Bible-Reading Coach Karl Vaters

This is it! Week 52!
And what a way to end, not just this 52-week trip, but the Bible as a whole, with the amazing, astonishing, at times very confusing, but ultimately very hopeful book of Revelation.
In this episode Karl Vaters walks us through how to get the most out of our reading, peeling away much of the confusion, and simplifying this book in ways you never thought it could be simplified.
After this? Start the series again. This time, invite friends to do it with you.

Links:

Revelation 24-part YouTube series

Map of 7 churches of Revelation


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This week we’ll read more books than any other week.
The bulk of our time will be on the small books of James, 1 Peter, and 1 John. We'll also read through the super-small books of 2 Peter, 2-3 John and Jude.
For the first time since Acts, we’ll be reading letters that we know were written by someone other than Paul, namely the writers who the books are named after. Interestingly, these four authors include two of the 12 disciples and two of Jesus’ half-brothers.
We’ll also get some great biblical wisdom out of these short, but powerful letters.

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This week we finish off the writings of Paul, with two very short letters. One (Titus) to a pastor, and another (Philemon) to a slave owner who was now a Christian. Philemon is a short, but complicated book about how a slave owner and a slave (both now Christians) should treat each other as brothers in Christ.

But we’ll spend most of the week reading Hebrews, a book whose authorship is a mystery, but whose message couldn’t be clearer. It’s written to Jewish Christians to help them understand what it means to live as followers of Jesus, while still honoring, but not being bound by the Jewish cultures, traditions, scriptures, and families.

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This week we’ll read six books, tying week 39 for the most books read in one week – at least until week 51, when we’ll read seven books.

All were written by Paul. The first four are his instructions to the churches in the towns of Philippi, Colossae and Thessalonica. The final two are to Timothy, who was pastoring the church Paul had planted in the city of Ephesus. The letters to Timothy are the first of what are called the pastoral epistles.

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For the next few weeks we’ll be reading an increasing number of books. No, we’re not going faster, the books are just getting smaller. Because they weren’t written as books, but as letters.

This week we’ll read three mid-sized books written by Paul to churches he had planted. Two were written to Christians in large cities (Corinth and Ephesus), one was written to churches in several small towns in a mostly rural region (Galatia).

So much of what we know about grace, faith, and how they operate in our lives as Christians come from these important books.

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1 Corinthians is one of the most personal, practical books in the New Testament. Written by the apostle Paul to a church that was having lots of problems, it contains many passages that you’ve probably heard out of context at weddings, funerals, and communion services.

This is a great time to see them in their original context and learn from them in an even deeper way.

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