Bible Readings for February 2nd Genesis 34 | Mark 5 | Job 1 | Romans 5 The chosen family does not come away from Genesis 34 looking very good. In the wake of a horrific tragedy—the rape of Dinah by Shechem the Hivite—Jacob and his sons respond poorly, but in different ways. Simeon and Levi are rightfully outraged at the defiling of their sister, bu…

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Bible Readings for February 1st Genesis 33 | Mark 4 | Esther 9–10 | Romans 4 We shouldn’t be surprised to see Jacob falter in his confident faith when he sees Esau coming from far off, even though Jacob had only just finished wrestling with God (Gen. 33:1). Of course, it didn’t help Jacob’s fear to see Esau coming with four hundred men, but even so…

Bible Readings for January 31st Genesis 32 | Mark 3 | Esther 8 | Romans 3 Up to this point, Jacob’s relationship with God has been fairly one-sided. God has made promises to Jacob, protected Jacob, and faithfully begun to lead Jacob back to the land of Canaan. Jacob, on the other hand, has tricked his brother, Esau, out of a birthright, schemed his…

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Bible Readings for January 30th Genesis 31 | Mark 2 | Esther 7 | Romans 2 Jacob’s time living with Laban has been a terrible experience. At every turn, Laban has lied to Jacob and cheated him out of what he promised to Jacob, first by giving Jacob Leah instead of Rachel as a wife and second by stealing Jacob’s wages of the striped, spotted, and mot…

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Bible Readings for January 29th Genesis 30 | Mark 1 | Esther 6 | Romans 1 Genesis 30 contains two main stories. The first half of the chapter continues the tragic, unhappy narrative of sibling rivalry between Leah and Rachel that began in Genesis 29. In yesterday’s meditation, we noticed similarities between this story and the stories of Abraham, S…

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Bible Readings for January 28th Genesis 29 | Matthew 28 | Esther 5 | Acts 28 As we discussed during the meditation for Genesis 24, it is a running theme in Scripture for God’s people to meet their future spouses at wells. Abraham’s servant met Isaac’s wife-to-be, Rebekah, at a well, and now Jacob meets his future wife Rachel at a well. But after Ja…

Audio Bible Study on Eph 1:19 and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his mightFree audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 27th Genesis 28 | Matthew 27 | Esther 4 | Acts 27 At the outset of Genesis 28, Jacob has come to an impasse. If he does not flee, he will certainly be murdered by his brother, Esau, from whom he stole their father Isaac’s blessing in Genesis 27. But if he does flee, it is unclear how he will receive the blessing of Abraha…

Bible Readings for January 26th Genesis 27 | Matthew 26 | Esther 3 | Acts 26 The blessing that Isaac pronounces on Jacob—the blessing that he does not pronounce on Esau, despite his intentions to do so—was not a vague wish for his son’s well being. In fact, it was a prophesy that bore great weight and significance, so much so that Isaac had no bles…

Bible Readings for January 25th Genesis 26 | Matthew 25 | Esther 2 | Acts 25 Like father, like son. Or, to borrow a more Hebrew idiom, a father has eaten sour grapes, so his son’s teeth are set on edge (Jer. 31:29; Ezek. 18:2). What Abraham foolishly did twice in his lifetime—lying about the fact that his wife was, in fact, his wife to protect hims…

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Bible Readings for January 24th Genesis 25 | Matthew 24 | Esther 1 | Acts 24 Genesis 25 is a chapter of extreme transition in the unfolding story of God’s salvation in and through his people. In this chapter, we see God’s purposes in election across three generations. First, we read in Genesis 25 about the death of Abraham at the age of 175. Abraha…

This final lesson traces both the religious and moral low points in Israel's history.Mike Mazzalongo

1 Cor 12:2-3 2 Ye know that when ye were Gentiles (ye were) led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led. 3 Wherefore I make known unto you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 23rd Genesis 24 | Matthew 23 | Nehemiah 13 | Acts 23 Yesterday, in Genesis 23, we read about the death of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Today, in Genesis 24, we see Abraham himself approaching death. He too will not live to see God’s promises fulfilled. So, Abraham makes plans to help his son Isaac continue to serve Yahweh faith…

We don’t need to guess what worship is because the Bible has LOTS to say about worship. Learn about worship in this multi part study. This is part 1.Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 22nd Genesis 23 | Matthew 22 | Nehemiah 12 | Acts 22 Abraham and his wife, Sarah, lived their lives as pilgrims in the land God had promised to them. Theirs was a hard life, characterized by unfulfilled longings, constant danger, and disappointment. Still, they obeyed Yahweh, following him to the land of Canaan, out of th…

The Bible has a lot to say about songs and singing.Free audio sermons: Get free audio sermons and free audio Bible studies!

