this is the daily bible reading schedule: http://www.wholesomewords.org/family/bibleread/truth.html. remember that we're going by the "days", not "dates".
so genesis 1... we all should know this chapter pretty well by now. of course, everyone should memorize genesis 1:1, but there's something else you should memorize. for some reason, auntie norma and auntie perlie expect us to know the days of creation by heart and i guess that would be a good thing to memorize right? so here's a little summary of the creation days to help us,, including me, memorize them:
Day 1) light
2) sky
3) dry ground & vegetation
4) lights (sun & moon)
5) underwater animals & animals in the sky
6) land animals, man, & plants to serve as food
7) rest
i guess one thing that might have confused you is verse 26 when it said "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...". like i said this past sunday to the church in maui, in the beginning, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, AND, yes, Jesus Christ was also there. God (the Trinity) did not have a beginning, He was simply there.
verse 31 says that "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." so to answer the question that someone will ask you eventually, God did not create evil. if God created evil, He wouldn't be perfect.
genesis 2 first talks about the seventh day being a day of rest. even today we follow that command. i don't really like the fact that people work on sundays but i guess in today's world, that's a necessity right?
i don't think we really need a review on the story of adam and eve in the garden do we? lol what i took from chapter 3 is the second half of verse 19 where it says "for dust you are and dust you will return". that means this body is nothing but a shell to house our spirit until the body fails to support it anymore. without the spirit, your body is nothing. eventually we will have to give up our bodies and all that will be left is our spirit. remember, God looks the the heart (spirit) while man looks at the outward appearance (body) (1 Samuel 16:7).
chapter 4 is the whole cain and abel story. remember that nothing is hidden before God. when God asked cain where abel was, God didn't need to hear cain's answer because He already knew it. God is omniscient!
if you love chapter 5, you'll love the hundreds of genealogies in the bible, seriously.
after reading chapter 6, you now know why God sent the flood. the world was so full of wickedness and rebellion that God couldn't handle it anymore. you also know why we can't live past 120 years. do you like that law or would you want to live longer than 120?
genesis 7-8, the "wet" chapters (obviously :p). so we know at the end of chapter 8 that until Jesus returns, God will never destroy this earth. i think this shows God's patience. no matter how wicked we get, He still gives us time to repent. so what are you waiting for?! the time is now! if you haven't been saved, get saved now! if you have been saved but aren't doing what you should be doing, stop it now and repent!
aren't you happy for the God's covenant with man in chapter 9. we don't have to worry about God destroying this world with another great flood. imagine if that was still possible. there would be no escaping a great flood like that unless you know God; and everything that we've come to enjoy materially would be destroyed. but i think you can apply this story in another sense. for most people in this world, they'll hear something about God about everyday of their life and still not follow. like noah, he preached about the flood for a LONG time and yet only his family believed him. every day of our life we'll hear about God's coming wrath and yet we tend to ignore it. stop ignoring the call and the coming ending and get serious before things get serious (if you know what i mean).
genesis 10-11 was mostly genealogies but chapter 11 talks about the first time in history where language became an obstacle. imagine everyone in this world speaking one language. that would be a really boring world. i'm sure if i was living in a world like that, i'd probably want to make up my own language.
genesis 12 talks about abram and how God made him a promise. my question to you is, "would you leave everything you have to follow God when God hasn't even revealed to you your path or future?" God didn't give abram a name of a place or person, God just said that He'll show him a land. the truth is that if you truly want to follow God with all your heart, you need to trust Him with all your heart. even if you don't see where God's leading you, you need to follow. most missionaries today have gone through times when God told them to go somewhere but still had no idea why God told them that. we need to trust Him in ALL things. not only trust Him in the good times, with our families, our friends, our jobs, or our finances, we need to trust Him with our lives also, with ALL things.
genesis 13. wouldn't you have picked the nice land also? don't lie :p
genesis 14. selflessness vs selfishness
genesis 15:5 makes my mind want to explode with the immeasurable thought of what God promises abram. "He took him [abram] outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars- if indeed you can count them.' then He said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" wow! tonight, try to go outside and count the most stars you can count without getting confused whether or not you counted a star twice. in face, God's universe has billions and billions of stars and it's impossible for man to count. but that's God promise to abram. in a way, God promised abram a nation so big and prosperous that man cannot imagine. in your life, if you choose to serve Him wholeheartedly, God will give you blessings that will outnumber the stars in the sky.
genesis 16-17. we all know the story of how hagar, abram's maidservant, got abram to sleep with her to give abram an heir and the feud afterwards. again, trust in God. abram and sarai lost hope in bearing a child.
