Here are a few thoughts and ideas for Bible reading, family devotions, memory verses for children, and recommended study Bibles. 

Can you recommend any Bible reading plans?

A few years ago, I created a five-day/week Bible reading plan that didn’t blitz through the OT at a breakneck pace and centered upon reading the gospels (Matthew-John) multiple times.  You can download here “The Gospel-Centered, Wisdom Inspired Bible Reading Plan”. 

Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition has seven different bible reading plans. 

Did you know that less than 10 minutes/day, gets you reading through the entire Bible in a year?

Can you recommend family devotions that are easy to organize and implement with my children?

I suspect many families are overwhelmed at beginning “family devotions” because of the difficulty of adding “one more thing” to an already chaotic schedule.  Rest assured, it doesn’t need to be difficult. 

Take these plans which are easy to follow.

Read one chapter per day, pray together, and send the kids off to bed.  You’ll be amazed at the spiritual conversations that begin to develop around this time. 

These two-week plans give you easy-to-follow readings (one chapter per day) through the Life of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, Becoming a Christian, Great Prayers of the Bible, and the Life of Moses (just to name a few of the options).

What about bible verses to memorize with children?

Try these 10 verses.  Download, print, and off you go! 

Is there a study Bible you recommend?

The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible is a great tool with study notes written by the leading evangelical scholars of our day (here or here).  The ESV is a great translation being adopted by an increasingly large number of evangelical churches.  (Warning: the ESV Study Bible is quite large in hardcover. This is a bible for your desk, not your purse or “man bag”.)

The beginning of the new year is an excellent time to start new spiritual rhythms which are life-giving to our busy lives and help us be intentional about establishing a growing, vibrant relationship with the Father.

As D.A. Carson writes:

People do not drift toward holiness.

Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. (For the Love of God)

Rhythms must be established.  We naturally drift towards complacency.  We naturally drift towards forgetfulness of God.  Spiritual growth is not something we stumble upon or slide easily into.  Spiritual growth requires “grace-driven effort”, recognizing that while our spiritual disciplines do not save us, they do help us grow in the faith

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” (Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus' Essential Teachings on Discipleship)

Grace is absolutely opposed to earning our salvation.  Yet grace-fueled effort is absolutely necessary to grow up to the fullness in Christ (Col. 2:9-10).

“If Christmas is just a nice legend, in a sense you are on your own. But if Christmas is true, then you can be saved by grace.” (Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas)

I still remember the Christmas lights in one of those neighborhoods growing up where everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – in the neighborhood went ALL OUT on the Christmas lights.  There was only one house in the whole 100 house neighborhood that didn’t put up a single light in the yard.  Yet on the roof was a simple lighted sign: “Hum Bug”.  Clever. Cute.

In a sense, Christmas is for the Grinch in all of us.

Yeah, I’ll say it:  “You’re a Grinch, I’m a Grinch; the whole lot of us are Grinches.”

The great German-American theologian, Dr. Seuss, wrote:

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch; Your heart's an empty hole
Your brain is full of spiders; You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch

Christmas basically says tells us:  You are a Grinch but God loves you anyway.  There was a reason the manger – God’s dramatic start to his rescue plan for the world – was necessary in the first place.  I had garlic in my soul.  And your brain was full of spiders.  My heart had an empty hole. 

Yet Christ in the manger – love in flesh – tells Grinches of all shapes and sizes that God still loves you anyway.  Despite your Grinchyness. 

“When you say, ‘Doctrine doesn’t matter; what matters is that you live a good life,’ that is a doctrine. It is called the doctrine of salvation by your works rather than by grace. It assumes that you are not so bad that you need a Savior, that you are not so weak that you can’t pull yourself together and live as you should. You are actually espousing a whole set of doctrines about the nature of God, humanity, and sin. And the message of Christmas is that they are all wrong.”  (Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas)

Christmas is for the Grinch in all of us.

Thankful to be with you this Christmas season,

Pastor Jason Carter

Christmas is coming!  (You may need to pause, breathe, and repeat.)

Christmas in our world today is more likely to conjure up images of crowded parking lots, obligatory office parties, and low grade anxiety over shopping for the perfect gift than peaceful scenes out of a Hallmark Christmas card.  Simplicity is not the word typically used to describe the Christmas season in a typical North American home!

