Back to current Daily Help
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Sunday, March 31, 2024
Easter
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Righteous One – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Realize This Easter: A recent poll says, “Nearly 70% of registered voters believe that Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead,” according The Daily Signal (Most Believe in Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, New Poll Finds). Let us take these poll results at face value and consider them in the light of the following passage.
- John 8:30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” - Obviously, there is no way we would have the government we currently have if the 70% of registered voters who believe in Jesus were “continuing in His word.” Both the Democrat and Republican parties would look and behave very differently than they do. To put it another way, a substantial portion of the 70% of registered voters who say they believe in Jesus are not reading the Bible every day because there is no way they could be regularly learning from Jesus and yet vote for the people and policies they’re voting for.
- Last year, demographer George Barna was reporting that only 6% of American adults held a biblical worldview. This means that roughly one out of ten people who say they believe Jesus rose from the dead hold to a biblical worldview. That sounds depressing, but it also sounds accurate because it is consistent with the godless society in which we find ourselves. On Friday, for example, the President of the United States issued “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024” which happens to be today. Simultaneously, the White House banned religious-themed Easter Egg designs at the their annual Easter Egg Roll Event. They know they’ve taken the country from us – they just want to be sure we know it, too. But remember: “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt 7:14).
- We have seen that calling ourselves Christians is not a difference-maker. Even believing Jesus rose from the dead is not a difference-maker. What does make a difference is reading the Bible every day and practicing it…because that is fulfilling what Jesus said in John 8:30-32. Being a reader and doer of the word makes us into different people – much better people than we would otherwise be.
- Please never stop reading and practicing the Bible daily – individually and as a family. It makes you and your family “the salt of the earth” (Matt 5:13). Happy Easter – today and every day!
- John 8:30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
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Saturday, March 30, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Revelation 7:17 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: My ticket to heaven got punched not when I believed in Christ, but rather when He died for the sins of the world. Faith doesn’t get you to heaven; what it gets you is assurance that you’re going to heaven. If faith got us to heaven, then Christ died needlessly…and our entrance into heaven would be a reward for our efforts instead of a gift of God’s grace. Heaven is most assuredly a gift of God’s grace and not an achievement of our doing.
- Addition to the Bible Reader’s Toolkit: An audio-visual Presentation (22 min): The Structure of the Bible as a Library
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Friday, March 29, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Holy One – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Understand: Salvation is found not in our identity, but rather in God’s identity…which is revealed in Jesus Christ. Alas, it seems most people these days are focused on creating, maintaining, or even changing their own individual identities. It’s sad. It’s a manifestation of the tribalism into which modern culture has descended of late. When a neighborhood deteriorates into a ghetto, residents seek protection (salvation) through association with a gang. The world has become one big ghetto where people identify as belonging to this or that gang – whether it be racial, religious, or political. I myself don’t have much of an identity: I’m male and I’m an American citizen. “But, Mike, don’t you identify as a Christian?” No, because that would imply that I belong to Christ while people who don’t identify as Christian don’t belong to Him. Everyone belongs to Him. In that sense, everyone is Christian…whether they want to be or not. Jesus paid the price for all of us with His blood; I couldn’t shut anyone out of that group even if I wanted to…which I don’t. God chose an identity for Himself and it is Jesus Christ. Understanding His identity is the only way I can truly begin to understand my own. His gang is the human race. Psalm 2:8 says that He received it as His inheritance.
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Thursday, March 28, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Daniel 7:13-14 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: That all the Bible’s prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ is not to say that God is uninvolved in what’s happening in the Middle East today. On the contrary, Jesus Christ is involved what’s happening everywhere in the whole world. He’s King of the nations! (Jeremiah 10:10; Revelation 15:3). That’s what the Second Coming was all about. Jesus is the One who is deciding which nations rise and which ones fall – and when. He has no special rules for America or Israel. There is no partiality with God. There was a time when He only worked through one nation – Israel. But Jesus sent His apostles to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19, emphasis added). America used to do better at that (making disciples) than we are now; that’s why we used to see America rising and now we see it falling. The world’s future is being determined by how nations are acting in the present – not according to ancient biblical prophecies that were fulfilled long ago. That said, the principles and patterns found in the Bible still apply because they are timeless. We just have to pray for the wisdom to be able to recognize “the signs of the times” (Matt 16:3).
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Wednesday, March 27, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Bridegroom – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: Nothing happening in the Middle East today is fulfillment of biblical prophecy. All biblical prophecy was fulfilled in the 1st century AD. (All Bible Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled in Christ – 4 min.) The Second Coming happened two thousand years ago – it’s not going to happen again. It doesn’t need to. The nations just need to stop fighting Jesus Christ.
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Tuesday, March 26, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Isaiah 55:8-11 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: What inane statements like these do is chip away at the concept of objective truth. The cumulative effect from long periods of chipping away at the reality that there is objective truth is that people can now talk about “my truth” and not get laughed out of the room (and/or be privately scheduled for a psychiatric appointment by their loved ones). Once a conviction has been formed that there is no such thing as objective truth, nothing but madness and murder is around the corner. Alas, this is not conjecture – we can see it happening right before our eyes.
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Monday, March 25, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Anointed – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Stupid Things People Say, Hoping (in Vain) to Sound Smart:
(Bible readers know better.)- “Perception is reality.”
- “Less is more.”
- “Love is love.”
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Sunday, March 24, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53:7 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Worth Noticing: In our heavily-secularized society, it is rare for a man to see truth through the fog…yet this man did. Oh, how much farther he could have gone if someone had only put a Bible in his hand and showed him how to read and practice it every day! There is no virtue in not going to church, but there is virtue in reading the Bible instead – especially if your goal is to find and serve the kingdom of God. You have the Bible in your hand – use it daily to change your life and the life of your family for the good!
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Saturday, March 23, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Father – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- A Warning: Beware of anyone who tries to make you responsible for their feelings. They’re trying to enslave you. It’s emotional blackmail, and it’s rampant in this age. It comes to us both on an individual and on a societal level. For example, on an individual level a family member or friend may accuse you of being insensitive to their feelings. They seek to “educate” you so that you will know what to say and not say to them in the future. They may even try to get you to accept some new “identity” they have concocted for themselves – forcing you to lie to them in the process. As for the societal level, there are organizations like BLM or the ADL that seek to sensitize everyone to their issues so that none of us will ever “trigger” them. Whether it’s an individual or a society, what these kinds of people are seeking is to make you a slave to their feelings. They are already slaves to their feelings and they want you to be enslaved to them, too. The only feelings you can be responsible for are your own; and you must manage them – not let your feelings manage you. Do not submit to emotional slavery. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. People can have whatever feelings they want to have about that. Capitulating to emotional blackmail is a sure sign you’ve abandoned the fear of God and are walking in the fear of man. Walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Friday, March 22, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53:3 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Further to the Point of the Last Two Days: The erasure of boundaries is the way of Satan. As for the way of God, Robert Frost picked up on it when he wrote “Good fences make good neighbors.” The restoration of proper boundaries leads to peace.