Bible Readings for January 21st Genesis 22 | Matthew 21 | Nehemiah 11 | Acts 21 In spite of all the long waiting and the extraordinary faith Abraham had to exercise while waiting for Isaac to come, God tests Abraham’s faith in an even greater way in Genesis 22 by asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain in Moriah. Shockingly, we read Abraham…

Eph 1:17-18 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,…

Bible Readings for January 20th Genesis 21 | Matthew 20 | Nehemiah 10 | Acts 20 At last, God fulfills his promise to Abraham and to Sarah. Finally, here in Genesis 21, Yahweh visits Sarah, enabling her to conceive, just as he had promised. Despite their old age (Abraham was one hundred years old at this point), God gives Abraham and Sarah a son. As…

In this lesson Mike reviews 5 things that every Christian must do in order to develop this virtue.Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 19th Genesis 20 | Matthew 19 | Nehemiah 9 | Acts 19 Genesis 20 is the second time we see Abraham lying about his wife to protect his own safety. A nearly identical story takes place in Genesis 12:10–20, when Abram lied to the pharaoh of Egypt, saying that his wife was merely his sister. In that story, God sent plagues aga…

Bible Readings for January 18th Genesis 19 | Matthew 18 | Nehemiah 8 | Acts 18 Lot is a fascinating example of someone who does not love God’s righteousness but who also does not approve of the world’s wickedness. There is a strange irony in the fact that Lot has become captivated with Sodom—captivated enough that he selfishly chose the region when…

Bible Readings for January 17th Genesis 18 | Matthew 17 | Nehemiah 7 | Acts 17 Genesis 18 contains a promise of extraordinary hope and of devastating judgment. This passage in some ways marks both the beginning of Abraham’s redemptive, covenant offspring as well as the end of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here Yahweh appears to Abraham in t…

Mike reviews the life and times of one of the most iconic and erratic characters of the Old Testament.Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 16th Genesis 17 | Matthew 16 | Nehemiah 6 | Acts 16 In Genesis 15, Yahweh had cut a covenant with Abram by passing twice through the pieces of the animals who had been torn in two. In this, Yahweh was promising that his body would be broken like the animals if either he broke the terms of the covenant or if Abram (or Abra…

Bible Readings for January 15th Genesis 16 | Matthew 15 | Nehemiah 5 | Acts 15 Back in Genesis 12, we read that Abram had distrusted and disobeyed Yahweh by going to Egypt because of a famine in the land of Canaan. On top of the sin of leaving the place where Yahweh had told Abram to remain, Abram also lied to the pharaoh of Egypt, telling him that…

Bible Readings for January 14th Genesis 15 | Matthew 14 | Nehemiah 4 | Acts 14 It is not surprising that we should find Abram so frustrated when Yahweh seems to have failed to keep his promise. Even a great man of faith like Abram struggles with the same kind of doubts that plague you and me. So, in Genesis 15:1, Yahweh comes to reassure Abram of h…

Bible Readings for January 13th Genesis 14 | Matthew 13 | Nehemiah 3 | Acts 13 In our meditation on Genesis 11, we mentioned that Babylon (Babel) is the archenemy of the people of God throughout the Scriptures. In Genesis 14, we meet Babylon again through Amraphel, the king of Shinar—that is, the king of Babylon (Gen. 10:10). Amraphel leads a group…

Bible Readings for January 12th Genesis 13 | Matthew 12 | Nehemiah 2 | Acts 12 Although God had extended shocking grace by calling Abram in Genesis 12:1–3, we read in Genesis 12:10–20 that Abram disbelieves God and leaves the land of Canaan (where God had commanded him to remain) to go to Egypt during a famine. This act of disbelief and disobedienc…

