By Landon Coleman
Pastor, Immanuel
At Immanuel, we are reading through the New Testament in 2022. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, so reading 5 chapters a week will get us through the entire New Testament in a year.
We are nine weeks into this plan, which means we’ve read through all of Matthew, all of Mark, and we’ve started Luke. In addition to this reading plan, our Sunday morning and Wednesday evening sermons are taken from the window of chapters we’ve read in the previous week.
I’ll admit, reading the New Testament over the course of a calendar year is not exactly an overly ambitious reading plan. Most years I use the “M’Cheyne” reading plans which takes you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice over the course of a year. Even more impressive, I have a pastor friend who just made it through a Bible reading plan that took him through the entire Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, in just 45 days!
So, compared to these more ambitious Bible reading plans, our calendar of reading through the New Testament over the course of a year seems somewhat modest. Nevertheless, embarking on this Bible reading journey for the first two months of 2022 has reminded me of two truths.
First, having a Bible reading plan is important. In my 15 years of pastoral ministry, I’ve met many people who have confidently boasted that they’ve read the entire Bible, “cover to cover.” In the course of my conversations with many of these same people, it quickly becomes apparent that they are either lying or that they didn’t retain much of what they claim to have read.
People living in the United States have virtually unlimited access to the Bible, and yet, we are a Biblically illiterate nation. We think we know what the Bible says, but I’m convinced many of those who claim to have read the Bible “cover to cover” have done no such thing. Our church is only two months into the New Testament, and already I’ve had multiple conversations with people who have told me, “I’ve read the Bible, but I didn’t know that was in there!”
This is where a Bible reading plan is helpful. Life is busy, and the Bible is not an easy book to read and make sense of. A systematic Bible reading plan gives you a road map to read the entirety of God’s Word, while also helping you track your progress – or lack thereof.
Second, using a Bible reading plan is an important way that God’s people can prepare for Sunday services, aka corporate worship, aka “big-church.” We’re two months into reading the Bible together. During those two months, it’s been evident that God is at work in the lives of his people in a powerful way. My preaching hasn’t improved. Our music hasn’t changed. Our order of service is the same. In my opinion, the thing that has changed is the consistency with which our people are reading the Word of God. Exposing yourself to the Word of God during the week prepares you to hear the Word of God in a powerful way when you show up on Sunday.
The takeaway in all of this is simple. First, find a Bible reading plan and start reading. Second, find a Bible preaching church and start attending.