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Thursday, March 21, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is God – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: Yesterday, I said on this page that the effect of current US public policy on both immigration and families was to erase boundaries. Those boundaries are about as long-standing as you can get. In immigration, it was the long-standing boundary of a national border; in family, it was the long-standing boundary between male and female. By contrast, the Creator referenced in our Declaration of Independence used creation week to establish boundaries every single day He worked that week – starting with the separation of light from darkness on day one and ending with the creation of human beings as male and female on day six. No boundaries = “formless and void” = chaos. America today is of a very different mind and character from America at its founding. As different as you can get.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6-7 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- A Question to Answer: What does current US immigration policy have in common with current US family policy? No boundaries.
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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- John 10 – written / audio
- Galatians 5 – written / audio
- Leviticus 10 – written / audio (Because the condensed OT BRP we are following focuses on history, we’re skipping the last six chapters of Exodus and the first nine chapters of Leviticus because they focus on details about construction of the tabernacle and procedures for animal sacrifice.)
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Understanding the Title “Christ” – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Neither DEI, CRT, the sexual revolution, crime, government-sponsored mass illegal immigration, nor any other current societal pathology is the root of our societal dysfunction. Rather, the items I’ve listed, and many others like them, are all fruit – poisonous fruit. The root of our societal collapse is secularism. Secularism is the root because it forces us to interact in public as if God does not speak, spawning an unending cavalcade of toxic ideologies with no word of God to stop them. Secular arguments have proven impotent against secular ideologies; principled secularists can never prevail over unprincipled secularists because the latter are all about power – not principle. Contrast our current situation with the many references to God in America’s founding documents and our first president choosing to take his oath of office by swearing on a Bible. Chop the fruit and the root will grow more fruit; but chop the root and the fruit will all die. The current problem in America is not so much the people who promote the fruit, but rather that too many of the people who are against the poisonous fruit are not willing to go after the root.
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Monday, March 18, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Psalm 118:22-24 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Acknowledge: The survey referenced below, released Friday, confirms that secularism in America is on the rise…and higher than it’s ever been. Even more troubling, the survey says that only half the people who think secularism increasing its domination of the culture think that’s a bad thing. What good is a survey like this? It confirms that our eyes and ears have not been lying to us. Key takeaway? If a father doesn’t live and teach the Bible to his children, they’ll be adopting secularism by the osmosis of peer pressure.
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Sunday, March 17, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Understanding the Name “Jesus” – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Recognize: Late-stage secularism, like a late-stage cancer, is malignant and deadly. Secularism in our day is against God, but it is particularly antichrist. The pluralism that the American founders sought was a pluralism of Protestant denominations. By contrast, today’s pluralism seeks to be a pluralism of atheism, agnosticism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions. Such a pluralism is only rhetorical and cannot be lived out because the first two cannot be reconciled with the other three. Today’s pluralism therefore always ends up being a reduction to the lowest common denominator, which means that it merely becomes atheism by another name.
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Saturday, March 16, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Psalm 25:8 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- A Sign of the Times: America has become so secular that it not only rejects reading the Bible, it won’t even visit the Bible in a museum.
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Friday, March 15, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Firstborn of the Dead – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider Further: Secularism is not just an enemy of religion; it is the worst kind of enemy because it poses as a neutral party acting in the spirit of friendship.
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Thursday, March 14, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Psalm 23 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider Further: Modern secularism is neither a friend nor a neutral party to religion. It is an enemy of religion.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio reading companions are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of Creation – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider Further: Most Americans think secularism fosters religious pluralism, but that’s not the case at all. What it actually does is force religion into the closet…which fosters atheistic and agnostic hegemony.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Revelation 17:14 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- The Beginning of an Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The only people who don’t have to give up anything to live in a secular society are atheists and agnostics. What does that tell you about secularism? One of the things it should tell you is that secularism is not the solution to religious divisions that many people think it is. On the contrary, it is a problem – a much bigger problem than even many believers have yet realized.
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Monday, March 11, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Way! – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: The only people who don’t have to give up anything to live in a secular society are atheists and agnostics. What does that tell you about secularism?
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Sunday, March 10, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Peter 2:25 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Europe yesterday. Today it’s Canada. Maybe tomorrow it will be us. Let us thank God for farmers!
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Saturday, March 9, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Light – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: I thank God with all my heart that these farmers aren’t giving up on us and that at least a few news outlets exist to tell us about their courage. God forbid that we should bite the hands of those who feed us!
More explanation about the farmers’ plight:
https://x.com/OvertonLive/status/1765831383484629144?s=20
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Friday, March 8, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Psalms 73:28 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: By any objective measurement, Jesus of Nazareth lived the most impressive and influential life in the history of all mankind. The problem is: so few people these days measure anything objectively or have a proper appreciation of history. As a result, they ignore Him from whom they could learn so much that would help them with the problems they have in life.
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Thursday, March 7, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Son of Man – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: The reason Jesus has so many names – Son of Man, Son of God, Savior, Lord, Teacher, Prophet, and on and on – is that there’s so much to Him.
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Wednesday, March 6, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 3:17-18 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: You have to use your mind when you read the Bible. It’s a matter of extracting eternal principles from an ancient text in order apply them to modern situations. It’s why Jesus and His apostles are so often telling us to stay alert. If we sleepwalk through life, we’ll only bump into things.
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Tuesday, March 5, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Unleavened Bread – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: What’s sad is that while the number of people alarmed about the direction the country is taking keeps rising, the percentage of them interested in getting right with God remains low. They only want to turn back the secular clock – which, even if it were possible, which it’s not, would only delay the country’s inevitable demise – not replace it with a better outcome. Daily repentance toward Jesus is only the path to life. Anything else is a path to destruction – whether straight or meandering, whether speedy or slow. Pursue life with the only One who can give it!
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Monday, March 4, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Peter 5:10 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: A day in which we do not learn something more about Jesus Christ is worse than a wasted day. (Matt 13:12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”)
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Sunday, March 3, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Manna from Heaven – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: It is proverbial that generals fight the last war – that is, they tend to employ the strategies and tactics that succeeded in the previous war and thus fail to formulate strategies and tactics appropriate to the war that’s facing them. We can observe the same dynamic in spiritual warfare. Notice, for example, that the Pharisees argued with Jesus about the sabbath as if he was one of the sabbath-breakers with whom Nehemiah and Jeremiah had to deal. The Pharisees behaved this way because the sabbath was one of the last issues people argued over in the Bible they had. Similarly, people today want to focus on church and the second coming because these were the last issues described in the Bible we have. There is nothing new under the sun, but that doesn’t mean the next thing is going to look exactly like the last thing – especially not outwardly. The Bible gives us multiple patterns and principles; we must spiritually discern which apply to the particular challenges we face. Today, one of the most common things we hear is that so-and-so is like Hitler and thus the Nazis and World War II are the pattern that people think applies to our times. That is because so many people are lazily thinking that every crisis we face is going to follow that pattern. Let’s be more discerning than that. We have all of history and all of the Bible to inform us – not merely the most recent part of each.
