12 Days of Christmas Day 7: Be Better At... Reading the Bible

Have you read the whole Bible from cover to cover?

Why not resolve to do that in 2014?

Last year I posted links to a number of plans. This is a LINK to that post. They are all still available.

Tim Chester recently made available the Bible reading plan they use at The Crowded House church in Sheffield. I really like. He gives 4 reasons why it’s different and helpful:

1. FlexibilityThe plan specifies a number of chapters for each week rather than for each day. This makes it more flexible. You can read a chapter or two each day or you can read it in two or three sittings. Or you can set out reading a chapter a day and then catch up at the weekend. It means it fits more readily around people’s lifestyle. 

2. Communal It is designed to be followed with a partner or among a group of people. There is only one section each week (occasionally two shorter books). So you don’t have to read a section from one book and then a section from another book each day. It means the sections are somewhat uneven, but it makes it easy to discuss what you have been reading when you meet up with other people.We’ve been using it for a year now and it works very well in this way. I meet up with a friend each week for lunch. It’s easy for us to discuss what we’ve been reading because there is only one Bible book to focus on.It also means I only need look at the Bible plan once a week – I don’t need to refer to it each day. 

3. Realistic Following this plan you read the OT in three years and the NT twice in three years. This works out at about nine chapters a week. It means you are not rushing through what you are reading to ‘get it done’. I’ve found with other plans I tend to read it with my mind disengaged. This plan gives time to meditate on the passage. 

There is also a version in the document in which you cover the OT once and the NT twice in two years = about 16 chapters a week. 

4. Balanced The plan balances OT history, prophecy, wisdom, Gospel and Epistles throughout the year. You move between genres so you’re never faced with reading OT prophecy continuously for six months.

Here’s the complete three year plan and here’s this postcard-sized version of the plan for 2014.

Alternatively, I came across another Bible-in-a-year reading plan recently that utilises email. 

‘The Bible in 2014’ is a different kind of reading plan. As soon as you sign up (it's free) you receive an email every day for the whole of 2014 containing:

1) The Bible references of an OT and a NT reading for the day
2) A key question to ask of God's Word as you read - to help you take in what you are reading
3) A brief comment on the OT reading to aid understanding
4) A suggestion on how to pray in response

You can visit the site and subscribe by clicking HERE.

Reading the Bible this year... sounds like a New Year’s Resolution worth keeping to me!

12 Blogs of Christmas Day 6: Which worldview in 2014?

I don’t read GQ magazine, but I recently came across an article that highlighted an interesting clash of quotes in GQ's December 2013 issue.

 In the first, actor Matthew McConaughey, named GQ's ‘Man of the Year’, said:

‘I'm a fan of the word selfish. Self. Ish. When I say I have gotten a lot more self-ish, I mean I am less concerned with what people think of me … Selfish has gotten a bad rap. You should do for you."

A few pages later GQ quotes an award-winning fiction writer named George Saunders, who they've named ‘Life Coach of the Year’.

Saunders says, 

‘The big kahuna of all moral questions, as far as I'm concerned, is ego. How do you correct the fundamental misperception that we are all born with - [namely, the idea that] I am central? All of the nasty stuff in this life comes out of that misunderstanding.’

So there you are... two opposing worldviews.

McConaughey: You should do for you. 

Saunders: You should get over yourself.

Which worldview, which path, will you choose for 2014?

Of course, Jesus said it’s not about ME at all. 

Self-fulfilment comes not as we come to know ourselves or try to change ourselves, but as we come to know God and he changes us. 

Fulfilment comes as we rediscover what we were created to have: a relationship with the God who made us and loves us and sent his Son to redeem us. 

Jesus said we only discover our true selves only as we deny self and follow him:

‘When he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.’ (Mark 8:34-38)

Don't follow McConaughey or Saunders in 2014... follow Jesus.

12 Days of Christmas Day 5: Why Jesus Came

Tim Keller on why Jesus had to come...

12 Days of Christmas Day 4: God with Us

Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers who ever lived. 

This three and a half minute video contains part of a sermon he preached on Christmas Eve 1854 and contains his masterful and eloquent take on the meaning of ‘God with us’.

It’s heart-warming stuff!

12 Blogs of Christmas Day 3: Christmas Gratitude

‘When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?’
(Gilbert K. Chesterton)

12 Blogs of Christmas Day 2: He's Here!

One of our most treasured family books is The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. 

International author and speaker Tim Keller has said:

‘I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian - from pew warmers, to ministry leaders, seminarians and even theologians! Sally Lloyd-Jones has captured the heart of what it means to find Christ in all the scriptures, and has made clear even to little children that all God’s revelation has been about Jesus from the beginning–a truth not all that commonly recognized even among the very learned.’

While the beautiful prose and stunning artwork are reason enough to get this, the fresh, faithful, Christ-centred retelling of the key passages in the Bible are the main reason why this is such a wonderful book. 

What marks this out from almost every other ‘childrens’ Bible is the way in which each story carefully and faithfully points to Jesus. 

Ever wondered how Daniel in the Lion’s den ( ‘Daniel and the Scary Sleepover’) or David and Goliath (‘The Young Hero and the Horrible Giant’) or the whole book of Isaiah (‘Operation “No more Tears”’) points to Jesus? If you read this book you will!

I cannot recommend it more highly – for all ages. We’ve read it through 3 or 4 times now as a family and we just love it!

Last year David Suchet was recruited to narrate the audio-version of the Jesus Storybook Bible. Zondervan also turned some of the stories into animated videos. The Christmas story from Luke 1-2 is below.

Enjoy ‘He’s Here!’ from the Jesus Storybook Bible...

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2y2FJqsv_8

12 Blogs of Christmas Day 1: O Come All You Faithful

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

For this first day of our 12 days of Christmas sit back, turn up the volume and listen to this incredibly creative version of ‘O come all ye faithful.’

Elevation Creative: In Your Presence (Christmas Piano Remix) from Elevation Media on Vimeo.

A Christian Tribute to Nelson Mandela

The world is mourning the death of one of the world's most influential leaders: Nelson Mandela.

As South Africa prepares for a State Funeral next week and debates what his passing will mean for the future of the country, the tributes continue to flood in from around the world. Although his death has long been expected, it is no less significant. It is likely this is what the world will be talking about this coming week and beyond.

GodFirst church in Johannesburg has been quick to respond to this with a really helpful video tribute to Mandela from Senior Pastor P J Smyth, which both honours Mandela and gently points people beyond Mandela to Jesus.

I think this is a really helpful Christian response to the life of a remarkable man.

You can watch it HERE

The concluding paragraph is particularly striking as we approach Christmas:

'I will never forget the day of the Rugby World Cup final when Madiba pulled on the No. 6 Springbok jersey, considered by many to be the moment when he won the nation. I find that moment profoundly moving at two levels: 

As a South African, that President Mandela would take on himself the symbol of all that hated him. He did it to reconcile white man to black man. 

As a Christian, it reminds me of the President of All Presidents, Jesus Christ, who took on human likeness, the symbol of a race that hated Him. He did it to reconcile man to God. 

As Christians around South Africa and the world, Madiba, we salute you.'

Why not pass on the link to others?

(If you prefer, you can download a PDF Transcript of the tribute HERE)