The 2020 State of Bible report found:

  • A majority of people think that our country would be worse off if people didn’t read the Bible

  • A majority said that the Bible contains everything we need to live a meaningful life

  • People believed they would know God’s will if they read the Bible and that it would bring them closer to Him.
That sounds like a cure-all, a miracle drug that will solve every problem, right?

You’d think that a huge majority reads it regularly then? Wrong.

When asked, “How often do you use the Bible on your own?”

9% read it everyday and only 3% read it 3 to 4 times a week.

That is why I preached this message, the most important of all of 2020, excepting the other forty-nine.
During the message, I said that I would pay anyone who memorized Psalm 119 a hundred bucks out of my own pocket. Another man from our congrgation shouted that he would pay $1,000.00. They have until February 14 to do it. So far, no takers. (Sorry, only for Community Church of the Hills' members.)
We offered to buy a ONE YEAR BIBLE, (it gives a portion of the OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs each day), or THE DAILY BIBLE, (arranged in chronological order), to anyone who from our congregation who asked. Nine got one. As a bonus, we offered each family “The Action Bible” too! It gives a great overview of the entire Bible and is illustrated by a Marvel Comics artist who drew Superman, Batman and Spiderman. It’s a great reading option for the entire family! Nine more requested one. At our church we are serious about daily Bible reading. It's not too late for you. Read the One Year Bible online by clicking here. They also offer it chronologically!
If there's enough interest, I'd like to start a Zoom Bible Reading Accountability Group. It will be an hour long. We will share our Bible reading goals, how we're doing and what God is saying to us. And we'll pray. Reply to this email if interested.
Memes for 2021
Read this Puritan prayer about Bible reading from "The Valley of Vision":
I thank thee for the holy Scriptures,
    their precepts, promises, directions, light.
In them may I learn more of Christ,
  be enabled to retain his truth
  and have grace to follow it.
Help me to lift up the gates of my soul
    that he may come in
  and show me himself when I search
    the Scriptures,
  for I have no lines to fathom its depths,
  no wings to soar to its heights.
By his aid may I be enabled to explore
    all its truths,
  love them with all my heart,
  embrace them with all my power,
  engraft them into my life.
Bless to my soul all grains of truth garnered
    from thy Word;
  may they take deep root,
  be refreshed by heavenly dew,
  be ripened by heavenly rays,
  be harvested to my joy and thy praise.
Help me to gain profit by what I read,
  as treasure beyond all treasure,
  a fountain which can replenish my dry heart,
    its waters flowing through me as a perennial river
    on-drawn by thy Holy Spirit.
Enable me to distil from its pages faithful prayer
  that grasps the arm of thy omnipotence,
  achieves wonders, obtains blessings,
  and draws down streams of mercy.
From it show me how my words have often been
    unfaithful to thee,
    injurious to my fellow-men,
    empty of grace, full of folly,
    dishonouring to my calling.
Then write thy own words upon my heart
    and inscribe them on my lips;
So shall all glory be to thee
    in my reading of thy Word!
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