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Saturday, March 2, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Colossians 3:24 – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something Completed: I’ve finished recording all 365 of the planned 3-5 minute audio capsules of Jesus Christ. I’ll continue posting them one by one to this page each day. The entire 365-day schedule with links is here. If you want to see the complete list with links in alphabetical and scriptural order, you can check out Audio Capsules of Jesus Christ. I’ve also linked these audio capsules to an even longer list of names, titles, and such by which Jesus is referred to in the Bible, which is called Identifiers of Jesus Christ.
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Friday, March 1, 2024
Today’s readings return to where we left off Wednesday, February 28th.
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Bread – a 3-5 minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: Faith is a way of thinking…that leads to action.
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Thursday, February 29, 2024
This is a leap year, and today is the extra day. In order to avoid having a separate Bible Reading Plan for leap years, we’ll use this extra day to re-revisit key chapters. We’ll return to our regular reading tomorrow.
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Lord – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Today’s Readings: Since we only get one leap day every four years, today’s readings and audio are given to “greatest hits” readings in each category. As for 1 Cor 15, I included only the first 11 verses because the chapter is long and I want to draw your attention to the key importance of the first 11 verses. God has rooted the salvation He crafted for us in history because history cannot be changed. This 11-verse passage therefore provides a rock-solid foundation for your faith in Jesus.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:21 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: What are we doing and why are we doing it? We are making room for the word of God in our lives. This is something Adam and Eve failed to do. We make room for it by committing to read the Bible and serve Jesus daily…and sticking to that commitment. In this way, we live lives of repentance…because repentance is not a once-and-done transaction. It’s a lifestyle. We do these things in order to find refuge in an increasingly dangerous nation; this America is not one we have known before. Jesus Christ has proven Himself to be “a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1). We’re all going to heaven; He wants to help us get there in one piece.
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Tuesday, February 27, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). That is a promise to you and the family for which you are responsible. Seeing this promise fulfilled in the life of your family does not depend on any other family taking the promise to heart. Even if your family were the only one to believe it, you would still see it come to pass.
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Monday, February 26, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:7 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: I am on the right track in life when I think that there is more to Jesus Christ than I have yet realized. This will keep me reading and practicing the Bible every day, hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
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Sunday, February 25, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Tree Cut Down to a Stump – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: In addition to there being things in this life that are hard to believe, there are also people in this life who are hard to believe. Jesus is not one of them.
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Saturday, February 24, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Luke 11 – written / audio
- 1 Corinthians 11 – written / audio
- Job 42 – written / audio (That we are jumping from Job 2 yesterday to Job 42 today doesn’t mean that the intervening chapters are unimportant. It only means that our focus in this condensed OT BRP we’re following is on history. Since our chapter-a-day rate of reading will only allow us to cover 365 or 366 of the 929 chapters that are in the Old Testament in a year’s time, it means we must focus on the chapters that record action. Job 3-41 consists almost entirely of dialogue.)
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: There are things in this life that are hard to believe, and you cannot avoid this by rejecting Christ. For example, all Americans are currently expected to believe a man can become a woman, even though that’s very hard to believe. Another example is that we’re expected to believe in evolution even though it’s hard to believe in it, especially since evolutionists can’t explain the beginning of the process – that is, how something came out of nothing. As for being a believer in Christ, I’ll concede that it’s hard to believe some of the events recorded in the Bible – like Noah’s flood or the parting of the Red Sea. But it’s not nearly as hard to believe those things as it is to believe that a man can become a woman or that something can come from nothing. Therefore, since you’re going to have to believe some hard-to-believe things no matter whether you follow Christ or not, why don’t you pick the set of things that are not as hard to believe as the other? My go-to attitude is: if Jesus believed something, I don’t see what excuse I have for not believing it. And it’s clear He accepted as true everything that the Old Testament recorded. Whatever Jesus believed, that’s what I want to believe.
***
Friday, February 23, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Luke 10 – written / audio
- 1 Corinthians 10 – written / audio
- Job 2 – written / audio (If you don’t know why we’re in Job, see the note below from yesterday. By the way, for next year and thereafter I plan to place these three Job chapters between Genesis 50 and Exodus 1 rather than between Exodus 2 and Exodus 3; though it might be a little less chronologically precise, it might also be a little less disruptive for newer readers.)
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Rod – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: My reference below (yesterday) to George Barna’s most recent research is an indication that, morally speaking, we Americans have entered “Noah territory.” This causes me to urge you to be sure you are thoroughly waterproofing the ark for your family – which is to say, solidifying your PDT and FDT routines, working daily to act on all you learn about Christ. As for Noah, here’s an article about how he waterproofed his ark. By the way, this article includes a picture of Johan’s Ark, which is in the Netherlands. Johan Huibers has done for the Netherlands what Ken Ham has done for America. While I respect and appreciate both men and their ministries, I have to say that Johan’s ark seems more realistic than Ken’s. I have never understood why Ken built his ark with a ship-like hull. Noah’s ark didn’t need to navigate anywhere; it only needed to float. Therefore, I assume it looked more like a barge than a ship. Of course, modern American culture thinks Ken, Johan, and the rest of us are all nuts for believing the Bible’s account of Noah and the flood, but I’ll take the unusual things we believe over the unusual things they believe any day of the week.
***
Thursday, February 22, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Luke 9 – written / audio
- 1 Corinthians 9 – written / audio
- Job 1 – written / audio (We’re going to take a break between Ex 2 and Ex 3 by spending three days on the book of Job – Job 1, 2, and 42, which are the main “action” chapters of that book. The reason we’re only going to read three chapters of Job is that our OT BRP is a one-year condensation of the OT, without which it would take over two years to read it at the rate of a chapter a day. You can find a thorough explanation of my editing principles at Condensing the Old Testament. The reason for inserting Job between Ex 2 and Ex 3 is that Moses likely wrote the book of Job during his time in Midian; this is explained at more length in the Introduction to Job found at the “written” link above. The core principle of my OT condensation is to convey the flow of human history from Adam to Jesus. The OT does not attempt to record all human history from Creation to Christ, but the history it does record is reliable. If the prophets can be counted on to get prophecy right, getting history right would have been a breeze by comparison. Modern public school education in America undermines what the Bible teaches about human history; your children need to know the truth.)
