Dave Miller's 2024 Bible Reading Challenge

Today's Readings -  Jeremiah 3-4, Galatians 2, Psalm 109:13–19, Proverbs 24:3–4 Devotional - Vive La Difference No, this time, the difference isn't between men and women, although that difference is an exquisite highlight of God's creation. This time, we are talking about the beauty of God's diversity built into the church of Jesus Christ. This was the key thrust of Paul's ministry. He proclaimed salvation by God's grace apart from the works of the law. From the day he met Jesus on the road to Damascus he knew that he had been called to a ministry that was different from that of the other Apostles. He was the light to the Gentiles, called to spearhead the spread of the gospel outside of its original Jewish environment. And that really annoyed a lot of the Jews. They wanted everything to stay the same. The church should stay the same - same preaching to the same people with the same culture and the same rules - they wanted everything in the church to stay Jewish...

Today's Readings -  Jeremiah 1-2, Galatians 1, Psalm 109:6–12, Proverbs 24:1–2 Devotional - Drifting Away  Henry Blackaby said that all human beings, even those who have been redeemed, have a natural tendency to depart from God. We are held by God's grace and our salvation is secure in Christ, but we have that inborn tendency to drift from our walk with the Lord back into the ways of the world and into sin. Paul recognized a similar problem among the Galatians - a tendency to drift away from the gospel of grace and return to some form of works-based, law-focused salvation. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6-7 There is only one gospel that saves, Paul assured them, but they were still turning aside from the grace of Christ to a false gospel, one based on hum...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 66, 2 Corinthians 12–13, Psalm 109:1–5, Proverbs 23:34–35 Devotional - My Greatest Enemy Armies spend a lot of time doing surveillance on their enemies, trying to figure out who they are, what their resources are and how they can be attacked. If you want to win, you need to know your enemy. What is the greatest enemy in my Christian life - that one thing that will derail me? The "things that are in the world" are always with us - the lust of the eyes (greed), the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. I am constantly at danger of each one of them. But Paul knew what the greatest danger was, that which keeps us from effective ministry and kingdom success. It is pride. In 2 Corinthians 12 he says some things that go directly against our normal way of thinking. Though he had received great promises from God and had even been blessed to be a witness of heavenly glory in a vision, he refused to boast about any of that. Instead, he turned that...

Today's Reading s -   Isaiah 64-65, 2 Corinthians 11:16–33, Psalm 108:6–13, Proverbs 23:31–33  Devotional - God Wins History is a tragic story. God created this world as a paradise. It was filled with beauty, natural wonders we cannot even imagine. It was a place of true joy and pleasure, meant for a man and woman to enjoy each other and to raise a family in peace. And best of all, God was there. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. That was the world as God intended. But we came along and messed everything up. The first human pair rejected the God who made them and who placed them in a beautiful world. They chose the path of darkness instead of light, of destruction rather than glory. We rejected God, but he did not reject us. He could have destroyed this world or he perhaps just turned us over to our own devices, to suffer the consequences of our sin. But that is not what God did. He went to work to reverse the curse of sin and to restore the beauty of ...

Today's Readings -   Isaiah 62-63, 2 Corinthians 11:1–15, Psalm 108:1–5, Proverbs 23:29–30 Devotional - Dark Angel of Light In Genesis 3, when the Serpent tempts Adam and Eve, it uses (abuses) the words of God to do so. When Satan tempts Jesus he quotes (misquotes) Scriptures in the attempt. Our enemy is a "scholar" of God's word who uses it freely. The problem is that he always twists it. In 2 Corinthians 11, we are told about false teachers in the church of Jesus. Guess what. They don't preach from the Bhagavad Gita! Like Satan, they use and abuse God's word and the people of God need to be wary of their presence.  Almost every Scripture that speaks of the end times warns us of the proliferation of false Christs (who would claim to be God’s new representative on earth), false apostles (claiming new authority over God’s church), false prophets (claiming new revelation to add to or clarify what God’s perfect Word already says) and false teachers (who lead God...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 60-61, 2 Corinthians 10, Psalm 107:36–43, Proverbs 23:26–28 Devotional - The Weapons of Our Warfare I find the story of Simon Peter drawing a sword to protect Jesus one of the great ironies of the Bible. Has anyone ever been that clueless? Perhaps his heart was in the right place, but nothing else was working! God was sending his Son to the cross to pay for our sins and Peter stood up in the flesh too stop it! Had he succeeded, he would have sealed his own eternal fate. But the core of Peter's problem that day was simple. He was laboring under the mistaken impression that Jesus was unarmed. He had no sword, no spear, so he was helpless. But nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus was fighting with the most powerful weapon in this world - the life-transforming love of God. Paul took up a similar theme in 2 Corinthians 10. Peter looked silly because he tried to fight a spiritual battle with fleshly weapons. He assumed that Jesus was unarmed becau...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 58-59, 2 Corinthians 8:16–9:15, Psalm 107:29–35, Proverbs 23:24–25 Devotional - Cheerful Givers It was at one time a tradition in Baptist churches that annually the pastor would preach a stewardship sermon in which he begged, pleaded, and cajoled the membership to tithe. It was called "Stewardship Sunday." When you read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 you see a completely different attitude about giving than was often on display on Stewardship Sunday. There were no rules, no emotional manipulation, no guilt trips, just a passion to invest in the work of God's kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul holds up the giving patterns of the Macedonian church (Philippi was chief among them). Out of overwhelming poverty the Spirit produced in them a rich generosity. They gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Why? Did someone put the pressure on them to give? No. They had a deep and sincere love for Jesus Christ and gladly gave their mon...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 56-57, 2 Corinthians 8:1–15, Psalm 107:22–28, Proverbs 23:22–23 Devotional - Fat, Lazy Shepherds I was preaching in Africa back in 1988, teaching Tanzanian church leaders basic principles of ministry. I was trying to explain the pastor's role to them, so I thought I would use an illustration they could identify with. "A pastor is a shepherd," I said. Jonathan, my interpreter, look at me quizzically. "In Swahili," he said. "They are the same word." If we spoke Swahili, I would be the Senior Shepherd of Southern Hills Baptist Church. That is actually very common. The word pastor comes from a root word that means shepherd. The Bible has a lot to say about shepherds, both good and bad. Shepherds who lead their people faithfully are worthy of honor and respect. But in the Old Testament, God reserved his harshest words not for the sinful people of Israel and Judah but for the shepherds, the leaders, the false prophets and unfai...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 54-55, 2 Corinthians 6–7, Psalm 107:15–21, Proverbs 23:19–21 Devotional - An OT Gospel The entire prophecy of Isaiah is filled with messianic prophecies, verses that are familiar because they are applied to our Lord and Savior in the New Testament. Isaiah 7's "Immanuel" prophecy. Isaiah 9 and the names of Jesus. Dozens of others. But the pinnacle, perhaps, is reached in chapters 52 and 53, which gives a remarkable prophecy of the death of Christ by crucifixion. Chapters 55-56, our readings for today, continue this theme by emphasizing, in a prophetic way, some of the elements of the gospel. Isaiah 55:1 speaks to the principle of grace. Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost! The root of the gospel is the recognition of sin. Jesus said that it was the poor in spirit who would be blessed. To experience the goodness of God, we must rec...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 52-53, 2 Corinthians 5, Psalm 107:8–14, Proverbs 23:15–18 Devotional - New Creations Seldom do we pack two such powerful passages into one day's readings! In Isaiah 52-53 we have one of the great passages of the Old Testament, a prophetic tour of the Cross of Christ. It is hard to imagine that a passage written hundreds of years before Christ was born could so accurately describe the sufferings of Jesus as he bore our sins so that by his stripes our sins could be healed. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:4-6 I committed the sin, he took the punishment.  He was ...

