Breaking info - May 02nd, 2021

Hello JIBC church family,

One of our church family recently approached me about inviting the church to join together to read the Bible through in 2021. This journey in 2020 was so transformative for him that we want to invite our church to gather together in God’s word.

This is Janto’s testimony: “In 2019-2020, I along with several friends committed to reading through the entire Bible. This reading is done in groups. Every day there will be updates of everyone's readings in the group. It's really helpful reading in this style. There are at least two reasons why group Bible reading is so good:

1. Passion. If you read alone, you usually only get excited at first. By reading with a group, we can be enthusiastic because we are not alone in enjoying His Word. Also, by reading in groups, we can encourage one another when a member starts to miss reading. By encouraging each other, we can move forward together.

2. Discipline. If we read alone, we can start getting lazy and eventually stop reading. But by reading together in groups, we will be monitored by a mentor who will remind us to continue reading. This allows us to discipline ourselves in our reading.

3. The Church. We a church that should support one another. Make the bible reading project together an obedience project so that we can walk together in the spiritual discipline of reading God's Word.”

Here are some testimonies of others who have used YouVersion to read the Bible through in a year together:

“I am very grateful to be able to finish reading the Bible on time. I really enjoy it because it has been a lot of inspiration, provides extraordinary benefits, the combination of reading is unique because it varies - mixed with Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT) which offer a different experience so that it is not 'boring'. Sometimes something can't be understood but I try to read it over and over again. So that I can understand what it means. If you haven't read it, it feels like someone missed that day, because every time you want to know the continuation of the next reading.”

“Many things made me come to mind again about the location of important Bible reading, especially the OT. Make me refreshed again. It turns out that the Old Testament verses are rich and profound. So amazing, the words turn out to be very beautiful if they are read and enjoyed repeatedly, as if the Spirit of God himself spoke to me. At this time I have read a lot about the NT because the teachings of Christ Jesus are in His Apostles. But it turned out that I was wrong. In fact, when teaching Jesus often quoted verses from the OT. This means that we have to learn a lot from the OT. So, reading the entire Bible every year over and over again 'is a must do for all believers'. Hopefully the reading of this second program will be no less inspiring as well. Thanks God .🙏🙏🙏”

“I finally did it. It was my first experience to read the whole Bible throughout a year. Before that, I actually believed I’ve somehow read the most of the New Testament, but my exposure to the Old Testament was pretty much limited to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Jobs, Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jonah, and some of others. As a Christian coming from non-Christian background, I wasn’t used to Bible reading with such intensity. There were days I skipped and had to catch up the next few days. The real challenge to me was not the amount of the chapters we had to read each day, but also the various books to read in a day. It was quite challenging to jump from a topic of a book to other topics from other books that have no correlation whatsoever to each other. Gladly, I didn’t do it all by myself. The Bible reading group was a true blessing to me. Without the group I won’t survive in four months; yes, I failed in four months, the first time I tried it two years earlier. From the content itself, what I’ve got is that I can see more clearly the connection between all the events in the Old Testament with its finalization by Christ’s work in the New Testament. It helps me to see the long anticipation of God’s salvation for His chosen ones, and to see how blessed we are to be included in His Kingdom to know and enjoy the true and living God.”

As your pastor, I am certain that all of us who gather in a group to read God’s word together will have similar testimonies as we end 2021. To become a part of this great plan:

• • 1. Find and Install Bible YouVersion on your smartphone. Or access it online at https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

    2. and you will have to register to take advantage of the full benefit of the application.

When we know who is joining we will send out the link to get started in the JIBC reading plan group. Here is how it works:

• • 1. Starting Jan 1, 2021 the reading plan will start.

    2. You will have to read the bible according to the plan DAILY. You can catch up if you miss your readings. Please try not to miss more than 7 days.

    3. Do not forget to share the spiritual blessing you receive that day from the reading.

So, if this appeals to you, the idea of reading the Bible through in 2021 with your JIBC church family, install YouVersion on your phone, tablet or device, and then respond to Mira that you are ready to begin. At the end of this month, we will send you the link to join up with our church group through the App.

God’s word, read through His Holy Spirit, is the key to our spiritual maturity and even to our getting through life faithfully. If you already have a consistent plan that you use and love, keep it up. If you want to join us with this plan, jump in with both feet and enjoy our year in God’s word together, yes, together. This is not a journey travelled alone but one that we share with one another.

Pastor Steve

BANK INFORMATION

Beneficiary : JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL BAPTIST CHURCH