60IN60 Day 38 - Wed Aug 13

It's Day 38 and we're in Daniel 3.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me.

Help:
- Verse 14 - Given all that happened in chapter 2, you'd think that the king would know that the Hebrews weren't going to bow down. Perhaps he didn't think they'd be willing to maintain their conviction under such harsh conditions.
- Verse 25 - The presumption here is that the fourth was Jesus showing up.
- Verse 29 - The harsh penalty that the king prescribes isn't necessarily God's will. It's just his expression of amazement at what God did.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 37 - Tues Aug 12

It's Day 37 and we're in Daniel 2.

What's the Bible say about the book you're reading today? We have the Word so that as believers we can be "equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17). Read the Word so you're ready for what life throws at you. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 18 - First thing they did: pray.

Help:
- Verses 5-6 - This is a totally unreasonable demand. A reminder: the Bible does not condone everything it reports. In this case, the king's anger was not justified and his demand was not just.
- Verse 37 - "king of kings" - This was literally true since he had conquered other kingdoms.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 36 - Mon Aug 11

It's Day 36 and we're in Daniel 1. 

Where God Spoke To Me: 

- Verse 9 - God can go ahead of us and give us favor, opening up doors of opportunity. 

Help: 
- Verse 2 - They were delivered to a foreign power because of their disobedience as a nation. 
- Verse 8 - There were two areas of concern for Daniel: a. much of the food was sacrificed to idols; b. much of the food was unclean according to Old Testament Law. 
- Verse 15 - "fatter" - I presume here that doesn't mean obese, but just that they were healthy and stout. 

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link. 

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 35 - Sun Aug 10

It's Day 35 and we're in Galatians 6. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 15 - What counts is the new creation.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link. 

If you have any questions or comments, email them to me at butcher@ymail.com. 

60IN60 Day 34 - Sat Aug 9

It's Day 34 and we're in Galatians 5.

Where God Spoke to Me:
- Verse 16 - Living by the Spirit means that we're working against pursuing the lusts of our sinful nature.

Help:
- Verse 1 - This is not physical slavery, but the spiritual slavery of going back to the bondage of a rule-based religion.
- Verses 2-3 - The need to be circumcised was a big issue for the teachers who were leading the Galatian church astray. Paul is noting that if you feel like you have to be circumcised to be right, then you can't really just stop there - you need to go on and fulfill the whole Mosaic Law.
- Verse 4 - "fallen away from grace" - This idea of "falling from grace" has to be understood in the context of what's being said here. The obvious point that Paul is making here is that they are falling from the idea of being saved by grace and falling back down toward the ineffective idea of being saved by trying to keep the Mosaic Law. Some people say, "You can lose your salvation because the Bible says you can fall from grace." You have to read it in context, though, and the subject here is not salvation but wrong teaching.
- Verse 9 - Paul is saying that it only takes a few people within a church teaching things that are questionable to get the whole church messed up.
- Verse 12 - Paul is using a little exaggeration here to make his point. He's saying if these teachers think circumcision is so essential then maybe they should go all the way and emasculate themselves.
- Verses 13-14 - Rather than living under the tyranny of a rule-based religion (by trying to keep the Mosaic Law), we are called to be free. We each follow the Holy Spirit's guidance. That freedom, though, is not an open door to freely sinning, but rather to serving God and each other.
- Verse 24 - This is an important idea: when we are saved, our old, sinful nature is crucified with Christ. We are a new creation, fully capable of living victoriously for Christ.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 33 - Fri Aug 8

It's Day 33 and we're in Galatians 4.

Where God Spoke to Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me today. That's ok - we won't necessarily hear God speak every day.

Help:
- Verse 3 - Rough translation: before we became Christians (and therefore heirs of God) we were just (spiritually) children under the grip of sin.
- Verses 9-10 - Instead of living a life of grace, they had returned to trying to live by the rules and regulations that the Mosaic Law demanded. That's no way for a Christian to live.
- Verse 14 - Paul had some health problems while with them, but they were exceedingly kind to him anyway.
- Verse 15 - Many believe (although the Bible never says definitively) that Paul's health problems had to do with poor eyesight.
- Verse 27 - Rough translation: Even though Sarah was childless for so long, in the end she became a mother to countless children (both physical and spiritual) through the fulfilled promise from God.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 32 - Thurs Aug 7

It's Day 32 and we're in Galatians 3. 

One reason to be in the Bible regularly? It cuts through the clutter. We are surrounded by tons of information, but so much of it is essentially irrelevant to a meaningful life. The Bible speaks to the issues that matter. 

Where God Spoke to Me: 

- Verse 27 - A good reminder that we need to "clothe" ourselves with Christ each day - that is, we choose to "put on" all that He has given us. 

Help: 

- Verses 1-3 - They had heard the gospel of grace from Paul: you can only be saved by grace through faith. Then others began to convince them that their righteousness came from obeying the Law, which is something that can never create righteousness within us because we're always going to fall short of perfectly fulfilling the Law. Paul is asking them why they allowed themselves to get fooled.
- Verses 5-14 - Paul is here arguing that even Abraham (who lived before the Mosaic Law was given) was justified by faith and not works. The purpose of the Mosaic Law was ultimately not to provide a way to God (because we can't live out the Law perfectly) but rather to make us aware of how far short of God's perfect standard we're falling. 
- Verses 15-19 - This continues the point I just made about verses 5-14 and goes on to say that Christ is the One who was able to perfectly fulfill the Mosaic Law. 
- Verse 22 - We are imprisoned (spiritually) by our sin and Christ has come to set us free. 

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link. 

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.