John the Baptist – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

January 4, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Today we read John 3, the new birth chapter; you must be born again (literally: from above), the new birth is necessary to enter into the Kingdom of God; John 3:16 is the most quoted verse in all the Bible.

Genesis 4 tells of the results of original sin with the story of Cain and Abel and the beginning of animal sacrifice. After the fall people had the spiritual void not being able to fellowship with God, nor even communicate. To satisfy the need to do what they felt God wanted, and God showed that only sacrifice involving the shedding of blood would suffice

Genesis 5 gives the Genealogy from Adam to Noah.

The take home for today is there are two births, the physical birth and the spiritual birth (the birth from above), the first sacrifice, the first murder, the first man (Enoch) to be carried directly to God rather than die, (because he walked with God).

January 2, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Today’s reading of the Bible begins with John 1: 19-51. John the Baptist testified about the Messiah: “Make straight the way for the Lord”. When he met Jesus he referred him as “The Lamb of God” that “takes away the sin of the world”, and “this is the Son of God”. Jesus called his first disciples, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel.

Genesis 2 tells of how God created woman out of man, showing that creation was not complete without man and woman as a unit. This must be taken spiritually, since in Genesis 1 he already created man in His own image, male and female. God’s design is one man, one woman, one lifetime. This would still be the case if we let God chose our mate. If we had followed God’s intent, many sicknesses would not exist, especially sexually transmitted diseases. “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 18:22

To find out how God created woman we move to verse ²¹So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²²Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.“The rib” is from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. The original Hebrew meaning is “took part of the man’s side“, but since the Greek Septuagint was the most used version of the Scriptures for the early Christians, the rib won.

Don’t get stuck on the detail if it was from the side or from a rib. That is not the point of the story. Some take it to only mean “the two shall be one flesh” is only for procreation, but it is more than that. I can attest it works, having been married now to my wife for over 57 years. It works through communication and fellowship with God. This fellowship is broken in Genesis 3 and forward in the Old Testament.

May 4, read the Bible in a year; in PowerPoint, with comments.

Luke 7:24-50, Jesus stated about John the Baptist: “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Jesus was later anointed by a sinful woman, and Jesus forgave her with these words: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

2 Samuel 9. Saul’s remaining son, Mephibosheth was paralyzed in both feet. David showed kindness and invited him to be part of David’s household.

2 Samuel 10. David defeated the Ammonites and when they fled David defeated the Arameans (Syrians).

2 Samuel 11 is very important, it tells of the adultery of David with Bathsheba, and how he had her husband Uriah killed in battle to cover it up. This displeased God.

January 2, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; with comments.

January 2, read the Bible in a year; in PowerPoint, with comments.

Day 2 of reading the Holy Bible in 365 days.

March 26: Read through the Holy Bible in a year

Mark 1:1-11 starts, not with the birth of Jesus, but with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, baptized many for repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and he also baptized Jesus.

Deuteronomy 33. Moses’ gave his final blessing on each of the tribes of Israel.

Deuteronomy 34. Moses died on Mount Nebo. Epilogue: “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”. This ends the firsr five books of the Bible, also called the Torah.

February 5: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Matthew 3:1-12 presents John the Baptist, preaching repentance. He came to prepare the way of the Lord. John the Baptist baptized in water for repentance. He prophesiced that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire.

Exodus 21 and Exodus 22 contain regulations on servant-hood and slavery, penalties for manslaughter and personal injuries, all Mosaic law.

January 2: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

Today’s reading of the Bible begins with John 1: 19-51. John the Baptist testified about the Messiah: “Make straight the way for the Lord”. When he met Jesus he referred him as “The Lamb of God” that “takes away the sin of the world”, and “this is the Son of God”. Jesus called his first disciples, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel.

Genesis 2, tells of how God created woman out of man, showing that creation was not complete without man and woman as a unit. This must be taken spiritually, since in Genesis 1 he already created man in His own image, male and female. God’s design is one man, one woman, one lifetime. This would still be the case if we let God chose our mate. If we had followed God’s intent, many sicknesses would not exist, especially sexually transmitted diseases.