Feasting on God's Word (One Year Bible)

1 Kings 11:14-12:24 “Do not go up to fight against your brothers” (1 Kings 12:24). Lord, Your Word seems so simple – but we don’t always listen to what You’re saying to us! Less ‘This is what I think’ and more ‘What is the Lord saying to me?” – that’s what we need. Help us, Lord, to listen to You – and to be changed by Your Word.

2 Kings 11:1-12:21 Help us, Lord, to give ourselves to You. May there be less Grudge-Giving – “I have to”, less Duty-Giving – “I ought to”, and more Thanksgiving – “I want to.”

2 Kings 9:1-37 Sometimes, Lord, it seems like You are far away from us. Why do we feel like this? It’s because we have wandered away from You. We’ve allowed something else to come between ourselves and You. Call us back to Yourself, back from the brink, back to a new beginning, back to the blessing that will grow stronger and stronger as we learn to trust You and say, from the heart, “The Lord is God. He is our God. He has blessed us, and we are glad.”

2 Kings 8:1-29 Lord, help us to be faithful in hearing Your Word, reading Your Word, obeying Your Word and sharing Your Word.

1 Kings 3:1-28 Which is most important to us – “building our own house” or “building the House of the Lord” (1 Kings 3:1-3)? How often, Lord, do we think about the things that matter most to You? Are we too busy thinking about the things that matter most to ourselves? These are not questions to be ‘brushed under the carpet’. They are questions that demand our attention. They are questions that You, Lord, are asking us. You’re calling us to “consider our ways” (Haggai 1:5,7). Are we walking in Your way? or Are we going our own way? Call us back to Yourself, Lord. Call us back from a way ill lead us far from You. Call us into a way that will bring us close to You. Lead us to Jesus – He is “the way, the true and living way” (John 14:6).

2 Kings 6:1-23 Loving You, Lord, is more important than anything else – but it’s not always the most important thing in our lives. Sometimes, other things get in the way of our love for You. Help us to love You more truly and more fully – and help us to show our love for You by sharing Your love with our neighbour.

2 Kings 5:1-27 How, Lord, are we to receive Your blessing? Are we to “do some great thing”? Are we to prove ourselves worthy of Your blessing? No! Your Word says this: “Wash and be clean” (2 Kings 5:130. Our salvation isn’t something that we’ve paid for. It isn’t something that we’ve earned. We don’t come to You, saying, “Look at me. Look at my religion. Look at my morality.” We look away from ourselves to Jesus – and we hear Your Word of salvation: “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

2 Kings 4:1-44 What are we to do when our situation seems hopeless? Help us, Lord, to do what Elisha did – He “prayed to the Lord” (2 Kings 4:33). Our prayer may not be eloquent – but it must come from the heart. Lord, look beyond our inadequate words. Look into our hearts. Hear the cry of our heart – and bring us out of hopelessness and into a new beginning with You, a new beginning filled with Your blessing.

2 Kings 2:14-3:27 We think, Lord, about the future, and all we can say is this, “We don’t know what the future holds.” We turn to You. We ask You, “What does the future hold for us?” You give us Your answer to our question. It may not be the answer that we were looking for – but it is always the true answer, the best answer, the only answer. You say to us, “I know what the future holds.” Help us, Lord, to trust You. Help us to say more than, I know not what the future holds.” Help us to say something else – “I know who holds the future.”

1 Kings 16:29-18:16 We read about Elijah: “The Word of the Lord came to Elijah”; “You are a man of God and the Word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth” (1 Kings 18:1; 1 Kings 17:24). You’re challenging us to be all that You’re calling us to be – people who love You, people who are listening to You and speaking for You, people who are living for You. Lord, help us to rise to the challenge: to live as Your people, people who know You, love You and serve You.

1 Kings 7:13-8:13 Lord, You’re calling us to choose the life of fruitful service – “gold, silver, precious stones”. You’re calling us to leave behind the unfruitful life – “wood, hay, straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Help us to hear and answer Your call: “Rise up, O Church of God. Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of kings.”

