John Overview

(Quick note to get out-of-the-way, the writer John is NOT John the Baptist, some of you knew that and others didn’t…trust me I was one of them once)

John is the book for ALL.  It is written to prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah to the Jews and the Son of God to the Gentiles.  The Key word in John is believe (used 98 times). 

The theme of John’s book is Jesus Deity or Holiness. In this book there is no genealogy because Jesus was In the Beginning with God at the Creation.  The author John is also called the “son of thunder” for his personality! He had been a follower of John the Baptist.  He will author 4 books including the Revelation and he will be the last of the 12 disciples to live.

This book is not like the other 3.  The other 3 are called Synoptic, for their similarities.  Jesus talks to the people in Judea,  The other 3 portray Jesus in action miracles, parables, and speeches to the multitudes.  John captures Jesus in mediation and communion.

As many of you may have picked up in the OT, 7 is a very important number.  A number of completeness.  In the book of John there will be 7 Miracles, 7 “I Am’s” and 7 Witnesses called to prove that He is God.

A tip that might help you remember is J for John.  J for Judea, a nation most of Jews.  When Jesus is in Galilee put the G’s together.  G for Gentile. When He speaks there it is mostly a Gentile nation in Galilee.

Luke Overview

When you think of the authors of the New Testament you probably think they are Gentiles (not Jews) ? Yes? No? Well I did since it is my “church” book.  Ummmm Luke was the only one.  No kidding.  He was from Syria, a very educated man and was also the author of Acts wich actually gives him more written scripture than Paul in the NT.

Luke’s Gospel was written for the Greeks, and the Greeks knew that the Messiah would be the Son of Man, sooo the genealogy will prove that Jesus was a direct descendant from Adam ( you may say well we all are, my point is Jewish genealogy did not matter to the Greeks).   This book is written in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (that is why it is the choice of translation for missions).  Luke is a physician so he writes in great detail!  Luke was a close friend and traveled with Paul, so he heard first accounts from the other disciples.

The Gospel of Luke is a wonderful book from the Lord for the professed sinner.  The story of Luke will touch anyone feeling not worthy of salvation.  It is a book based around tax collectors and sinful woman.  The pure meaning of Grace will flow from this book.

New Testament Schedule

Click here if you would like to print a copy of the New Testament Schedule to tuck in your Bible.  If you are ever at your computer, the best and easiest way to get the reading is to click the tab SCHEDULE above this post.  You can even click on the date and the reading will come up on Bible Gateway.

Recap and Inter-testament Handouts

Just in case anyone wanted extra copies…here were the handouts in the order I spoke with them. Just click on the name:   Each handout was chosen for a specific purpose.  Let me know if you have ANY questions!

History of the Bible

Bible Time Line

Noah’s Family Tree

12 Tribes of Israel

The Exodus

Tabernacle

Sacrifices

Feasts

Temple

Kings and Prophets

Israel History

Captivity Map

Current Middle East Map

The Statue

Inter-testament History

In the days of Jesus

Malachi

This week I came across a Scripture in Matthew 12 that says:

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

We are either on His team or against His team.  There are no spectators.  Jacob He Loved.  Esau He hated.  Tomorrow we are going to embark on our Journey through the Gospel.  Are you of Jacob or Esau.

Chapter one reminds me of how sinful man is.  Bringing our blemished offerings before the Lord.  Our left over money, our left over time.  We put everything first.  And at the end of the week, IF we have time to read the WORD, IF we have time in the car to PRAY, IF we cover all our bills and extra spending, we GIVE.  Don’t read this text and say “I can’t believe they ignored God AGAIN.  Ahhhheeeemmmmm.

In Chapter 2 I almost fell over.  After reading about how we ignore God, we then (look at 2:13)

Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 

 Let’s move on to Chapter 3.  If you are by chance JUST reading the blog and are going to jump in at the New Testament, Malachi 3 is a MUST read!

 Verse 1: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

Verse 6: “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.
      “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

Chapter 4:5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

When we get to Revelation this will all make sense 🙂

See you tomorrow at the Incarnation!!

Malachi Overview

Well, here we are.  The last Overview of the Old Testament.  We read approximately 2000 years of God’s history in just 9 months.  Amazing.  So on your mental timeline we are at around 400 BC. (Christ will be born in year 4 B.C.)

This is the last book of the Old Testament and it falls under the category of prophecy in your Bible.   The remnant returned to Jerusalem in about 100 years ago in 3 different journeys.  We had a time of revival under Ezra and Nehemiah but we read the end of History, they went back into the cycle of apostacy (falling away from the Lord).  The priests are lax and degenerate.  The temple is neglected, sacrifices are not a priority.

The Jews are waiting for a King to show up from the Line of David to restore the glory of Jerusalem.  Malachi assures them that the Messiah will come, but it will mean judgment for them rather than glory!  This is the book that will bridge the Old Testament and the New Testament. 

What do I want from you?  I want to know what is in your head right now. SOme of you just read the Old Testament for the first time in your life! And for some this was the 20th time you have done it.  Please share with me what you learned, what your view of God is now, how different life is for you in 9 months….anything.  Please share with me.

Get Prepared

By Thursday Night I want you to be ready to read the New Testament for the next 3 months.  Take these 3 days to prepare your heart as well as your schedule for this.  Here are some ways you can get ready:  Click here for NEW Schedule to print.

