In August of 2024, the congregations of China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist church started on a journey to read the Bible together over two years. To facilitate this, I have created a reading schedule and am providing some daily thoughts to help along the way.

Each day’s entry contains the assigned reading (with a link to read it online at Bible Gateway) and a contemplation on how the section relates to life or to other parts of scripture. There is also a short reading from the Wisdom writings of the Bible and a suggested prayer focus. The most important part, though, is the words of scripture themselves; they are our surest guide to life.

– Mark Fleming, pastor

Most recent reading:

• Day 065 Matthew 16:13 – 18:35

  

  Tuesday, Oct. 15
  Matthew 16:13 – 18:35 Read it here
  I once heard panicked whining from my previous dog, Horatio, and found that he had gotten his head stuck under a dresser and couldn’t figure out how to get out.
  The problem, it turned out, is that the dresser had only a low opening at floor level—enough room for Horatio to get his head underneath to retrieve his toy that had rolled under there, but not enough room to get his head out with the toy in his mouth. He didn’t like being stuck, but he wasn’t willing to let go.
  It was an easy matter for me to get down on the floor and get the toy away from him and get both dog and toy back where they belonged. It’s easy to laugh at a dog for getting himself trapped by his own stubbornness, but it’s also too easy to see how often we do the same thing. Sometimes, holding on is the problem.
  God, though, is more patient than I am. I simply forced Horatio to let go, then solved the problem for him.
  As we talked about when we looked at the healing miracles, we know that there are times when God intervenes and solves the problem for us…but most of the time he doesn’t. It is in living through the challenge that we find growth.
  In Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus tells his disciples about his upcoming death. He even includes the good news, “on the third day be raised to life.”
  Yet Peter sees only the defeat, not the victory it will bring. “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
  Jesus’s reply is emphatic: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.”
  I’ve always thought the harshness of the reply suggests that Jesus might have been dealing with the same temptation to avoid the painful experience—few things anger us more than seeing our own weakness reflected back to us—but that’s just speculation. We know, though, that he realized that Peter’s desire to hold on to him was counter to what needed to happen. To win his glorious victory, Jesus must first accept a humiliating defeat.
  Jesus continued, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
  Embracing Jesus and the eternal life he offers requires giving up the limited but familiar life we have now…it is only in letting go of the things we cling to most tightly that we can trust Jesus to be our strength and rest.

  Tuesday meditation

  Proverbs 10:31-32
  From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.
  The lips of the righteous know what finds favor, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

  Prayer focus
  Pray for God to show you the things you need to let go of so that you can find rest in him.

  -Rev. Mark Fleming

Previous week’s posts
Individual posts have a comment section and respectful discussion is encouraged.

• 
  Day 065 Matthew 16:13 – 18:35
  Sometimes, holding on is the problem.
• 
  Day 064 Matthew 13:53 – 16:12
  Which comes first: a clean heart or righteous life? While the two build on each other, Jesus offers the clean heart as a free gift…and that leads to holy living.
• 
  Day 063 Matthew 12:22-13:52
  Jesus wants his gospel spread to all people in all parts of the world – even to the people and places we don’t like very much.
• 
  Day 062 Matthew 10:1 – 12:21
  Jesus promises us freedom and peace – but even his own life makes it clear there will be struggles before we get there.
• 
  Day 061 Matthew 8:1 – 9:38
  Miracles invite some people into the faith, and are a distraction to others. In every case, though, they are a testimony to God’s power.
• 
  Day 060 Matthew 6:25 – 7:28
  As Jesus continues with his sermon, his teachings turn from lofty theory to practical advice on living the Christian life.
• 
  Day 059-Matthew 5:1 – 6:24
  The values of the kingdom of God are very different from the values of the world. Embracing Christ’s values requires letting go of ones we’re familiar with.

For the full schedule of Matthew readings, click here
For the full Genesis-Exodus reading schedule, click here