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Timothy 1:15 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: George Barna’s latest research shows that the number of American adults holding to a biblical worldview has declined to 4% – and among parents of young children, it’s only 2%! If these parents don’t teach their children, the percentages will actually reach zero. From this we know that God will surely intervene with forceful judgment because He’s made it clear He will not allow the the righteous to be completely extinguished. Those parents who are teaching the Bible to their children have reason to hope that their families will be preserved and sustained through all the trauma that’s coming.
***
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ Is the Pillar – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: The New Testament is either the truth or else a pack of lies. It cannot be anything in between because it claims over and over, and with great emphasis and clarity, to be telling the truth – especially about its central claim that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead according to the promises of God found in the Old Testament. The New Testament’s writers left no room for thinking they might be well-intentioned but mistaken. And all the copies of their writings that have survived say essentially the same things, so we cannot reasonably claim that the original writings said something different. Therefore, let us stop acting as if it’s rational to be neutral about the claims of the New Testament. It’s either true or false. Believe it or burn it.
***
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Colossians 2:5 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Far more people observe and define Christianity by Christians than by Christ. This leads to very distorted views about how God wants us to live. The only way to know what He wants from us is to go back to the primary historical sources for the life of Jesus, which are collectively called the New Testament. If these texts were only available in the original language on dusty scrolls in dank libraries we might have an excuse for not consulting them. As it is, however, we are without excuse. If we are ignorant of Jesus it is by choice.
***
Monday, February 19, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is Immanuel – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: I recently added to the top of this list a statement from a respected 18th-century U.S. Supreme Court justice. His statement demonstrates that “separation of church and state” meant something vastly different in early America than it means in modern America. At its founding, America practiced a secularism that meant no single Protestant denomination would prevail as it had in England; but that America was a thoroughly Protestant Christian nation was indisputable. In the current day, however, America practices a secularism that is increasingly hostile to Christianity in all its forms. For its entire history, America has used the phrase “separation of church and state,” but its meaning is dramatically different from what it used to be. “Freedom of religion” has come to mean “freedom from religion.” In the public square, both sides are using the same terms…but defining them in different, even opposite, ways. We’re living not just in Sodom, but also in the tower of Babel.
***
Sunday, February 18, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Ephesians 5:1-2 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Jesus was born of a virgin, performed a greater quantity and quality of miracles than has ever been credibly reported for any other human being, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. What else has a Creator got to do to get the world’s attention? Our generation is about to learn some things the hard way that it could have learned the easy way.
***
Saturday, February 17, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Commander – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: In all of human history, there is only one person whose life has been reported as bearing these three inimitable marks: 1) virgin birth, 2) resurrection from the dead, and 3) ascension into heaven. Why aren’t more people curious about this man? There must be some reason.
***
Friday, February 16, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Cor 16:14 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: When the apostle John wrote in his Gospel, “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14), we could translate that phrase into colloquial language by saying, “God has skin in the game.” It sounds odd, and maybe even crass…but does it not help communicate a relevant and important point? God did not stand aloof from us, even though He had every right to do so.
***
Thursday, February 15, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Tree – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Notice: Where is the man when the proverbial modern woman is “consulting with her doctor about an unwanted pregnancy” – are these women conceiving by themselves? If a man doesn’t care about his own seed, the child’s first line of defense is AWOL. The infant has been sired by a deserter.
***
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in John 8:12 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: From the beginning, Satan’s go-to scheme against humanity has been to get us to live without the word of God. To be more specific, he tempts us to make decisions without reference to what God has said. This is how he deceived Eve. We are still falling for this scheme even though we have a Bible with hundreds of thousands of words from prophets and apostles who risked their lives to speak for God, while all Eve had was the faint memory of something her husband had said to her. Let us make plenty of room for the word of God today that we might truly live and not be walking dead people like the secular society around us.
- The “He Gets Us” Super Bowl Commercial: I heard about this so I searched for it online. I found it to be an elaborately-constructed and artistically-impressive lie. Only a biblically-illiterate person would fall for it. In actuality, Jesus does get us…but the people who made that commercial do not get Him.
***
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Root – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- An Easy Question to Answer: Which is the more effective way to actualize the lordship of Jesus Christ in a man’s life – Bible reading or churchgoing? The answer’s obvious. Even pastors agree. Churchgoing made sense when the pastor was the only one with access to a Bible; that hasn’t been the case for a long, long time. The pastor in that video clip has succeeded in getting men to come to him, but not in getting them to go to Jesus. I know that pastor’s life; I used to live it. I had to learn to get out of the way. Cut out the middle man; go directly to the Lord. He’s found in His word.
***
Monday, February 12, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Colossians 2:6 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Appreciate: In our recent Old Testament reading, we have been watching Joseph mature as a man. In Genesis 37 he was blurting out his dreams to his brothers, but by Genesis 42 he was less naive and more guarded in his disclosures. Jesus would have heard the book of Genesis read in the synagogue as He was growing up in Nazareth. That He probably went to school on Joseph’s experience can be seen when the apostle John writes, “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them…” (John 2:24). Even Nehemiah – who lived over 15 centuries after Joseph and about 5 centuries before Jesus – probably learned from Joseph’s experience, for he says when he first headed back to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls, “I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do…” (Nehemiah 2:12). Jesus probably recognized how Nehemiah’s wisdom contrasted with Joseph’s naiveté, and thus the point would have been reinforced in His mind. You and I get to read a Bible that includes the experiences of all three men. Thus there are many things we can learn from daily Bible reading without having to go through the hard knocks that result from our own mistakes. There are plenty enough of those without unnecessarily adding to them. As the children’s song says, “Pray and read your Bible every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” That’s the best way to mature into men.
***
Sunday, February 11, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Shoot – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: When the television show Star Trek was originally broadcast in the 1960’s, the very first words you would hear at the beginning of each episode were Captain Kirk saying, “Space: the final frontier…” While God certainly wants us to explore and settle outer space, it is by no means the final frontier. On the contrary, the final frontier is inner space – the heart, the spirit, the soul, the center and unseen part of a man. This is what Jesus Christ came to teach us. When a man can tame and control the thoughts of his own mind, he’s on his way to maturity. By contrast, only people who cannot manage their own thoughts are foolish enough to think they are qualified and able to manage the thoughts of others. Through submission to Christ, you can conquer your inner space – and that by itself will make the world a better place. Those who live closest to you will appreciate it the most.
***
Saturday, February 10, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Cor 5:19 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: Although I cannot commend the language WW2 General George S. Patton used, nor all of the beliefs he held or actions he took, but there’s no denying that this man’s daily Bible reading habit was sincere, widely-known, and bore some good fruit for himself and his men. He was a bold and decisive military leader whose “Always take the offensive. Never dig in” strategy kept his men from suffering the heavy casualties that American troops had experienced in WW1 from settling into fixed defensive positions. May you and your family always be spiritually advancing on the enemy!