1 Kings 2:1-46 We thank You, Lord, that You are the God of new beginnings. Your purpose doesn’t stand still. It moves forward. Will we move forward with You? – That, Lord, is the question that each of us must ask answer. We cannot stand still. There are two ways we can go. We can move forward with You. We can go back to the past, back to what we were before Christ saved us, before He took hold of our lives, before He began to make us new people. Dare we even think of going back to the old life? That life can’t even begin to compare with our new life in Christ. Help us, Lord, to press on into the future, Your future, the new life in Christ, eternal life.

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:29 This is the continuing story of God's mighty working on behalf of His chosen people. He is leading them on to the land He had promised to them. Entering this land will not be easy. There will be plenty of opposition. The enemy will be defeated. The Lord will triumph over all who stand against Him. Deuteronomy 4:1-6:25 There is a real challenge here - Continue in the way of the Lord. Don't turn back from following Him. This is important - not only for ourselves but for generations to come. The Word of the Lord must never be dismissed as something which is to be left in the past. Love for the Lord is not to be set aside as a thing of the past. We are to preserve the Word of the Lord for the next generation. The call to love God must be passed on those who come after us. Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20 The contrast between God's people and those who worship false gods is so strong. It would be easy for God's people to feel superior. God's W...

Leviticus 1:1-3:17 We may note the frequent recurrence of the phrase, "a soothing aroma to the Lord" (Leviticus 1:9,13,17: Leviticus 2:2,9,12; Leviticus 3:5,16). The presence of the Lord is "like a fragrance that fills the air." Not all people welcome the presence of the Lord. To some, it is "the aroma of Christ", " a life-giving fragrance." To others, it is "a deadly fragrance" (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). We are to pray that our life - in every part - will be pleasing to the Lord, bringing glory to Him. This will involve our worship in the holy place. It will also involve our living for the Lord in the many and varied situations of everyday life. Leviticus 4:1-35 The word, "blood, appears often here. We may note, in particular, the phrase, in Leviticus 4:25, "the blood of the offering for sin." In the final verse (Leviticus 4:35), we may note why "the blood of the offering for sin" was shed - "forgiv...

Numbers 1:1-4:49 God spoke, Israel obeyed (Numbers 1:1,54). This is the constant pattern of the life of faith - hearing and obeying the Word of God. The names of God's people differ from place to place. The pattern of their life remains the same. This pattern is also emphasized in Numbers 2, which begins with God speaking (Numbers 2:1) and ends with the people obeying (Numbers 2:34). This pattern is repeated in Numbers 3-4, which begin with God's Word (Numbers 3:1; Numbers 4:1) and end with our obedience (Numbers 3:51; Numbers 4:49). In Numbers, we read so much that is unfamiliar to us. We must learn to look for the Word that comes to us, in our time, as a Word from the Lord who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Hear and obey. Listen to what God is saying. Do what He has said. Numbers  5:1-6:27 We must take sin seriously. It can lead to a withdrawal of God's blessing. This is the important and challenging message of Numbers 5. ...

Genesis 1:1-2:3 There is, here, a real sense of the majesty of God. He is "beyond description." We cannot comprehend Him. We can hardly put into words this sense of God's greatness. We are transported into an eternal dimension, which is so different from our earthly existence. We read, "In the beginning, God ... " (1:1). Many live as if God was absent, as if humanity was the only reality. Here, it is we who are absent from view. Here, we see God only. Humanity only comes into view when God chooses (1:26-27). Everything about this is God-centred rather than man-centred. The light comes when God says, "Let there be light" (1:3). Prior to God's Word of command, in 1:3, we see "the Spirit of God hovering" (1:2). The Spirit is on the alert, ready to move into action, ready for the Word of God to be spoken, ready to empower the Word so that it becomes mightily effective. All that follows - described as "very good" - comes from G...

In preparation for this paper I have glanced at a variety of books but was not able to consult one of the best, Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students . I have lent it to someone and it has never found its way back home. Spurgeon’s book is one I would recommend that all preachers should read periodically and take seriously.   In another book on preaching I read the following comment, “We may recall Rousseau’s recipe for a love letter: to write a good love letter you will begin without knowing what you are going to say, and end without knowing what you have said.” These words could well describe many sermons. In the same book this further comment is made, “Large numbers of persons who have been accustomed to read the Bible and to listen to preaching all their lives have the loosest possible acquaintance with the details of biblical history, and their concepts of doctrinal truth are extremely vague. They are grateful to any man who will make their knowledge of the facts of Holy Scri...