60IN60 Day 45 - Wed Oct 16

It's Day 45 and we're in 2 Timothy 3.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 5 - "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power" - Lots of that all around us today.

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 44 - Tues Oct 15

It's Day 44 and we're in 2 Timothy 2.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 5 - We need to strive spiritually, not sit around lazily.

Help:
- Verses 11-13 - What's each statement mean? a. "died with Him" - Part of salvation is that we in our belief participate in His spiritual death, so we "die" spiritually and are raised to newness of life; b. "deny Him" - This would be unbelievers, not believers; c. "faithless" - If we drift away from Jesus, He will draw us back.

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 43 - Mon Oct 14

It's Day 43 and we're in 2 Timothy 1.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 7 - "power and love and discipline" - That's what the Christian life should look like.

Help:

- Verse 6 - Some spiritual gifts are given at the moment of salvation. Others can happen at special times, such as the laying on of hands.
- Verse 10 - "abolished death" - He has abolished spiritual death.

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

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

60IN60 Day 42 - Sun Oct 13

It's Day 42 and we're in Exodus 20.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 19 - So many times we want to have someone else do our talking to God for us, rather than have that personal relationship ourselves.

Help:
- Verses 5-6 - The idea that the fathers' sin brings iniquity down three or four generations is hard to understand. The best way that I've come up with to grasp the idea is to think of it like this: I think of the statement less as God punishing and more as a statement of the way life works. When I live my life for something other than God, my kids are going to pick up on that and, very likely, are going to live lives that reflect what I've taught them. Therefore, my sinful life is going to reverberate down through multiple generations. Maybe not a perfect explanation, but the best one I've come up with so far.

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 41 - Sat Oct 12

It's Day 41 and we're in Exodus 19.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 18 - When God shows up, you know it.

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

If you have questions or comments about the chapter, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

Your Questions and Comments:

- "Exodus 18 - What do you think is the application here?  What does this mean in my life?  How does this chapter help me grow more like Christ?" - This is an interesting story. I'm not sure it has as much application to our individual lives as it does to the church. The application to the church would be that you simply cannot have one person doing everything. Certainly you need a leader but you have to have numerous other people with various levels of authority under him doing the lesser tasks. If one person tries to do it all it will be lead to burnout for the one person and frustration for everyone else. Of course, this principle is also applicable to most other organizations."

- "Exodus 18 - This chapter is the template for this nation’s judicial system." - I wouldn't go quite that far but I think it is a relevant example of levels of authority and responsibility, as we do have in our judicial system.

60IN60 Day 40 - Fri Oct 11

It's Day 40 and we're in Exodus 18.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 15-16 - He was acting like every request was his responsibility . . . and it was too much for him to handle.

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 39 - Thurs Oct 10

It's Day 39 and we're in Exodus 17.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 2 - Hey, didn't He just take care of your need? Quit whining!

Help:
- Verse 11 - The point of this is, of course, not that there was anything intrisically important in Moses holding up his hands, but that Israel would clearly understand that the victory was not because of their military prowess, but because of God's might.

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 38 - Wed Oct 9

It's Day 38 and we're in Exodus 16.

If you come across something in your reading that doesn't make sense at first, be quick to re-read and to ask questions. If I can help answer anything, drop me an email.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 3-4 - More whining instead of asking God to supply. Why are we so quick to blame God instead of asking Him to take care of our problems?

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

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

60IN60 Day 37 - Tues Oct 8

It's Day 37 and we're in Exodus 15.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 24 - It's amazing how quickly we forget the miracles and answered prayers and come complaining instead of coming anticipating His provision.

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 Oct 7

It’s Day 36 and we’re in Exodus 14.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 11 - When things get hard, we are so quick to romanticize the way things used to be. We cry out for deliverance, then long for our chains again when the walk of faith gets hard.

Help:

- Verses 21 - As you can read from the text, it didn't exactly happen the way it was portrayed in the old Charlton Heston movies. First of all, it was incredibly windy in the walk. Second, the path had to be really wide, rather than a narrow path, because there were hundreds of thousands of Israelites that had to make it through.

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 Oct 6

It’s Day 35 and we’re in Exodus 13.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 17 - He knows we're fickle and sometimes chooses the long way around just to keep from getting so discouraged that we give up. 

Help:

- Verses 1-16 - Why this long discussion of the firstborn? I think the underlying principle is that we need to give the first portion to God. For instance, although it's partially just symbolic, the first check I write after every payday is my gift to the church. It's a reminder that what I give God comes first, not after everything else is taken care of.
- Verse 13 - Basically this means: donkeys are sufficiently important to your agriculture that I don't want you do sacrifice them; instead sacrifice a lamb in their place. 

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 34 - Sat Oct 5

It’s Day 34 and we’re in Exodus 12.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 13 - The blood covers us, protecting us from death. 

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 Oct 4

It’s Day 33 and we’re in Exodus 11.

When we were in Exodus earlier in the 60 days, we finished up in chapter 7. We've skipped through some of the plagues and are picking up with the last plague. 

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 3 - It's amazing what doors can open up when you have the favor of the Lord with you. 

Help:

- Verse 10 - As I've mentioned before, I think this hardening is a partnership of the Lord moving Pharaoh's heart in that direction and Pharaoh being inclined himself to go in that direction. 

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 Oct 3

It’s Day 32 and we’re in John 14.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 12 - I want to see those "greater things."

Help:

- Verse 9 - If you've seen Jesus, you've seen the character and love of the Father.
- Verses 21, 23 - This is the standard: that we obey.

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 31 - Wed Oct 2

It’s Day 31 and we’re in John 13.

If you struggle with the feeling that you need to hurry through the reading, it can be helpful to lay aside a certain length of time for the reading. "I'm going to spend the next ten minutes reading the Bible. If I get done early, I'll go back and re-read it. If I don't get it done, that's fine. Now I can relax and not try to hurry through so I can get on with the other things I need to get done today. I'm going to be here for ten minutes."

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 2 - He'd been prompted, but it was still his choice. And he chose in the wrong direction.

Help:

- Verse 1 - The "full extent of His love" was not the washing of their feet, but the willingness to go to the cross.
- Verses 8-9 - First Peter refuses (v. 8), then Peter draws the wrong lesson (v. 9). What he should have done is simply receive Jesus' word.

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 30 - Tues Oct 1

It’s Day 30 and we’re in John 12.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verses 9-11 - So often, once we get something in our minds, we stick with it, even to ridiculous ends. I need to follow the truth wherever it leads and not try so hard to hold onto to my pet ideas.

Help:
- Verse 8 - This is not an excuse to disregard the poor, just a statement of fact about the fallen world in which we live.
- Verses 20-26 - It's odd that His disciples come to Him with this straightforward question and goes off on this tangent. What's going on? I think I'd paraphrase it like this, "The time for talking is past. To really see a harvest, something greater is going to have to happen and the time for that is now. I have to die in order to open up new life."
- Verse 34 - "lifted up" - Just another way to say that He was on the cross.
- Verse 40 - The original Greek makes it clearer that this is not something God is doing by mere fiat, but this is what they have chosen for themselves and God is letting it happen.

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.