Tag: God

February 11, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

Matthew 6:1-18 continues the telling of the sermon on the mount. Jesus spoke of doing good, of fasting and prayer, do it without fanfare, in secret if possible and, above all, be sincere. He then instituted what is called “The Lord’s prayer” which really is a pattern prayer for us, short, direct, but covers the essentials. Fasting should go together with serious prayer, but make it simple.

Exodus 38 records of how the altar of burnt offerings and the basin for washing was made, continuing telling about the courtyard around the tabernacle and all the materials used.

Exodus 39 records how the priestly garments were to be made, the ephod, the breastplate, the bells and pomegranates, the mitre and undergarments and finally the words “Holy to the LORD” to be fastened to the priest’s turban.

And in Exodus 40 the tabernacle was finished, the Priests installed and finally God blessed the tabernacle with His presence when the Glory of the LORD filled it. That ends the book of Exodus.

February 8, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

Matthew 4:12-25. After Jesus was baptized and was led into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights he began his ministry and called his first disciples.

Exodus 30 describes the  altar of incense, mentions rules for the poll tax and the basin for washing, anointing oil and rules for sacred incense.

Exodus 31 is short; it tells of two named craftsmen to be leaders of performing the artistic aspect of all the work to build the tabernacle. Then there are rules of how to observe the Sabbath, and with that, God finished His message to Moses by giving him the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments written by the finger of God.

In Exodus 32 Moses did come down from the mountain and what did he find? He found the Golden Calf and the people singing and dancing in orgies. Moses became so angry that he threw down the two tablets with God’s commandments, and they broke in pieces. Then he pleaded with God not to destroy His people.

February 6, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

In Matthew 3:11-17 Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist. Afterwards the holy Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus and a voice from heaven said: “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”.

Exodus 23 continues with the writing down laws about justice and mercy, how you are to help even someone who hates you. God instituted the Sabbath laws; in six years you may harvest your fields, but the seventh year you will let it go fallow. (In my childhood Sweden this seven year planting cycle was still practiced by many farmers.) The seventh day rest was to be practiced by all and applied to work animals as well. Moses also defined the three annual feasts, the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of harvest and the feast of in-gathering. Finally God warned of worshiping other Gods.

In Exodus 24 God confirmed His covenant with the people, and Moses went up to Mount Sinai and stayed there 40 days and 40 nights, a long time for the people to be without a leader.

In Exodus 25 Moses told the people make an offering, and out of this offering was made three furnishings for the tabernacle, the ark, the table and the lampstand.

Exodus 26. God described to Moses how the tabernacle was to be built.

February 3, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

Matthew 2:1-12 . We get to read about the Magi (probably about 15 of them including servants) who came to Jerusalem to ask about the King of the Jews. This worried King Herod and all Jerusalem, and Herod asked the Scribes and the other learned men where he was to be born. They answered “In Bethlehem of Judea”, but were otherwise remarkably uninterested. The wise men went to Jesus (he is by now at least a few months old), but did not report back to Herod, instead they returned another way.

In Exodus 16  God gave them Manna (what is it?) and quail, and Moses gave the instructions on how to gather it. And they ate Manna for 40 years.

In Exodus 17, lack of water is a recurring theme in the desert. In Rephidim there was no water at all, so God told Moses to strike the rock at the foot of Mount Horeb. Water gushed out and they were all filled with good water. Good it was, for the Amalekites attacked them right afterwards. Joshua and his men fought a good fight, and Moses helped by raising his hands, and as long as he held them high Joshua prevailed. But Moses got tired, so Aaron and Hur held up his hands until sunset, and so the Amalekites were defeated.

Exodus 18 tells of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law when he visited Moses, who now was in a difficult situation trying to lead his people all by himself, and Jethro gave Moses good advice about real leadership, delegation of management, a practice essential for all governing.

January 29, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

John 19:1-16. The trial of Jesus continued under Pilate. He tried his best to get out of it by placing a crown of thorn on Jesus, let the soldiers mock him and hit him, hoping that would placate the Jews. But they cried Crucify! He tried and tried, but they cried “We have no King but Caesar” so Pilate finally gave in and handed Jesus over to be crucified.

In Exodus 7 God promised Moses to give him the words to all he must say, and Aaron was to tell it to Pharaoh. God also said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart and not let the people go. Aaron threw down his rod and it became a snake. The Egyptians duplicated it. The first plague out of ten occurred, turning the water of the Nile to blood.

Exodus 8 is very interesting. It tells of three more plagues of Egypt, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats and the plague of flies. The Egyptian magicians had no trouble duplicating elements of the plague of frogs, but when it came to the plague of gnats they threw up their hands and said “This is the finger of God”. From then on they could not duplicate any of the plagues.

January 28, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

John 18:28-40 deals with the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life, from the trial before Annas and the Sanhedron Jesus was paraded before Pilate, seeing a way out, Pilate sent him to Herod, who sent him back to Pilate, Pilate offered to release Jesus or Barabbas and the people demanded that Barabbas be released.

In Exodus 4 God gave Moses his call. At first Moses came up with one objection after another, but God persuaded him with signs that he must go back to Egypt, face Pharaoh and lead his people.

In Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked for a 3 day reprieve for their people so they could go and worship God. Like all dictators Pharaoh reacted to this petition by making life even more miserable for the Hebrews; he wanted them to gather their own straw and still make as many bricks as before. The Hebrews blamed Moses for stirring up trouble for them.

And in Exodus 6 the LORD (Jehovah) promised deliverance from Pharaoh and He would give them the land He had promised Abraham. The narrative continues with an interlude where the names of the heads of the clans of Israel are listed. Moses protested and did not want to talk to Pharaoh any more, so Aaron would have to do the speaking.

January 26, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

John 17 is commonly known as Jesus’ high priestly prayer. In some conservative circles it is also called “The Lord’s prayer.” In it Jesus prayed for himself, then he prayed for his disciples followed by prayer for all future believers. In the end of the chapter he prayed that the believers will see his glory, the glory God gave him before the creation of the world.

A few hundred years has passed since the end of Genesis. Exodus 1 tells how the Hebrews multiplied and became a perceived threat to the Egyptians. The Egyptians told the Hebrew midwives that every boy they delivered must be thrown into the Nile, but every girl were to be let to live.

Which seamlessly leads into Exodus 2, how Moses when he was born was placed in a papyrus basket, which then was thrown into the Nile and the child was left crying in the reeds. Pharaoh’s daughter heard it, picked him up and asked her servant to find somebody to nurse him. Of course she found Moses’ own mother to nurse him. After he was weaned Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s household and got educated. He did remember he was a Hebrew, so when he saw an Egyptian mistreat a Hebrew he killed the Egyptian. This became known and Moses fled to Midian, where he spent 40 years tending flocks. This is great reading.

January 22, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

John 14:15-31 records the events of the hour after the Passover meal before they all departed to Gethsemane. Since Jesus told his disciples he was leaving, he promised to send another comforter or advocate. (I have put in a short explanation on the difference in the interpretation of this passage between Christianity and Islam). Jesus then explained clearly he will be going away and send the Holy Spirit in his place.

In Genesis 42 there was famine in Canaan, as happened quite often, so Joseph’s brothers went down to Egypt to buy food. They met Joseph, now governor of Egypt, and he demanded to see Benjamin, who was left behind with Jacob. They agreed to do so and left one of the brothers behind as collateral. Joseph was very distraught at the proposition, since Joseph and Benjamin were his favorite children.

And in Genesis 43 the famine continued, so they had to go back to Egypt for more. This time they had to bring Benjamin with them to keep their promise to Joseph. Joseph gave them all food from his table, and he gave a five times larger portion to Benjamin. So ends that chapter.

Genesis 44 tells how Joseph tested his brothers by having Joseph’s own silver cup placed in Benjamin’s sack as the brothers returned back to Canaan. They all passed the test and returned to Joseph to await his judgment.

January 21, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

John 14:1-14 records the events of the hour after the Passover meal before they all depart to Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples he is going away to prepare a mansion, more precisely a dwelling place for them. Thomas, always questioning him, asked him “How can we know the way?” And Philip added “Show us the Father“. Jesus answer? “Believe in me“.

Genesis 40 deals with dreams. Joseph’s two fellow cellmates in prison each had a dream, Joseph interpreted the dreams that the cup-bearer would be released and restored to his former position, while the baker would be hanged on a tree.

In Genesis 41  Pharaoh himself had a dream, and Joseph was released from prison to interpret the dream. It dealt with seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Joseph interpreted the dream so well that Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all affairs of Egypt. The seven years of plenty came and good harvests filled the storehouses. Then came the seven years of famine.

Psalm 8 has been set to music many times. Even I have sung it many times, both as a choir number, and the first verse as an introit. Looking for the music I found a far better, very free rendition of the Psalm, this one by Marty Goetz.

January 17, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

Mankind has a strong survival instinct. This leads to trying to manipulate people to gain an advantage or at least survive, and because Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11:45-57 the ruling Jews were worried that Jesus would become ruler and then the Romans would destroy their nation. This lead to Caiaphas’ inadvertent prophecy “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

The sons of Laban were displeased with Jacob getting rich at their expense, so in Genesis 31 Jacob fled from Laban. However, as Jacob, wives and children all were set to depart, Rachel stole Laban’s idols. Laban found out the idols were missing, pursued Jacob and caught up with him. Laban looked for the idols, at no avail, Rachel had hid them under the saddle of her camel and sat on it claiming she had her period. Finally Laban gave in, said farewell to all and he and Joseph established the Mizpah.

In Genesis 32 Jacob, schemer as he was, prepared to meet Esau. He figured Esau wanted to kill him, so he split up his company in two, and gave instructions to his messengers on what to say to make Esau less vindictive. Then the Jacob family crossed the Ford of Jabbok. On the other side they camped for the night, and Jacob wrestled with an angel of God and prevailed, but got a limp in his hip. God then gave Jacob a new, spiritual name, Israel.

And in Genesis 33 Jacob finally met up with Esau, but it turned out that Esau rejoiced to see Jacob and all his children.