Bible Readings for January 11th Genesis 12 | Matthew 11 | Nehemiah 1 | Acts 11 If Genesis 11 is arguably the second lowest point in the Bible, then Genesis 12 is possibly the second most hopeful in the Bible—the only moment of greater triumph being the resurrection of Jesus. Since Genesis 3, everything in the unfolding story of the Scriptures has b…

Bible Readings for January 10th Genesis 11 | Matthew 10 | Ezra 10 | Acts 10 Arguably, Genesis 11 describes the second lowest point for humanity in the whole Bible—the only exception being the three days when Jesus lay dead in the tomb. We saw Adam and Eve expelled from intimate, direct fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Then, C…

Mike reviews the arch of success and failure experienced by some of Israel's best and least known Judges.Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 9th Genesis 9–10 | Matthew 9 | Ezra 9 | Acts 9 After God destroys the world with a flood during the days of Noah, he promises he will never pour out the same kind of judgment on the earth until the very end of time: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not …

Bible Readings for January 8th Genesis 8 | Matthew 8 | Ezra 8 | Acts 8 In Genesis 6, God tells Noah to build a giant boat—an ark—that would carry him, his family, and every species of animal in creation. As a result of human wickedness, God promised to destroy the whole world with a flood. The flood was more than mass destruction—it was the undoing…

Bible Readings for January 7th Genesis 7 | Matthew 7 | Ezra 7 | Acts 7 In the wake of the intermingling of the sons of God (the godly line of Seth) and the daughters of man (the wicked line of Cain) that we looked at yesterday in Genesis 6, God makes a promise: “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years”…

Bible Readings for January 6th Genesis 6 | Matthew 6 | Ezra 6 | Acts 6 The short, vague description of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:1–4 has spawned all kinds of strange interpretations over the years. Are the sons of God fallen angels who took for themselves human wives, creating demigod children? Is this just run-of-the-mill mythological literature, …

Bible Readings for January 5th Genesis 5 | Matthew 5 | Ezra 5 | Acts 5 It’s tempting to gloss over the many genealogies included in the Bible, but there are important reasons not to. God himself decided to place the text of genealogies within his written word, so we should recognize that the genealogies are canonical Scripture just as much as the m…

Bible Readings for January 4th Genesis 4 | Matthew 4 | Ezra 4 | Acts 4 Isn’t it shocking to find a story of murder only one chapter after Adam and Eve are expelled from the perfections of the Garden of Eden? This act of fratricide in Genesis 4 demonstrates that the curse of sin already has a vice-grip on humanity, and in today’s meditation, we’ll l…

Bible Readings for January 3rd Genesis 3 | Matthew 3 | Ezra 3 | Acts 3 Although it’s difficult to see in English translations, Genesis 3:8 is one of the most tragic verses in the whole Bible: “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD …

Mike reviews the spectacular rise of Gideon as a leader and judge of Israel as well as his fall into idolatry.Mike Mazzalongo

Bible Readings for January 2nd Genesis 2 | Matthew 2 | Ezra 2 | Acts 2 Where Genesis 1 gave a fly-by overview of creation, Genesis 2 slows the narrative down to tell us more details about the creation of Adam and Eve, as well as Yahweh’s purposes for humankind on earth. In Genesis 2, we see a different dimension to the story of God’s creation—we se…

Bible Readings for January 1st Genesis 1 | Matthew 1 | Ezra 1 | Acts 1 There is a beautiful simplicity to Genesis 1 that masks its rich theological depth. Nothing about the straightforward description of each day’s creation nor about the repetition of God’s decreeing creation into existence (“Let there be…”) or of declaring all his creation to be “…

Bible Readings for December 31st 2 Chronicles 36 | Revelation 22 | Malachi 4 | John 21 The focal point of 2 Chronicles 36 is not in the stories of the wicked sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, nor in the stories of the brothers Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, who presided over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah. These wicked kings do…

The disastrous floods that ravage various parts of the world each year remind us of the catastrophic deluge that God once used to destroy the earth in the days of Noah.Mike Mazzalongo