60IN60 Day 11 - Thurs Sept 17

It's Day 11 and we're in 1 Kings 19.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 3 - It's amazing (and true to life) how Elijah can move from such a stunning victory (chapter 18) to running for his life so quickly.  I've often seen it in my life how in the space of just a few hours things can go from amazing victory to total meltdown.

Help:
- Verses 1-21 - There are tons of signs here that Elijah is dealing with what we would diagnose today as depression.  Just because we are following God or working for God doesn't mean that we aren't going to deal with problems like everyone else does.

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 10 - Wed Sept 16

It's Day 10 and we're in 1 Kings 18.

One problem that regularly bothers me as I read is a wandering mind. A word in the text will make me think of something that I have to do that day and my mind is off to the races, leaving the Bible behind. I've found it helpful to have something near me that I can make a note on when that happens so I can write down that thing I need to do later and get back to concentrating on the reading in front of me. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 43 - It's odd that after that dramatic and immediate answer from God, this time he has to pray multiple times.  Sometimes God works that way.

Help:
- Verse 17 - Elijah was just bringing God's message, yet he is personally condemned for it.

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 9 - Tues Sept 15

It's Day 9 and we're in 1 Kings 17.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 18, 20 - How often our first instinct is to blame God.

Help: 
- Verse 1 - Ahab is the king.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- "In performing miracles, why did Jesus tell some to go and proclaim it and others He told to say nothing?" - It seems strange, doesn't it? If we could do a miracle, we would shout it from the rooftops! There are two big reasons I think are worth discussing. First, the timeline. Some mention that Jesus knows the timeline of what's going to happen concerning the cross and He doesn't want things advancing ahead of that. He wants to show compassion by healing but He doesn't want things to move too fast, so He tells people to say nothing. Second, often these miracles did not produce lasting faith. Jesus knows many people came just for the miracle but we're necessarily interested in following Him. I think each of those reasons could be in play in various situations. Sometimes Jesus might have been in a situation where religious fervor was running high and if people heard about more miracles they might have wanted to make Him king then and there (see John 6:14-15 for an example), so Jesus might have wanted to quiet things down. Sometimes the person who was healed might have had genuine, lasting faith and so Jesus told them to go tell. At other times perhaps Jesus knew that person wouldn't have lasting faith so He didn't want them to go tell and then be a bad witness by going back to sinful behaviors.

60IN60 Day 8 - Mon Sept 14

It's Day 8 and we're in Luke 8.

Occasionally there may be a problem with the email distribution and your daily email may not show up. Usually when that happens you can still view it at www.60in60Bible.org. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 21 - True believers are not those who say they believe in Jesus, but those who "put it into practice."

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 7 - Sun Sept 13

It's Day 7 and we're in Luke 7.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 9 - Jesus was impressed because this man believed when Jesus said it then it was as good as done.

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 6 - Sat Sept 12

It's Day 6 and we're in Luke 6.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 11 - It's amazing how focused we can become on our theology and miss the obvious move of God that's right in front of our face.

Help:
- Verse 2 - It didn't violate the Mosaic Law; it violated their rules derived from the Mosaic Law.
- Verses 21-22 - I think the point is not that we are to be miserable, but that need to have a hunger and desire for things that are beyond this world.
- Verses 24-26 - We need to make sure we aren't content with the petty things that this world can offer us.

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 5 - Fri Sept 11

It's Day 5 and we're in Luke 5.

Sometimes things get busy and you miss a day or two. Don’t get discouraged and quit. Just lay aside those readings you missed and jump in with today’s reading. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 6 - When God sends a harvest, it's abundant. I want to see that kind of abundant harvest in our church.

Help:
- Verse 11, 27-28 - They had heard Jesus before. This was not following-a-stranger deal.
- Verse 17 - Apparently the faith that the people had (or didn't have) impacted His ability to heal.
- Verse 35 - We should be fasting regularly, but almost none of us do.
- Verses 36-39 - He's saying that He's come to do a new thing and He's not going to just try to patch up the old.

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 4 - Thurs Sept 10

It's Day 4 and we're in Luke 4.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 14 - I want to see "the power of the Spirit" flowing through my life.

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.