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matthew 1-2. in several days it'll be october. two months later it'll be december. soon we'll be caught up in the "holiday spirit" and start looking forward to presents and lights and family and all that other stuff. but we know that if Jesus wasn't born, there wouldn't be any Christmas. i don't wanna get into this while it's still september but let's all remember that if it wasn't for Jesus, there's a lot of things that would have never existed or a lot of people that you might have never met.
i love john's quote in verses 7-12 of matthew 3. those words are super strong in their meaning. "the ax is already that the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be but down and thrown into the fire." if you want that in an easier language, "the end is already here, every human that doesn't do God's will will be put away into the lake of fire." if you're reading this, you probably know that when i preach I like to get to the point quickly. dancing around the point makes things last forever and kind of lessens the excitement. let's not dance on this earth thinking that there will be more time to repent. the end is already here and our supreme God is gonna bring down judgement whether you like it or not so you better get right with Him now!
matthew 4:1-11 is a really inspiring passage. if you notice, Jesus didn't even hesitate once nor did He let any fear come into his mind. He was literally standing face-to-face with satan himself and Jesus boldly told the devil off. the first temptation talks about man not living on bread alone. to physically live in this world, you need to fill yourself with food and water so that your body can gain energy and be able to function. but in the spiritual sense, bread nor water in this world can satisfy you. the only bread and water you can live with is God's Word, His living, breathing command. i know that reading the Bible everyday can eventually become boring. but we have to crave God's Word like how we crave our favorite food. for me personally, i want to crave God's Word more than the best noodles in the world. sure i love noodles, but God's Word can fill me more that any other food can. secondly, you should never test God... period. finally, worship God and serve Him only.
for chapter 5, let's start with verses 1-12. the beatitudes or as I like to refer to them, the "be-attitudes". read through these and ask yourself what it means to be what it says. for example, "what does it mean to be poor in spirit'? it means to have a humble spirit and not prideful or arrogant. and when you find out what the verse means, live it. remember, you can ask me anything if you're confused about it.
verses 13-16 are etched into my memory as is the same for everyone who went to the filipino-american Christian convention this past july. you are what makes this world sweet, if you, a Christian, lose all godliness, this world is just a bitter, old place right? also, you are the light of the world. why do you keep your light of God? i know, we're afraid of rejection or being looked at in a weird way. but we need to let our light shine for God. if all Christians hid their light, this world would have no hope, absolutely none.
verses 17-20. you might not fully understand this section but just remember, Jesus didn't come to rewrite all the laws of the old testament, but live them. He came to fulfill the laws set before His birth so that He can show us how to live like we should.
verses 21-26 talk about reconciliation. that means to be connected once again after being separated by bitterness. if you have a problem with a friend or family member or even another Christian, take care of it now. if you go to God with bitterness, He's not going to accept your prayer because you can't pray a sincere prayer when there's bitterness inside of you.
verses 27-30 are for more adult people but what it's practically saying is that for those of you who are in a relationship, you need to be faithful and loyal to your partner. if you even so much as look at another person in a lust way, you've committed adultery even though you're not married. so whenever you decide to be in a relationship, you need to realize that you need to give up on every other person in a relationship way. a lot of people don't take this serious because it seems like everyone's doing it. but remember the 7th commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery". it really is a serious matter.
let's skip the divorce section and go on to verses 33-37. you should never "swear to God". you know like how when we want someone to believe us we say, "i swear to God". instead of saying that, let your actions speak for you so all you have to say is the truth. also, in God's eyes, there is no "maybe". if you read through the entire bible, you'll notice that not once does God say "maybe". He simply says "yes" or "no". we should to the same. we can't tell God that maybe we'll follow Him. make the choice now because remember, the end is here.
verses 38-42 talk about revenge. revenge is so easy to do because it's our human nature to pay back people for being mean against us. but what I think Jesus is saying here is that if someone does something wrong to you, forget about it and try to offer them help. if you take revenge you'll be just as evil as them. remember that on the cross, Jesus didn't get off the cross and start whipping everybody around the mountain, He simply asked the Father to forgive them and in the end, offered them salvation.
finally verses 43-48. love everyone. friend or enemy, love them. it's easy to love those who love you. but let's start loving people who aren't loved enough or who can't love. and no you can't be perfect, but you can try your best.
thanks again guys for reading :D let me hear what you think...
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