Two year Bible reading program.

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:21-22 Understanding to grow in Some final instructions for keeping on keeping on. We are to see hardship as the training of loving discipline from our heavenly Father. We are to therefore strengthen our resolve knowing it will result in our being righteous and knowing peace with God. We are also to seek after godliness and ensure no "bitter root" of ungodly dissent grows in the church to cause trouble or lead others to sin. We are to host and care for one-another, be sexually pure, and content with what we have knowing the Lord will help us where we lack. All this so that we will not be tempted to sin and so come under judgment. We are also to emulate and submit to our leaders and not be...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:18-20 Understanding to grow in What is it that can keep us going even through hardship? Faith. That's what dominates this chapter. It is to trust in something that can't be seen, and most especially in God's promises - of the heavenly country and city that is the reward of all who truly seek God. This, we're told, is what enabled God's people to suffer in all sorts of ways. They could do so because they knew what was to come if they remained steadfast. And Christ is the supreme example. "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame" (12v2). And so we fix our eyes on him and continue in faith no matter what opposition from others and su...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:16-17 Understanding to grow in The point of all we've learnt in Hebrews, is to underline just how important it is to persevere with Christ. And here we see three things to reflect on so that we do: First, is the access to God we have for help. Just as the temple was God's house with a High Priest overseeing it, so the church is now his house (where he dwells) with Christ over it. And his blood has enabled full forgiveness - outward and inner cleansing from all uncleanliness and guilt because of sin. So we can approach God with full assurance, seeking his "mercy and grace" in our time of need (4v16). Second, is the encouragement of one-another. Those who give up meeting together u...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:15 Understanding to grow in There are many ways life in Christ is better than life under the Old Testament. Then, animals were sacrificed, only effecting an external cleansing that enabled the people to remain in the vicinity of God's presence in the tabernacle (later temple) without his wrath breaking out at them (9v13). Moreover, the sacrifices had to be given repeatedly, showing that they were insufficient to properly deal with sin as it is continually committed (10v1-2). And even the priests had to offer sacrifices for themselves, showing that the way to the ultimate "Most Holy Place" was not yet revealed, presumably because it could never be entered by priests who lacked full an...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:14 Understanding to grow in A shorter passage but a detailed point. Christians are not under the Mosaic covenant agreement that God made with Israel and that is recorded from Exodus to Deuteronomy. That was always to be temporary, as a "shadow" that gave an outline of what was to come in the gospel. So the priests offering gifts in the tabernacle (later the temple) patterned how Jesus would one day offer himself in heaven. And what proves Jesus' priestly ministry superior is not just that it is done in heaven itself, but that it is established on better priomises. The Hebrew people could not remain faithful to God on the basis of the first covenant, because although its laws were goo...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:13 Understanding to grow in Our salvation is made certain by the one who stands for us before God - our High Priest. It's slightly complicated, but the writer makes the point that the priesthood descended through Levi with the system of law it was part of, was insufficient for the people. First, this is evident by God introducing Melchizedeck as a type of Christ (see Gen 22). He was both a king and priest, and there was no record of him being born or dying. In that sense he resembles the Son. And the Genesis narrative presents him as greater than Abraham, because he blessed and received thithes from him. The point is that the priesthood that comes through Abraham must therefore be inferior to ...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:12 Understanding to grow in God understands how hard it can be to live for him. He knows not just beause he knows all things, but because he has experienced its struggle in the person of his Son. So we are told our great high priest can "feel sympathy for our weaknesses" because he too was tempted, and he too had to offer up prayer with fervent cries for help. Yet by standing firm and obeying in all perfection, he achieved a righteousness on our behalf, so that if we stick with him we will receive salvation. More than that, by sending Jesus, God was showing his readiness to grant grace to sinners. And so we can be sure that if we approach his throne seeking mercy to pardon us and grace t...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:11 Understanding to grow in The Christian life takes effort. There is much to cause us to give up: temptation, hostility, the deires for comfort. The writer is clear however, the joy of everlasting rest in the new creation awaits. But it is only received by those "hold" to their original convictions "firmly to the very end" (3v14). The example of Israel in the desert makes just this point by way of pattern. Just as their unbelief meant they were barred from the promised land, so unbelief within the church will cause the same even if people call themselves Christians. 4v12-13 makes this point. We will all be judged by our response to God's word in the gospel. And nothing is ...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:9-10 Understanding to grow in Why stick with Jesus? Because he alone is able to save. That's the sense here. A reason angels can't save is that they are not human. But Jesus was made human, and so a little lower than angels, so that he could be our representative - tasting death on our behalf in order for us to be glorified and one day reign over all things with him. What a future! The writer therefore affirms Jesus is of the same human family, suffering and being tempted as we are. This means that his death counts for us, and he can be a "merciful and faithful high priest" in offering his body in atonement for our sin. All this makes him as much greater than Moses as a builder i...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:8 Understanding to grow in The book of Hebrews was probably written in the 60s AD. We're not sure who wrote it, but it's message is clear. It urges Christians in a time of trial to persevere with Christ. It begins affirming his supremacy over angels because Jewish Christians were being tempted back to Judaism. They held that the law was revealed by angels (2v2), so the writer begins affirming that a greater revelation has now come in Christ, who is God's Son, and whose word actually upholds the universe! And because the Son has been given greater acknowledgement by God than any angel, and had his message confirmed by miraculous signs of the Holy Spirit through the apostles, we should s...