Monthly Archives: December 2019

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Make This the Year You Read the Bible

It's the best thing you can do to grow in your walk with God.

If you want to grow in your relationship with God, there’s one thing you can do this year that will make more difference than anything. Read the Bible. Here’s why.

Read the Bible with Me This Year

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com)

Did you know? Research shows that someone who reads the Bible 4 or more times each week is:

  • 228% more likely to share their faith
  • 407% more likely to memorize scripture
  • 59% less likely to view pornography
  • 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness

Bottom line? A person who reads the Bible will have a life that looks different from one who doesn’t—even as a Christian. Perhaps this is why Peter wrote:

Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation (1 Peter 2:2).

I’ll be reading the Bible this next year. I urge you to join me!

Here are some easy ways you can do it.

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Our Christmas Surprise: God’s Way Up is Down [Podcast]

Luke 2:1-20; Philippians 2:3-11

The humble birth of Jesus Christ reveals a truth that, frankly, is shocking. In fact, it’s as surprising today as it was in the day Mary gave birth to Jesus in a Bethlehem barn.

In this episode of Live the Bible, we take a special look at Christmas and its surprising truth. What truth? The pursuits of our lives and passions can easily get misplaced. Jesus shows us that the way up is down. The way to true greatness in the eyes of God is to be a servant to Him—and to others—just like Jesus was from the day He was born.

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Ein Kerem—Waiting on God’s Promise a Long Time

God has something special planned for you.

When we think of the Bible’s Christmas couple, of course we picture Joseph and Mary. But there’s another couple in the Christmas narrative. In fact, they appear even before Jesus’ parents do.

Ein Kerem terraces

(Photo: Tradition places the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth at Ein Kerem. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

God had been silent for 400 years. No additional Scripture. No more prophecy. No visions. Just waiting for the Messiah. 400 years! Then, God spoke to an old man in Jerusalem. God had been silent to Zacharias and Elizabeth as well. They were elderly and had no children. They prayed for years. But nothing.

God’s Word makes the point that they were righteous in God’s sight—blameless in God’s Law. In other words, their childless home wasn’t because of their unfaithfulness.

Times of waiting on God can even come to a point of what seems impossible. Most times of lack are like that.

Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. (Rom. 8:24, The Message)

God had something special planned for them. And for you.

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A Tomb with a View Towards You [Podcast]

Mark 15:40-16:8

One event, more than any other event, reminds us that personal failure does not remove us from God’s plan. In fact, this event shows us that the success of God’s plan does not depend on our performance.

In this episode of Live the Bible, we look at the essence of what makes Christianity true. Remove this, and we’re just another insignificant religion putting our hope in wishful thinking. But with this event, our faith is rooted in history. And it has huge implications for our lives— and even for our failures in life.

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Christmas Shows God’s Amazing Providence in Your Life

Here's how you can know your chances are really God’s choices.

The first Christmas looked like a coincidence. From a human perspective, politics set the agenda: Caesar took a census of his people. End of story. But it wasn’t.

Christmas Shows the Power of God's Providence in Your Life

(Photo: Bethlehem Fields with Herod’s Herodium in background. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

From the divine viewpoint, God orchestrated ordinary events for extraordinary outcomes.

Think about this past year in your life. Many ordinary events occurred. Most of them you don’t remember. But God has been working. It isn’t just the Christmas story.

It’s your story too. God uses the power of providence in your life.

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Living Well to the Very End [Podcast]

Mark 15:1-39

How can we Live our lives well to the very end? Especially when we are falsely accused, rejected by those closest to us, and perhaps even abandoned, betrayed, or denied. Turns out, all of these were true of Jesus — and yet He finished well. What a model is our Lord.

In this episode of Live the Bible, we look at Jesus’ example of living well to the very end. From the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem to the time of His death at Jerusalem, He was faithful to the end. Jesus committed Himself to the Father—even when questioning why His Father would allow what He did.

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What to Do When You Remember Your Failure [Podcast]

Mark 14:53-72

What can you do when you remember your failure? You know what I mean. Something triggers a memory, and we have a flashback of a failure we did yesterday—or maybe even years ago.

In this episode of Live the Bible, Jesus Christ reminds us that those memories don’t have to haunt us. Instead they can become a memory of something far better than our failure—God’s grace. This is an episode so essential for us to hear again and again.

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