Jeremy Hoover

For the week of February 27 to March 5, 2011.

This devotional guide is intended for home use, specifically for use among families, though you can use it by yourself. I recommend that you gather your family together, and for 15-20 minutes read scripture, discuss scripture's teaching, and pray for each other. The guide focuses on the scriptures we use on Sunday morning. In this case, the ongoing reading is from Ecclesiastes 11-12, and the sermon text is Philippians 4:10-23.

Download link is below. Please use this, share it, distribute it. Permission is given to download and make copies for yourself or your church or organization.

For the week of February 20-26, 2011.

This devotional guide is intended for home use and it focuses on the scriptures we use on Sunday morning. In this case, the ongoing reading is from Ecclesiastes 10, and the sermon text is Philippians 4:2-9.

Download link is below. Please use this, share it, distribute it. You may download and make copies for yourself or your organization.

For the week of February 13-19, 2011.

This devotional guide is intended for home use and it focuses on the scriptures we use on Sunday morning. In this case, the ongoing reading is from Ecclesiastes 9, and the sermon text is Philippians 3:12-4:1.

Download link is below. Please use this, share it, distribute it. You may download and make copies for yourself or your organization.

Here is next week's home devotional booklet. Just like in last week's booklet, we'll be reviewing the Bible passages we read and studied on Sunday, along with a view to the upcoming Sunday's Bible passages at the end of the week. The main scripture texts this booklet covers are Ecclesiastes 6-7 and Philippians 2:19-30.

I really encourage you to use this booklet as a family, as much as possible. This is written especially to men, including myself. The Bible commands men to be good managers of their households. This includes, if nothing else, being a good spiritual steward of the family God has given us.

But if you are a single parent, please gather your children and spend this short time reading and discussing the Bible together and praying together. If you are a husband and wife with no children, find a way to read and pray together. If your children are very busy, spend some extra time and meet with them separately, if you have to.

I hope you use this booklet to edify and build your own family in the grace of God.

Here is next week's home devotional booklet. Just like in last week's booklet, we'll be reviewing the Bible passages we read and studied on Sunday, along with a view to the upcoming Sunday's Bible passages at the end of the week. The main scripture texts this booklet covers are Ecclesiastes 5 and Philippians 2:12-18.

I really encourage you to use this booklet as a family, as much as possible. This is written especially to men, including myself. The Bible commands men to be good managers of their households. This includes, if nothing else, being a good spiritual steward of the family God has given us.

But if you are a single parent, please gather your children and spend this short time reading and discussing the Bible together and praying together. If you are a husband and wife with no children, find a way to read and pray together. If your children are very busy, spend some extra time and meet with them separately, if you have to.

I hope you use this booklet to edify and build your own family in the grace of God.

I'm trying something new to encourage Bible reading at home, especially among families. Below is a devotional booklet I'll hand out Sunday. For 6 days, Sunday through Friday, you will read a section of scripture that was read or preached from on Sunday. There are a few questions and a prayer focus to help you get started. On Saturday, you'll read the Bible passages that will be read and preached from the next day.

Please use this aid to help you draw closer to God in obedience through his word. Consider reading and discussing these passages together as a family.

There is a download link for the booklet in PDF form at the bottom of this post.

I accepted a challenge I read about to memorize Philippians this year. Sadly, Bible memorization has not been a real goal for me in my life. In high school, I picked up a little book by the Navigators that taught memorization. It even included several cards with Bible verses on them I could carry around to aid my memorization.

It didn't work, probably for a couple reasons. One, I didn't have the discipline for it. Two, more intuitively than consciously, I didn't like the idea of memorizing isolated verses. Even when I didn't know how to express it, I understood that the Bible should be read in its context, preferably book-by-book rather than piecemeal, like many Bible reading and/or memorization plans suggested.

As a new father, I've been taking my spiritual responsibilities much more seriously. It shames me to point this out, because I'm very aware of how I've dropped the ball in some areas as a husband and preacher. But in becoming a new father, and learning some new concepts in discussion with a good friend, one area I wanted to grow in was my exposure to the Bible, the written word of God. And I wanted this exposure to go way beyond my professional exposure to the Bible as a preacher.

As I contemplated this, I ran across the challenge to memorize Philippians. And because of my increased desire to spend time with the Bible, and because this challenge focused on memorizing a complete book of the Bible, I accepted it. What I'm doing is memorizing about a verse a day for the next 16 weeks or so. Here's what I'm learning:

1. Memorization is hard! Unless you have a photographic memory (which I don't), you should expect to spend some time memorizing the Bible (if you choose to). In addition to working on the new verse each day (which takes me about 5 minutes), there is recitation of old verses learned, as well as ongoing recitation throughout the day to imprint the word on your mind. Without this time commitment, you will not remember the Bible verses you are trying to commit to memory.

2. Memorization is fun. At least, it is for me. I begin my mornings with a cup of coffee, my Bible, and my journal. I read my daily assignment (I'm reading through the entire Bible this year), journal, then move on to memorization. I enjoy it. It adds a nice variety to my morning routine. And it gives me something to fill my with during the day. For example, after my morning reading, I needed to go outside and shovel snow before going to work. As I shoveled, I recited my memory work (Philippians 1:1-9) over and over. It was fun!

3. Memorization points out the differences in Bible translations. I typically preach and teach (and read) from the Today's New International Version (TNIV). Because the memorization booklet I downloaded uses the English Standard Version (ESV), I have switched to reading and memorizing from the ESV. What a difference! The ESV seeks to be a literal translation, working closer to the word-for-word end of the scale than the thought-for-thought end. As a result, for me, at least, the ESV introduces some awkward phrases. In particular, 1:4 and 1:7 spring to mind. Normally, I would probably pass over these quickly in reading, but slowing down to memorize has pointed out for me the difference between these two translations (and it would be like this for many different translations).

I'm undecided on the importance of my third thought, but in view of the first two thoughts, I encourage you to consider adding Bible memorization to your encounter with God and his written word. Pick a short book, perhaps even Philippians, or a psalm or chapter of Proverbs and begin memorizing a verse a day. See if it positively affects your life the way it has mine!

1. From Ephesians 1, what things has God done for the church? How has God incorporated the church? How does Paul's prayer (Eph. 1:15-20) tie in with these themes?

2. If Ephesians 1 is about the action of God in forming the church, how does chapter 2 develop the same ideas, but with emphasis on humanity?

3. What prompts Paul prayer in Ephesians 3? What does he pray for? How is this prayer a model for us?

4. How does Ephesians 4 describe the diversity that exists within the unity of the church? How is this developed in practical ways in ministry?

5. What is the theological basis for the good works described in Ephesians 4-5?

6. How is the "household relationships" (Eph. 5:21-6:9) teaching rooted in our relationship with Christ?

7. How does the armor of God serve to both protect us and build us up in faith (Eph. 6)?

8. In Philippians 1, what experience does Paul want the believers to have (1:11)? How is this illustrated in his own experience (chapter 1)?

9. How is Christ an example for us (Phil. 2)?

10. What should we have confidence in, according to Philippians 3? How does Paul describe this in his own experience?

11. How is the practical teaching in Philippians 4 tied in with the teaching in chapters 1-3?

12. According to 1 Thessalonians 1-3, how did the Thessalonian believers receive the word? How is this a model for us of both teaching and receiving the word?

13. What practical instructions does Paul offer in 1 Thessalonians 4-5?

Paul exhorts us to practice our faith (Philippians 4:4-9), and he provides several examples of how to do so. (3 minute audio)