We invite you to join us in reading through the Bible together.  We're not trying to complete it in a limited time frame like a month or a year; but rather, we want to create a habit (or discipline) of getting to know God's heart through what He's told us about Himself. 

For a more mobile friendly view of the daily readings, try our new site at https://app.nvbc.net, still a work in progress.

Starting this week we will read through different parts of the Bible to study how transitions between leaders happened in the Bible.  What did people do? How did God work it out?  Obviously, this is in light of the news from last Sunday – Pastor Joe’s resignation and the search for a new Pastor.  God’s Word is going to be our search manual.

When reading, ask yourself the following questions:

• What does it say about God?
• What does it say to/about me?
• What can I learn from this reading?

February 8-14:

• Sunday: Psalm 142  “With my voice I cry out to the LORD … I plead for mercy …”
• Monday: Acts 16:1-5  We are introduced to Timothy here; his mother was a believer. Was his father a believer? “Paul wanted …” – it was Paul who initiated the mentoring of Timothy. Do you initiate intentional mentoring / discipling relationships with people? Why not?
• Tuesday: 1 Timothy 1:12-17  An honest and humble testimony of Saul! Notice from the wretchedness of his life description Saul  pivots to the focus on God (vs 16-17). Timothy is referred to as “my child” – what does that indicate? Saul encourages and gives wisdom to Timothy …
• Wednesday: 1 Timothy 3:14-16  Paul is intentionally teaching and preparing Timothy and not ‘hoping’ that Timothy with ‘pick up’, ‘find his own …’
• Thursday: 1 Timothy 4:6-16  More instruction for Timothy. Being a young person, Paul realizes that people might not take Timothy seriously – and so he cautions and gives a solution (vs 11). Great advice for all believers: “practice these things, immerse …” (vs 15f)
• Friday: 2 Timothy 1:3-14  We are introduced to Timothy’s early godly influence. In this section you have a thorough charge of what Timothy needs to do in his personal life, develop his calling, and realities of ministry
• Saturday: 2 Timothy 4:1-8  Paul’s parting words. As a minister of the Gospel, Timothy has responsibilities, duties, etc. and is accountable to God and his calling. The realities of how people are spiritually uninterested or self-centered is the context in which vs 2-5 are written. Things are not very different today.

February 15-21:

• Sunday: Psalm 143  “ … I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder …”
• Monday: Luke 6:12-18  Notice what preceded the calling of the disciples – prayer (vs 12). Whether you believe in prayer or not is easily evaluated by the question – how much time do you spend praying?
• Tuesday: Mark 3:13-19  Jesus called “those whom he desired” (vs 13). A leader in certain vocations and situations chooses the team he/she wants to work with. There are 2 things to note in vs 14 – Jesus wanted them to “be with him” and would “send them out to preach”. Jesus had a specific goal … Clarity and specificity comes from the leader.
• Wednesday: Luke 9:46-50  Jesus confronts 2 issues he sees in his disciples: both of them reveal an attitude / character / value issue – the first, pride (vs 46-48), the second, ‘tribalism’ i.e. not part of our group (vs 49-50). In our society manifest itself; we have labels and names for ‘those on the other side’!
• Thursday: Luke 22:24-30  Jesus defines greatness and leadership – the opposite of the world; Kingdom values are upside down. In this case, the youngest and the one who serves … deserve higher recognition!
• Friday: John 13:1-11  vs 1-3 indicate that Jesus had a full awareness of who he was, where he came from and where he was going, and in the power and strength of that awareness he modeled a servant!
• Saturday: John 20:19-23  This fantastic appearance of the resurrected Jesus was not just for a spiritual experience; it was a commissioning – ‘as the Father sent Jesus, even so Jesus was sending them’ (vs 21). For that purpose, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit for their work

February 22-28:

• Sunday: Psalm 144