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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 32

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Aug 8, 2021

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We’re back into the prophets this week – this time, the prophets who prophesy during Josiah’s reign. We’ll have to learn to hold the tension between the patience of God and the justice of God. We’ll hear about a lot of idolatry and injustice this week. I’ve been helped by Andy Crouch’s definitions of these terms from his book Playing God. Idolatry is worshipping false gods; injustice is an attempt to play god in someone else’s life. Here’s the quote: “God hates idolatry and injustice because they are the same thing: the introduction into God’s very good world of false images, images that destroy the true images God himself placed in the world to declare his character and voice his praise. Whether making false gods (idolatry) or playing false gods (injustice) the result is identical – the true image of God is lost, and not just lost but replace by something that purports, often very persuasively, to represent the ultimate truth about reality.”

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 31

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Mon Aug 2, 2021

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We’ll finish Isaiah this week, continue along the narrative story from Kings and Chronicles, and jump into Nahum (who prophesies after Sennacherib, which is why his prophecy is included this week). Hold onto your hats: Isaiah has a wonderful ending with a beautiful vision of the new heavens and new earth, Kings and Chronicles will give you whiplash between the “good” and “bad” kings, Nahum will bring a big vision of God and a big vision of his judgment on evil empires. 

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 30

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jul 25, 2021

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We’re spending more time with Isaiah this week. We’ve only got to cover nine chapters of bad news this week. We’ll make a turn on Wednesday to the good news of God’s comfort and restoration of his people. We’ll finish the week looking at the coming Servant of the Lord who will bear our iniquities.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 29

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jul 18, 2021

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We continue spending time in the prophets this week. They’re inviting the people to remain faithful to the covenant, yet announcing judgment for their continuing disobedience. Isaiah’s first 39 chapters are mostly bad news – though there are a few glimpses of hope. Hosea is given the task of being a living parable of Yahweh’s faithfulness to Israel when the Lord tells him to take a prostitute as a wife and pursue her amid all her unfaithfulness to him. Truly the Lord is gracious and merciful and slow to anger.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 28

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jul 11, 2021

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If you’re like me, the first part of the Old Testament is pretty smooth sailing on the comprehension side of things – reading a narrative is simple enough. But, after Chronicles it gets a little wild – because prophecy and poetry is pretty tough and it’s not easy to know where we are in the storyline. The Chronological plan will help us because it makes us read the prophets alongside the kings. Here’s a handy timeline to help you situate all of the kings and prophets in your head. This week, we’re in Isaiah, Amos, and Micah. Two are prophesying against Judah and one against Israel. 

As you read, it will help to remember two things about the prophets: (1) the prophets are primarily concerned about the people’s faithfulness to Mosaic covenant, and because of this (2) the prophets usually hold the kings and the people accountable by proclaiming judgment (forthtelling) rather than “predicting the future” (foretelling). Prophets definitely look to the future, but more often than not, they’re taking the people to task for their idolatry and unfaithfulness. As we think about applying these to our own lives, we’ll want to remember that God is dealing with his covenant people, so the most consistent application for our time will be to God’s new covenant people – individual believers and the church as a whole.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 27

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jul 4, 2021

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As we read this week, we’re dealing with prophets and kings. Let me remind us again about these two roles within the biblical storyline. They’re both mentioned in Deuteronomy. A king must not acquire many horses or wives or money so that his heart is not turned away from trusting the Lord. He must keep a copy of the law and read it so that he learns to fear the Lord (Dt. 17:14-20). As for prophets, they are truly representing God when they speak in the name of the Lord and their word comes to pass (Dt. 18:22). So, prophets call kings back to covenant faithfulness and deliver oracles of judgment from Yahweh. That’s what we’ll see in our reading this week. The Word of the Lord stands forever.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 26

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jun 27, 2021

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We’re getting into the crazy kings after the kingdom divides. As you read this week, pay attention to where the kings reign: Israel’s 10 tribes in the north or Judah’s one tribe in the south (remember, the Levites are a tribe but don’t have land and usually do their own thing – though they’re typically connected with Judah). It’s important to remember that the standard by which the kings are judged is the blessings/curses of covenant faithfulness in Deuteronomy 28 and the covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 where the Lord still disciplines the kings for their iniquity. It’s pretty amazing when you read all the heinous rebellion of these chapters that the Lord is so abundantly patient with his people –including us. We just have the benefit of the fuller picture where the fullness of God’s justice was poured out on Christ at the cross so that we may have peace with God and one another.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 25

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jun 20, 2021

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It seems like we’re all over the place in our readings this week. We’re still gleaning from Solomon, but we’re beginning to look at Solomon’s decline and Israel’s quick decline into two kingdoms. But, there’s much to learn this week about our motives – and where we can find help when they’re out of line.

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 24

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jun 13, 2021

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We’ll come to another significant moment with the construction and completion of the Temple this week. I’m always struck how at almost every significant moment in Israel’s history, there’s space created to remember God’s faithfulness up to that point. When God’s relation to his people is about to “change” and no one can really predict what’s going to happen next – the people of God trust the character of the God who’s brought them thus far (if that’s not instructive for our current cultural moment as the church, then I don’t know what is). 

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Weekly Bible Reading Forecast: Week 23

Posted in Bible Reading Forecasts  |  By Bradley Patton  |  Posted on Sun Jun 6, 2021

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I once heard someone compare passages in the Bible to “load-bearing” beams in a house. Some passages hold the full weight of part of Scripture and deep theological truths (like Romans 8, for example). But other texts are like the floor boards – very practical but can’t hold up under much weight (though an equally significant part of the house!). I submit to you that Proverbs are like those floor boards. Essential for moving about the house, as long as the weight is evenly distributed. So, let’s listen well to a father of the faith’s instruction so that we may learn how to move around the household of faith. I’ll try to pick a verse or two each day to help us think along the biblical storyline about how that verse might apply to followers of Jesus.

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