Tag Archives: bible

How to join a YouVersion Reading Plan in the middle…

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A group of us have been reading through the Bible with YouVersion.

Some friends, who delayed in starting, would like to join us along the way. I talked to YouVersion tech about this, and joining a plan mid-way isn’t designed into the program, but here’s their suggested work-around.

You can access Catch Me Up from the Settings tab on all reading plans. Simply open your reading plan, tap on the Settings tab, and scroll down to find the Catch Me Up button. I’ve provided an overview below of how this feature works.

Let’s use in this example a 1 year plan that you started on January 10th, 2013 and ends on January 9th, 2014.

Let’s also say the following is true:

Jan 10th (Day 1) – Completed
Jan 11th (Day 2) – Completed
Jan 12th (Day 3) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 13th (Day 4) – Completed
Jan 14th (Day 5) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 15th (Day 6) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 16th (Day 7) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 17th (Day 8 – Today) – NOT COMPLETED

And of course, all days after the 17th are not completed either.

When you use the catch me up feature, it will make “Today” (In this case, January 17th) the first NOT COMPLETED day AFTER your last completed day. It will not mark any new days as read. In this case right here, if you use the Catch Me Up feature on the 17th, the following will happen:

  1. “Today” (in our case, January 17th) will be Day 5.
  2. Day 3 (which, after using Catch Me Up will be January 15th) will STILL show up as NOT COMPLETED.
  3. The start date of the plan will show “January 13th, 2013”.
  4. The end date of the plan will show “January 12th, 2014”.

Catch Me Up will never mark days as read or unread. It will only adjust the start and end dates of the plan to make “Today” the first NOT COMPLETED day AFTER your last completed day.

I hope this clears up the function of the Catch Me Up feature. If I can help you with anything else, please let me know.

Since I started my plan on time, I am not going to try this, but I’d like to know if it works for you.

Whether it does or not, I encourage you to read the Bible — with a friend, friends, or on your own. Plans are available at www.bible.com.

The plan CurwensvilleAlliance is reading is this one: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/64-reading-gods-story

Is the God I Believe in Real?

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Over the past few decades, I’ve realized that much of the thinking of irreligious society has been incorporated into the lives of church people. For example, more than one person in Bible-believing churches have told me about the ghosts in their homes. Ghosts? OK — I enjoy a ghost story as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy stories about Santa Claus. That doesn’t mean I believe there’s a guy in a red suit being dragged through the sky on a sled by flying reindeer. And I don’t believe in ghosts.

My perspective on ghosts is not a denial of the supernatural. I believe in the supernatural. I’ve experienced supernatural events. So how can I say I don’t believe in ghosts? Because the God I believe in tells me what happens when we die — and haunting the living isn’t part of the program.

“The God I believe in…” Is that one of the goofiest things we could ever say or what? Yet whenever you hear someone say something that is in opposition to the teaching of Scripture, that’s what they are saying. They are saying that their version of god is different than the Bible’s version of God. And, make no mistake about it, they are saying that the god they believe in is superior to the God of the Bible. Wow — Is that arrogance or folly? Maybe both.

You don’t pick and choose what God says or does. He’s a person, distinct from you and me. We can’t tell him who he is any more than we can tell gravity how to behave. The podcast attached to this post emphasizes this important concept. And it demonstrates that the place we go for a clear understanding of God has to be the Bible. And when the god I believe in contradicts the God of the Bible, the God of the Bible wins.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Importance of Prophecy at Christmas — and in OUR Lives…

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In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is an evil man, whose only love is himself and his money. When confronted by the outcomes of his evil life, past, present, and future Scrooge is repentant. He isn’t just sorry – he wants to change, to make amends. He tries to do so with the little time he has left, by investing in the Cratchit family. In a sense, he’s trying to redeem himself.

Even when I was a little kid, watching that in movie or cartoon form, the same thought occurred to me. Ebenezer, what makes you think that these last half-dozen or so years of your life can make up for the decades of evil you’ve done? It is impossible for you to redeem yourself.  That’s true of Ebenezer. And it’s true of you and me.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is our Redeemer. He is the One who can pay for the evil we’ve done. It says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

While all of us know this deep inside, the Bible is what makes it crystal clear to us. As the prophecies concerning Christ’s advent in Bethlehem lit the way for those seeking him, so God’s word lights the way for us.

Please forgive the sound of my voice in this message. I could barely talk. ~Steve

Podcast: Play in new window | Download