Genesis 10-12 and Matthew 4
Genesis 10 - Hmmm not really much to say about this one, it's just about the descendants of Noah's sons.
Genesis 11 - The tower of Babel and Shem's descendants to Abram. Because the people thought they were so awesome, they were going to make a huge tower to celebrate their awesomeness. God thought this was not so awesome. He gave them different languages (I assume they grouped themselves in common languages) and they scattered.
Genesis 12 - Abram, his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot went off on God's command to leave his family. He set up a couple of altars along the way and praised God.Then they went to Egypt. This is the part that creeps me out. Abram decided that because his wife was a hottie, everyone would want her, so rather than stand up and be her husband, he was going to just say he was her brother (which he actually was her half brother, eww, but I suppose it wasn't wrong at that time). So rumour reached the Pharaoh that there was a hottie around and he gave Abram heaps of gifts and took Sarai for his harem. God was not cool with that. He put a plague on the Pharaoh's household and the Pharaoh sent Abram and Sarai away.
Matthew 4 - Okay, this is a big one. First Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, my favourite part is when he tries to tempt Jesus by saying He can jump off the temple and the angels will help Him, but once the Devil has finished tempting Him, the angels come by and care for Him anyway.
Then Jesus starts His ministry. He follows the path that Isaiah prophesied and then picks up four fishermen and goes around healing people and crowds start to follow Him. Hmm I wonder if I was there then, if I would follow too. Would I recognise Him as the Christ? I hope I would, I do now.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Day 3
Genesis 7-9 and Matthew 3
Genesis 7+8 - The Flood. Okay so God gave Noah a week to pack the ark with a crazy number of animals. Then once they were all inside, He made it flood from beneath them, and made it rain. So essentially water was coming at them from everywhere. When it finally stopped raining, Noah sent birds out to see if there was dry land. When a dove brought back a leaf proving there had to be plants and therefore land, Noah still waited for God. Noah was on a huge boat stuffed full of animals for 10 1/2 months! And he didn't get off until God said it was okay. Imagine the faith required to be Noah. He had to build a ginormous boat, make sure he got pairs of all the animals, pray that the boat stayed together and wait on God's timing for everything. No wonder God picked Noah for the job.
Genesis 9 - So Noah and his family are told to repopulate the earth and God sent a rainbow to remind us that He has promised never to flood the earth again. Then Noah gets himself a little tipsy one night and decides to strip off and go to sleep in his tent. His son Ham finds this funny and tells his brothers, his brothers don't think it's funny, they cover him up. I guess despite our relationship with God, we can still stuff up and do stupid things.
Matthew 3 - John the Baptist and Jesus' Baptism. I like this chapter, it starts with John, coming out of the wild, wearing fur, eating bugs and preaching. And people actually listen to him and let him baptise them. Then seeing everyone was doing this the Pharisees and Sadducees decide to do it too. John calls them a brood of snakes, tells them that unless they are serious about changing their lives, they would be chaff burning in a never-ending fire.
Then Jesus gets baptised, I kind of see this as the time when Jesus kind of steps away from being in the world and starts his work as the Christ. God even opens up heaven and marks Jesus as His Son! How awesome would it have been to see that!
Genesis 7+8 - The Flood. Okay so God gave Noah a week to pack the ark with a crazy number of animals. Then once they were all inside, He made it flood from beneath them, and made it rain. So essentially water was coming at them from everywhere. When it finally stopped raining, Noah sent birds out to see if there was dry land. When a dove brought back a leaf proving there had to be plants and therefore land, Noah still waited for God. Noah was on a huge boat stuffed full of animals for 10 1/2 months! And he didn't get off until God said it was okay. Imagine the faith required to be Noah. He had to build a ginormous boat, make sure he got pairs of all the animals, pray that the boat stayed together and wait on God's timing for everything. No wonder God picked Noah for the job.
Genesis 9 - So Noah and his family are told to repopulate the earth and God sent a rainbow to remind us that He has promised never to flood the earth again. Then Noah gets himself a little tipsy one night and decides to strip off and go to sleep in his tent. His son Ham finds this funny and tells his brothers, his brothers don't think it's funny, they cover him up. I guess despite our relationship with God, we can still stuff up and do stupid things.
Matthew 3 - John the Baptist and Jesus' Baptism. I like this chapter, it starts with John, coming out of the wild, wearing fur, eating bugs and preaching. And people actually listen to him and let him baptise them. Then seeing everyone was doing this the Pharisees and Sadducees decide to do it too. John calls them a brood of snakes, tells them that unless they are serious about changing their lives, they would be chaff burning in a never-ending fire.
Then Jesus gets baptised, I kind of see this as the time when Jesus kind of steps away from being in the world and starts his work as the Christ. God even opens up heaven and marks Jesus as His Son! How awesome would it have been to see that!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Day 2
Genesis 4-6 and Matthew 2
Genesis 4 - Cain and Abel. It's interesting, both men gave offerings of their produce to God, so why wasn't Cain's offering good enough? Why did God reject the offering? Because he didn't best give his best, God asked him to try again and warned him that if his heart wasn't in the right place, sin would creep in. And it did. He killed Abel and hid him (don't we all try to hide what we are ashamed of).
