2024 Challenge: read through the Bible

Are you in?

  • Yes, and it’s the first time

    Votes: 4 66.7%

  • Yes, and I’ve done it before

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • No, but I still wanted to vote

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    6
As tough as it is to get through Leviticus…it doesn’t hold a candle to reading Numbers. Times like these are when I’m especially glad to be doing the M’Cheyne plan, so I get some Psalms/Ecclesiastes/Song of Solomon/New Testament on the same day. Reading 4-5 chapters of Numbers in a day is rough. 😁
 
So today I finished the fifth time reading thru the New Testament this year. Did I miss some days? Yes. Absolutely. That is not the point, though. Let me tell you what it has done for me.

1) I am more aware that this whole thing about the Christian life is NOT about meeting goals, getting rid of idols, living virtuously, "loving people" or other worthy pursuits. Those are the effects, not the root. The root is that I am more aware of the fact that God is a companion, who AMAZINGLY is interested in the most mundane, meaningless, routine, obnoxious, boring, repetitive, tasks, and wishes me to share them with him, and turn them into times of worship. Cleaning up a 91 year old's gob of sputum changes from a disgusting act to "YOU have called me to do this, and I can do it with you, in joy" I cannot tell you what a transformation that is.
2) I get up, go to the front porch, sit there as the sun is rising, and am just "aware" of the presence of the mighty Creator, who gives life, happiness, goodness... and it just shamelessly exudes from His majestic being as he keeps the planets in course, causes the animals to awake, and gives life to us all. It "sets the tone" for my day.
3) I am not as much of an asshole to those around me. This is the most startling thing. I can "let things go"... and believe me-in my house there are so many things to "let go" that I don't think most of you would believe it. The point, though, is not the load, but how the Spirit of God in His word has changed the way I evaluate the load. I am still impatient, arrogant, selfish, manipulative, and astoundingly self righteous (I giggle when I say this, it is so phenomenally stupid), but am able to just shut up, not argue back, not justify self, and let God take care of whether I or a family member is "more righteous" in all this. He will sort it all out, and there is great peace in that.
4) I am seeing more and more that my proper place is "I too am a man under authority, with servants under me. I say to this one 'GO' and he goes, and to another one 'do this' and he does it." Most of my life has been mapping out what I wish to do and then trying to wheedle God into "blessing" it (or worse, becoming enraged that He frustrates it). I am starting to find -in the most rudimentary beginning way- that real happiness comes from simply saying "I am yours to do what you wish" and not bucking when I am not the prominent one or the one on whom attention if focused.

These are the things that the word of God in my life has begun..... and it is like the old saw "You might look at me and not be real impressed with me, but you ought to see what I WAS like!! Then you would be astounded at the change."

I plan to read thru the NT 7 more times this year. My prayer is that all of us in here would be so happy at the end of the year as each of us can say in his own way, from his own goals/schedule "come see what God has done."
 
VinegarBased said:
Few days behind, but I’m still going. Not sure how I’ll find time this summer when kids are out of school.
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Get up before they do. Or stay up after they go to bed. Or read instead of getting on CFF. Anybody can find <10 minutes in a day somewhere. 👍🏼
 
I'm still in it.
Some days more, some days less, and some days none at all.

I've learned that some days I can't get in the right frame of mind to receive.
Or maybe better to say, I don't have the focus. If I force it anyway, it's no benefit
So try again later..

And little by little...
 
svtf150 said:
I'm still in it.
Some days more, some days less, and some days none at all.

I've learned that some days I can't get in the right frame of mind to receive.
Or maybe better to say, I don't have the focus. If I force it anyway, it's no benefit
So try again later..

And little by little...
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I hope to encourage you by saying this:

Some days, I have to start out by saying "God, I don't wanna be here. I don't really love you this a.m., and find You to be a distraction from the things *I* want. I don't find Your word to be anything but dry dust, and irrelevant blabber from the pages of an old dead book. I know that is my problem. Help me rearrange my priorities and please FIX ME so that I can hear. I am a screwed up mess. This is why Jesus had to die for me. Teach me about Yourself, me, and the cross this a.m."

