Monday, December 31, 2012

OUR SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE: Through the Bible Together in 2013

Fellow Pilgrims:  Our new journey of faith begins tomorrow - New Year's Day, 2013.  We have committed as a church to study the Bible together daily and hope that all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ - and all seekers - will join us on this pilgrimage.  We want to know individually and collectively just what the Word of God says, meditate on its meaning for our church and personal lives, and pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance in applying it to our daily walk - all to honor and glorify God.
Soli Deo Gloria.

When the Mt. Celo Women's Group presented the new Daily Study Bible to each member, we included the following letter. We are beginning this study this year with the new Life Principles Daily Study Bible by Charles Stanley. We encourage you to join us in this day-by-day study in this selected text or in any Bible of your choosing.  Please share your thoughts, lessons learned, and life applications with us as we discover God's truth newly applied to our lives.  As Jim Reimann says in his commentary of Charles Spurgeon's Morning by Morning devotional for today:  'This year may we make a different kind of resolution - one that will pay spiritual dividends for years to come.  May we simply resolve to go to Jesus every day of the year - and drink of Him!  May our closing prayer of this year be that of David, who prayed, "One thing I ask of the LORD; this is what I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, and to seek Him in His temple."' Ps. 27:4  Godspeed.

Mt. Celo Presbyterian Church                         
5275 State Highway 80 S, Burnsville, NC 28714-7443
December 16th, 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As most of you know, a few of us began a Bible Study Group in the church within the past year.  Our lives have been enriched and blessed by God as we have committed to a serious study and meditation of His Word and its application to our lives through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We felt God’s convicting us to make a request to you for collective daily covenantal Bible study and prayer – at home by each of us – on the same Scripture selections every day – taking us through the entire Bible together in a year. 
Charles Stanley’s new Life Application Daily Bible was selected by the group because of the impact Dr. Stanley’s teaching has had on many of us in this congregation.  We hope the study notes and life application samples will lead you closer to God as He speaks to you personally through His Word.
The Graham family has a technique they use for meditating on God’s Word.  It does lengthen a reading into a study, but we have found this powerfully effective in taking us into deeper communion with God.  This is a 4-step program, which we like to write (or type) for sharing in our group study.  Step #1:  What does the verse say?  Step #2 :  What does it mean?  Step # 3:  What lessons are taught in this verse?  Step #4:  How can I apply this to my life? 
May you be richly blessed, comforted and encouraged as your commune with God through His sacred Word, and may it be a means for God to use us to reach out to others in His Name and for His glory.
Love in Christ,
Mt. Celo Women’s Bible Study Group
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalm 119:105

2 comments:

  1. Readings for January 1, 2013

    Old Testament: Genesis 1:1 - 2:25
    Psalm 1: 1-6
    Proverbs 1:1-7
    New Testament: Matthew 1:1-25

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  2. The blog looks great & portrays the glory of God at 1st glance. I am excited about the Bible Study--it is encouraging to know the congregation is doing it together. We never have to worry about getting into a rut or being bored where God is concerned. "A close walk with (God) is a life of continual newness" (a line from a short devotion I read this morning from "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young, and very appropriate for beginning a new year!)

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