Related Message
Welcome to your space to Read. What you'll find here are two different kinds of reading recommendations, resources to read in order to encounter God's revelation of himself in more in depth and personal ways: a list of daily Bible readings to sustain your personal time with God throughout the week, and a few book recommendations to more deeply explore the themes we encountered in worship. "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path," (Ps. 119:105).
Daily Bible Readings for July 8 to July 14, 2012
Faithfully follow this reading plan in 2012 and by the end of the year you will have read through the entire Bible, cover to cover, having encountered the New Testament twice! Sit with God's word. Let it soak into your soul. Listen for God revealing who he is, who he desires you to be, and the life he is calling you into.
| Sunday | Hos. 13-14; Ps. 100, 102; Heb. 5 |
| Monday | Mic. 1-4; Heb. 6 |
| Tuesday | Mic. 5-7; Heb. 7 |
| Wednesday | Is. 8-10; Heb. 8 |
| Thursday | Is. 11-14; Heb. 9 |
| Friday | Is. 15-18; Heb. 10 |
| Saturday | Is. 19-21; Heb. 11 |
For an introduction to the book of Micah, click here.
Book Recommendations for Inspiration
Dig deeper and explore further the themes we encountered in worship this weekend. Grab a good book, a pencil and a journal and thoughtfully open yourself up to more intentionally and deeply love God with all of your mind.
The Christian church is falling apart and in desperate need of a revival. According to Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, in Jesus Manifesto, what is lacking is a groundbreaking revelation of Christ that boggles the mind and enraptures the heart. This insistent, impassioned essay condemns as pharisaic those preachers who forgo a Christ-centered theology in favor of a cute, singular slogan or mission. The authors urge churches to focus on the man who embodies the entire religion. To do so, readers must learn the subtle distinction between following Christ and realizing Christ already lives within them. All Christian readers will discover a new perspective and deeper purpose.
In The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey explores the life of Jesus, as he explains, “‘from below,’ to grasp as best I can what it must have been like to observe in person the extraordinary events unfolding in Galilee and Judea” as Jesus traveled and taught. Yancey examines three fundamental questions: who Jesus was, why he came, and what he left behind. Step by step, scene by scene, Yancey probes the culture into which Jesus was born and grew to adulthood; his character and mission; his teachings and miracles; his legacy--not just as history has told it, but as he himself intended it to be.
We have grown used to the battles over Jesus—whether he was human or divine, whether he could do miracles or just inspire them, whether he even existed. Much of the church defends tradition, while critics take shots at the institution and its beliefs. But what if these debates have masked the real story of Jesus? What if even Jesus’s defenders have been so blinded by their focus on defending the church’s traditions that they have failed to grapple with what the New Testament really teaches? In Simply Jesus, Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author N. T. Wright summarizes a lifetime of study of Jesus and the New Testament in order to present for a general audience who Jesus was and is.
For this week's spiritual exercises, check out REFLECT.
