Let's Get 2008 Of to a Good Start…

Okay – so last year was last year.
Let’s get things off and started on the right foot this year.
I want this year to be a year where I’m saturated in God’s Word.
Only when we’re consistently saturating ourselves in Scripture can we be truly living the life that God calls us to live. If we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, we must first of all read the book that tells us who He is.

Here’s the plan:
Let’s start with the book of 1 John (it starts on page 1827 in my Bible). It’s only 5 chapters long. Read through as much as you can of 1 John each day for the month of January. Those that went to Mexico this past year were all encouraged to read through James each day in December. For those of us who did it, we can truly say that we really know James. I found myself seeing it apply to my life pretty much every day. In conversation after conversation, it came up. I really enjoyed reading through the same passage of Scripture daily for a month. I can say now that I really know James. One student told me that it seemed to get shorter each day he read it.

So for January, let’s all read the book of 1 John each day. I think it will be amazing to see what God does in and through us when we’re all really focusing on His Word and going through the same passage of Scripture together daily. If you can’t manage to read all five chapters each day (which should only take about 15-20 minutes), read as much as you can and finish the next day.

I have always believed that one of the single most important factors in being a Christian and actually growing in our faith is spending time daily in God’s Word and prayer. If you’re not reading God’s Word consistently, you’re not growing. Remember the word “Christian” and “Disciple” are basically the same thing. It’s someone who is a Follower of the Way of Jesus.

In Philippians 4 we read: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Let’s look forward and “press on” as we “seek God first in everything_24.7.365” this year.

---> A few semi-random things:

FIRST
If you don’t have a good Study Bible, you need to get one. There are two that I use and recommend. Either one of them would be great.
1. The MacArthur Study Bible in NASB.
2. The Reformation Study Bible in ESV
Both are great and I use both of them on a regular basis. On Wednesdays, I'll be primarily using the ESV as I preach. Our Pastor preaches from the NASB on Sundays.

SECOND
Check this blog from time to time. I’ll be updating it once or twice a week with my thoughts and stuff that’s going on in the HSM at Immanuel. As we go through this journey together I’ll be writing about where we’re going. And please make comments and leave feedback. This blog is called “SIX33 Thoughts” for a reason. I want to see us really grow ourselves first, and then see God adding to our number.

THIRD
There’s a great online daily devotional that I recommend. Go to
http://www.gty.org/Resources/DailyDevotion and check it out. (I'm sorry you can't click the link. I'm still figuring out how to do that...)

Have a great year and I’ll see you at SIX33 on January 9 at 6:33! It’s going to be a great year and we’ve got some really good stuff coming. It won’t be “business as usual.”



P.S. Don't forget about the HSM website: http://www.ibchighland.org/six33 It's got current info about alot of stuff. We're always updating it. If you want to know about Camp this year....