Category: Jesus

Happy New Year! The number 1 Christian New Year’s Resolution is to read the Bible more. Here are 4 reasons from 2 Timothy 3:14-17 why it’s a good resolution: 1) v14 Christianity is all about remembering and continuing; 2) v15 The Word is God’s Power for Saving People; 3) v16 All Scripture is breathed out by God; 4) vv16-17 The Bible is useful for all of life. Below are some resources to help you read it, remember it and pray it.

Read It

• Have a plan, stick to it!
• DMDC – Read the Bible in a year
• Youversion and BibleGateway have a stack of different reading plans
• Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s daily Bible reading – various forms of delivery
• Free Don Carson Devotional via blog or email or RSS – based on McCheyne plan
• Free Audio – NIV OT MP3s; NIV NT MP3s (put this or this into iTunes to automatically download as a podcast)
• Read on your phone – ESV Bible App; youversion; logos; avery bible; no need for iphone – esv; biblegateway (stacks of versions)
• Daily Reading Bible – the small booklets from Matthias Media are GOLD!
• Quiet Times – these are a great resource for teenagers from Youth Surge
• Read with your family
• Kids Bibles – The Big Picture Story Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible

Remember It

• Navigators topical memory system (you can buy their cards or make your own based on their verses)
• Fighter Verses are a verses from Bethlehem church in the USA. Do them the same speed as their church or go through the archives. Why Memorise Scripture? – by John Piper. How do you memorise scripture? – by John Piper
• Forever Grateful Music – Scripture Memory Songs by Mark Altrogge
• Boom Chicka Boom – this is a 30 track Bible Bonanza from Col Buchanan. You don’t have to be a kid to utilise Col’s memory verse songs!!
• Extreme Memory Verses (PDF) – this is an approach to memorising large chunks of scripture.

Pray It

• Pray in response to the verses you read
• Pray in response to the verses you remember
• Don’t close your Bible when you pray, but let the priorities of the Bible shape your priorities in prayer.
• A Call to Spiritual Reformation – a good book by Don Carson showing Paul’s priorities in prayer
• Summary of Paul’s prayers from Carson’s book – PDF (h/t Dave Rogers)

Who or what are you listening to? There are a stack of different voices competing for our attention. Some of those voices are positive, some are negative. Parents. Teachers. Television. Magazines. Friends. The internet. Billboards. Employer. Authors. Celebrities.

The Bible says that we are made by and for Jesus. That means we belong to him. Therefore, the most important voice we can listen to is the voice of Jesus.

In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus shows what it will be like for someone to truly listen to his voice.

Jesus says that not all who claim to be his followers are actually his followers. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46) There are people who claim to be Christian, but don’t really follow through with what Jesus has said.

In verse 48-49, Jesus then compares 2 different types of builders. One of them “dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built”

Check out what Jesus says about the other builder: “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

How do you show that you are listening to Jesus? By doing what he says.

As you get ready to kick on in to 2011, build your life upon Jesus. He is the Rock. Get dug down deep! Listen to THE voice and obey.

Merry Christmas!! On our road trip around NZ, we listened to an Advent/Christmas playlist (including these albums that don’t suck!). One that come up from 4 or 5 different artists was O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. It means ‘God with us’. This particular song, written 1000 years ago, reflects upon the Old Testament promises of God himself coming to save his people. In the New Testament, with the coming of Jesus, we see God with us. Jesus is the long awaited fulfilment of all of God’s promises.

At Christmas, we are reminded that God isn’t aloof, but that he has come near in the person and work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Creator has entered into his creation. He is able to sympathise with us in our weakness and suffering. He experienced the full array of human emotion. This Christmas our church family is mourning the sudden loss of one of its young members. The fact that Jesus has come near brings great comfort. The fact that Jesus has come near means that we can draw near to God, and have a certain hope that will never perish, spoil or fade.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel lyrics are below:

Continue reading “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”