• Have a Bible and a schedule ready and in a good place to do this.
• More importantly,  take a spare or buy a little inexpensive bible and keep it in your car or purse (and a copy of the schedule).  You will find that waiting in the car, sitting in the Dr’s waiting room, sports practices, pick up lines,  kids running late, dance practice…. will actually be carved out times to read!   You will learn to love the times that usually annoy us as a waste to be our MOST productive this year.
• It is ok to read ahead.  If God prompts you to keep moving…keep moving OR even better dig deeper with a Commentary.
• Also, humble yourself to ask the obvious.  Do we think so much of ourselves that we can’t say “What is that?  Why?  Who?”  Be prepared to learn things you thought you knew.

Each day I want being in God’s Word to be a priority on our list.  Not the last thing on our list. Getting on the correlated blog is NOT a priority, it is just a means for us to communicate our questions.   Make sure that each morning you have an idea of “when” you might do your reading for that day.  Of course, my first choice for you would be in the morning we all have different schedules.  Try:

• Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier each day and read before you even get out of bed
• On your lunch time
• While the kids read after school, you do your read
• At night, if your kids read 30 minutes in bed…join them
• Eliminate 30 minutes of TV each night and read instead.
• If none of that works for you, delete your Facebook account, you will surly free up some time there!

 

Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126

The Temple was scarcely populated so they cast lots to bring in 1/10 of the people.   Then we read in 13 some History and regulations (I loved remembering the talking donkey story from Numbers 22) and then my heart dropped as I am sure yours did when we read about the agreement they made is broken again.

Psalm 126 in NLT version says:

 When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem,
      it was like a dream!
 We were filled with laughter,
      and we sang for joy.
   And the other nations said,
      “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
 Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!
      What joy!  Restore our fortunes, Lord,
      as streams renew the desert.
 Those who plant in tears
      will harvest with shouts of joy.
 They weep as they go to plant their seed,
      but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Nehemiah 8-10

Oh My Word!  CHapter 8!  Goosebumps (I call them Glorybumps)

Ezra the priest,  is standing on a platform reading the first 5 books OF THE VERY Bible in your hand and explaining it to them in a way they can understand it,  SO THAT they can follow God’s Ways!

Can you hear it…Reading Deuteronomy…just imagine:

” Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”

THEN reading from Leviticus 23 about the Feasts they were supposed to be celebrating and in Nehemiah 17 it says they had not done this since the days of Joshua!  The Feast called his people to live in booths to remember the protection during the Exodus.  (Lev 23:36-40)

Chapter 9.  WOW.  Please read this out loud.  If I had read this before all the recap classes, I would have just read Nehemiah 9 to everyone and said “Caramel pie anyone?”becasue here is the sum of the entire Old Testament.  Sprinkled in with some CHaracteristics of God (9:17, 9:32-33) and then we end with Chapter 10.

Chapter 10.  An agreement of the People.  (How many times do you make an agreement to God?  How long does it last?)  Well the agreement was 6 things that they were told to obey in the Book of the Law and now 1000 years later they are going to recommit themselves to:

1. The would not intermarry
2. They will obey the Sabbath
3. Observe the Sabbath Year (every seventh year)
4. Pay their tithe to the Temple
5. Supply wood for the offerings
6. Give dues to the Temple

And the last verse was…….

Ezra 7-10

After Esther we were supposed to go back and finish Ezra.  Sorry.  So this will be the Monday read.  We will be back on schedule Tuesday.

OK, we are popping back over to Ezra.  Here is an easy way to remember this:  The Exile happened in 3 waves, right? (Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah points of view) well the release happened in 3 waves too.  Zerubbabel (which we read about in the first part of Ezra (Priests returning), well now it is Ezra leading them and the third wave will be Nehemiah.  SO here we are in wave 2. 🙂  Between the two waves was the story of Esther, so we read it chronologically how it occurred, so there was about 80 years between the first return and the second.

Chapter 7.  Did you skim the names chickies? because if you did…you missed some blasts from the past!  look at verse 3-6.  Remember when Aaron became High priest and then his sons broughT unauthorized fire to the tabernacle and theN blew up,  so Eleazar, son number 3 became High priest.  Then Phinehas!  I know the name sounds familiar…click here to read the story, he was the  priest THAT  got really mad when the Israelite brought the Moab woman into the camp to have a pagan ritual of sex in front of the others so Phineas stabbed them both at the same time in the act.

Anyway, didn’t mean to memory lane you….the point is Ezra came not just from the Levites but the Line of Aaron, the High Priest line.  Therefore it makes sense why he was well versed in the law of Moses.  In Chapter 7 you had to just smile.  Through the prophets God said there will be restoration after punishment, well look at what is going on.  King Artaxerxes, releases them, protects them, untill the Law for them, even as far as knowing that the Levites were to be supported by the people so there would  be taxes (wow, remember all that from Leviticus).  WOW.  And then of course the census.  We know this is important to the Jewish people and it still is today.  Jews must always be able to trace back their family heritage.

Chapter 8. The return to Jerusalem.  I just want to be able to picture  what it may feel like.  They pick up their life, old and young and go by foot 900 miles (Nashville to NJ) while carrying  650 talents of God’s treasures that Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he raided the temple the first time. Ummmm that is about 65 tons in our weights.  SO you can see why Ezra would not rely on them physically but on God through fasting and prayer.

Chapter 9.  (I am soo sorry the blog is so long, I just can’t help it.  Great read today.)  Let’s go way back to Deuteronomy 7.

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-  and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.  Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,  for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.

SO you can see why Ezra, a man of the Word, is so grieved when he was told they intermarried YET when he prayed he equated himself equally as a sinner. (Like Daniel)

That was my kind of read!