***
Friday, February 9, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the King – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: A mature man is a spiritual man. An immature man is fleshly. We need to grow up.
***
Thursday, February 8, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in John 18:36 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider Further: Yesterday, I wrote about how things have gotten so bad in America that a significant number of people now want to turn back the clock…but only so far. A lot of this is people thinking, “Having now experienced the Bs and the Ts – not to mention the +s – I’m willing to unite with the Ls and Gs if the letters will just stop there.” In other words, even sinners can be grossed out by sins worse than their own. But this doesn’t amount to genuine repentance; it’s only a sign that the sins of others bother us more our own. True repentance is being grossed out by your own sins. Don’t compare yourself to the worst person you know; instead, compare yourself to Jesus Christ. If that doesn’t make you want to repent, nothing will.
***
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Vine – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: An increasing number of people now recognize that America has entered a phase of increasingly dangerous moral decline. Whether or not a majority of the population shares this assessment, I do not know…but it seems to be a sizable number. They all want to turn back the clock, but the problem is that they vary greatly in terms of how far back they want to turn it. I’ve heard Tucker Carlson say he wants to turn it back to the 1980’s. I think many people think that Trump wants to turn it back to the 1950’s. I’ve heard others say they’d be very happy to return to the 1990’s. I’ve even heard some say they be content with any time prior to 2015-2016. Of course, there are those who long for the “band of brothers” values that animated America in the 1940’s, and many more who want to go back to the values our country held in the 1770’s. This degree of variation does not make for a unified political front that can have a chance at turning back the tide of precipitous moral decline we are experiencing. A moral problem can only be solved with a moral solution. A man who lived in the 0030’s is the only one with a viable answer to what we now face. And the good news is that His way will work at the individual and family level even if it continues to be rejected at the national level.
***
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:24 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Getting married civilized me, having children humbled me, and accepting Christ directed me. I am a sinner, but life has made these three great impressions on me – especially the last one.
***
Monday, February 5, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is Lord – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Remember: When we cannot hear God – Jesus’ Holy Spirit in our hearts – it is because our hearts have become too noisy with our own thoughts. The Lord is always speaking to us – especially at those times we’re seeking hard to hear His voice – but the noise of our own hearts keeps us from hearing that voice, which is like a gentle breeze. Who can detect a gentle breeze in the midst of a hurricane? The noise of our thoughts can be caused by a crisis we face, or it could come from the mundane worries of daily living. Whatever the source of the noise, calm your heart and you will hear His voice.
***
Sunday, February 4, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:9 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: Notice what these scriptures say about “leaven.”
Matt 16:11 “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matt 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Luke 12:1 …He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Luke 12:2 “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”
1 Cor 5:8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
By reading the Bible for yourself, you are partaking of unleavened bread. The men who wrote the library we call the Bible were not hypocritical; neither were they malicious or wicked. On the contrary, they were were sincere and truthful. They were truly men sent by God. There is no leaven in the bread they serve. And the spiritual unleavened bread they serve is Christ Himself. This is the communion God endorses – not the eating of wafers, which misses the point of God’s word.
***
Saturday, February 3, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Teacher – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something Else to Consider: (Before you read this, recall what I wrote in this space yesterday about thinking of Christianity as what God has done and is doing in Christ instead of as what human beings have done and are doing in response to Him.) Christianity began in the garden of Eden when God told the serpent that the woman’s seed would bruise him on the head (Gen 3:15). There began the messianic hope. (Remember that Messiah is just another word for Christ.) God built on this hope throughout Old Testament times, which is why we’re always finding Jesus in the Old Testament (#FJOT). (Messianism is just another word for Christianity.) By New Testament times, Israel was ready for Messiah (Christ) to be revealed, but only a portion of them believed. Then the Gentiles – those who had been left alone while God had been building messianic hope in the Jews – were invited to join in believing. Only a portion of them have believed, too. The full blossoming of Christianity came in the coming of the kingdom of God (“The Second Coming of Christ”). Most people have only seen Christianity as a rosebud; it’s long past time they should see what a rose in full blossom looks like.
***
Friday, February 2, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Romans 6:23 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: What is Christianity? There are two ways to answer this question…and one way is much more useful than the other. Two-thirds of humanity – the two-thirds that don’t call themselves Christians – define Christianity as that which the one-third of humanity who calls itself Christian has done and is doing. In other words, non-Christians define Christianity around Christians. Oddly, many Christians do the same. The far more useful way to define Christianity is to base it on what God in Christ has done and is doing. That’s the productive difference: letting the words and deeds of Christ define Christianity. After all, who would know more about the subject: the leader or the followers? Followers are all over the map – some follow Him closely, some hardly follow Him at all, and most are spread all over the middle. Defining Christianity by Christians really won’t necessarily tell you very much about Christ because their obedience to Him is not uniform. Therefore, to really understand Christianity we need to go to Jesus and the Bible. That’s why I maintain this website; and that’s why you come to it. At some point you won’t need me because you’ll know how to practice Christianity without human help; until then, I remain your servant for His sake (2 Cor 4:5).
***
Thursday, February 1, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Rock – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- A Question to Ask: Repentance is not a one-time event; it is a lifestyle. This means it is an ongoing, daily accumulation of innumerable events, large and small. God could have just destroyed the human race and created a better one, but He chose instead to give the existing one a chance to do better. What have we been doing with this opportunity and what will we do with it today?
Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
***
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Acts 10:38 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Appreciate: We human beings who live today are of all human beings who have ever lived the most privileged. We have the word of God bound in book form, as well as accessible by our smartphones, always at our fingertips wherever we are. We do not have to go to a synagogue or church at scheduled times in order to hear someone else read it because we can read it ourselves on our own schedule. Eve did not have what we have. Even the apostles did not have what we have; they knew Jesus as a man, but we know Him as God. I repeat: there is no generation that has ever lived that was as privileged as the one in which we find ourselves. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we remember: to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48).
***
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ as the Ram – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Something to Consider: In Acts 26:1-3, the prisoner Paul is invited to defend himself to a king and other dignitaries. Because Paul wants to explain the good news of Jesus Christ, and because he knows he could be cut off at any moment, he begins with a with a heartfelt and practical appeal: “I beg you to listen to me patiently.” Paul was having plenty of experience being cut off mid-sentence by impatient people who had heard enough long before he had completed his thoughts. I’ll bet you, too, have difficulty getting others to listen patiently to things you have to say – children and adults alike. Attention spans are especially short these days and you often have to rush through whatever points you want to make, and even then aren’t always allowed to finish. We read the Bible every day because it’s how we “listen patiently” to God. We don’t want Him to feel like we’re going to cut Him off before He’s gotten everything off His chest. In fact, we’re committed to listening to Him for the remainder of our lifetimes because He has so much to say and we have so much to learn. A daily BRP is a commitment to listen to Jesus Christ with patience.
