One Year Bible Challenge Blog
by Sharon Marshall, March blogger
Grumbling
There is so much that we can learn from the Israelite people, if we will only listen. The Israelites grumbled about everything, even though they could see God working in their lives. God’s response to the people’s grumbling is very telling. God says in Numbers 14:11 “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? “ Do you ever think about your “grumbling?” We have so much to be thankful for in this country, but we focus on the negative things and forget to praise God for the positives. I believe most of us can think of how much worse our lives could be, if not for the grace of God. Thank the Lord that He put us here, the way we are, in our present circumstances. What does our grumbling say about us? It seems to me that we are thinking too much about ourselves and what we believe we need or want. God put us here to serve, not to be served. He knows what’s best for us, and He sees that we have what we need. We must learn to trust God to take care of our needs. Not trusting in Him is treating God with contempt. This is worth looking at very closely. Make a habit of thanking God for your blessings, and for the difficult things in your life! It’s the difficult things that help you to grow into the person God wants you to be.
Published on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 @ 5:55 PM CDT
1 comments
The Fig Tree
Published on Thursday, March 4, 2010 @ 8:45 AM CDT
0 comments
Like children
How does one receive the kingdom of God as a little child? Clearly, the reference is to well-behaved, normal, loving children; and the qualities in view are:
- trustfulness,
- humility,
- obedience,
- spontaneity,
- forgetfulness of injury, slight, or hurt,
- and a total lack of prejudice.
Being Teachable is perhaps another. How close do we come to fitting this description? I know I don’t do very well in several areas!
Some use this as evidence for infant baptism. But since it is declared in so many places that one must know the Lord before he can be in the kingdom of God, I think we must discard that idea. It seems that such a person is saved without being taught, without repentance, without confession, without the new birth, and without anything under the sun except a few drops of water. What do you think?
Published on Monday, March 1, 2010 @ 9:03 AM CDT
1 comments
Triumph or Tragedy
Mark – My final thoughts are on the story of Jesus walking on the water. I noticed a difference in the story between Matthew and Mark. After doing some research, I found that Matthew is the only gospel where Peter gets out of the boat. Why do I bring this to your attention? Quite simply, I take notice of this topic because I’ve often heard the expression that we, as Christian, “need to get out of the boat”. I understand this is an expression of faith, but I tend to disagree with the analogy. I will back my position up with two points.
First, in all three of the gospel stories (Matthew 14:32, Mark 6:51, and John 6:21) the purpose of Jesus walking on the water was to get into the boat with the disciples.
Second, Peter got out of the boat because he failed to recognize Jesus when he saw him. (Matthew 14:28)
Many people consider the story of Peter getting out of the boat as a triumph, but I considered it a tragedy. I want to be able to recognize Jesus when I see him, and I don’t want to ask God to help me take a leap of faith when God wants me to be right where I am.
Published on Thursday, February 25, 2010 @ 2:18 PM CDT
0 comments
The Saying Goes . . .
Leviticus – 14:54-57 When I was younger, I heard someone say that cleanliness is next to Godliness. I don’t remember where I heard it, but until I read chapters 13 and 14, I didn’t get the full meaning of the adage. It appears that long before there was a science of microbiology, God tried to protect His children from most common pathogens. It is a reminder that God created everything for a purpose, and that He wants us to trust in Him to protect us.
Psalm 40:4-5 “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.”
Published on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 @ 7:32 AM CDT
1 comments
Soil
Mark 4:3-20 My prayer is that we will continually ask the Holy Spirit to help us be good soil.
The seed is the Word.
- The seed sown on the path – The Word is heard, but satan comes and takes it away.
- The seed sown on the rocky places – The Word is heard and received with joy, but when trouble or persecution comes because of the Word they quickly fall away.
- The seed sown on the thorns – The Word is heard, but the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful.
- The seed sown on the Good Soil – The Word is heard and accepted, and produces a crop – thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what was sown.
Published on Monday, February 22, 2010 @ 10:25 AM CDT
0 comments
About the One Year Bible Challenge
This year, 2010, we are going to take an exciting journey together as a church by reading through the Bible in a year using the One Year Bible format. You can read the daily passage from a One Year Bible, read it online or download the plan and look up the passages in your own Bible.
To make it a little bit more fun, we are going to have a different guest blogger here each month who will write a blog a couple of times a week commenting on the daily readings. And if you sign up on Facebook’s Harris Prairie page, you will be able to check out what everyone is saying about it!
