friday, August 17 - Read for today: Matthew 27

Only some sins count?

      There are passages of scripture I look at, and sometimes I struggle at what there is I can discuss. This is not one of those passages. I admit, I just got through complaining to Gladys that there was so much in this passage to talk about, I was struggling with where to start. So much truth, and stupidity in this passage that jumped out at me. I hope when reading it, you experienced the same. What really struck me this time though, (almost every time I read a passage, I see something different. It depends on where I am in my life at the time and what is needed) was the response of the elders and chief priests. Did you see it?  Look again at verses 3-8.

     Matthew 27:3-8 ‘Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What’s that to us?” they said. “See to it yourself!” So, he threw the silver into the sanctuary and departed. Then he went and hanged himself. The chief priests took the silver and said, “It’s not lawful to put it into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” So they conferred together and bought the potter’s field with it as a burial place for foreigners. Therefore, that field has been called “Blood Field” to this day.’

     Did you see it? The chief priests and elders thought it was wrong taking “blood money” and placing it in the temple treasury, but they had no problem paying blood money out of the temple treasury in the first place? Does that make any sense to anyone? It’s ok to pay someone to betray a person, so we can kill Him; but if that money is returned, it’s a sin, or wrong, to return it to the treasury? What kind of sense does that make?

     Is it true that the only sins that count are the ones we don’t commit? How is it that we want to rank sins and judge other people’s sins, while ignoring our own? Do we honestly believe that only “some sins count”?

     Oh my friend, please be careful, be very careful, that you are not quick to judge the sins of others while ignoring or making excuses for your own sins. That’s what the people who crucified Jesus did, and you certainly don’t want to be included with that group.

Questions for thought:

  1. Are there sins you think are worse than others?

  2. Are there sins in your life that you make excuses for?

For further study:

  1. Read Matthew 7:3-5. What does Jesus tell us to do in this passage? Are you careful about that?

  2. What did Job pray in Job 13:23?

  3. What happened in Psalm 32:3-5?



Saturday, August 18 - Read for today: Psalms 21

Sunday, August 19- Read for today: Psalms 22