***
Monday, January 29, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Zechariah 14:9 – a 3-minute pep pill. It will help you remember to always focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the purpose of living.
- Interactions with Others (IWO): You may have noticed a line on the Appendix/Library page that reads like this: Interactions with Others (IWO). It’s a catalog I’ve begun of interactions with people on various websites. Most of you will have no interest in these communications and that’s fine. But for the few of you that might be interested, I herewith call your attention to them. These are, generally speaking, interactions with people who do not agree with me. I do not believe in speaking only with people who agree with me. I want to persuade everyone to believe in Christ and live for Him: atheists, agnostics, Trinitarians, churchgoers, etc. No one is off limits to God’s love and everyone deserves to hear the fullness of the good news about Jesus and the Bible. Again, I am not recommending that any of you frequent this page. It’s tedious reading. Only for those of you want to see what I teach tested by others.
***
Sunday, January 28, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Lamb – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Three peas in a pod: Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and L. Ron Hubbard.
Each man saw the success of Christianity, that it was based on Jesus and the Bible, and then launched his own religion – putting himself in the place of Jesus and his own book in place of the Bible. In other words, they mimicked Christianity by creating “antichristianities.”
Muhammad and the Quran launched Islam in the 7th century.
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon launched Mormonism in the 19th century.
L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics launched Scientology in the 20th century.
These three men were not messengers of light but rather messengers of darkness. One of the “tells” is that unlike Jesus, they produced their own books. Jesus relied entirely on a book that was written centuries before He was born. Another “tell” was, of course, that their lives were nothing like His.
By contrast to these ministers of darkness, men like Jan Hus (15th century), Martin Luther (16th century), and William Wilberforce (19th century) – no matter how much they themselves wrote – always pointed people back to Jesus and the Bible. They also served men rather than used them – as their Master had done. The Protestant Reformation, of which they were a part, was thus a return to Christianity – not a departure from it.
The difference between men like Muhammad, Smith, and Hubbard on the one hand, and Hus, Luther, and Wilberforce on the other, is the difference between Judas and Peter.
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Saturday, January 27, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 1 John 3:23 – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Ponder: Currently, Christianity’s greatest enemy in the East has risen from without and it is Islam; meanwhile, Christianity’s greatest enemy in the West has risen from within and it is Secularism. Satan thinks that through these two movements – one claiming God’s backing, the other insisting He be left out of the discussion – he has the world in a pincer movement from which it cannot escape. But he knows that Islam and Secularism will eventually devour each other because both long to be dominant. The devil just hopes he can use the two movements to extinguish Christianity before they extinguish each other. But Satan cannot outsmart God. Never has and never will. God will prevail on the earth…just as He has prevailed over and over, and most importantly as He did against death. You watch. You wait. You’ll see. Meanwhile, keep reading the Bible to yourself and your family every day, practicing the parts you understand. Jesus Christ will deliver you and yours as He did Noah.
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Friday, January 26, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in Galatians 2:20 – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Small addition to the Audio Bible Reading Companion: Some of you may recall that the Acts 25 audio recording cut off after verse 19. I’ve finally covered the rest of the chapter in a second recording (Acts 25b), but you will notice that audio quality is different, though satisfactory. Sorry I didn’t have this up for you yesterday morning.
- Something to Ponder: Moses was a type of Christ. As Moses gave the Law, Jesus gave the Gospel. And as Jesus is so much greater than Moses, the Gospel is so much greater than the Law.
Heb 3:3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.
The Gospel of Jesus includes law – the law of love – but it is not limited to law.
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:5 – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Remember: Whenever the Old Testament seems tedious or even strange to me, I remind myself that it was all the Bible that Jesus had – and He squeezed more juice out of that orange than anyone could ever have imagined was in it. And He’ll keep squeezing juice out of it for us if we’ll only be as patient with Him as He’s been with us. Doesn’t a patient Teacher deserves patient disciples? View the OT as the Bible Jesus treasured just as much or more than we treasure the Bible (OT+NT) we have.
In everything I write about the Bible, I prioritize the New Testament because it speaks more explicitly about Jesus Christ than the Old Testament does. This does not mean, however, that the OT should be devalued in our eyes. It’s just that we need a good understanding of the NT in order to interpret the OT as Jesus did. To repeat the point: the NT tells us how Jesus interpreted the OT. He is the Lamb who was found worthy to break the seals and open the book (Rev 5). No one else was worthy to break those seals. There is none like Him!
The NT and OT are inseparable – they are organically intertwined. Without the OT, the NT has no root; without the NT, the OT is missing its fruit.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Seed – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Remember: Moses was, among other things, a historian. In fact, the entire book of Genesis is a record of history with some prophecy sprinkled in; he doesn’t get to the laws for Israel until halfway through Exodus! Many of the prophets wrote history as well as prophecy just as Moses had written prophecy as well as history. To be more specific, the prophets after Moses wrote the books of history (such as Judges and Chronicles) and also sprinkled historical facts in their books of prophecy (such as in Isaiah and Jeremiah).
Which would be easier to get right: history or prophecy? Put yourself in the place of Moses and the prophets. It is, of course, much easier to get history right than to get prophecy right simply because the past is settled and the future is unknown. Why then do some people trust the prophecies of the Old Testament but not the history it contains (including the creation story and the feats of Moses and the prophets)? If the prophecies of the Old Testament reliably tell us about Jesus, how could its history be unreliable? Therefore, no matter how much the history in the Old Testament may stretch your faith, the fulfillment of its prophecies in Christ confirm to you that the authors deserve to be trusted on history as well as prophecy.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Sun – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Consider: Cyprian (210-258), bishop of Carthage, memorably said, “No one can have God for his Father who does not have the church for his mother.” If that’s the case, then the New Testament church is our mother. We drink her milk every time we read any portion of Acts through Revelation.
1 Pet 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
Ps 131:2 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
No church today can say it is our mother, because no church today is in the same category as the NT church. Today’s churches are man-made; the NT church was divinely formed and governed. Its membership came from “the greatest generation them of all.” It was the bridge between ancient Israel and the kingdom of God, the cocoon between the caterpillar and the butterfly. Her milk is pure; nourish your soul with it.
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Monday, January 22, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Shepherd – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Remember: God can’t grow what the sowers don’t sow. (A farmer who expects a harvest to arise from a field he has not planted is a fool or else mentally ill.)
