The John in July Challenge

John in July
For the next four Wednesday nights (July 10, 17, 24, & 31), we'll be studying some major themes from the writings of the Apostle John. The topics we'll be looking at and major Scripture focus for each week are as follows:

• The Light Has Come - John 1:1-18, 8:12; 1 John 1:5-10
• You Must Be Born Again - John 3; 1 John 2:28-3:10, 5:1-5
• God's Children Love Him - John 10:1-18, 15:1-11; 1 John 2:15-17, 4:13-21; 2 John; Revelation 19:6-16
• God's Children Love Each Other - John 13, 15:12-27, 21:15-19; 1 John 3-4; 3 John

The Challenge
You are hereby challenged to read all the writings of John during the month of July. There are 21 chapters in The Gospel According to John, 5 chapters in The First Epistle of John, The Second and The Third Epistles of John are not divided into chapters so they count as only one each, The Revelation of Jesus Christ has 22 chapters, which gives us a total of 50 chapters. Reading just 2 chapters each day, you can finish the whole book in 25 days (so you'll have to pick up an bit each day to make it through in July); 5 chapters a day will bring you through in 10 days, which you could do twice before August gets here.

I want to encourage you to take up this challenge as a way to be disciplined to grow in Christian maturity by discovering God in the Bible. You have far more free time during the summer, and you would do well to invest some of it in feeding your soul. If you can play video games or troll Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/whatever new time-suck I don't know about yet, then you've got the ability to read and the time to read your Bible. Make good choices.

The Reward
Studying the Bible is it's own reward. Sorry, not sorry. However, we are going to keep track of how we're doing on the challenge, and there will be some sort of tangible reward at the end for those who complete it. I'm not sure what it'll be, but it'll be a nice bonus of some kind. It's like when we give Peter a piece of candy for going poop in the potty; sure, he should do it just because, but rewarding him helps him learn of the inherent benefit of the action. I will promise the reward will be more than a Peep or a few M&Ms.