Jesus Throughout the Bible
Pathway Points
Stepping Up for Jesus
Last week, I asked you how you were doing with the Bible
reading challenge that Pastors Eric and Jeff gave us at the beginning of the
year (GraceNotes).
Hopefully, you’ve started over one more time, and, as David Barnhart’s dad
says, you’re beginning to look rather consistent.
I’ve noticed over the years that one reason people struggle
to read scripture daily is the way they read it. Most of the time, when taking
up a challenge like this, people approach the Bible in a blunt force way,
trying to read it like a novel from beginning to end. Then, they get
overwhelmed by 40 different authors writing 66 different books to a variety of
audiences with a variety of needs. The Bible is an amazing collection of books
with Jesus in every single one (see The
Whole Bible Guides Us Toward Jesus), but to truly appreciate that, we need
a different approach as we read it.
My Saturday morning small group is practicing reading
scripture and looking for Jesus in each passage by answering 4 questions (see DNA
for a more in depth description):
- Who is God? Describe his characteristics that show up in this passage. (i.e. loving, patient, jealous, etc.)
- What has he done? Describe his actions in this passage. (i.e. saved, listened, redeemed, etc.)
- Who are we in light of that? Describe our characteristics as Christians based on this passage. (i.e. child of God, blessed, set apart, etc.)
- How do we live? Describe our actions based on all of that. (i.e. be patient, bless our enemies, choose God’s will over the pleasures of the world, etc.)
If you’re at all interested in practicing with us, join us
at Grampa Tony’s on Columbus at 9am Saturday mornings.
Stepping up with you in His strength!
Monica Lebsack
Creative Ministries Director