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Line Upon Line in 2009!

January 14, 2009

At the beginning of this new year, I mentioned to you my plan for getting our church to read through the Bible in 2009. (If you didn't get that message, find it here).

Remember? I bought every family a One-Year Bible. The idea was that everyone in our church will read the daily selection every day of every week, and each Sunday sermon in 2009 will come from one of the daily passages that we read together the preceding week (probably the OT passage).

Last Sunday was the first such sermon (we had previously invited a guest preacher the first Sunday, and his message on "Unity" was providentially the perfect introduction to this plan of reading the Bible together as a family).

So for last week's sermon I introduced the book of Genesis and linked several of the week's passages together in a biographical message called "Abraham and Lot: Two Different Kinds of Believers; Two Different Kinds of Living." The message was organized around the story of Abraham's walk on "The Path of Faith" and Lot's walk down "The Path of Flesh."

It went over very well. Those who had been faithful in their reading nodded with familiarity as I brought out gems from the several chapters they had read the preceding week, and those who had not been so faithful were encouraged to "get on board" so that they could make discoveries with the rest of us in the coming week and get more out of the Sunday "reviews."

Biblical illiteracy is such a problem in the church today. If you have the privilege of preaching or teaching on a regular basis, I would like to encourage you to do something to bring your people through the Bible with you this year.

Here's an idea: you could do a Thru-the-Bible series (or Thru the OT or NT if you don't want to commit to 66 weeks) in which you preach through a book in one meeting. That can be a big challenge, but others have done it.

For a model, see Adventuring through the Bible by Ray Stedman (link below--you can find both audio and written versions there).

Other helpful resources for this series would be the Concise OT Survey and the Concise NT Survey by J. Hampton Keathly (links below) AND a series of booklets from Radio Bible Class called "Knowing God through the OT", "Knowing God through Genesis," Knowing God through Exodus," etc. (See links below)

Adventuring through the Bible (Downloadable Print and Audio)
http://www.raystedman.org/adventure/index.html

Concise OT Survey

http://www.bible.org/series.php?series_id=76

Concise NT Survey

http://www.bible.org/series.php?series_id=15

Knowing God Booklets

http://www.rbc.org/advancedSearch.aspx?term=knowing%20god%20through%20the%20old%20testament

So, what do you think? Can you do something to get your folks through the Word, line upon line in 2009?

Let me know your ideas in the comment form below.

Posted at: 01:00 AM | Add Comment

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3 Comments

Dr. Jim replied to ...

Brother Kadhaya: Thanks for your devoted service to our Lord. I am humbled by your gratitude and I am grateful to God that He can use such an unworthy conduit to deliver the Life-Giving Water of the Word to thirsty people all over the world! Our God is Great! In Him, Jim

Posted January 22, 2009 05:08 PM | Reply to this comment

Kadhaya Geoffrey said...

Some of us who are not in the first world when we get to such a site it is heaven sent.When Dr. Kinnebrew sent me this outlets to Bible information right away I had to go to my knees to do what I can, just to worship God who has used him to avail me these teaching and studying resources. Good books here are very expensive and if you get one, the price is way high to afford. I have been using more of the expository type of preaching through a book, but one problem I have noted is that people get bored because it takes long to get through it. one other system we have tried grouping members into home cells of six to eight people depending on the areas they live in, but they have not been very successful due to lack of materials to use. Hence with these resources in our hands I envision a lot of variety during our studies and services. And with the audios it will be great to listen to what other say about our Lord. One other thing I am pouring myself into more training of teacher in the church as I pass to them these resources I get from you. May The Good Lord continue using you in helping other to get out their callings and talents for use by the Great Father of all. Blessing

Posted January 16, 2009 09:07 AM | Reply to this comment

Jim Kinnebrew said...

O.K. it's me, Jim. But I'm giving a suggestion from my buddy Dr. Nick. Don't know why he emailed it to me instead of putting it here, but whaddaya gonna do? The guy's a Doctor! Anyway, here it is: At the beginning of this new year I started Through the Bible in One Year written by Alan Stringfellow. I have done this at other churches I have pastored. It is amazing how little our people know about the book they carry to and from church. I try not to get bogged down in detail. But some verses deserve a closer look. Like what am I suppose to do with Genesis 3.15? Stringfellow says “This is the First Direct Prophecy of Jesus Christ.” And what about chapter 6? “Sons of God”? I do Bible study on Sunday night and Wednesday night. One sermon prep for Sunday morning. Thanks for the resource recommendation Nick! God bless you and your church on Grand Cayman (it's thirteen degrees in Atlanta tonight!)

Posted January 15, 2009 07:12 PM | Reply to this comment