Your Comments and Questions:

- "John told the crowd to 'produce fruit' (vs. 8). When the crowd asked 'what do we do?' (vs. 10)  John told people who had two shirts to share with someone who had none (vs. 11) and the same with food (vs. 11). To the tax collectors John said to 'not collect more than required' (vs. 13). To the soldier John said to 'not extort money or falsely accuse people' (vs. 14). John gave some examples of bearing fruit that everyone can do - share, help the poor, be honest, don't lie, be content with what you have, don't steal.  But John also gave specific instructions to specific people, based on who they were and the opportunities they had to bear fruit. As a body of believers, we should not expect everyone to bear fruit in the same way. Every mom should not be expected to take a turn in the nursery. Every man should not be expected to pray out loud in service. Every older lady should not be expected to cook for the church dinners. Everyone is not called to go door to door in the community. As Christians we can delight in that God has called us all to be giving, honest, truthful, and content.  And we can rejoice that God has called us to bear fruit in different ways. We don't look at an apple tree and ask why it isn't bearing pears. We shouldn't look at another believer and ask why they aren't doing the same things we're doing." 

60IN60 Day 3 - Wed Sept 9

It's Day 3 and we're in Luke 3.

As you read, listen for where God wants to speak to you. What jumps out to you? What speaks to situations you're dealing with right now?

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 8 - Repentance is not just saying we're sorry - there also has to be a change in the our actions.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- A comment from a 60IN60 participant. Luke 2. "Not to be flippant, but I am so glad the writers of the New Testament (but for this section) left out Jesus's teenage years."

60IN60 Day 2 - Tues Sept 8

It's Day 2 and we're in Luke 2.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 46 - Even for Christ, wisdom was a matter of learning.

Help:
- Verse 52 - Part of the humility of Christ becoming human was that He had to learn along the way. He was not a baby in Mary's arms already understanding everything. He "played by the rules" of being human.

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 1 - Mon Sept 7

It's Day 1 and we're in Luke 1.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 65 - NASB says they were filled with "fear." It's amazing how even God doing good things can fill some with fear.

Help:
- Verse 6 - Not that they were perfect, but they were faithfully pursuing God within the Old Testament sacrifice system.
- Verse 17 - This verse quotes Malachi 4:6 - the last verse of the Old Testament. It's an unusual phrase, the point of which seems to be that the fathers will turn their hearts back toward doing what's right for their children.

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 Next Round

The next round of 60IN60 will begin tomorrow.

60IN60 Next Round

The next round of 60IN60 will begin Monday.

60IN60 Day 60 - Thurs Sept 3

It's Day 60 and we're in 1 Corinthians 13.

Congratulations! You made it through the 60 days! We will begin a new 60 days next Monday. To continue for another round, you don't have to do anything - the updates will just keep coming.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 7 - Love gives the benefit of the doubt.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- 1 Corinthians 12. "You said in your comments that the gift of speaking in tongues is not a relevant gift today. Are there any others?  And why are some spiritual gifts active today and others are not? In the last verses of the chapter, apostles are listed as 'first',  prophets 'second', and teachers 'third'. Does that give these gifts a higher importance? A lot of people feel that if they can't teach or preach or sing, they have no spiritual gifts. I think that is typical of the world-view of value, beauty, and importance. There are so many behind-the-scene gifts and talents that aren't considered spiritual gifts." - I think similar to speaking in tongues another example would be the gift of healing as it was administered by the apostles. That is, it was not a rare, occasional thing but the book of Acts shows them routinely healing people. That example isn't to say that God doesn't heal people today but that such a common expression of it doesn't happen. The Bible doesn't specifically say why some of those gifts, such as speaking in tongues, disappeared after the early church, although we know as a historical fact that that happened. I think the most likely reason is that there were some gifts that God gave the early church as proof of the Spirit's power before the New Testament was written as evidence of God's blessing. Once the NT was complete and the parameters for orthodox belief was established, those gifts could fade away. Obviously, my Pentecostal brothers and sisters believe that the gift of speaking in tongues returned about a century ago, but I do not find their arguments convincing. Regarding the list of gifts at the end of the chapter I think those gifts are listed first because they are gifts of leadership and therefore impact the church as a whole. God is the one who assigns each person a gift (and every Christian has at least one spiritual gift) and each is important to the health of the body. (If you don't know what your spiritual gift is and you're a part of Milton Baptist, I am teaching the 301 class about spiritual gifts starting in a couple weeks.)

