NEW RESOURCES TO ENCOUNTER JESUS IN HIS WORD
A Brand New Book
Announcing the release of my new book: “That I May Know Him: A Bible-In-A-Year Guide to Encounters.” This book/Guide is the compilation of our year-long weekly Bible reading summaries, updated and reformatted, and now available to buy on Amazon.com. I’d love it if you could also leave a review on Amazon, as that makes the book more widely available for others to see.
Click here to order your copy.
A Brand New Reading Plan
We have redesigned our weekly reading plan (based on the Guide) to make it clearer and simpler to engage with. This easy-to-read format is broken up into 2-tiers: Tier 1 – New Testament, and Tier 2 – Old Testament. You can choose to read from one or both tiers daily. In this plan we read the New Testament three times in the year and the Old Testament once through.
Click here to access the month-at-a-glance reading schedule.
A Brand New Podcast
Beginning this Monday, December 11th, Diana Anderson and I will be hosting a new podcast: “That I May Know Him with Steve Dittmar”, where we take a deeper dive into the Scriptures corresponding with the Guide. In our first three December episodes, Diana and I will discuss the new Book/Guide and how to prepare our hearts to begin the new Plan on January 1st. The podcast will air every Monday throughout 2024 on our YouTube channel or you can listen to the audio version wherever you listen to podcasts.
Click here to watch the podcast (starting December 11th) on our YouTube channel.
Thank you everyone for your prayers over this project these last two months. Thank you for journeying together in the word of God to encounter Jesus, the Word of God. Our one aim in all this is to serve the Word of God and its entrance into the hearts of His people.
The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119: 130
*For other books by Pastor Steve:
Acts 12 – 17
Paul and Barnabas witness prayer for Peter and the power of its deliverance and judgment at Jerusalem in Chapter 12. They come back to Antioch and practice waiting on the Lord in prayer and are led into a new missionary work of the Holy Spirit. From there they are sent out by the Holy Spirit and witness great miracles and conversions, going first to the Jews in city synagogues and then to the Gentiles. Chapter 13 records Paul sharing at Antioch in Pisidia (13 – 52). Upon returning to Antioch, their home church, they are confronted with believing Jews who insist that Gentile believers become circumcised according to the custom of Moses otherwise they cannot be saved.
Paul and Barnabas are sent to Jerusalem to settle the matter. The Holy Spirit makes it clear that faith in Jesus is what is required to believe. There is a letter written and read at Antioch and throughout the churches, bringing much joy and encouragement. In Chapters 16 and 17, Paul begins his next missionary journey without Barnabas, because Barnabas wants to take Mark with them again, and Paul is unwilling because he had deserted them on the first trip. God uses everything. Barnabas, who found Paul, now finds Mark, and this Mark will again one day be “helpful to Paul” and with him in many places: 2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24, Colossians 4:10.
Incidentally, this is the same Mark who will write the Gospel of Mark.
Revelation 1 – 7
Several years ago, I paused to meditate on the image of Jesus and found myself in Revelation Chapter 1. I continue, to this day, seeing Jesus in His glorified exalted state through these verses of this chapter. Chapters 2 and 3 are letters to the seven churches and each message is for all the churches to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Chapters 4 and 5 are of John’s being called up to the throne room and seeing the One seated on the throne and His glory. We see the 24 elders, the four living creatures, and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who has overcome as a Lamb, standing amid this company, as though it has been slain. The Lamb steps forward and takes the scroll out of God’s right hand. Could the “words of this prophecy” (Revelation) be contained in the scroll?
Once the Lamb of God has the scroll, the worship that ensues is expansive like circles in a lake that expand outward after a large stone is thrown in. I love to meditate on the worship recorded in Revelation Chapters 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, and 19. They too are expansive circles of the revelation of God and His outworkings of salvation. Yep, Revelation for me is a book of Worship!
HISTORY
Ezra 3 – 10
Ezra now begins with the restoration of worship in Jerusalem after first building the altar of God. They kept the Feast of Tabernacles and then began building the Temple, up to laying its foundation. The people praised and gave thanks to the Lord “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel” (Ezra 3:11). Many wept who had seen the first temple, others rejoiced with shouting, causing a sound that was heard far off.
There is interest from the Samaritans to help build, which is rebuffed by Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and the rest of the elders. This begins a battle of harassment and lawsuits to finally force the work of the Temple to be stopped by force. Chapter 5 begins the second attempt at building, through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. Six years later the temple is finished and dedicated and Passover is observed.
“So, the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius, and Artaxerxes the king of Persia.” (Ezra 6:14)
Chapters 7 and 8 record Ezra’s journey, with a remnant from exile at the decree of Artaxerxes, with a large gift for the temple. Their success was found here: Ezra 7:10; 8:21-23, 31.
Chapters 9 through 10 are Ezra’s calling and cleansing of the people from intermarriages, which was bringing assimilation into the nations that surrounded Jerusalem.
PROPHETS
Haggai 1 – 2
Here we have recorded the work of the most successful prophet in terms of waking a people out of neglect of God’s house and poverty into obedience and prosperity! Two short chapters spanning three months of four prophetic encounters leading to the laying of the foundation of the temple.
Zechariah 1 – 8
Zechariah received the word of the Lord for Jerusalem and the temple that had started being rebuilt two months after Haggai began his prophesying. Zechariah records eight visions that encourage the builders to build and how they are to build in trust and grace. Chapter 3 is a vision for Joshua the high priest, and Chapter 4 is one for Zerubbabel the governor. Timeless chapters we all have read. More visions follow through Chapter 6, with a prophetic act of the coming Messiah King Priest whose name is the BRANCH! (Zechariah 6:9-15)
Chapters 7 and 8 take place four years into the building of the Temple with two years left before it will be completed. Great faith, promise, remembrance, and new purpose are recorded to empower Judah to finish the assignment and begin new.
