And so, we come to the end of our year-long journey. First and foremost, I have to give thanks and credit to Dr. Pratt for having the idea for this class and then following up and actually doing it. The world is full of great ideas but is bereft of people that actually turn those great ideas into great accomplishments. Thanks to Dr. Pratt, and as you see him, be sure to pass on your thanks as well.
You might not want to open a Bible in the near future, but when you look back, if you were able to read the Bible daily, it shouldn't have been a large intrusion. Very few days required us to take more than 15 minutes to read the day's selection, and even if we did some additional research to fill the gaps in our knowledge, it shouldn't have taken more than a half-hour. It should have instilled a daily habit that should be maintained, no matter how you wish to do it, and there's no shortage of guides available on how to be in the Word daily, be it a verse a day, the Gospels in a year, whatever. If you've established a habit of daily Bible study, you might as well maintain it.
I won't even begin to try to state the overall themes as I saw them this year, but I will mention a couple, because they can help us when we talk to those who aren't familiar with the Bible:
1. The Bible is consistent throughout--we might not see it, might not understand it, and might not agree with it, but from Genesis to Revelation, it's the story of God's unfailing love for the people he created. It's the story of how a chosen people expands through Christ's death and resurrection to be anyone willing to profess their faith in Christ.
2. The Bible is a book of love
3. The Bible is our instruction book for how we should live. Others might use it as a way to tell OTHERS how to live, but that's their problem.
4. The Old Testament is the history of God's chosen people, the people of Israel, and shows his willingness to forgive them over and over and over. The New Testament is how Christ's death and resurrection changed our means of righteousness from being self-based and predicated on the Law to being Christ-based. Paul explained what this sea change meant to Jews and Gentiles alike.
Words can't express the thanks I had for the privilege of being one of the leaders of this class. One of the first things I told you when in front of you was that I don't claim to know any more than any of you or have any specific knowledge to set me apart as a leader, but I appreciated the thanks and gratitude given to me on an almost-weekly basis. By my rough count, I've written about 125,000-150,000 words in blog posts this year, or about the approximate length of the New Testament, and I enjoyed writing each and every word. Over the course of the year, there have been over 10,000 page views, so I appreciate your willingness to read what I wrote.
My only wish is that you had as much fun this past year as I did. Beginning on January 8th, we'll begin a much more in-depth discussion on Mark, which will truly be led by Pastor Fay and assisted by Dr. Pratt and myself. Without telling more than I know, it's planned as a 19-week course, and Pastor Fay is down for leading 10 of them, so for those of you that were looking for more pastoral leadership, this will have it. We'll use a similar (and I use that word loosely) format to what we used this past year, but I won't lock myself rigidly into the format we used this past year. We'll figure it out as we go along, and it will be the opposite of what we did this past year, where we skimmed the whole book, but will instead dig deep into one book.
And that's a wrap. Thanks again for an enjoyable year, and I hope you liked it as well.
Scott
