June 30
June 30
One Year Bible Readings:
2 Kings 17:1-18:12
Acts 20:1-38
Psalm 148:1-14
Proverbs 18:6-7
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.
2 Kings:
Big news! We cross the halfway threshold in our One Year Bible readings today! Whoo-hoo! Yep, June 30th marks the end of our first 6 months of readings and July 1st marks the beginning of our final 6 months of readings. Congratulations! 2 Kings 17 is a HUGE and very sad chapter today! This is a huge chapter because it is the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel is invaded by Assyria and its people are exiled. It is so sad because the Israelites could have avoided this strife - but the chose to follow in the sins of Jeroboam and worship other gods. After much patience and many second chances by the True and Living God, Israel was allowed to be invaded & exiled for their disobedience. Sad stuff. You can learn more of the history of how this all transpired at this link. In 2 Kings 17 verse 41 we will read this about the foreigners in Israel: “Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.”
Q: If the foreigners both worshiped God AND served idols at the same time back then, do you suppose that we can fall into this same trap today? What would some examples be today of both worshiping God and serving idols at the same time? Are there any areas of your life where you might be serving idols? Will you allow those idols to be turned over to God for his healing and transformation of you? Will you worship God only? Will you leave the idols behind?
Verse 15 stands out and relates to the paragraph above: "They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves." How true is that? Maybe another way to look at it - you are what you worship! (like you are what you eat...) If we worship worthless idols, we become worthless ourselves. If we worship the true living God, we become more like his son Jesus.
Q: Would you rather be worthless or becoming like Jesus in this lifetime? And how about after this lifetime? So, who or what are you worshiping these days?
Acts:
Acts 20 verse 7 is a great look at an early church service! "On the first day of the week, we gathered to observe the Lord's Supper. Paul was preaching; and since he was leaving the next day, he talked until midnight." Paul preached until midnight? That had to have been one great sermon I am sure! Well, and yes, Paul raised to life a young man named Eutychus who fell from the window sill during his sermon if you didn't notice! Wow... that's amazing. I honestly think I've kind of flown by this little tidbit before. Paul raised Eutychus from the dead! Q: Have you ever heard a sermon that went long and yet was so powerful the time flew by and you didn't notice the length? Do you enjoy hearing a good sermon preached? Are you okay if it goes long?
Psalm:
Psalm 148 is a call for all creation to praise God! I love it. As I was reading this Psalm I was reminded of the Matt Redman song that we sometimes sing in church that goes something like - "Let everything that. Let everything that. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" I love how the Psalms can stir up worship songs in our minds! We read this in verse 5 - "Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being."
Q: Do you agree with this verse? That you came into being because the Lord commanded it? Do you give thanks to God frequently? And joyfully? Even in the midst of maybe some challenging times in your life, can you still give praise to your Creator?
Proverbs:
Proverbs 18:7 today teaches: "The mouths of fools are their ruin; their lips get them into trouble." As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm sure all of us probably can think of someone else we think this Proverb really applies to... :)
Q: And yet, again, perhaps should we think about ourselves when it comes to this Proverb? How is the condition of your mouth these days? Is it bringing peace, joy, love, teaching, truth, encouragement to others? Or is it bringing talk about you, yourself, and you all of the time... and worse, bringing talk of hate, judgment and ultimately ruin? Let us examine the words that come out of our mouths each and every day! Let our mouth be a fountain of life and love for those around us!
Copyright © 2004-2012 One Year Bible Blog
One Year Bible Readings:
2 Kings 17:1-18:12
Acts 20:1-38
Psalm 148:1-14
Proverbs 18:6-7
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.
2 Kings:
Big news! We cross the halfway threshold in our One Year Bible readings today! Whoo-hoo! Yep, June 30th marks the end of our first 6 months of readings and July 1st marks the beginning of our final 6 months of readings. Congratulations! 2 Kings 17 is a HUGE and very sad chapter today! This is a huge chapter because it is the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel is invaded by Assyria and its people are exiled. It is so sad because the Israelites could have avoided this strife - but the chose to follow in the sins of Jeroboam and worship other gods. After much patience and many second chances by the True and Living God, Israel was allowed to be invaded & exiled for their disobedience. Sad stuff. You can learn more of the history of how this all transpired at this link. In 2 Kings 17 verse 41 we will read this about the foreigners in Israel: “Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.”
Q: If the foreigners both worshiped God AND served idols at the same time back then, do you suppose that we can fall into this same trap today? What would some examples be today of both worshiping God and serving idols at the same time? Are there any areas of your life where you might be serving idols? Will you allow those idols to be turned over to God for his healing and transformation of you? Will you worship God only? Will you leave the idols behind?
Verse 15 stands out and relates to the paragraph above: "They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves." How true is that? Maybe another way to look at it - you are what you worship! (like you are what you eat...) If we worship worthless idols, we become worthless ourselves. If we worship the true living God, we become more like his son Jesus.
Q: Would you rather be worthless or becoming like Jesus in this lifetime? And how about after this lifetime? So, who or what are you worshiping these days?
Acts:
Acts 20 verse 7 is a great look at an early church service! "On the first day of the week, we gathered to observe the Lord's Supper. Paul was preaching; and since he was leaving the next day, he talked until midnight." Paul preached until midnight? That had to have been one great sermon I am sure! Well, and yes, Paul raised to life a young man named Eutychus who fell from the window sill during his sermon if you didn't notice! Wow... that's amazing. I honestly think I've kind of flown by this little tidbit before. Paul raised Eutychus from the dead! Q: Have you ever heard a sermon that went long and yet was so powerful the time flew by and you didn't notice the length? Do you enjoy hearing a good sermon preached? Are you okay if it goes long?
Psalm:
Psalm 148 is a call for all creation to praise God! I love it. As I was reading this Psalm I was reminded of the Matt Redman song that we sometimes sing in church that goes something like - "Let everything that. Let everything that. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" I love how the Psalms can stir up worship songs in our minds! We read this in verse 5 - "Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being."
Q: Do you agree with this verse? That you came into being because the Lord commanded it? Do you give thanks to God frequently? And joyfully? Even in the midst of maybe some challenging times in your life, can you still give praise to your Creator?
Proverbs:
Proverbs 18:7 today teaches: "The mouths of fools are their ruin; their lips get them into trouble." As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm sure all of us probably can think of someone else we think this Proverb really applies to... :)
Q: And yet, again, perhaps should we think about ourselves when it comes to this Proverb? How is the condition of your mouth these days? Is it bringing peace, joy, love, teaching, truth, encouragement to others? Or is it bringing talk about you, yourself, and you all of the time... and worse, bringing talk of hate, judgment and ultimately ruin? Let us examine the words that come out of our mouths each and every day! Let our mouth be a fountain of life and love for those around us!
Copyright © 2004-2012 One Year Bible Blog
Recent
Archive
2024
January
One Year Bible CompanionJanuary 2January 3January 4January 5January 6January 7January 8January 9January 10January 11January 12January 13January 14January 15January 16January 17January 18January 19January 20January 21January 22January 23January 24January 25January 26January 27January 28January 29January 30January 31
February
February 1February 2February 3February 4February 5February 6February 7February 8February 9February 10February 11February 12February 13February 14February 15February 16February 17February 18February 19February 20February 21February 22February 23February 24February 25February 26February 27February 28February 29
March
Categories
no categories
No Comments