60IN60 Day 59 - Wed Sept 2

It’s Day 59 and we're in 1 Corinthians 12.

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

Help

- Verse 1 – Every believer is given a spiritual gift by God at the moment of salvation for use in service.
- Verses 7-10 – Some of these gifts are not active today, but were only active in the early church. One example is the gift of tongues. Of course, my Pentecostal brothers in Christ would disagree with me. ;-)

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 58 - Tues Sept 1

It’s Day 58 and we’re in 1 Corinthians 11.

Where God Spoke To Me:

- Verse 1 – Can I honestly encourage people to follow my example?

Help:

- Verses 2-7, 14-16 – Some people believe these instructions are binding on us today. Others, including myself, believe these are instructions that had to do with the culture in Paul’s day and are not binding on us today.

- Verse 10 – “because of the angels” – This is obscure and its meaning is not clear.
- Verses 27, 29, 31 –These are reminders to us that partaking in communion is a serious thing spiritually.

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 57 - Mon Aug 31

It's Day 57 and we're in 1 Corinthians 10.

Remember that your daily reading in the Bible isn't about gaining information - it's about changing your life to be more like Christ. That means that you need to take action on what God speaks to you about. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 31 - That's a good question for making hard decisions: will be pursuing this bring glory to God?

Help:
- Verse 2 - That simply means that the struggles they went through made them the Israelites they were.
- Verses 6-10 - These are all historical events from Israel's journey and they serve as "bad example" warnings.
- Verse 23 - We have great freedom in Christ rather than a pre-cut list of acceptable behaviors.  But I need to not misuse that freedom to pursue sin.
- Verses 25-28 - There was meat sacrificed to idols back then and Paul is giving guidelines for how to handle situations involving that food.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants. Psalm 40. "This is one of my favorite psalms, although I prefer another translation."

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants. Psalm 38. "Taste and see that the Lord is good" is a visceral image, that the person knows in heart that God is a good God because he has  experienced him in a way most Christians don't.  It's as if he's taken a bite of a perfect fruit."

60IN60 Day 56 - Sun Aug 30

It's Day 56 and we're in 1 Corinthians 9.

Where God Spoke To Me: 
- Verse 24 - This isn't a lazy river; it's a foot race.  Run like you plan to win.

Help:
- Verse 1 - There were some in Corinth who were questioning whether Paul was a real apostle.  They were doing so because they disagreed with his leadership.
- Verses 2-15 - The basic argument Paul is making is this: Christian workers have the right to be paid for their labor, although I chose not to exercise that right and worked for free.  (Paul worked as a tentmaker to support himself while planting churches.)
- Verses 19-22 - There are parts of the gospel that are unchanging (example: Jesus is the Son of God); there are parts of the gospel that can be adapted according to the situation and culture (example: the type of music sung in church services).  Paul is saying that he's going to do all he can to make the gospel accessible by removing those unnecessary barriers (relating to that second category) that might keep someone from hearing and accepting the gospel.

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 55 - Sat Aug 29

It's Day 55 and we're in 1 Corinthians 8.

Where God Spoke To Me: 
- Verse 13 - I can't just think about the impact of my actions on me, but on those around me who are new in the faith.

Help:
- Verse 1 - This is obviously not a big issue today, but it was back then.
- Verses 2-3 - This is simply a call to humility and realizing that we're not as smart as we often think we are.
- Verse 5 - When he says there are many gods, he saying that there are many things that people treat as gods and that people call gods.  Obviously, there is really only one actual God.
- Verses 7-8 - The mature person realized that when food was sacrificed to idols that the idol wasn't real so it really didn't make any change in the food.  Some, though, newly out of paganism, still thought something was going on in that moment of sacrificing the meat to idols.

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 54 - Fri Aug 28

It's Day 54 and we're in Psalm 40.

What's the Bible say about the book you're reading today? "All Scripture is. . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Reading the Bible will make your day more "profitable." 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 5 - If I stop to think, I have an amazing list of works that He's done for me.

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.