You can do it. The Bible in One Year.

I am going to give you some hints and tips on how to read through the Bible with relative ease.

At the beginning of 2016, I decided to make my Bible reading time more topical. I spent the first few months jumping from one topic to another. I read about prayer, raising children, marriage, forgiveness, leadership, and worship. I then decided to read through the New Testament in chronological order.

At the end of September, I felt a bit strange, like I had missed spending time with a good friend. You see, I had spent the previous years reading entirely through the Bible each year and I hadn’t done that this year.

I decided, even though it seemed crazy, to read through the whole thing in 90 days. Well, I finished it today. I read through the entire Bible in 90 days.

Those 90 days included a backpacking trip, periods of crazy heavy workloads, extracurricular activities with the kids, a hunting trip, business trips, special church events, pressing family issues, the busy-ness of the holidays, and sickness. You know… just like the stuff that happens every 90 days in all of our lives.

Your list may be different, but the busy-ness is the same. Right?

How many of you have read all the way through? If you are a Christian and haven’t, I know that you want to do it. You are even a bit embarrassed to admit that you haven’t. After all, the Bible is God’s word, and you know that it’s important.

What about you folks who have read through it before and would like to do it again? It was a struggle, wasn’t it. Can you muster up the energy and focus to do it again?

I know that you all can do it.

All of you have a $300-$600 device that you carry around with you every day. It’s called a “smartphone”. If you are willing to admit it, you probably already spend at least an hour a day messing around with it for things other than making phone calls: Facebook, games, Twitter, news, Snapchat, sports, etc.

It’s time to put that stupid phone to work for you in a smart way.

1. Download the YouVersion Bible app. (It is published by Life.Church.) Do this now. I’ll wait.
2. Create an account. Same thing. Right now. I’ll wait.
3. Search for the Bible reading plan called “The Lookout Bible Reading Plan”. … I’ll wait.
4. Click on Start Plan.
5. Let the notices and reminders “drag” you through it each day. It will only take you 10-20 minutes each day!

I like this reading plan because it mixes in passages from the Gospels, other New Testament books, the wisdom books, and other Old Testament books each day. I admit that there are some dry sections in the Bible, but this method doesn’t just leave you there for days at a time.

Here are some hints and tips:

1. Choose a Bible version that is easy for you to read and understand. I use the New Living Translation (NLT). When I study, I use the NASB, but the NLT is an excellent option for simply reading.
2. Just read when you’re reading. If you find something to chase, write it down and do it later. There’s a note feature in the app so you can do it there if you want.
3. It’s OK to scroll quickly and lightly scan through lists of names, lists of numbers, other repetitive sections. It’s better to keep going and make it to the next day… and through the rest of the Bible… than to allow the dry desert sections to stop you.
4. If you get behind, it’s OK! When you get back to it, just keep going. If it takes you a year and a half or two years, it still counts as reading through the whole Bible. Right?
5. Do you want to kick your motivation up a notch? Every day or two or three, find a passage in your reading for the day that has gotten your attention and share it with those you love. You can do that within the app also. Share it via email or text message or Facebook or whatever else you have installed on your phone. You will be blessing them with God’s word, and they will come to expect it. And you will come to rely on this as motivation to keep going.

That’s it. You can do it.

More importantly, it will produce fruit in your life and in the lives of those with whom you share it.

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. (Isaiah 55:11 NLT)

If you need help getting this set up or have other questions, please feel free to ask. I would be honored to help you out.

TTB Event 100 – John Has A Vision Of The End

12/29 – Revelation 1:9-20; 2; 3:1-22
12/30 – Revelation 12; 13
12/31 – Revelation 21; 22

CliffsNotes: Jesus wins.

TTB Event 99 – The Last Living Apostle Writes

12/26 – John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-4; 4:1-4; 2 John 7
12/27 – John 15:1-17; 17:6-26
12/28 – 1 John 4:7-21

Merry Christmas: Love one another.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11 NIV)

If only we would simply do this…

TTB Event 98 – The Church Is Encouraged

12/23 – James 1:2-8; 2:5-7; 5:7-20
12/24 – Hebrews 1:1-4; 3:1-6; 4:14-16; 11:32-40; 12:1-11
12/25 – 1 Peter 3:8-22; 4:7-19

What better encouragement is there than this?

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV)

Good stuff.

TTB Event 97 – False Teaching Is Confronted

12/18 – Colossians 1:15-20; 2:16-23
12/19 – 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 4:1-8
12/20 – 2 Timothy 3
12/21 – 2 Peter 2
12/22 – Jude

A few questions to ponder… What makes up false teaching? Could you identify false teaching? Should everyday, ordinary people be able to identify it? What do these passages say about false teaching?

Angels, holidays, customs, specific Christian leaders, etc. all have a place in the Bible and in our lives. That is, they have an proper place, a place relative to Jesus Christ. If our focus is on these things and not on Christ… if we spend our time placing our hopes and energy on these things and not on Jesus Christ, we may be misleading ourselves.

I have found it a bit distressing the amount of time spent focused on these peripheral items. In particular, the amount of value and credence given to “leading” Christian men and women. The disproportionate quoting of these people and not the direct quoting of scripture is an indication of the precarious position into which we put ourselves.

These people are fallen and imperfect; redeemed, yes, but still vulnerable to misunderstandings, temptations, and sin. In these passages, Paul warns of people who will seem like good messengers of a pure message. On the other hand, the Word of God is inerrant, pure, and able to bring you to salvation.

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV)

If Paul, the great evangelist and missionary, centered Timothy back on the scriptures, we would do well to do the same thing. The only way to know if you are experiencing a false teacher is to know God’s Word well.

We really have no excuse… God’s Word is available to us. We simply need to invest the time.

TTB Event 96 – Life of Jesus Recorded

12/11 – Matthew 1
12/12 – Matthew 2
12/13 – Mark 1
12/14 – Mark 14:43-52
12/15 – Luke 2:1-20
12/16 – Luke 7:36-50; 8:1-3
12/17 – Luke 17:11-19; 19:1-27; Acts 1:1-2

TTB Event 95 – Paul’s Imprisonment In Rome

12/01 – Acts 21:17-36
12/02 – Acts 25
12/03 – Acts 28:17-31
12/04 – Ephesians 2
12/05 – Philippians 1:12-30; 4:4-13
12/06 – Colossians 1:15-29
12/07 – Philemon
12/08 – 1 Timothy 6:3-21
12/09 – Titus 1:5-16; 2:1-15
12/10 – 2 Timothy 4

TTB Event 94 – Paul’s Letters

11/25 – 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20; 3:1-6
11/26 – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
11/27 – 2 Thessalonians 3:6-14
11/28 – 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-11; 10:23-24, 31-33
11/29 – 2 Corinthians 13
11/30 – Romans 1:11-17; 3:21-31; 6:1-14

TTB Event 93 – A Controversy Is Addressed

11/18 – Galatians 1:6-10
11/19 – Galatians 2
11/20 – Galatians 3:1-25
11/21 – Galatians 3:26-29; 4:1-7
11/22 – Galatians 5
11/23 – Galatians 6
11/24 – Acts 15:1-35

TTB Event 92 – Paul Becomes A Missionary

11/10 – Acts 13
11/11 – Acts 14
11/12 – Acts 15:36-41; 16:1-10
11/13 – Acts 16:11-40
12/14 – Acts 17
12/15 – Acts 18:1-23
12/16 – Acts 19
12/17 – Acts 20