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/

Saturday, November 10- Read for today: Psalms 44

Sunday, November 11- Read for today: Psalms 45

Monday, November 12 - Read for today: 1 Corinthians 15

Our view of ourselves

     This is one of those passages of scripture I want to head so many directions on. I certainly find verse 58, which says, “Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain,” encouraging considering where we are with Christmas in the Country.

     I sorely want to talk about the resurrection and the next life as well, but what really jumps out at me from this passage is verse 9 where Paul says of himself, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, . . .”. This is how the man who the Lord used to write nearly 1/2 of the New Testament, and who planted churches all across the Roman empire, described himself.

     Gladys was the bookstore manager at the seminary I attended for a number of years. She said she didn’t care for most of the doctoral students who attended there because when they started those studies they often began to act like their feet didn’t stink. She attended a church for a number of years that was doing really well. The pastor went and got his doctoral degree and all of a sudden began to believe he knew everything. He hurt the church. How very different from Paul’s attitude.

     In verse 9 Paul refers to himself as the least of the apostles. Later in his ministry he refers to himself as the least of all the saints (Ephesians 3:8). At the end of his ministry he describes himself as the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). The closer he walks with the Lord, the more he becomes like Christ, the more he recognizes how far he has to go. He kinda reminds me of that old song sung by the group “Truth.” I’m not what I wantta be, I’m not what I’m gonna be, but thank God I’m not what I was.

     You want to recognize a true and growing Christian? Look for one who recognizes his faults and failures and admits how far he has to go, rather than one who walks around hard-heeled, thinking about what a great job she’s done, or how much she’s accomplished.

Questions for thought:

  1. How far have you come on your spiritual journey? Do you recognize your failings more now, or more when you started?

For further study:

  1. How did Isaiah describe himself when he encountered the Lord in Isaiah 6:5?

  2. How did the Apostle Peter, the one Jesus said he would use to build his church, respond to Jesus in Luke 5:8?

  3. What did Jesus tell us about greatness in Matthew 23:11-12?



Tuesday, November 13 - Read for today: 1 Corinthians 16

We all must follow the Lord’s Leading

       In verse 12 we read, “About our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. However, he will come when he has an opportunity.”

     That is a really surprising verse, especially in view of the attitude many today have that the apostles were, in a sense, “generals” in the army of the Lord, sending out people, ordering them here or there, and commanding these younger Christians to go at their beck and call. You do not find that here. This verse indicates that Paul does not command Apollos at all; he has no authority over him. He urges him, rather. In several places in the New Testament we are reminded by the apostle that he was not “lord” over anybody else.

     Lording it over our fellow believers is one of the great curses of the church today. Some men assume, for instance, that the office of pastor gives them an authority over other people. But notice that Paul respects the personal freedom of Apollos to be directed of the Lord, even as he himself is. He does not tell Apollos what he has to do, but he says it was not his will to come, and Paul accepts that. Apollos, too, was operating under the direct control of God. This is not only true of leaders, such as Paul and Apollos, it is true of all Christians. Perhaps the clearest word on this was spoken by the Lord himself when he said, “For you have one teacher and you are all brothers,” (Matthew 23:8).

     Pastors have a responsibility to direct the ministry of the church and to make sure what is taught is biblical, but the church needs to return to that restoration of the sense of being brothers with one another, not in position over one another, but working together. I find Christians everywhere under the authority of men who seem to be dictators — much like Diotrephes, who John mentions in one of his letters, who loved to have the pre-eminence among them (3 John 1:9).

     Church members should listen to their pastor as a wise brother who understands the nature of truth, perhaps, and can give them helpful suggestions. But no pastor ever, anywhere, has the right to tell another that they cannot follow the leading of the Lord as to the ministry that they have. Paul makes that clear in this passage.

     Notice how he supports Apollos in this. Apollos will come, he says, “when he has opportunity.” Paul and Apollos and Peter were three men around whom factions were gathering in this church. Perhaps Paul wanted Apollos to go because he thought it might improve that situation. But that may be the very reason Apollos did not want to go. As he might have seen it, and evaluated it, and understood it, his visiting Corinth might even have aggravated the tendency of the Corinthians to gather around an individual. So he did not choose to go, and the apostle supports him. This is a very helpful glance into New Testament life.

     We all must follow the Lord’s leading and we will all, one day, be accountable to Him.

Questions for thought:

  1. What has the Lord called you to do, or how has He called you serve?

  2. Have you ever encountered resistance when you’ve attempted to use your gift?

  3. What lengths are you willing to go to in order to do what you believe the Lord has called you to do?

For further study:

  1. Read Hebrews 13:17. How does this verse compare to what we’ve studied today?

  2. Read Romans 14:12. Where is your greatest accountability?



Wednesday, November 14 - Read for today: 2 Corinthians 1

Why do difficulties come our way?

     There are many reasons why bad things happen to good people. The Bible gives us many reasons and examples. In this passage Paul gives us one of them. In verses 3-6a we read, “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

     Why did Paul say, in these verses, that they were afflicted? It was so others could be comforted.

     I have always wanted to be married and have children, so, I figured by the time I was 25 I would have a house, wife, and a couple of children at least. It didn’t work out that way. Gladys and I didn’t get married until we were both in our thirties. I spent many a cold, lonely, winter night, alone in rural Arkansas and rural Tennessee. When Gladys and I did get married, she got pregnant almost immediately. She had a tubal pregnancy and we lost our first child. (I sometimes tell Drew my favorite child is in heaven). In spite of trying fertility drugs for a while, it was several years before Drew was born. There were a few painful days during that time.

