Dear GBC,
 
Next Monday marks the start of a new year! As you’ve probably heard, we are doing a GBC Bible read thru in 2024, starting in Genesis on Monday January 1^st. All are invited to participate. You don’t need any special knowledge or Bible reading skill to do it. And this may be your first time reading through the whole Bible, or maybe you’ve been reading it for many years. Either way, it is God’s word for you to read, be changed by, and enjoy! It is the very breath of God, given for our benefit, so that we might be instructed, encouraged, sometimes corrected, and by reading it be equipped for a flourishing life that is pleasing to God (2 Tim 3:16–17).
 
Each week we will be writing a short post to serve as a guide through the readings. It will be on the church website and will be linked in the church update. There will be a brief intro to the biblical books, and a few more points to encourage us as we go through the year.
 
Week 1, January 1–6: Genesis 1–16
Mon     1/1       Gen 1–2
Tue      1/2       Gen 3–5
Wed     1/3       Gen 6–8
Thu      1/4       Gen 9–11
Fri        1/5       Gen 12–14
Sat       1/6       Gen 15–16
 
Genesis is the book of beginnings. It lays the foundation for the rest of the Bible. It tells us who God is and how this world and all creation came into existence. And we learn who we are in relation to God and to each other. It all begins with a good creation, but things go sideways quickly when the first humans, Adam and Eve, sin by not trusting and obeying the loving Creator. What God intended for a blessing becomes cursed because of the fall into sin. But God initiates a plan to restore all things. He will send an offspring of Eve, who will come from Abraham’s lineage, and this one will overturn the curse of sin, defeat his enemies, and bring restoration and blessing to all the families of the earth (3:16, 12:1–3; 15:1–6). We’ll see how this story unfolds as we keep reading in Genesis next week.
 
This read thru plan continues through Genesis and works through every book of the Bible in 2024, ending the year with the book of Revelation. We will alternate back and forth between the Old and New Testaments. The Psalms will be spread throughout the year, and the books we’ll be preaching through on Sunday mornings will be covered in the read thru plan right before that sermon series starts. You’ll see how it works as you go.
 
There are about 3–4 chapters each day. This may sound like a lot, and it will take some commitment to carve out this time each day. But it’s really not a lot of time. This infographic article from Crossway estimates the total time to read through the Bible is about 75 hours. Spread out over a year, that’s about 12 minutes a day. 12 minutes each day cultivating a daily habit of time with the Lord is time very well spent.
 
There are two different layouts for the plan: a booklet that lists the reading for each day, and a bookmark that just lists the readings for the whole week. You can access those on the Resource page of our website, and there will be printed booklets and bookmarks in the back at church on Sunday. Choose whichever one you like. Or take one of each.
 
We don’t want to do something like this out of a sense of duty or just to check a box, but building healthy habits is an important part of growing as disciples of Jesus. The Bible is a gracious gift from our Creator and Savior, and it is the main means by which he has made himself known to us, his people. What a privilege to be able to know him by reading his word!
 
Josh Mathews (for the Elders)