March 31 :: Judges 11-12; Luke 6:1-26

Luke 6:19

"And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all."

Just to touch Jesus healed people...just to touch Him. Although Jesus is not physically with us in this way, or...God in a bod if you will...in what ways can we reach out and "touch" Him now...and so be healed?

March 30 :: Judges 9-10; Luke 5:17-39

Judges 10 speaks of distress without God, repentance, mercy

God allows the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress Israel, because Israel has bowed down to their gods instead of Him. Israel repents in their distress and God saves them.

Judges 10:16

"Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

"It is necessary, in true repentance, that there be a full conviction that those things cannot help us which we have set in competition with God. They acknowledged what they deserved, yet prayed to God not to deal with them according to their deserts. We must submit to God's justice, with a hope in his mercy. True repentance is not only for sin, but from sin."
 

Repentance = to make a 180, to turn from one way and go another

March 29 :: Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16

March 28 :: Judges 4-6; Luke 4:31-44

March 27 :: Judges 1-3; Luke 4:1-30

Book of Judges

Author :: Anonymous.

The Talmud suggests Samuel wrote it in part. Written after the death of Samson and the coronation of Saul, but before David's conquest of Jerusalem.

Dates :: 1050-1000 B.C.

Content (information retrieved from Moody's Ryrie Study Bible) ::

"The judges were military and civil leaders ruling during this time when the nation was a loose confederacy. Some of the judges ruled concurrently since each one did not necessarily rule over the entire land."

March 26 :: Joshua 22-24; Luke 3

Joshua 23: 9-11

The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised. So be very careful to love the LORD your God. 

What do you think it means to be careful to love God? Do we normally associate carefulness and love?

March 25 :: Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52

March 24 :: Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24

Luke 2:16-19

"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

This last verse about Mary has always peaked my curiosity - what do you think is its significance?

March 23 :: Joshua 13-15; Luke 1:57-80

Luke 1:76-79

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
      for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
      through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
      by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
      and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.

This is the song Zechariah prophesied when his mouth was opened and his son, John the baptist, was named.

March 22 :: Joshua 10-12; Luke 1:39-56

Intro to help in your study of the gospel of Luke

Information provided by Moody's Ryrie Study Bible

Luke Quick Facts:
- He was a Doctor
- Most likely the only Gentile author in the NT
- Not an eyewitness of Jesus Christ
- Also wrote the book of Acts
- Companion to Paul and there at the time of Paul's martyrdom

Writing Methodology:

- His work built on the work of others
- He consulted many eyewitnesses
- He arranged information after much research and documentation

Luke's Distinctive Approach:

- Gospel directed to gentiles
- Has an uncommon emphasis on the individual
- Makes a point to emphasize prayer
- Gives women a prominent place in gospel
- Book contains 4 hymns

Date:

- Written most likely in 60 A.D. in Caesarea during Paul's imprisonment

March 21 :: Joshua 7-9; Luke 1:21-38

I will be in Mexico this weekend away from internet - so I am posting the next few days (as you can see!) a little early. Although we have been reading Luke for a couple days now, I will intro the book on Monday. Have a great weekend all - and feel free to jump in and share any thoughts you had on the scriptures!

March 20 :: Joshua 4-6; Luke 1:1-20

Here is a map of the Israelites Canaanite conquest:

March 19 :: Joshua 1-3; Mark 16

Book of Joshua

Author :: Joshua

Dates :: 1400-1370 B.C.

Background (information retrieved from Moody's Ryrie Study Bible) :: Conquest and dividing up of Canaan occurs in this book. Because the Canaanite religion was corrupt (ex: infant sacrifice, prostitution of men and women), God commanded Israel to destroy the people. Due to the fact that Israel failed to completely destroy them and in turn tolerated them, many of the corrupt practices were absorbed by the Israelites.

Joshua :: Name means "Yahweh is salvation." Served in Pharaoh's army. Personal attendant to Moses at Mount Sinai. Representative of the tribe of Ephraim. Commissioned as Moses' successor. Gifts = faith, courage, obedience, devotion to the law of God.