     Because of our late marriage and the loss of a child, Gladys and I have had the opportunity to counsel and comfort a number of singles and folks who have lost children. Why did we go through those painful days? I am sure there are many reasons including the fallen state of our world, the sin of others, and such; but the Lord has been able to use the painful days we have gone through to be able to comfort others who have faced similar struggles and hurts and to remind them of God’s faithfulness.

     I don’t know all of the reasons why you have to go through struggles, but I know the Lord can use you and your pain to comfort others and to remind them of His comfort during difficult times. Don’t become bitter. Don’t waste your pain. Allow God to use it to help someone else learn to lean on Him.

Questions for thought:

  1. What pain or hurt in your past have you allowed God to use to help someone else?

  2. Is there bitterness you are hanging on to, from past hurts, that you need the Lord to help you turn in to something positive?

  3. Will you ask Him to help you use your hurt to help someone else?

For further study:

  1. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:11. What are we told to do in this verse? Are you doing it?

  2. Read 2 Corinthians 7:6-7. What/who did the Lord use to encourage Paul and his companions in this passage. Can God use you to do that for others?



Thursday, November 15 - Read for today: 2 Corinthians 2

Forgiving

     Paul doesn’t express any hard feelings or recriminations nor does he demonstrate an “I-can-forgive, but-I-can't-forget” attitude. We often hear people talk about forgiveness like this, and this attitude reveals a lack of understanding of what forgiveness is. Forgiveness, basically, is a promise that you make to three different individuals. This is true always, in every case of forgiveness.

     First, it is a promise that you make to the individual who has offended you and now has repented. You are saying to him or her, “I will not let my attitude toward you be governed any longer by this offense. It has been put aside. My treatment of you from here on will be as though this has never happened.” It is a promise you make never to bring it up again. In marriage many problems go on for years because couples tend to go back and dig up the past, which is an indication that it has never been forgiven. Some mates don't get hysterical; they get historical! That is the problem, and that creates a problem.

     Second, it is a promise not to pass it on to anybody else. When a matter is forgiven, it is to be forgotten. Now it may be that everyone knows about the matter, because, as in this case in Corinth, it had been told to the whole church. But what it means is that nobody brings up the issue again or holds it over a forgiven person's head or reminds him or her of it every time any other problem happens. It is a promise to drop the matter, leave it in the past, and never bring it up to anybody again.

     Third, and probably most important, it is a promise to yourself that when your memory goes back to it, as it will sometimes, you are not going to allow it to seize hold of your heart and make you angry all over again. The minute it comes back to mind, you put it aside as something that belongs to the past. You are not going to dwell on it. It is a promise, therefore, to repeat your act of forgiveness, no matter how often the memory comes up. That is what forgiveness is; and Paul is ready to do this.

     The reason, of course, is because he was forgiven himself. People tell me sometimes, “I just can't forgive this person. The person has admitted her wrongdoing and has asked me to forgive her, but I just can't do it. It hurt me too much.” It is a revelation to me that the person who has been wronged has never realized how much he has been forgiven already.

Questions for thought:

  1. Do you give up God’s forgiveness of you, because you are unwilling to forgive someone else?

  2. When you forgive someone, do you also try to forget the incident?

For further study:

  1. Read Ephesians 4:32. Why is it so important to forgive one another?

  2. Read Matthew 6:12, 14-15. What is the importance of us forgiving others?



Friday, November 16 - Read for today: 2 Corinthians 3

Regret for the past

     Is there anything in your past you regret? You never meant those words, and if you could just take them back, you’d be free. Or you got caught in the moment, and if you could take that tweet back, you would. Or, you know you never should have gone to that party and gotten behind the wheel. You know you should’ve treated your kids better. You wish you hadn’t worked as much, or you wish you wouldn’t have spent that money. You’d do anything to go back and erase that affair, the abortion, the hook-ups, the careless spending.

     When Jesus was sent to the cross, we see two characters who were filled with remorse. Judas had received 30 pieces of silver to betray his Lord, and Peter had denied ever knowing Christ three different times. As soon as Jesus had been condemned to die, Judas was filled with remorse, and when Peter heard the rooster crow after his sell-out, he was also filled with remorse.

     Here are two men, equally filled with regret, and if given the chance, they would have both gone back in time to undo their mistakes. But, although there are many similarities between Judas and Peter, they have two vastly different endings. Judas never repented, and because his regret ate him alive, he ended up hanging himself. Peter, on the other hand, wept bitterly, repented to His Lord, and he was forgiven and restored to Christ.

     With the regret you feel today, you have a choice. You can harbor that heartache and let it eat you alive. Or you can turn to Jesus, repent, and be free.

     This is the glory of the new covenant. Why make yourself suffer like Judas and face the condemnation that Christ already took on? He has already paid the price for your sin. Through the cross, Jesus took on your punishment, so that you don’t have to. For those who repent and turn to Christ like Peter, you will taste the overwhelming glory of the new way. Your bitter weeping over past sin and regret will be turned into happy tears over new mercies and new beginnings. Because, wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom indeed—so choose the path of Peter today. Repent and restore your relationship with Jesus.

Questions for thought:

  1. What in your past do you still regret today?

  2. Have you ever repented asked the Lord to forgive you, and placed it all in His hands?

  3. Will you do that today?

For further study:

  1. Read Romans 7:6. What does this verse mean?

  2. Read Romans 8:2. What name is given to the Holy spirit in this verse? What does He do, according to this passage?

  3. Read 1 Peter 3:18. What did Jesus die to do, in spite of our sins?





Saturday, November 17- Read for today: Psalms 46

Sunday, November 18- Read for today: Psalms 47