60IN60 Next Round

We start a new round of 60IN60 on Monday.

You can get the new readings several ways:

1. It's available on the church website. Click here for a one-page PDF.

2. Sheets are available in the hallway at MBC.

3. You can email me at butcher@ymail.com and I'll email you a one-page PDF.

4. It's listed below.


* * * * *

1: Luke 1 (Monday, January 5)

2: Luke 2

3: Luke 3

4: Luke 4

5: Luke 5

6: Luke 6

7: Luke 7

8: Luke 8 (Monday, January 12)

9: 1 Kings 17

10: 1 Kings 18

11: 1 Kings 19

12: Isaiah 6

13: Isaiah 11

14: Isaiah 54

15: Isaiah 61 (Monday, January 19)

16: Colossians 1

17: Colossians 2

18: Colossians 3

19: Colossians 4

20: Psalm 41

21: Psalm 42

22: Psalm 43 (Monday, January 26)

23: Luke 9

24: Luke 10

25: Luke 11

26: Luke 12

27: Luke 13

28: Luke 14

29: Luke 15 (Monday, February 2)

30: Luke 16

31: Jeremiah 18

32: Jeremiah 23

33: Jeremiah 31

34: Jeremiah 38

35: 2 Kings 4

36: 2 Kings 5 (Monday, February 9)

37: Acts 9

38: Acts 10

39: Acts 11

40: Acts 12

41: Proverbs 23

42: Luke 17

43: Luke 18 (Monday, February 16)

44: Luke 19

45: Luke 20

46: Luke 21

47: Luke 22

48: Luke 23

49: Luke 24

50: Ecclesiastes 1 (Monday, February 23)

51: Ecclesiastes 2

52: Ecclesiastes 3

53: 2 Samuel 5

54: 2 Samuel 6

55: 2 Samuel 7

56: 2 Samuel 8

57: 2 Samuel 9 (Monday, March 2)

58: 2 Samuel 10

59: 2 Samuel 11

60: 2 Samuel 12

60IN60 Day 60 - Thurs Jan 1

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:
- "Why do you say some of the gifts are not in effect today? Which ones? What is the scriptural background for your belief?" - Because I'm a Baptist!  Ha!  Seriously, though, I would argue that the supernatural gifts like speaking in tongues are no longer operational today.  I believe that they were in effect during the apostolic era of the church as signs confirming that this was from God.  As the New Testament was written and gathered, they were no longer necessary and they died out.  The most convincing thing for me on this is church history.  After the apostolic era, these gifts largely disappear from church history, only making appearances in conjunction with heretical groups.  It is possible, of course, that the Pentecostal movement, beginning with the Azusa Street outpouring about a century ago, represents a renewing of those gifts by God.  I remain unconvinced because the healings that we see are not of the same dramatic and outwardly visible type that we see in Acts.  Further, although many claim speaking in tongues as a private prayer language, no one claims the ability from early in Acts to miraculously be able to speak a foreign language (as they did on the Day of Pentecost).  Having said all that, let me end by emphasizing how many good Christian friends I have who are Pentecostal, that they often have a joy that puts Baptists to shame, and that I've certainly been wrong before! 

60IN60 Day 59 - Wed Dec 31

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 Dec 30

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 Dec 29

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.

60IN60 Day 56 - Sun Dec 28

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 Dec 27

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.