March 18 :: Deuteronomy 32-34; Mark 15:26-47

March 17 :: Deuteronomy 30-31; Mark 15:1-25

Happy St. Patrick's Day all! Is everyone wearing GREEN ???

March 16 :: Deuteronomy 28-29; Mark 14:54-72

What's happening in Mark here?

1. Jesus Put Before Sanhedrin

2. Peter Denies Jesus

March 15 :: Deuteronomy 25-27; Mark 14:27-53

What's happening in Mark 14 here?

1. Gethsemane: walk & prayer - Peter, James, & John to watch guard, but continuously fall asleep. Jesus says:

Mark 14:38

"Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

2. Jesus Betrayed by Judas With a Kiss: Jesus arrested.

What do you think this verse is listed for - do you see any symbolism or meaning here?

Mark 14:51-52

"A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked."

March 14 :: Deuteronomy 22-24; Mark 14:1-26

What's happening in Mark here?

1. Jesus Anointed by Mary @ Bethany

2. Agreement by Judas to Betray Jesus on Wednesday

3. The Lord's Supper

It is painful to think of the ways we have betrayed Jesus ourselves. It seems in His greatest hour of suffering and need on earth, everyone forsakes, runs from, and lies to Jesus. Are there ways you are doing this recently? What can you do to turn back and love Him instead?

March 13 :: Deuteronomy 19-21; Mark 13:21-37

March 12 :: Deuteronomy 16-18; Mark 13:1-20

Deuteronomy 17:16

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again."

Breaking this scripture down...

The King - an appointed position of power to make right decisions for the people (not how we know it today, huh?)
Horses - a sign of great wealth; he, the king is not to have this
Egypt - a place of slavery where the Lord freed His people from, symbolic of sin
God says - "You are not to go back that way again."

Thank you God for freeing us!

March 11 :: Deuteronomy 13-15; Mark 12:28-44

The Greatest Command of All

Mark 12:28-31

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." 

March 10 :: Deuteronomy 10-12; Mark 12:1-27

Deuteronomy 11:26

"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse..."

Blessing; following the Lord by obeying and loving Him = conquering things much greater than you could imagine.

Curse; disobeying God's commands to you, following other gods = ??? Let's not find out.

March 9 :: Deuteronomy 7-9; Mark 11:19-33

March 8 :: Deuteronomy 4-6; Mark 11:1-18

March 7 :: Deuteronomy 1-3; Mark 10:32-52

The Book of Deuteronomy

Author :: Moses
Date :: 1410 B.C.
Title :: In Greek = "A Copy of This Law." In Hebrew = "Words"
Contents :: quoting from Moody's Ryrie Study Bible =

"The book may be viewed as a constitution for the theocracy of Israel once she was established in the land. Its structure parallels that of a typical suzerainty treaty of that period:

(1) preamle, 1:1-5;
(2) historical prologue, 1:6-4:49;
(3) main provisions, 5:1-26:19;
(4) curses and blessings, 27:1-30:20; and
(5) arrangements for continuation of the covenant, 31:1-33:29"

Here is a parallel between Deut & Mark about having faith that God is good and all we need to do is trust in Him with that knowledge (and sometimes even ask for those good things!).

Deuteronomy 1:32-33

In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Mark 10:51-52

"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

March 6 :: Numbers 35-36; Mark 10:1-31

March 5 :: Numbers 32-34; Mark 9:30-50

March 4 :: Numbers 29-31; Mark 9:1-29

Numbers 31:48-49

Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses and said to him, "Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing."

Moses trusted the Lord's command and sent the Israelites to war on the Midianites. Not one man was left alive (Num 31:7), yet every Israelite was kept safe. Every single one safe. 

How providential must our God, our Shepherd be...to orchestrate such occurrences?

And I couldn't not share this - I found an intensely large amount of bible illustrations at a site called thebricktestament.com. Check it out - the bible in legos....

March 3 :: Numbers 26-28; Mark 8

March 2 :: Numbers 23-25; Mark 7:14-37

March 1 :: Numbers 20-22; Mark 7:1-13