B. A. D. (Be A Disciple) Student Ministries

Finishing the Bible in 90 Days.  Wow. Wow.  WOW!  We've done it. Everyone who even started the Bible at any point should be proud of themselves, and for those of you who've stuck with it over the past 88 days--congratulations. You've done it. You've read the word of God . Isn't that insane? And let me tell you, the planning behind the Bible is immaculate, it ended on just the right note. A bit of a kick in the rear-end, and a whole lot of encouragement.  So. Our final reading began with... the end. The fall of the world. Of all the sin, and sadness that holds us captive to this world.  And, just so we're clear, there's no reason to be afraid. There's one more horse with a rider. One coming on a white horse called Faithful and True. His name? The Word of God. I kid you not. That book we just read. God's Word . Is coming to save us all. And you've just read it! So keep your faith--we will be judged, but never forget that Christ d

The Beginning of the End  Today, we begin the final book of the Bible: Revelation. But before that, we read Jude, which serves as a bit of a warning. It implores us all to remember that although God delivered His people from Egypt, He destroyed those who didn't believe. But we must build ourselves up in the mercy of Christ that was freely given to us. We must keep ourselves in God's love.  And so, Revelation begins.  I'd like to point out that the book of Revelation begins with a blessing for each person who reads it. So that should make you feel good about the past 86 days!  The first chapter is dedicated to describing Jesus in a different way--not by his actions, but by his spirit. He was. He is. And he is to come yet again. And he is alive for ever and ever.  In chapter 2, we get this amazing verse in 2:7-- Whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in

Words of Wisdom  (Not from me) James finishes off with some more advice: Be patient when you suffer--and don't complain about one another! Our Judge is right at our door. Give yourself time to pray when you're down, and time to praise when you're up. Prayers filled with faith, righteousness, and strength are the most powerful weapon.  So then we move on to Peter, who begins his books with a great example of praise--just check out chapter 1.  Remember, Peter and Jesus were like best friends. Peter could have taken his books and written about all the cool things Jesus did, what he did for fun on the weekends, etc. But instead, he took his words and made an example of how to live a Christian life.  It mostly serves as a reminder to follow in Jesus's footsteps (tall order, right?), and let's people know that there will be suffering as a Christian--but if we're living for God, we've got more important things to focus on.  Then, we arrive

Finishing Strong!  I'd like to start with a brief explanation and apology for my weekend-long absence. Thursday night, while taking my dogs out on leashes to potty, my two sub-20 lb dogs were attacked by a dog which weighed 40 lbs more than I did. Both dogs are okay, though one did have to undergo surgery, but it was an extremely traumatizing experience for me, and I needed some time to decompress (and figure out how to take care of a post-surgery 11-yr-old dog, and entertain a puppy who's best friend is out of commission). All three of us are okay, and the attack could have gone very differently. I praise God for allowing us to get through it with comparatively minor damages. To those of you who knew, thank you all for your support, well wishes, and prayers.  Hebrews is a really interesting book of the Bible. And it basically does my whole job for me. It summarizes the entire Bible . (Okay well sort of. It summarizes the meaning of the Bible).  Pretty cool,  right?

Paul Talks to Corinth Only one week left in the challenge! Can you believe it?! The book of Romans ends with Paul explaining that he will eventually visit Rome in person, but that there are places who have no knowledge of Christ, and he has to go to try to save them. He leaves a little shout out to some of his friends to say hi, as well, which is actually super adorable. Then, he begins talking to the people of Corinth via the first letter--1 Corinthians. So the letter begins with a note of thanksgiving, but then quickly shifts into a few harsh words regarding the divisions among the church. I particularly like 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, where he's saying all the deities people have told them that they follow. Paul himself is one of them. Then he asks, "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?" And I don't know I just think the sentence "baptized in the name of Paul" is hysterical. Paul goes on to mention

Romans Ah, Romans. I could talk about this book forever. I love every verse, and I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that my highlighter was starting to run dry by the end of today's reading. Rather than creating a dissertation, I'll just focus on a few key points from today's reading.  You may have noticed that quite a bit of the first chapters focused pretty heavily on circumcision. The circumcision is a symbol of sacrifice (we'll talk about that later), and was also used to distinguished Jews from Gentiles. But when Christ came, there was no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile, all are welcome to be saved by Christ. What is  still important is a circumcision of the heart. Cutting away all of the sin and negativity and evil within us, in order to make room for the Holy Spirit.  Romans 5:6-8 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, thou

It Stands to Reason... One thing that I found interesting in today's reading is the disciples continued journey to spread the word of Christ. Can you imagine how unusual and awkward it must have felt for the disciples to walk into their former synagogues and say, "Hey, the entire religion has changed, let me tell you how."? One thing that it did say though, was that the disciples reasoned  when speaking with them. They didn't just tell them and leave. And they didn't try to shove Jesus down their throats. They reasoned  with them. And for the most part, it worked. If you think logically, about all the predictions that were made in the Old Testament, and then have lived to see all of them come true, it seems like reasoning would be the best option. Now, we haven't lived to see the prediction come through, that was before any of our lives. But we can still reason our way into belief. There's historical proof of Christ--he's written about beyond just t