READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
DAYS 1-30
Our resource is Eugene Peterson’s
THE MESSAGE//REMIX:PAUSE
Day 1
Genesis 1-Genesis 2: These two chapters are less about how and more about who. From the first verse it is God, God, and more God. If life begins with God, what kind of relationship must you have with God to really live?
John 1:1-18: Today’s reading reach back to when nothing existed except God, but John paints more “how” details into the picture. Why should God’s life-giving Word that spoke all creation into existence become flesh and blood himself?
Day 2
Genesis 3-5: When God speaks, life springs forth. So what made sin and death spread in Adam and Eve’s lifetimes? How does disobedience to God produce deadly results in the world around you?
John 1:19-51: Compare these verses about Jesus’ purpose with the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis. Why is God so eager to forgive? What made Andrew, Simon and the other disciples so eager to taste his forgiveness?
Day 3
Genesis 6-8: Why would God take such drastic action, wiping out the human race and starting over with on family that loved God? What made God think Noah and his descendants would turn out any better? What does this say about God’s patience?
John 2: Jesus takes drastic action too, kicking the loan sharks out of the Temple, Why? What were they doing that made him so mad? What does this say about Jesus’ patience? How should this change the way you worship the Father?
Day 4
Genesis 9-11: God wipes the slate clean and gives the human race a fresh start, and what do they do with it? What does this say about human nature? What does this say about you?
John 3: Why does Jesus say you must be born from above? How is a new birth different from trying to clean up your act and do better? Why do people run for darkness when God offers them God’s Life-Light? Why do you?
Day 5
Genesis 12-14: Living the God-life means looking beyond outward appearances. Consider the choice Lot made. What was he hoping to find? What does his experience teach you about making good decisions?
John 4: What did Jesus see in the Samaritan woman and the people in her village—people the Jews in Jesus’ day despised? Compare Jesus’ actions to the way people in his hometown looked at him. Who are you more like, Jesus or the people from his hometown?
Day 6
Genesis 15-17: How did Abraham show he believes what God says? How does he show lack of belief? What makes him so inconsistent? Where does the same inconsistency show up in your life? What is the remedy?
John 5: Why would anyone get mad at Jesus for healing a man who couldn’t walk? In what ways does the reaction of the Pharisees (the religious leaders of the Jews) show belief or unbelief? What is the difference between keeping rules and obeying God?
Day 7
Each seventh day we will pause from our reading to look back and to look ahead. As you reflect on all you read this week, consider what God taught you about God’s self. Which story or passage had the greatest impact on your week? What do you plan to do about that? How did your understanding of who God is and the ways God works change over the week?
Reading through the Bibles isn’t an academic assignment. As you dive into these pages and meet God is God’s Word you immerse yourself in God. Already your understanding of God is expanding and your relationship with God is growing. How then has your relationship with God changed over the past week? How has it remained the same? Take time now to seek God’s input. On what specific areas of your life is God focusing his life-changing power? In what way or ways are you changing?
Over the next week you will continue your journey through Genesis and John. You will watch as God’s promise to Abraham comes true and a new nation starts to take shape. You will also watch as Jesus’ popularity rises even as he ticks off the religious leaders. In both books you will see how those who try to walk with God have their faith put to the test. Remember, God doesn’t change and neither does the way God works with people. Watching God wok in the lives of Abraham and Sarah gives you a good indication of the way God will work in your life as well. How will your respond?
Day 8
Genesis 18-20: Why did Lot put up such a fight about leaving Sodom? If Lot loved God, why wouldn’t he want to get away from such a horrible place? Are you, like Lot, clinging to anything that God finds repulsive?
John 6:1–6:26: How is God stretching your faith as Jesus stretched Philip’s faith? What’s the difference between looking for Jesus because God works through him and looking for him because he gives out free meals?
Day 9
Genesis 21-23: How would you see God if you were Sarah? Hagar? Ishmael? Abraham? How would the conversation go between you and God? If you were Abraham or Isaac, how would this episode change your understanding of God?
John 6:27-6:71: What was Jesus’ answer when the crowd asked how to get on God’s good side? Why, at this point, did many people desert Jesus? What keeps you from walking away from him?
Day 10
Genesis 24-26: The God-life means believing God and entrusting him with even the smallest details of your life. How consistently do the people in today’s reading do this? How consistent are you? What do these details tell you about God’s love and patience?
John 7:1-7:24: What is it about Jesus that people find so unbelievable? Even his own brothers had trouble believing what he said about himself. What about Jesus challenges your faith? What about him silences your doubts?
Day 11
Genesis 27-29: Today’s reading if filled with people who lie, deceive and con, yet God still makes promises and reaffirms God’s love for them. What does this day about God’s character and the relationship God seeks with you?
John 7:25-7:53: What made Jesus so dangerous that the Pharisees wanted to arrest him? Is “dangerous rebel” the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Jesus? Why or why not? What does it mean in your life to follow a subversive like Jesus?
Day 12
Genesis 30-32: Jacob’s name means “heel grabber,” literally “a cheater,” and thus far he has lived up to his name. God blesses him anyway. Why? What does this tell you about the promises God makes to you through his Word?