- Something to Consider: Identity theology is as bad as identity politics – if not worse. Identity theology says “I’m a Christian and he’s not, I’m saved and he’s not, I’m forgiven and he’s not, I’m holy and he’s not, and other divisive views like this.” Identity theology, like identity politics, promotes groupthink and tribal warfare. True Christianity, by contrast, promotes the sanctity of the individual and family, mutual respect, and independent thinking. It does not divide people; it unites them. Jesus Christ is not king of some, He’s king of all!
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Sunday, January 21, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Cor 11:2-3 – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- Something to Consider: Whenever I hear or remember the lyrics of Imagine by John Lennon, it’s as if I can hear a serpent’s hiss in the background. It’s not that this famous man knew that he was providing an international anthem for Satan and secularism; he thought he was doing good. We always do, don’t we? That is, we humans can think we’re doing good when we’re doing Satan’s will. Jesus even invoked Satan when he rebuked Peter for setting his mind on man’s interests and not God’s (Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33). If Peter was capable of getting off track, how much more the rest of us. Lennon’s song is not harmless drivel. It is drivel, and dismal drivel at that…but it’s not harmless. (Here’s an ointment to counteract the poison: In Christ Alone.)
- Something to Do: Even though we can use phones and computers to read and study the Bible, which is helpful and convenient, be sure to keep your home stocked with plenty of conventional Bibles for everyone in your family for times when the electrical grid goes down. Oh, and flashlights for reading at night. The word of God sustains us even in our darkest times.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ in 2 Cor 5:14-15 – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of living.
- True Repentance: Our society has wandered far from Christianity. We need to return to it. Not to “Churchianity.” Not to “Trinityanity.” To Christianity. The church wasn’t nailed to a cross. The trinity concept wasn’t nailed to a cross. Jesus was. Therefore, let Christianity be purified of its idols and returned to Jesus Christ.
- Something to Remember: At the root of everything is truth. Keep seeking the truth of a matter. When you find it, you’ll then be able to distinguish it from the lies that crept in and obscured it. That’s how it is with Jesus Christ…and with everything else.
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Friday, January 19, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- A Daily Audio Capsule of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone – a 3-min pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of life.
- Who am I? I’m just a man who has read the Bible and is telling you what it says. If you don’t agree, your argument is with the Bible – not me.
- Twitter: Elon Musk bought Twitter and changed its name to X. I think I’ll still call it Twitter because X is a name better applied to you-know-who (X).
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Thursday, January 18, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Huh? It takes some mental gymnastics to love the lyrics of In Christ Alone while labeling as a heretic anyone who worships Christ alone and not a trinity.
- Speaking of In Christ Alone: “But, Mike, the last verse speaks of the Second Coming as still future – don’t you then consider the composers to be heretics?” Not at all – just mistaken on that point. The rest of the lyrics are lovely. Even a child like me can learn to eat the meat and spit out the bones.
- A Capsule of Christ: Christ as the Stone is the first of a series of audio capsules I want to make about Jesus, each of which will be about as long as a radio song – which is to say three minutes, give or take. I plan to provide one of these for each day of the year. While they’re short enough to include in your morning PDT, they could alternatively be consumed at any point during the day as a pep pill. Remember always to focus on X as the point of the Bible…and as the point of life.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- The Second Coming: I was taught years ago that the word “Maranatha” in 1 Cor 16:22 was Aramaic and meant “Our Lord, come!” (expressing hope in the Lord’s then future coming). Recently, however, I learned that this term is actually two Aramaic words put together and can also mean “Our Lord has come!” (expressing faith in the Lord’s past coming). Since the Lord has indeed come, it’s neat to know that the term Maranatha can still be a suitable expression! If you’re interested in the linguistic details, see my revised and extended notes on 1 Cor 16:22 in Bible Study Notes (BSN).
- Something to Consider: Pollsters typically measure devotion to Christ by frequency of church attendance. Wouldn’t frequency of Bible reading be a more accurate measurement?
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Tuesday, January 16, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Homechurching: I compiled all the bullets about homechurching on this page written in the last two weeks into an essay titled Thoughts on How Homechurching Is Like Homeschooling (9 min). I filed it at the link to “Essays” under “Righteousness” on the Library home page.
- Truth to Ponder: As the proclamation between Jesus’ ascension and His second coming was “Jesus is the Messiah!” so the proclamation since His second coming should be “The Messiah is God!”
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Monday, January 15, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurching:
- I’ve been hammering away every single day for over two weeks on this terminology. Now that I’ve laid a foundation, however, I can ease up on the frequency – but I’m going to go out with a bang today, vigorously reinforcing the two-week foundation.
- Some church people have used the term “home church” to refer to the place they regularly go to church. Other church people have decided to have their church meetings in homes, which they call “house churches.” These terms sound very similar to the terms I’ve been using, which are: homechurch, homechurchers, and homechurching (all three intentionally imitating the terms homeschool, homeschoolers, and homeschooling). But there is a big difference between what the church people have been talking about and what I’m talking about.
Having a “home church” or meeting in “house churches” have just been new ways for church people to refer to or preserve the institutional church. It’s as if public school teachers started talking about their “home school” or started holding their classes in “house schools” – this would not be the same thing as homeschooling even though the words may sound the same. Homeschooling is parents taking back the responsibility for educating their children that they had previously outsourced to others. Like homeschooling, homechurching is a radical change – it’s parents teaching the kingdom of God to their children because the institutional church is more interested in teaching itself than it is in teaching the kingdom of God. And we know the kingdom of God has come, so we should be pursuing it – not trying to go back and revive the church. That would be like the Lord trying to make ancient Israel a better nation instead of building His church. - As the Pharisees preserved the Old Testament but didn’t live according to it, so the institutional church has preserved the New Testament but not lived according to it. The New Testament church was the one true church. It was the bridge that connected the nation of ancient Israel to the kingdom of God. But now that we know the kingdom has come, we should stop acting like it hasn’t. For a family to become homechurchers is an implicit but profound statement of faith in Jesus as King of all creation. We wouldn’t have the New Testament without the institutional church just as Jesus wouldn’t have had the Old Testament without the Pharisees; but just as Jesus didn’t become a Pharisee, neither should we become church people.
- Will there actually be a homechurching movement like there came to be a homeschooling movement…and, if so, will it survive me? “If this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it” (Acts 5:38-39).
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Sunday, January 14, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurching: As women have led the homeschooling movement, so men must lead the homechurching movement.
- Faith Strengthener: I’ve extensively revised chapter 5 of The Duty of a Man to strengthen your faith in who wrote the New Testament. As you may be aware, many modern scholars – college professor Bart Ehrman being most visible among them – try to cast doubt on the identity of the NT authors. To fortify your faith, you need to know that you know and why you know. I know the chapter needs yet more work, but I thought it was better to send you what’s better than wait for an what’s perfect. If you have any feedback that would make the chapter better, I’d welcome it. It’s a 5-minute read.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurching: Better to say, “We homechurch” than to say “we don’t go to church” for the same reason it’s better to say “We homeschool” than to say “our kids don’t go to school.”