Something like that, anyway. SOME days, I have had the most encouraging and "real" times with God on precisely mornings like that. I do know that the essence of being a Christian is to be "poor in spirit" and that God often cannot help Himself to RUN to his children who are openly needy. I try to remind Him of that. I dunno, but He seems to like that.

On the other hand, when things remain abstract, dry, distant, lifeless, dull and boring, I sort of try to imagine that God is like my dad -who used to show up at football practice. Nothing "glorious" about the end of practice. Drills, drills, and more drills, and then sprints, and final laps. Drudgery and agony. If I tried hard, my dad would say "son, I am proud of you." That was enough to make me hustle. Maybe it is enough to make God smile?

Praying for you as I type this.

btw, Love your quote by the Bear. He was one of my heroes growing up in Alabama.
 
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BigWaylon said:
As tough as it is to get through Leviticus…it doesn’t hold a candle to reading Numbers. Times like these are when I’m especially glad to be doing the M’Cheyne plan, so I get some Psalms/Ecclesiastes/Song of Solomon/New Testament on the same day. Reading 4-5 chapters of Numbers in a day is rough. 😁
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Echoing this thought again.

This week included the chapters of Joshua where it gives all the boundaries for the inheritances of the tribes, as well as the city names. Glad I had other books to mix in.

But I did get the reminder that En-dor is biblical, and not just part of the Star Wars canon. 🤓
 
How is everybody doing? Cleared 200 days yesterday…about to knock out today’s reading then drive a bus load of kids on their way to youth camp. I think we have 12 bus loads going.

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Remember, the mark of a failure is NOT the man who fails.
Life and history are literally full of examples of men who failed and then came back to do glorious things.
The mark of a failure is a man who quits. If you fell off the horse, get back up and get started again.
 
I would say I've gotten behind schedule, but not given up by any means.
And since it's a self-imposed schedule I'll just say it may take longer than I had hoped it would.

Recently read Obadiah. That book was tough! ;)
 
Checking in to see how everyone is doing. Today is day 250…still time to get caught up if you’ve missed some days/weeks.

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I got a late start- today is actually day 239 for me. B/c I work rotating shifts, I occasionally will get a day or 2 behind. In order for me to not be playing ‘catch-up’ I try to stay a week ahead. It has been very helpful for my Christian walk by having the daily reading!
 
I'm still hanging in there, it seems we have to develop this habit, it helps me to set a certain time to read my Bible. If I think, I'll do it sometime to day, I probably won't.

I do appreciate this challenge and those who are participating.
 
I'm not doing real well.
I am provided oodles and gobs of earthly diversions and distractions.
Even this place. Been on here when I should have been reading.

Seems like someone said, "There will my heart be also."
 
svtf150 said:
I'm not doing real well.
I am provided oodles and gobs of earthly diversions and distractions.
Even this place. Been on here when I should have been reading.

Seems like someone said, "There will my heart be also."
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Thanks for checking in and being honest. Pick it back up and start a streak. You got this!
 
Ponzerite said:
I finished up a couple of days ago and am starting over.
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I’ve done everything in my power to not read ahead and not get behind. So far, so good. 100% through 12/15.

I’ve added an Advent reading plan our church is going through as well.

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Ponzerite said:
I get that. I got behind to begin with and had trouble catching up. Schedule wise I miss a day or two here and there, that was my motivation to get ahead. And I get carried away and can't stop sometimes.
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This is the first time I’ve ever tried it this way. 🤓
 
I think I’ve picked out my plan for 2023. It’s a read through the Bible in 11 months plan, and then an Advent plan for December. Should be less intensive than the M’Cheyne plan and adding Advent on top of it for the last 35 days. (M’Cheyne results in reading the OT once, and the NT plus Psalms twice)

The particular plan I’m doing has two days at the end of each month for catch-up if needed. If anybody wants me to share it, let me know.
 
