What's Next in 2016 Bible Reading Challenge? "Creation to Christ: A 60-Day Look at the Story of the Bible"

The end is near! 

Tomorrow's reading is the end! We've taken 7 months and gone through the New Testament Chronologically. I've reworked it so that if I re-do this in the future I can do it in 6 months, but now we have 5 months left in the year and I wasn't sure about what to do. 

• I thought about taking a break. These take some time and I have a lot of other things going on. I don't know how many of the folks at Southern Hills are reading their Bible daily, but I didn't want to quit because this is a high priority. 
• I thought about just going to last year's devotionals and finishing out the year reading the last 5 months of "Through the Bible in One Year." Again, my main reason was to get a little break from writing these so I could focus on other things. But starting up a reading program like that just seemed a little odd. 
• I looked online at all the plans and programs out there. NONE of them are 5 months. They are one month, three month, six, twelve. But nothing would take us through the end of the year. 
• I thought of doing a more in-depth study of a particular book of the Bible - Romans, perhaps. But I decided against that. 
• Finally, as I read through programs, an idea came to my mind that clicked and grew and it seemed that this was my best choice. 

We are going to make a trek from Genesis to Revelation, looking at the grand story of the Bible - sometimes called "Redemptive History." We'll start out with God's creation, then go to the Fall, to the Flood, the choosing of Abraham's seed, the Exodus from Egypt, the Law, Israel's failure and God's faithfulness, and on through to the prophetic promises of the Messiah. We'll examine the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ in brief (we've already read that this year) and then we'll read scriptures that explain the meaning of the Cross for us. We will culminate with Christ's ultimate victory - right back where we are now. 

Sixty days of readings that will tell the whole Bible story. I think it will help us in our understanding of the big picture of scripture. 

One problem - the reading starts Monday and this weekend I am preaching twice, plus doing a funeral and a wedding. I only decided on this Thursday night and I just haven't had time to get it together. So, we are going to have a one week "Meditation Break." Oh, we are still going to read, but its going to be something completely different. We are going to read the same chapter 7 days in a row. I'm going to ask you to read it over and over. Different versions. Read it outloud. Meditate on it. 

I've often said that if I was stranded on a desert island and could have only one chapter of the Bible with me, it wouldn't take me 10 seconds to figure out which one I wanted. I've called it the "Mt. Everest" of the peaks of Scripture. There's Psalm 23, and John 3, and 1 Corinthians 13, and so many others that form the Himalayas. But one peak stands tallest, I believe. 

Romans 8! From there is "no condemnation in Christ" to "nothing can separate us from the love of Christ" it is one glorious blessing after another. 

So, for the next 7 days, starting Monday, I'm going to ask you to read Romans 8. Then again. And again. Read some commentaries if you want. We will do 7 specific devotionals on the highest of the highlights of the chapter, but honestly, we could easily do an entire month on this chapter and I don't think we would exhaust the storehouse!

So, starting Monday, it's "Scaling Mt. Everest" for 7 days - in Romans 8. Then, starting Monday the 8th we will trek through the whole Bible in (about) 60 days. 

The adventure begins Monday.