Due to impacts from the storm, our Sunday Worship Service will be at 10:15 a.m. at The Avion Event Center at 1733 E Northrop Blvd Chandler, AZ 85286. Childcare will be provided for ages 0-3. There will be no Equipping Hour. Evening Service and Student Ministries will meet at 6pm at the Avion Center.

Life Is Short. Read the Bible (Luke 16)

Jacob Hantla September 9, 2024

Originally emailed to Student Ministries families on 2024-09-09. Event dates and schedules below refer to that time.

Dear Student Ministry Parents, 
This is a long email; it will be worthwhile to read. Last night, we provided binders for every student. These binders contain reading plans along with guidelines for their Bible reading. The goal is to normalize daily Bible reading, providing a plan and the tools to help students be successful in this discipline. 

Last night I taught from Luke 16:16-31, starting a series on God's Word that I hope establishes a foundation of Bible reading. The lesson outline was
  1. Life is short (Luke 16:19-22)
  2. Heaven & Hell are real (Luke 16:23-26)
  3. Read God' Word (Luke 16:27-31)
And, the goal is not merely to read God's Word but to believe God's Word.

We must pray for a miracle whenever we open our Bibles or listen to a sermon. So I introduced the students to the prayer LUBOT, a simple acronym to guide their prayer for God's help–for God to work the miracle of faith in them as they hear God's Word.

Praying LUBOT 
Parents, please model this same prayer pattern in your family Bible reading and in preparation for hearing sermons. "Godplease grant me a heart that.

Listens,

Understands,

Believes,

Obeys, and

Trusts You and Your Word"

LUBOT is a memorable acronym that reflects a prayer the Holy Spirit loves to answer. This is the way God's Children read their Bibles. I beg God to give this disposition before the Bible to all of these students, to your children.

Binders and Reading Plan
Over the years, Kiki and I have served in Student Ministries, one of the most common responses to the question of "What are you reading in God's Word?" is "I don't know what to read." I taught the kids when  reading we should have:
  1. A purpose
  2. A Plan 
  3. A Pen
So, we offered the students a reading plan. If you already have a plan in place as a family, or if the student is already doing something that works well for them to get them in the Bible daily, this is not meant to replace those. However, since many (most) do not have a plan they are following, we provided one. The plan is provided on a bookmark that runs from now until the end of the year. 

The suggested plan is simply the second column from MCheyne's Reading Plan (1 Cor 14 today) that I know many parents are on. This is about a chapter a day. Over the course of the year, it covers the entire New Testament and Psalms. Being part of MCheyne's, it allows easy access to and simple growth year over year to add other portions of Scripture alongside the New Testament reading.

Some other benefits of being on this plan include:
  • Many students and leaders will be reading the same thing simultaneously, allowing for familiarity with exampleswe choose to teach from.
  • Family devotional time together: Families (parents) can anticipate what students are reading. Students from the same family can be in the same section of Scripture. If parents adopt this reading plan (or are already on MCheyne's) then family discussion is much easier. Our family does this. We all read the passage individually in the morning, and then we read together and discuss in the evening. 
  • Students have a challenging but doable goal. 
  • Student Ministries Staff have recently studied what students are reading, which helps us be better prepared to answer questions or engage in discussions. 
That said, if your family or your child has a plan that works for you besides this one, do not feel obligated to adopt it. We simply want to provide a sustainable plan normalizing the expectation in Student Ministries that all students should be reading the Bible on their own.

Questions to Ask When Reading
To help the students know what to do with what they have read, our binder contains inserts that we print for them. These inserts have four questions for each day's reading. Over the next few weeks, I will be teaching the students examples of how to study their Bibles, not to read their own opinions into it but to seek to understand the original author's intent. But walking away understanding what the Bible said is critical–it is essential–but it isn't sufficient. We must seek to know God revealed in the Word better, to be rightly related to Him, and to be moved to glorify Him with our lives. We must be impacted by what we read. 

So, the inserts ask four questions as a guide, which can quickly be filled out each day after reading. The hope is that these will be completed no matter what the students read, even if they are not on the suggested reading plan. On Sunday, the same questions are asked of the sermons as the text of the Bible. 
  1. What did the text say? (~1 sentence summary of the chapter or key points)
  2. What did it teach me about God?
  3. How should this affect me?
  4. What did/should I pray for?
Next Sunday's Gathering
The lesson yesterday was long. You can watch it and listen to it on our website. Next week, the students will spend the majority of the time in discussion groups responding to the message they heard and speaking of the way that God's Word is affecting them or needs to affect them. I hope that most would commit to daily reading with taking the time to use a pen, paper, and prayer at this discussion group. I would love to have them fueled up with conversations and leadership from their parents at home to take into these groups. 

Thank you for making it through this long email. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Your servant for His glory, 
-Jacob