- The Importance of the Bible: The Protestant Reformation began when Martin Luther decided that when a spiritual leader – even one endowed with as much authority as the Pope – contradicts the Bible, it’s the Bible that must be obeyed. Men sometimes speak the word of God; the Bible always speaks the word of God.
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Friday, January 12, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurching: Abraham did not go to church – he homechurched. He led his family in the worship of God without dependence on any outside institution. (He had no tabernacle, temple, synagogue, or church to go to.) All Abraham had was an angel providing him limited information, but you have a big Bible telling you all about Jesus Christ. And you do not have to leave home to find out what it says. Are you not therefore much better equipped for homechurching than Abraham was? If the Lord could build a nation and save the world through Abraham’s homechurching, what can He do through yours?
- Related Thought: You can practice Christianity by following the leader or following the followers. Said another way, you can follow Jesus or you can follow Christians.
Matt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
Matt 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurching: Not everyone can homeschool, but everyone can – and should – homechurch.
- Related thought: It’s as important for a man spiritually provide for and protect his family as it is for him to physically provide for and protect them. We spiritually provide for them when we teach them about Jesus from the Bible and our lives, and we spiritually protect them when we pray for them. As they need physical provision and protection daily, so they need spiritual provision and protection daily.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Something to Remember: Homeschooling is for a season, but homechurching is for a lifetime.
- Something Else to Remember: Don’t make an idol of your Bible. Never let your reading of it be rote. Always make room for the Spirit to give new life to what you’re reading. In the Old Testament, only the prophets had the Holy Spirit; in the kingdom of God everyone can partake of that inheritance.
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Tuesday, January 9, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- More on Homechurch: When I was a boy, my parents would take my brothers and me on rides in the car. We’d just ride around exploring different neighborhoods and sightseeing, wherever my parents wanted to go. When it would take place in the twilight or evening, there’d be lights on in the houses we’d pass and I found that very peaceful to witness. That sense has stuck with me all my life. To this day, whenever I see a home set against the darkness with the lights on inside, it always comforts me. The painter Thomas Kinkade must have felt similarly because he painted so many pictures of houses with light emanating from the inside. Lately, I have been thinking of that light as homechurching – families having the light of Christ on in their homes by daily following Christ-centered Bible Reading Plans individually and collectively.
This vision is all the more relevant because of the storm clouds now gathering in our nation. The darkness is becoming darker as the sense of impending crises grows stronger, but this vision of lights being on in homes gives me great encouragement and hope. For me, that light coming from homes will shine through whatever darkness overhangs. Whether through me or through others, may more and more families turn to homechurching as the biblical way to live in the 21st century. Jesus Christ is the light, and following the apostles’ teaching in the Bible (Acts 2:42-47) is the way we see it.
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Monday, January 8, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: There are companies that provide curricula (curriculums) to homeschooling families. I am like one of them, only for homechurching families. That is, such companies provide lesson plans and related material that map out a way for parents to teach their children reading, writing, and arithmetic; similarly, I provide BRP’s and related material that map out a way for parents to teach themselves and their children about Jesus Christ, His kingdom, and His righteousness.
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Sunday, January 7, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: My prayer to the Lord is that homechurching will grow like homeschooling has grown.
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Saturday, January 6, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: My wife and I homechurch. Our children are grown and long gone with children and homes of their own, but my wife and I, even at our advanced ages, still homechurch because we still need the wisdom of God. Before the Lord, the two of us “are like little children, not knowing how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7). It’s not that we haven’t learned anything from the Lord over the years; on the contrary, it’s that we’ve learned that maintaining the posture of “a humble child” (Matt 18:1-4) is the way that we can continue to learn from Him. Therefore, the two of us “continually devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
We’re glad we homechurch; we wish everybody did! (That is, we feel about homechurching the way this young fellow feels about the soap he uses)
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Friday, January 5, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Further to Yesterday’s Point: Why do some people who believe in homeschooling struggle with the idea of homechurching? Is the need not the same for both?
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Thursday, January 4, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Something to Consider: When I was a pastor, I eventually came to see that there was a disconnect between the Bible and the church – not just my church, but all 21st century churches. The disconnect was that no modern church looked like the one in the New Testament; neither did any modern church operate according to the instructions that Jesus and the apostles gave for the churches in the New Testament. As I continued to ponder and study this disconnect, I came to realize that the reason for it was simple: Jesus and the apostles established churches as temporary gatherings until the kingdom of God came. And they made clear that this kingdom would come in that generation – that is, in the 1st century.
What do you do when you realize that an institution is operating in violation of its charter? In my case, I told the people I was pastoring that they didn’t need to come any more, resigned as pastor, and walked away. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” It doesn’t say seek first church.
Church in our day exists for the purpose of self-preservation. It may quote 2 Corinthians 4:5 – “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake” – but it doesn’t practice this. Church consumes the time and money of families so it can survive. In most cases, a church tries to help families – but the church’s needs come first, and families suffer the consequences.
What then should you and your family do? Homechurch! That is, devote yourselves to the apostles’ teaching just as it says in Acts 2:42-47. The institutional church doesn’t believe what the apostles taught about the coming of the kingdom of God. That’s why you and your family have to read the Bible for yourselves. But don’t worry – that’s been Jesus’ plan all along.
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Wednesday, January 3, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Something to Remember: One of the many benefits that accrue to you as you read the Bible every day – especially when you read it according to a Christ-Centered Bible reading plan such as this one – is that you come to know Christ’s word in a way that makes it harder for people to misquote it to you.
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Tuesday, January 2, 2024
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are complementary, not identical):
- Question: Am I seeking God to serve my purposes…or His?
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Monday, January 1, 2024
New Year’s Day
- Here are today’s Bible chapter readings, with links to the reading companions (the written and audio are not identical):
- Further to Yesterday’s BRP Update: I wanted everyone to be aware that I revised and added material throughout the day yesterday to the explanations of the changes. (They were not finalized at the time I gave you this beginning-point link yesterday morning.) If you don’t like my idea of an Old Testament condensation and want to continue on the OT reading plan we were following in 2023, go to Condensing the Old Testament, scroll to the bottom and find the link that will direct you to a BRP that will allow you to continue on the OT plan we were on. I believe the condensation is a good step forward, and for multiple reasons, but I don’t want to frustrate any of you who might be intent on finishing something you started.
- Welcome to the year of our Lord 2,024!
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Previous Editions:
—2023 Daily Help (Aug 23 through Dec 31)
—2023 Author’s Journal (Jan 1 through Aug 22)
—2022 Author’s Journal
—2021 Author’s Journal
A Bible Reader's Website 