Genesis 5+6 - Genealogy of Noah and Noah's Story. It's crazy how old we used to get, and it's really sad that we are so bad that God couldn't stand to see us live that long and keep sinning. And that we got so bad that He decided that almost the entire world was worth destroying and starting over.
Matthew 2 - The Wise Men and Herod. If we were a little iffy on the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, we could just read this chapter. It is full of fulfilled prophesies. The place of His birth, Herod killing the young boys, His leaving Egypt and growing up in Nazareth.
Genesis 4 - Cain and Abel. It's interesting, both men gave offerings of their produce to God, so why wasn't Cain's offering good enough? Why did God reject the offering? Because he didn't best give his best, God asked him to try again and warned him that if his heart wasn't in the right place, sin would creep in. And it did. He killed Abel and hid him (don't we all try to hide what we are ashamed of).
Genesis 5+6 - Genealogy of Noah and Noah's Story. It's crazy how old we used to get, and it's really sad that we are so bad that God couldn't stand to see us live that long and keep sinning. And that we got so bad that He decided that almost the entire world was worth destroying and starting over.
Matthew 2 - The Wise Men and Herod. If we were a little iffy on the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, we could just read this chapter. It is full of fulfilled prophesies. The place of His birth, Herod killing the young boys, His leaving Egypt and growing up in Nazareth.
It Begins - Day 1
Here it goes, I am now 28 and starting to read the Bible. I actually read this earlier today but got so busy I didn't have a chance to blog about it until now.
Genesis 1-3 and Matthew 1
Genesis 1 - I find this chapter very poetic and I can almost see God creating the Earth in the same way that an artist paints, adding more layers and detail as He goes along.
Genesis 2 + 3 - Ahh, Man and Woman, the way God intended. And then the Fall. What stood out to me was the imagery of the man and woman being naked and unashamed in Chapter 2 and then after they sinned they became afraid because they were naked in Chapter 3. Yet even after they had sinned against God, he clothed them, I see this as God reassuring them that even though they did wrong and were sent away from the garden, He still cared for them and saw to their comfort.
Matthew 1 - I felt this was actually quite appropriate to read today as it's so soon after Christmas. This chapter outlined the geneology of Christ and then went on to tell of the birth of Jesus. To me this chapter was all about how God had a detailed plan as to how Christ was to come to us. Pretty awesome really.
Genesis 1-3 and Matthew 1
Genesis 1 - I find this chapter very poetic and I can almost see God creating the Earth in the same way that an artist paints, adding more layers and detail as He goes along.
Genesis 2 + 3 - Ahh, Man and Woman, the way God intended. And then the Fall. What stood out to me was the imagery of the man and woman being naked and unashamed in Chapter 2 and then after they sinned they became afraid because they were naked in Chapter 3. Yet even after they had sinned against God, he clothed them, I see this as God reassuring them that even though they did wrong and were sent away from the garden, He still cared for them and saw to their comfort.
Matthew 1 - I felt this was actually quite appropriate to read today as it's so soon after Christmas. This chapter outlined the geneology of Christ and then went on to tell of the birth of Jesus. To me this chapter was all about how God had a detailed plan as to how Christ was to come to us. Pretty awesome really.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Plan
I have decided to read the Bible in 365 days, starting on the 28th December 2011.
Why this date? Because that is my 28th birthday. I want to spend my 28th year getting to know God better. (I was going to start on New Years Day but I never keep New Years resolutions.) I am going to commit to reading the Bible everyday and I may post any thoughts or insights that come to mind while reading. I may post prayers or poems or pictures, wherever God leads me. I just want God to take the reins on this one.
I realised that I can check my email everyday, read my favourite blogs, but I don't read the Bible everyday or spend much time with God, lame huh.
So I'm inviting you to join me and get to know God a little bit more. You don't have to start the same day I do, or do the same plan, or read the same bible translations. But I think it would be encouraging to know others were on this journey with me. On a mission to learn more about the amazing God who created us, and died for us, all because He loves us.
Why this date? Because that is my 28th birthday. I want to spend my 28th year getting to know God better. (I was going to start on New Years Day but I never keep New Years resolutions.) I am going to commit to reading the Bible everyday and I may post any thoughts or insights that come to mind while reading. I may post prayers or poems or pictures, wherever God leads me. I just want God to take the reins on this one.
I realised that I can check my email everyday, read my favourite blogs, but I don't read the Bible everyday or spend much time with God, lame huh.
So I'm inviting you to join me and get to know God a little bit more. You don't have to start the same day I do, or do the same plan, or read the same bible translations. But I think it would be encouraging to know others were on this journey with me. On a mission to learn more about the amazing God who created us, and died for us, all because He loves us.
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