John 8:1-8:30: “All we have is your word on this,” the Pharisees said to Jesus, “We need more than this to go on.” (8:13) What real proof do you have about Jesus beyond his Word? Do you need more? If so, what would that proof be? If not, why?
Day 13
Genesis 33-36: Jacob’s sins finally caught up with him. Why would God allow this, especially in light of the promise God made to Jacob regarding his family’s future? What does this say about the way God shaped the character of one of God’s children?
John 8:31-8:58: Have you ever felt enslaved by sin? When? How? Has Jesus’ truth set you free? Why or why not? Why would anyone reject this freedom? What keeps you from embracing it?
Day 14
This week began with the story of two angels dragging Lot out of Sodom before fire and brimstone started raining down from the sky. Your week ended with Jesus’ word that he will set you free with his truth. In between you watched as Abraham’s descendants complicated their lives through lies and tricks and cons.
What was God trying to teach you? What pet sin did God try to pry from your hands? The sin doesn’t have to be major in your eyes to make a mess of your life. Remember Sarah’s jealousy of Hagar, Isaac’s lying to save his own neck, Jacob’s working one con after another, and Esau’s inability to control his urges, which made him an easy mark for Jacob’s cons. None of them killed anyone, and all of them could rationalize their actions. Yet the combined effect of all the “small” sins pulled them away from God and made their lives far more difficult than they needed to be. Which of these people sounds most like you? What is God trying to teach you through their mistakes?
Get alone with God and ask God to help you make a list of some changes you want God’s truth to make in your life. As you do, remember that God never stopped loving the less-than-godly people you just read about. He didn’t yank God’s promises away simply because they didn’t live up to God’s standards. Instead God’s mercy and grace relentlessly pulled them away from themselves and worked to make them more like God. God will do the same for you, if you let God.
Day 15
Genesis 37-39: Genesis says that God made things go well with Joseph’s life, even as Joseph’s life spiraled down the toilet. What is the relationship between God’s blessing and a life of ease? How does that change what you can expect out of life?
John 9: All the bad breaks we suffer in life are not the results of ticking God off with our sin. Why did Jesus heal the man with the ailment that had plagued him from birth? What weakness of yours might god use? Why? For what purpose?
Day 16
Genesis 40-41: Why would God use the route of slavery and imprisonment to get Joseph where God needed him? What parallels do you see with the route God is taking you? How are you getting ready for the future God might have for you?
John 10: What does “more and better life than (you) ever dreamed of” (10:10) look like in your world? Given Joseph’s long struggle, “more and better” certainly doesn’t mean easier. How will you respond if this doesn’t mean easier for you either?
Day 17
Genesis 42-44: Why did Joseph treat his brothers so harshly? How would you have treated them if you were Joseph and possessed a level of power second only to Pharaoh’s?
John 11:1-11:37: Ask yourself the same question the Jews asked: If Jesus loved Lazarus so much, why didn’t he keep him from dying? Why doesn’t God do what we want God to do when we want God to do it?
Day 18
Genesis 45-47: Why did God want Jacob and his family to move to Egypt, a place where the inhabitants wouldn’t even eat with them, much less intermarry with them? What was God up to? And what insight does this five you into God’s plan for your life?
John 11:38-11:57: Every miracle Jesus performed made his enemies more determined to kill him. Why? What makes God-signs so unbearable, especially to people who claim to believe in God? Don’t just think in terms of Jesus and the Pharisees. Look around you.
Day 19
Genesis 48-50: Like Joseph did, look beyond the difficulties you face and see God at work. How has God used evil to accomplish God’s good in your life? How can looking toward God’s purpose protect you from anger and bitterness?
John 12:1-12:36: As Jesus looked ahead to his final hours, he said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). How can humiliation and glory go together? What does it mean to serve the One who embodied both?
Day 20
Exodus 1-2: Put yourself in the Israelite’s position, groaning under their slavery, miserable. If you were an Israelite, would you think God had forgotten you? How do you react when God’s answers to your prayers take longer than you expect?
John 12:36-12:50: “When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God’s glory” (12:43). What about you? Which means more, acceptance by those around you or living for Christ? You know the obvious answer. How consistently do you live it?
Day 21
Over the past six days you read one reminder after another that living the God-life doesn’t equal a pain-free, trouble-free existence. The opposite is often the case. Don’t expect people to applaud when you do the right thing. Joseph’s brothers hated him and sold him as a slave. Potiphar’s wife lied about him and had him thrown into jail. Even those Joseph helped while rotting in prison forgot about him as soon as their troubles were over. Jesus tasted the same rejection. The Pharisees started plotting ways to kill him after he raised Lazarus from the dead. The more good deeds Jesus performed, the angrier the Pharisees became.
How does this picture compare to what you expect from God? When you hear words like, “God was with Joseph and things went very well with him,” (Genesis 39:2) and Jesus saying, “I came so they can have real life and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10), do you ever assumer God will protect you from the bad stuff? Sometimes he does, but not always. What happens to your faith when he doesn’t? If God took you down Joseph’s path, how would you respond? What would you think of God then?
