Did you know? The Bible Challenge website has a “Going Deeper” section. There are in-depth study guides for each book of the Bible, and accompanying audio lectures that you can listen to at your convenience. These lectures were recorded live from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lake Mary, FL as we went through the Bible Challenge in 2013.
I hope you will be blessed as you go deeper in the study of God’s Word.
The Rev. Charlie Holt
Day 156 2 Samuel 23:24-24:25; Acts 3:1-26; Psalm 123:1-4; Proverbs 16:21-23 Wonder and Amazement As I reflect on the healing of the lame beggar in Acts 3, I am struck by a series of words that appear in the NIV translation: “wonder and amazement,” “astonished,” and “surprise.” I am surprised that people were surprised at…
Day 223 Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4 Mercy and Kindness How easy it is for me to “love the Lord” when His mercy and kindness to me are so abundantly felt. He leads me so profoundly into my everyday life. Psalm 31 tells us to “love the Lord… be of good…
Day 340 Hosea 4:1-5:15; 2 John 1-13; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 27:18-20 Human Nature “There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hos. 4:1b-2). Hosea’s prophetic “indictment” against the Northern Kingdom of Israel was pronounced in the…
People tend to associate reality with the tangible, physical world we can examine and prove through our senses. The spiritual seems vague and elusive. That is natural, but it precisely backward. There comes a wonderful moment in Christian life when reality truly sets in – just as it did for those Apostles. The truest thing, the surest reality is Christ. His grace, his sacrifice, is sufficient. Everything else – our challenges, worries, joys, hopes, sorrows and sufferings – may then fall into its rightful place. When we feel overwhelmed, the cure is to come back to the ultimate assurance given in Jesus Christ. Now pray.
Day 117 Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43; Psalms 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 14:7-8 Today in Paradise Do you know the Greek word for “truly”? It’s “amen.” We say it at the end of a prayer. Jesus uses it up front to announce truth. When Jesus tells the thief on the cross, “Truly, I say to you, today you…
Day 302 Lamentations 1:1-2:19; Philemon 1-25; Psalm 101:1-8; Proverbs 26:20 There Are No Healthy Quarrels “Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.” – Proverbs 26:20 I remember the situation like it was yesterday. My brother and I were having an all-out argument in the back of the car on…
