Saturday, November 1, 2014

Celebrate the Bible, Week 1

Join me this November to celebrate the Bible. I would encourage you to read and meditate and study Psalm 119 with me. I would encourage you to pick up your Bible and read something. Even if you choose not to dedicate the month to the longest Psalm in the Bible!!! My goal is not to have you fall in love with Psalm 119. My goal is to have you fall in love with God's Word. I want you to "taste and see that the LORD is good!" I want you to join with me in saying, "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!"

 To clarify, you do NOT have to join me in reading Psalm 119 to participate in Celebrate the Bible. Read the Bible. Read what you want, where you want. Just read something and share with everyone where you're reading and what you're learning!!! 

 Week One, November 1-8

November 1, read Psalm 119
November 2, read and mediate on Psalm 119:1-8
November 3, read and meditate on Psalm 119:9-16
November 4, read and mediate on Psalm 119:17-24
November 5, read and meditate on Psalm 119:25-32
November 6, read and meditate on Psalm 119:33-40
November 7, read and meditate on Psalm 119:41-48
November 8, read Psalm 119 OR read OR listen to John Piper's Scripture the Kindling of Christian Hedonism. It is available to read. It is available to watch as video. It is available to listen on their site, or you can download it.

Highlights from Psalm 119 in the MEV translation:
  • Oh, that my ways were established to keep your statues! (Psalm 119:5)
  • With my whole heart I seek you; do not allow me to wander from Your commandments. (Psalm 119:10)
  • Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)
  • Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes. (Psalm 119:12)
  • With my lips I declare all the decrees of Your mouth. (Psalm 119:13)
  • I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. (Psalm 119:14)
  • I will meditate on Your precepts and keep my eyes on Your ways. (Psalm 119:15)
  • I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. (Psalm 119:16)
  • Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things from Your law. (Psalm 119:18)
  • I am a sojourner in the land; do not hide Your commandments from me. (Psalm 119:19)
  • My soul is consumed all the time with a longing for Your decrees. (Psalm 119:20)
  • Your testimonies are my delight and my counselors. (Psalm 119:24)
  • Make me to understand the way of Your precepts; then I shall contemplate on Your wondrous works. (Psalm 119:27)
  • My soul collapses on account of grief; strengthen me according to Your word. (Psalm 119:28)
  • I will run in the way of Your commandments, when You set my heart free. (Psalm 119:32)
  • Turn away my eyes from beholding worthlessness, and revive me in Your way. (Psalm 119:37)
  • Establish Your word to Your servant, so that You are feared. (Psalm 119:38)
  • Let Your mercies come to me, O LORD, even Your deliverance according to Your word. (Psalm 119:41)

Highlights from the rest of the Bible in the ESV translation:
  • The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
  • For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
  • My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; (Proverbs 2:1-10)
  • The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. (Nahum 1:7)
Question(s):

Have you read through the whole Bible before? Is it something that you want to do again? How important is it to you to read the Bible?

Quotes:
If you want to know God, if you want to know the everlasting and eternal God, this is the way, the only way: Look at the cross. Gaze on, meditate on, survey the wondrous cross. And then you will see something of Christ. The first thing you will see is the grace of God. Grace is a great word in the Bible, the grace of God. It is most simply defined in these words—it is favor shown to people who do not deserve any favor at all. And the message of the Gospel is that any one of us is saved and put right for eternity solely and entirely by the grace of God, not by ourselves. ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones
God saves sinners. God — the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of the Father and Son by renewing. Saves — does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners — men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, blind, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners. . . . Sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory forever, amen! ~ J.I. Packer
I personally believe that the reason why many people have lost their love for the Bible is that they have failed to recognize the necessity for obedience to its moral claims. The first conviction, that possesses the soul of the truth of some Bible teaching, clamors within the conscience for the yielding of obedience thereto, and if we fail to obey, the light will fail. Knowledge unmixed with obedient faith is not only profitless, it is harmful. The student must approach the study of this Book in that attitude of mind which says, “If it speaks to me, I will obey." ~ G. Campbell Morgan
The Bible is God's direct revelation to each man into whose hands it comes; and, for the reception of all that it contains, each man is responsible, though all his fellows should reject it. The Judgment Day will decide who is right; meanwhile it is to God and not to man that we are to listen. For the understanding of God's revelation, each one is accountable. ~ Horatius Bonar
If we ever wonder why we do not seem to love Jesus very much— at least not as much as we should— maybe this is one of the reasons why: we are not reading the Bible in one of the ways we should. We are reading it in worship services, perhaps, or reading it for a class or study group. We are reading the Bible for content and maybe for application, but not for a relationship. If we want to love Jesus with all we have, we should read his Word the way a lover would, as a message from our beloved. Whenever we open our Bibles, we should pray, “Lord Jesus, I am not just here for these words; I am here for you, and for the love message you want to send from your heart to mine.” God has promised to meet us in his Word, which makes Bible-reading a place to rendezvous with our Savior. ~ Philip Graham Ryken
Resources:
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© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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