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Jeff Kennon Posts

Do You Plan To Read The Bible In 2015?

Published by Jeff Kennon on January 5, 2015

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Have you considered reading through the Bible in 2015? If so, I hope you have thought of a plan to do so. I have found that a reading plan and guide keeps me focused. Fortunately, there are plenty of plans available from which to choose.

ESV Study Bible has several plans online which can be synced to your phone, emailed, or printed out.

Professor Grant Homer’s Bible Reading System has you reading 10 chapters a day from 10 different places. There is a Facebook group for this plan as well.

Reading the Bible in Canonical Order is one in which you read all the books of the Bible in canonical order in one year. Each day’s reading is about 3-4 chapters in length, with the exception of the Psalms.

The 4 Step Plan is 1)Choose a book of the Bible; 2)Read it in it’s entirety; 3)Repeat step #2 twenty times; 4)Repeat this process for all books of the Bible. I particularly find this plan appealing.

Read The New Testament in Greek in a year is a quite challenging plan as well and will be for those somewhat skilled in the Greek language.

There are also Bible apps that have Bible reading plans built into them. Bible.com is a great place to check to get the Bible on your phone, computer, or any other electronic reading device.

Though there are many plans to help you in reading the Bible this coming year, the key is in you choosing one and sticking with it. Blessings as you do so!

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Happy New Year!

Published by Jeff Kennon on January 2, 2015

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May we sit and feast upon the love, grace, and mercy of God in 2015…

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lacked anything.

“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here”:
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
“Who made the eyes, but I?”

“Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.

(George Herbert, Love (III), taken from The Book of Jesus, p. 501-2)

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Best Books Read In 2014

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 31, 2014

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Below are my top reads from 2014. They are in no particular order or genre nor have they necessarily been published in 2014.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath. An interesting read with some great stories of why we make and why we don’t make the changes we do in our lives. I also would recommend Made To Stick as well. 

Get Real: Sharing Your Everyday Faith Every Day by John S. Leonard. This has become one of my favorite books on sharing the gospel with others. You can read a quick review of it here.

What’s Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman. I’m not necessarily an organized person so this book was a great help to me as it caused me to begin thinking about why I should be organized as well as some great practical advise. You can read more about the book here. 

Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible by E. Randolph Richards & Brannon J. O’Brien. We sometimes forget that many times we read the Bible as though it were a Western text. This is a simple read that helped me to think through the way I interpret and teach Scripture. 

One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World by Tullian Tchividjian. A much needed read in a culture that is all about performance!

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. If you feel like a failure in your walk with Christ and continually beat yourself up about it, this is a great book to read. 

While The World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes Of Age During The Civil Rights Movement by Carolyn Maull McKinstry. The most challenging quote of the book for me was: “It seemed that what people learned at their churches on Sundays about unity and love they placed on the shelf during the remainder of the week.”

Bonhoeffer On The Christian Life: From The Cross, For The World by Stephen Nichols. I’m a Bonhoeffer fan and found this book to be a great summary of Bonhoeffer’s life and theology. This is a great book to begin one’s journey into understanding Bonhoeffer. 

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Before I saw the movie, I wanted to make sure I read the book. I’m glad I did. I couldn’t put it down. 

Reordered Love: Reordered Lives: Learning The Deep Meaning of Happiness by David Naugle. Naugle, in this book, does well at showing that true happiness and joy comes from a right relationship with God. This is a much needed read in today’s culture that is obsessed with the search for happiness. 

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Making Plans To Waste Time In 2015

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 30, 2014

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As I approach the year 2015, and as I’ve surveyed the articles and blogs across the Internet, I have discovered some great advice and encouragement for making New Year’s resolutions and setting goals for the upcoming year. Hopefully, I will be able to implement some of it as I truly want to be productive in 2015.

But as I think about constructing goals for optimal proficiency for the year 2015, and not wanting to waste one moment that God has given me, I’m reminded  of and shocked by Carl Trueman’s words…

One of the amazing things about modern American culture is surely the pathological fear of wasting time.

According to Trueman, we have a phobia that we are not using our time well. And as a result, we are becoming stressed out by our busyness to do all and be all. Bottom line: We are scared of free time and as a result of technology, we have less and less of it. Trueman writes…

Indeed, we have surely lost the virtue that is laziness. As Kierkegaard once said, ‘Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good’ — a truly amazing theological insight. Some may think that that may be going a bit far, but compared to the idea that the essence of humanity is busy-ness, it is much to be preferred.

I don’t think Trueman is against productivity and setting goals, after all, he is a seminary professor. But what I think he is hitting at and what we must take heed to as we approach the new year, is that it’s OK to waste time. In fact, it might be a healthy thing to do.

So though I am thinking through goals to accomplish for this coming year, I’m also planning to waste some time. Who knows? I might even plan on being a little lazy as well. But as I do, I’m reminded that doing so might be a great thing. Especially when I do so with others (most likely my family). For according to Trueman,

Wasting time with a choice friend or two on a regular basis might be the best investment of time you ever make.

