April - Reading 1

This month's schedule of scriptural readings begins with:

Mark 1:1-8

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 72

Joshua 1-2

May God bless you as you read from His Word.

 

Good evening -

Tonight we start our Bible reading program back up with a continuation of Psalms and the start of three new Books! This month in the Old Testament we will cover the books of Joshua, Judges, and we will begin Ruth.

First, a few words about Joshua. As demonstrated by the first verse, the Book picks up right where Deuteronomy left off, with the death of Moses. Unlike Deuteronomy, however, this is not the redundancy we found last month. Joshua is a story of a warrior people with a God of war before them! This aspect of Joshua troubles some people and I suppose I can see that perspective but I look at the Book in the context of the time in which it was written. The Book of Joshua is the story of how God dealt with His enemies and specifically the Canaanites , whose sins we explored in Genesis, a half a millenium before!

I enjoy the Book of Joshua and the tales of warfare. As a Book of history it tells us much about the ancient ways of meeting enemies. As a Book of morals, it teaches us that victory is ours in accordance to our obedience.(1:7)

The Book of Joshua begins with three distinct addresses. The first is God's address to Joshua, giving him the authority that had been Moses' (1:1-9). The second address is of Joshua to the Israelites (1:10-15). The third address is of the People to Joshua (1:16-18).

Then, the story starts getting exiting. Joshua sends two unnamed spies into the land of Canaan with the primary goal of gathering intelligence on Jericho, a heavily fortified and defended oasis/city. They end up meeting Rahab, a prostitute of the city who, through fear of the impending Israeli invasion, hides the men and tells them of the rumors and tales that have proceeded this advancing, nomadic, warrior people. The reconnaissance complete, the spies return to Joshua and report what they have learned by observation and report. Rahab has been assured safety and as a symbol to the army, she is to tie a scarlet cord onto her window, similar to the blood of the lamb which denoted Jewish homes at the time of the Passover.

We also begin the Book of Mark tonight. It is generally agreed among scholars that Mark refers to John Mark who accompanied Peter in the Book of Acts (12:12, 25, 13:5, 13, etc.). This Gospel was written for the Gentiles as is demonstrated by the explanations of Jewish customs (7:2-4), and the translations of words (3:17, 5:41, 7:11 & 34, 15:22)

The Book of Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist, Israel's first prophet in centuries and we are told that all of the town showed up to see this man. I am a big fan of John's. I commented at the beginning of our scriptural journey this year on how much I enjoy him and in order to save space, I will tie you to that commentary by a link: http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=33&t=000019#000005

And here is another piece of inspiration I had about John on a thread in the library (password - 2002: http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/58/941/2.html?#000027

We also begin the Book of First Corinthians. 1Corinthians is a Book about a church in trouble. The membership is divided and the conduct of some members is very in question. Paul dives right into the issue starting in verse 1:10 and immediately chastises this congregation for their division.

May God bless you

- Clint

[ April 01, 2004, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]

 

Thanks Gwyneth. This link seems to work.

http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/58/941/2.html?#000027
password: 2002

[ April 01, 2004, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]

 

AFG! Good to see you!

I also had noticed that the links began defaulting to NIV. I did not design the links table from which I copied for the daily postings so I'm not sure why this happened.

I didn't pick up on it right away because I read hard text 99% of the time when I'm doing my reading. I think the webmaster designed the table basing it on the Discipleship Journal's schedule ( http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DJ/OriginalBibleReadingPlan.asp?opt=old ). The oversight may have occured anywhere along the line as with 300 seperate links, one could get into a rythym of copying and pasting repeating mistakes made by the previous designer(s).

Gospelcom is a great site, however, and switching between versions is pretty simple using the dropdown box at the top of the Passage.

BlueLetter ( http://www.blueletterbible.org/ ) is also quite good and offers a few other versions not available on Gospelcom as well as a variety of online commentaries and study tools.

Good to see you hanging in there, AFG! Once one has gotten this far, he or she has established the routine sufficiently to complete the course.

 

The Scriptures for tomorrow, 4/2, are:

Mark 1:9-20

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Psalm 73

Joshua 3-5

 

The Scriptures for tomorrow, 4/2, are:

Mark 1:9-20

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Psalm 73

Joshua 3-5

 

The Scriptures for tomorrow, 4/2, are:

Mark 1:9-20

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Psalm 73

Joshua 3-5

 

The Scriptures for tomorrow, 4/2, are:

Mark 1:9-20

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Psalm 73

Joshua 3-5

 

The Scriptures for tomorrow, 4/2, are:

Mark 1:9-20

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Psalm 73

Joshua 3-5