3-Day Bible Reading Plan - “Every Person is a Patient and a Nurse”
“The Church isn’t for people who have it all together. We each come into this place broken, needy, lost, confused, or lonely. In that way, the Church really is like a hospital. If you’re in the hospital, you’re there for a reason. You’re looking for healing. And if each of us are given some sort of role, a gifting, then we are like patients who have medicine that can’t heal us, but it can heal the next guy.” - Pastor Jacob Hawley, 8/25/24
Day 1
Featured Verse: 1 Peter 4:7-11 - “Above All, Keep Loving One Another Earnestly”
Cross References:
Philippians 2:4 - “Look…Also to the Interests of Others”
How have you loved others by looking after their interests as well as your own?
1 Corinthians 9:19 - “I Have Made Myself a Servant to All”
What does it mean that Paul has made himself a servant to all? How might you do the same?
Galatians 5:13 - “Through Love Serve One Another”
Our freedom in Christ is not for selfishness, but to serve one another through love. Consider: Love must be the prerequisite and motive of service. If one does not love, they are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“If we do not love one another, we certainly shall not have much power with God in prayer.” - D.L. Moody
“A cup brimful of sweetness cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, no matter how suddenly jarred.” - Amy Carmichael
Day 2
Featured Verse: Proverbs 10:12 - “Hatred Stirs Up Strife, But Love Covers All Offenses”
Cross References:
James 5:20 - “Whoever Brings Back a Sinner…Will Cover a Multitude of Sins”
Not only does “bringing back” a sinner save him from death, it also covers a multitude of sins. The way James frames this thought is that there are two benefits to salvation—eternal life and freedom from the power of sin. How does loving another in Jesus’ name accomplish these two things?
Psalm 32:1 - “Blessed is the One…Whose Sin is Covered”
Have you ever had a debt forgiven? It’s a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. There is no greater debt than the one owed to God. Only God Himself could pay it. How has God blessed your life now that your sins have been forgiven?
1 Corinthians 13:13 - “The Greatest of These is Love”
First Corinthians chapter 13 follows chapter 12 where Paul outlines various Spiritual giftings, then says he will show a more excellent way. Why is love the greatest Spiritual gift?
“There may be some sins of which a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away.” - Charles Spurgeon
“Give as you love, and measure your love by your gift.” - Charles Spurgeon
Day 3
Featured Verse: Psalm 121:1-2 - “I Lift Up My Eyes to the Hills, From Where Does My Help Come From?”
Cross References:
Psalm 20:2 - May He Send You Help From the Sanctuary”
How has God graciously sent you help from the sanctuary and the Body of Christ when you most needed it?
Psalm 73:24 - “You Guide Me With Your Counsel”
How has God’s counsel guided you recently? How might you seek more of His counsel in difficult situations?
Psalm 32:8 - “I Will Instruct You and Teach You in the Way You Should Go”
Looking back over your life, what are some ways that God has instructed you in the way you should go that you maybe didn’t know at the time? How has your life benefitted from His leading?
“God must help man by prayer. He who does not pray, therefore, robs himself of God’s help.” - E.M. Bounds
“If you do not pray, you have shut the gates of heaven against yourself.” - Charles Spurgeon