 

 

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Lists Of Best Books Read In 2014

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 29, 2014

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I always enjoy seeing what others are reading for by doing so, I usually come away adding some books to my own personal reading list. Since it is the end of the year, many folks post their top books of the year. Below is a list of a few of the lists. Hopefully it will inspire you to read in 2015.

  1. Aaron Armstrong’s top books of 2014. 
  2. TGC (Together for the Gospel) Staff Site Best Books from 2014. 
  3. Tim Challies Top Books of 2014. 
  4. Trevin Wax’s Favorite Ten Reads of 2014. 
  5. Kevin DeYoung’s Top Ten Books of 2014. 
  6. One Sentence Book Reviews by Philip Nation. 
  7. Christianity Today’s 2015 Book Awards. 
  8. Biblical Foundations Best of 2014 (This list is a bit more technical in regards to theology and Biblical studies)

 

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The Gift Of Gifts

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 19, 2014

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O Source Of All Good,

What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,
thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
his self-emptying incomprehensible,
his infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp

Herein is wonder of wonders;
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on
wings of grace,
to raise me to himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
he united them in indissoluble unity,
the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
he came, God-incarnate, to save me
to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
and in him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child
to my heart,
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his.

In him thou hast given me so much
that heaven can give no more.

(taken from The Valley of Vision, p. 28)

I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas!!!! 

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 18, 2014

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Why Your Brain Loves Procrastination – When people procrastinate, they’re avoiding emotionally unpleasant tasks and instead doing something that provides a temporary mood boost. The procrastination itself then causes shame and guilt — which in turn leads people to procrastinate even further, creating a vicious cycle.

Christmas Tree, Inc. – We only have income for 35 days a year; the rest is all expense.

The Christmas Story Is All Wrong – When we think of the first Christmas, often we have a certain image in our minds. The nativity scenes in our homes and churches have the figures neatly arranged around a quiet child wrapped in a clean blanket placed in a quaint manager in a Pinterest-worthy stable. But if we allow ourselves to look past the sterilized sheen of those ceramic or plastic nativity sets, we know that wasn’t really the case.

Racism Is A Deeper Symptom Of A Deeper Issue That We Don’t Want To Address – Christian groups like the ERLC and the Kainos Movement are moving toward hosting discussions on racism in America and in the church in the 21st century, which is a good thing. But, if we are not careful, we will miss the deeper issues that animate the entire problem.

Jane Austen, Tim Keller, and The Happiness of Holiness – After many long, inexcusable years, I finally sat down to read a Jane Austen novel; Pride and Prejudice, to be exact. I suppose I had avoided them in my youth because they were the type of thing my sister–a girl, mind you–read. Also, I’d been subjected to the film Sense and Sensibility as a young boy and I’m still not sure what effect that’s had on my disposition ever since. In any case, inspired by my English acquaintances and a sense of nostalgia for literature, I picked up the copy off the shelf last week and got to work.

The Silence Exercise –  The assignment calls for 90 minutes of silence. Students are instructed to put away their smartphones and leave the presence of other people. They should just be still by themselves, then write a two-page paper reflecting on the experience and putting it in historical perspective. What does it feel like to be silent, to be without constant access to a smartphone? How is this part of our lifestyle now different than in premodern times?

Tim Hawkins – Fun Funeral

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Heaven And Earth Come Together

Published by Jeff Kennon on December 17, 2014

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As you read the Christmas story from Luke this Christmas, consider the words written by Darrell Bock in his commentary on Luke:

Luke 2:1-21 portrays Jesus’ birth with a simplicity that belies the event’s universal significance. The birth of the Davidic Savior and Messiah occurs in a room normally reserved fro animals. His crib is a feed trough. And yet the birth in Bethlehem is the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s most significant act for humans. From this simple setting emerges the Lord Jesus, the focus of all God’s promises and of all human hopes.

In Luke 2:11, Jesus’ life is introduced in terms of three titles: Savior points to his role as deliverer; Messiah points to his office in terms of the promised Anointed One of God; and Lord indicates his sovereign authority.

Jesus’ birth is set in the middle of Roman history, in the reign of Caesar Augustus, However, for Luke the key historical figure is not the powerful Roman ruler; it is the frail child, Jesus, the Christ, who is Lord. 

In the angelic exchange with the shepherds, the major point is heaven’s testimony to simple folk. The shepherds seem to represent humankind. After hearing angelic testimony of heaven’s joy over the birth, they respond admirably and go to see the child. They share the joy of heaven upon fulfillment of the word. The see, hear, and testify. Other bystander at the event marvel at what is happening as the birth produces a variety of responses. In Jesus, heaven and earth come together. 

-Luke (Vol. 1) by Darrell L. Bock, p. 225-226

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