When I first arrived to Central Africa, I remember a Brazilian missionary telling me: “If you don’t know how to laugh here, you’ll end up crying.” Being surrounded by the daily realities of malaria, typhoid, and oppressive poverty can take a toll on you, unless you are buoyed by a sense of holy laughter.  Believe it or not, the same advice may now hold true of our navigation of the Christmas season!  You may need to partake in holy laughter to truly enjoy the meaning of Christmas. 

The great preacher at Westminster Chapel of London, Martin Lloyd-Jones, once wrote:

“When the King of Kings and Lord of Lords came into this world, he came into a stable. If you do not feel a sense of holy laughter within you, I do not see that you have a right to think that you are a Christian.”

The craziness of our Christmas season is actually topped by the incredulity of the manger!  A manger?!?  Really?  To an unwed teenage bride?  (Since when was this a good idea?)  Smelly shepherds coming in from the field?  (Please, guys, don’t touch the baby – really, think of the germs!!)

Yet, what does holy laughter really mean?  Holy laughter, in my mind, means rejoicing in the subversive simplicity of God’s redemption in our world which breaks human paradigms to the point that it’s comical.  Go on and chuckle at the thought of God’s rescue mission – a manger! – it just might be good for your soul. 

Grateful to be with you this Christmas season,

Pastor Jason Carter

 A couple of interesting articles from the blogosphere.  Enjoy! (Click on the titles below to read the entire article.)

Some Thoughts on Thoughts and Prayers

• "When we pray, our heart is softened to the needs of those around us. We become sensitive to the suffering of others, and often God plants within us ideas to act on our love for others. For Christians, prayer is the spring from which our love and mercy for others flows. Prayer is where we awaken to the needs of those around us—and to the specific calling God has given us to care for those needs."

Does Your Church Ever Make You Feel…Uncomfortable?

• Consumeristic Christianity leads to diminishing returns: "The data seems to suggest that more people who leave their church for a noncentral issue go on to be dissatisfied with the next church they attend. Satisfaction with church does not necessarily result from our preferences being met."

• "It should come as no surprise that younger Christians (millenials) -- who grew up with limitless consumer options -- are the least likely to say they are 'very satisfied' with church."

On October 31, 2017, the Protestant Reformation turns 500 years old, commemorating the posting of the 95 Theses that Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. 

The Reformation and the Glory of God (John Piper)

"The Reformers believed that only grace could raise us from the dead, and only Christ could become our punishment and our perfection. These two miracles—of life from the dead and wrath removed—could only be received as a gift through faith. They could never be merited or earned, all so that the entire transaction would culminate soli Deo Gloria—to the glory of God alone."

Did The Reformation Secularize the West? (Kevin Flatt)

"Once, in the Middle Ages, Western Christendom was united in a shared faith under a single Roman Catholic church. All areas of life were suffused with religious influence and significance, and it was almost impossible to disbelieve in God or live one’s life as if he were unimportant. But the Protestant Reformation came along and shattered this unity, creating deep, irresolvable disagreements about fundamental questions of authority, doctrine, worship, and morality—even among Protestants themselves. The resulting conflicts could and did turn violent, as the various groups persecuted each other and doctrinal disputes provided pretexts for religious wars.

These events had two unintended long-term consequences: the privatization of religion and the rise of religious individualism. Privatization said, in effect, if we can’t agree about religion, let’s keep religion out of the things we do together as a society—science, philosophy, commerce, government, education. Individualism said, since we can’t agree, let every man be his own judge in religious matters. While privatization led to the stripping of religion from the public square, individualism led to a breakdown in religious authority in the church and at home, ending in full-blown relativism: what’s true for you isn’t true for me, and you have no right to tell me what to do. Thus, in the long run, the Reformation removed religion from most areas of life and undercut the viability of local church communities rooted in shared beliefs. Or, in Clue terms, “The Reformation did it with religious divisions in the sixteenth century!"

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World (Eric Metaxas)

I'm currently reading Martin Luther's new biography by Eric Metaxas who also wrote a thoughtful and engaging biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy".  The Metaxas biography of Luther is a good way to celebrate the 500th anniversary of our Protestant tradition.  Tolle lege -- "Take up and read!"

To read the Essay "Jesus as the New Israel" accompanying the sermon series "All About Jesus: Explorations in the Gospel of John", click here.