Joseph’s slavery wasn’t the end of his story, and neither is the Israelites’ slavery the end of their story. You will read about their salvation over the next six days. At the same time you will watch as Jesus moves closer to the Cross, God’s ultimate act of salvation. As you do, ask yourself this: Why do people often have to become miserable before they will turn to God for help? How do you see this expressed in your own life?
Day 22
Exodus 3-5: Moses found himself caught between God’s purpose for his life and his own inabilities. Like Moses, do you sometimes wonder how god could ever use anyone like you? When? Why? What is the solution?
John 13:1-13:17: Why, if God put Jesus in charge of everything, did he respond by washing his disciples’ feet, something so disgusting and menial? Jesus tells us to do the same. How will you follow Jesus the foot washer’s example?
Day 23
Exodus 6-8: Why does Moses continue to tell God he’s the wrong man for the job? Why won’t God listen to him? What do you learn about the character of God? What do you learn about the people God picks to do God’s work, people like you?
John 13:18-13:38: If you were Jesus, what thoughts and emotions would race through your mind, knowing your fate was sealed the moment Judas left the room, knowing that one of your most trusted disciples would deny he even knows you? If you could stop this chain of events, would you? Why didn’t Jesus?
Day 24
Exodus 9-11: Why did God use plagues against Egypt? If he loves everyone, why would he hit them with blood and frogs and boils and locust and all the rest? What was God’s ultimate purpose for the sign God put on display in Egypt?
John 14: This chapter contains some of the sweetest promises Jesus makes to his followers. Underline the one that means the most to you. Why did you choose that one? Thank God for it in prayer, asking God to help you live it out.
Day 25
Exodus 12-14: The Passover meal commemorated God’s act of salvation, which is why the Israelites were to observe it forever. Jesus was crucified at Passover. Why would God connect these two events that took place over a thousand years apart?
John 15: Jesus shows us the choice everyone must make. You can bask in God’s love or be loved by the world. One or the other. Your choice. Why can’t you have both? Does it surprise you when the world treats you like it treated Jesus?
Day 26
Exodus 15-17: Why did the Israelites go from celebrating God to whining against him in just a few days? Why did they wonder if God was with them when the pillar of cloud and fire was right in front of them? In what ways are you like the Israelites?
John 16: How will the Spirit of Truth “take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is” (16:13)? What difference will this promise make as you try to understand the world around you and your place in it?
Day 27
Exodus 18-20: What makes living a close relationship with God difficult? Which of the Ten Commandments gives you the most trouble? Why? How do your struggles to keep the commandments affect your walk with God?
John 17: Jesus pre pared for his darkest hour by praying for his disciples, both those standing around him and those who would later believe in him. Right before he died Jesus prayed for you. How should you live in light of his prayer for you?
Day 28
Over the past six days you read some of the most familiar stories in the Bible. You’ve seen the movies. And if you grew up in the church, you heard these stories over and over. So how did the biblical accounts differ from the Hollywood and church versions you grew up with? What did you read that surprised you? What troubled you? In what ways did your understanding of God grow?
Exodus provides an account of one of God’s greatest acts of salvation. The book gives you a front-row seat to watch God work. Over the next six days you will see his ultimate act as Jesus dies and rises again to save us from our sins.
Observing God at work in the Bible opens our eyes to his work today. Examine your own life and the lives of those around you. Where do you need God to work in your life just as God did in the Israelites? Where do you see God already working, just as God did through Jesus, God’s Son?
You will soon read the beginnings of the Old Testament Law. Through the Law God tells God’s people what God requires of them to live in a relationship with God. The Law also provided the legal code for the Israelites as they became a nation in their own land. By the time you finish reading the Law, you may ask, “Who can do all this?” Then you will be ready for the rest of your readings for the week: the story of Jesus dying of the cross. The Law shows us our sin; Jesus is the solution. Don’t rush through the story of the Cross. Try to put yourself into the scene. Look around. Interact. Soak it all in. Watch the Lamb of God as he takes away the sin of the world.
Day 29
Exodus 21-23
What do these three chapters reveal about God’s holiness? Justice? Desire for God’s people to trust God completely? If you lived under the Law, what penalties would you face for the things you’ve done over the past six months?
John 18: Think about the Law, especially the Ten Commandments, and all the crimes punishable by death. Which laws did Jesus creak? Which crimes did he commit? Why did the religious authorities of the day want to see him executed?
Day 30
Exodus 24-27: Compare the length of God’s instructions for The Dwelling, the place the Israelites were to gather to worship god, with the civil code you read yesterday. What does this say about what matters most to God?
John 19:1-19:15: As you read, remember what you’ve learned so far about who Jesus really is. Feel the hatred as the crowd shouts their insults. Listen as the whip crashes down. Smell the blood as it pours onto the ground. Why would the One who spoke all of creation into existence submit himself to such humiliation?
Days 31-60 will be available in the back of the sanctuary at Skaalen by Sunday, November 19. If you would like a copy mailed to you, please call the church office at 873-9353. It may also be found on our web site: www.clcstoughton.org.