Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church is preaching through the book of Luke, verse by verse. The church expects that it will take three years to cover the entire book. Mark Driscoll's style is well-suited to this style of preaching, as he seems to flow naturally from the bare text of the scriptural narrative to life application. In this clip from the first sermon in the series, Driscoll draws from the observation that the book was dedicated to Theophilus that Christians can be wealthy but must be generous.
During this sermon, Driscoll stated that it takes an average reader two hours to read through the whole book, which could be broken down into six 20-minute sessions with a day off each week. That means that if you read the gospel of Luke once a week during the three-year sermon series, you will have read it roughly 150 times. According to Driscoll, that's a good start, and he challenged the members of Mars Hill to commit to read the gospel of Luke 150 times in the next three years.
Does this seem like a good use of reading time? How would you feel about a three-year sermon series? If your church was going to preach/read through a single book of the Bible, verse-by-verse, which book would you select?
If I had a choice in what book of the Bible to spend three years studying, I would pick Romans. There's so much in Romans that I could easily see a church spending at least a year in there. My church is actually going through the book of Luke now. We started on April 12, 2009 and should be going into chapter 19 on Sunday. 5 more chapters left, so I would guess my church has a couple more months left for that book.
My Church has been going through the book of Acts for a year. We are about half way through.
I'm not really a preacher, but I think I could easily spend a couple of years preaching on 1 John. I could probably spend a month just on chapter 4. And that's only verse by verse. Otherwise, I could probably even spend a year just examining 1 John 4.
I think it could become unbalanced. Sure, a gospel is great, but the stories of the OT and the stories of the early church fulfill the picture. The story doesn't end or start with Jesus.
I'm a big picture person, I love context and fitting together all the pieces. Details often get lost on me. So while the idea is intriguing, I think I would get tired of it after a while. I like picking a starting point (often with a character) and just reading until I want to stop. One verse at a time would likely drive me crazy. But if I had to pick a book to go verse by verse through I guess it would be Ephesians, which is currently my favorite.
@aledawithwings@xanga - I understand what you're saying, but if Jesus is a part of the Godhead, then yes, the story does begin and end with Jesus. We can better understand the OT and the NT letters through the lens of who Jesus is, what he preached, and what he accomplished.
When I read the Bible, I really liked the book of John. He seemed like a smart guy, and that showed through in his writing.
Fuck that when I was a brainwashed christian Nahum was the book for real men not that spineless limp wristed pansy ass pacifist bullshit. You clown's have no balls!
Very interesting. I think it's a good idea. If my church a did series like this, I'd want it to be about Revelation.
Dude, it was a half joke. I don't think he really expects people to read it 150 times. He's just putting it on us that it's POSSIBLE to do it, so we don't get lazy and just slide by being only vaguely familiar with the text. Driving us to read it more than once or twice.
I was at that service. I've been going to Mars Hill for a while. I REALLY like how they run things there (except the membership process is a little hectic). Personally, I think 3 years is pretty long, but with the ammount of material that Mark has to give, it's definitely worth it!
They spent a year on Genesis... That was the longest series they did before starting Luke.
@soy_esteban@xanga - Of course Jesus is a part of the God head, but there are two other members of that God head. One seen largely at work in the OT and the other mostly after the pentecost.
It's actually really poor hermeneutics (the study of the bible and how to read it) to read all scripture through the lens of the gospels. We'll never get the spirits intent for what he was saying at that moment. This is why I appreciate the lectionary- we read the OT, a psalm, the NT and a gospel at every service. The whole story of God is always displayed and we read the entire Bible. And we celebrate the celebrations of Christians for centuries.
About Me: I am the director of college ministries at Shartel Church of God. I have been married for close to two years now, and my wife and I have taken over guardianship of a 17-year-old girl named Ashley, who is in her last year of high school.
Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church is preaching through the book of Luke, verse by verse. The church expects that it will take three years to cover the entire book. Mark Driscoll's style is well-suited to this style of preaching, as he seems to flow naturally from the bare text of the scriptural narrative to life application. In this clip from the first sermon in the series, Driscoll draws from the observation that the book was dedicated to Theophilus that Christians can be wealthy but must be generous. 
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If I had a choice in what book of the Bible to spend three years studying, I would pick Romans. There's so much in Romans that I could easily see a church spending at least a year in there. My church is actually going through the book of Luke now. We started on April 12, 2009 and should be going into chapter 19 on Sunday. 5 more chapters left, so I would guess my church has a couple more months left for that book.
My Church has been going through the book of Acts for a year. We are about half way through.
I'm not really a preacher, but I think I could easily spend a couple of years preaching on 1 John. I could probably spend a month just on chapter 4. And that's only verse by verse. Otherwise, I could probably even spend a year just examining 1 John 4.
I think it could become unbalanced. Sure, a gospel is great, but the stories of the OT and the stories of the early church fulfill the picture. The story doesn't end or start with Jesus.
I'm a big picture person, I love context and fitting together all the pieces. Details often get lost on me. So while the idea is intriguing, I think I would get tired of it after a while. I like picking a starting point (often with a character) and just reading until I want to stop. One verse at a time would likely drive me crazy.
But if I had to pick a book to go verse by verse through I guess it would be Ephesians, which is currently my favorite.
@aledawithwings@xanga - I understand what you're saying, but if Jesus is a part of the Godhead, then yes, the story does begin and end with Jesus. We can better understand the OT and the NT letters through the lens of who Jesus is, what he preached, and what he accomplished.
When I read the Bible, I really liked the book of John. He seemed like a smart guy, and that showed through in his writing.
Fuck that when I was a brainwashed christian Nahum was the book for real men not that spineless limp wristed pansy ass pacifist bullshit. You clown's have no balls!
Very interesting. I think it's a good idea. If my church a did series like this, I'd want it to be about Revelation.
Dude, it was a half joke. I don't think he really expects people to read it 150 times. He's just putting it on us that it's POSSIBLE to do it, so we don't get lazy and just slide by being only vaguely familiar with the text. Driving us to read it more than once or twice.
I was at that service. I've been going to Mars Hill for a while. I REALLY like how they run things there (except the membership process is a little hectic). Personally, I think 3 years is pretty long, but with the ammount of material that Mark has to give, it's definitely worth it!
They spent a year on Genesis... That was the longest series they did before starting Luke.
@soy_esteban@xanga - Of course Jesus is a part of the God head, but there are two other members of that God head. One seen largely at work in the OT and the other mostly after the pentecost.
It's actually really poor hermeneutics (the study of the bible and how to read it) to read all scripture through the lens of the gospels. We'll never get the spirits intent for what he was saying at that moment. This is why I appreciate the lectionary- we read the OT, a psalm, the NT and a gospel at every service. The whole story of God is always displayed and we read the entire Bible. And we celebrate the celebrations of Christians for centuries.