Today's Readings -   Isaiah 50-51, 2 Corinthians 4, Psalm 107:1–7, Proverbs 23:13–14 Devotional - Jars of Clay; Treasures of Christ Do you have a favorite passage of Scripture? I've always maintained that the Mt. Everest of the Bible is Romans 8. There are other great chapters as well - Psalm 23, Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 13, too many to count. But in my book, 2 Corinthians 4 deserves a place in any listing of great passages of Scripture, especially if you include chapter 5 with it. There are so many amazing truths in this passage. This passage is a deep well and we could never draw all the sustenance from it, but here is some cold water for your soul. Let's examine a few of the gems from this wonderful chapter. 1) " But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways "(4:2) Other translations talk about "secret, shameful things." The church is all too often filled with secret things - behind the scenes power struggles, manipulation by leaders, phone callin...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 49, 2 Corinthians 3, Psalm 106:42–48, Proverbs 23:11–12 Devotional - Genuine As a pastor, I have been asked to write letters of recommendation frequently over the years - for a student applying to a college, for someone seeking a ministry position, for a variety of reasons. I write these letters of recommendation to (within the boundaries of honesty) extol the character and potential of the person who asked for the letter. In 2 Corinthians 3:1-3, Paul describes his letter of recommendation. How did he commend himself to others as genuine, as a true servant of God? There is a fact of life in ministry and in service to God - someone will question you, accuse you, belittle you, denigrate you, and say that your faith is not genuine. It was a problem even in the Early Church. False teachers rose up and went to the churches Paul established seeking to gain followers for their own ends. How was Paul to prove that he was truly from God? The false t...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 47-48, 2 Corinthians 1:12–2:17, Psalm 106:35–41, Proverbs 23:9–10 Devotional - Defeated by Christ Unfortunately, 2 Corinthians 2:14 is often misunderstood and  misapplied  because we are not familiar with the background that would have immediately come to the minds of the people of Corinth when they heard these words. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Sounds great, doesn't it? Life in Jesus is one victory after another; a life of triumph over every problem life throws at us. Maybe the televangelists were right after all. It's all about winning, about getting everything you want! Right? Uh...no. The passage does not say that God always gives us everything we want or causes us win all the time. It says that he leads us in a "triumphal procession." What on earth is that? When a Roman general would go off to battle and come ho...

Today's Readings -  Isaiah 45-46, 2 Corinthians 1:1–11, Psalm 106:28–34, Proverbs 23:6–8 Devotional - Comforted to Comfort Not only do I have a long way to go to be like Jesus, but I also have a long way to go to be like the Apostle Paul. He suffered so much for the cause of Christ. In today's  reading,  we begin the book of 2 Corinthians, a book that contains a detailed description (in chapter 11) of the horrors inflicted on Paul in the service of Savior. And I go into a fetal position when someone complains that one of my sermons was too long! So many of Paul's teachings are about how God uses sufferings to grow us, strengthen us, and use us in his service. Even in the midst of pain and hurt, he was looking for a way to glorify God and spread the truth of Christ. He did not whine, moan, or turn aside; he relied on the strength of God in the weakness he felt. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul made another in his series of astounding statements. Blessed be the God and Father ...