This past weekend I was thinking it was getting time you peeps were winding it up or maybe already finished. Hats off to ya.
i won't meet the goal.
 
svtf150 said:
This past weekend I was thinking it was getting time you peeps were winding it up or maybe already finished. Hats off to ya.
i won't meet the goal.
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Give it another shot in ‘23!! 😁
 
I do appreciate you @BigWaylon for starting this. It was tough and enlightening. I liked the encouragement along the way too. I’m on track to wrap it up soon and I have a plan for 23.

Thank you,
Kyle
 
I just reset all the votes and changed the title to 2023. Fresh start for everybody!
 
@BigWaylon
Yes the links work. Thank you. They both look very doable and it's good to have options. The plan I'm following is doable, I just didn't commit the time to keep up, which has made me stop and realize maybe I need to re-examine my whole commitment to God. I believe I'm lacking....but thats a different topic for a different day.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not backing down from getting this bible read c to c.

eta: BW, does your church livestream your services?

VinegarBased said:
Who says you still can’t finish? @svtf150
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See above
 
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svtf150 said:
eta: BW, does your church livestream your services?
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Yes. Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte. You can watch them live on YouTube. You can watch them live on our app. I’ll assume you can do it from the website but have never tried…and it may very well just use the YT stream.

You can also go back and watch all previous sermons in case you have time this week and want to check it out. This past Sunday would be a good one to check out if you wanted to. Just a fair warning…if somebody doesn’t like the Bible, they won’t like our church. Everything we do is based on the word, not some feel good topical message.

Just a quick explanation. It’s a big church. Probably 15,000 or more on the roll right now. Two different location. But, we refuse to simulcast, so there’s live preaching at both locations for every service. Clint Pressley is our pastor. But Kyler Smith is the campus pastor for the location I attend (right behind Concord Mills). Most of the time Clint travels back and forth and preaches all three services. But sometimes he’ll stay at one or the other, and when he stays at the other, Kyler is usually preaching at outs. I prefer Clint…but Kyler actually has a doctorate in preaching, so he’s not a bad backup to have. 😁
 
svtf150 said:
eta: BW, does your church livestream your services?
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Not to highjack @BigWaylon But Mt Olive Church of Christ goes live on Facebook on Sunday morning as well. Sermon usually starts about 11ish, but you can watch it anytime and I usually link it to my page afterwards as well.

Aside from the "if somebody doesn’t like the Bible, they won’t like our church. Everything we do is based on the word, not some feel good topical message." part, we are all they are not. :) Small, rural, maybe 50 in attendance, this is definitely not a knock on them, I'm thankful for whatever they are accomplishing there. But just a realization that everywhere is different. (Remember, we don't have a single stoplight in the entire county.)

This is a good thread right here!
 
To save anybody from hunting it down, here are some videos from this past Sunday (12/18):

Full service at Mallard Creek (where I attend):



Full service at Harris (where my mom still goes, and I was from ~’76 until about 10 years ago):



Just the sermon at MC:



Just the sermon at Harris:




Harris is a much more traditional sanctuary, while MC has what the pastor calls a cafe-gymna-torium. Completely different music staff, but the same sermon.
 
Big or small hopefully they all have something to offer to better the kingdom.
Just for reference, in person I typically would prefer the setting like @Ponzerite presents. But I don't FB so thats a nogo. But my wife does...

I've been watching a livestream from Cross Assembly in Raleigh for over a year now. I really like the pastor Chad Harvey. He preaches the bible as well.
But that place is huge, they've run out of parking. I wouldn't go there in person. They have a satellite that's even further away.
Don't know the ins and outs of it but the same organization is involved in opening a location just down the road in Benson. It's not a satellite, as there will be in person pastoring.
By whom I don't know. Maybe worth checking out I suppose.

Thanks for all the links @BigWaylon You make it easy.
I need something to keep me occupied besides reading the bible. I can only digest so much at a time but I need all I can get.
 
Reset the votes you say. But now I don't know how to vote.
There is no option for "Yes, but it's not the first time I've tried."
But I'll say it is. Cause it will be. And we're not keeping score here right?;)
 
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