Carmel Challenge 2024

The Bible Immersion Experience

Hi Friends,

Are you ready for our fifth consecutive year of reading through the entire Bible? I hope so because we have an incredible journey through the Scriptures planned for you! This time, we are going with an oldie-but-goodie reading plan for 2024 with a twist.

It's time to cover God's Word according to its themes. Each day, we’ll read from one of the Bible's genres (Gospels, Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, Poetry, and Epistles) with enjoyable, varied themes. This study will be a unique and exciting adventure as we find connected and associated topics scattered through the pages of the Old and New Testaments.

The second part of the challenge is The Immersive Bible Experience! In small group, we will embark on several six-week Bible studies spread throughout the year. Let's open ourselves up to exploring the Divine Architect's plan of salvation. The study will enhance our understanding of God and His will for us and the world.

We will be amazed to see how the Bible fits together like a great mosaic or puzzle, with beautiful pieces here and there, just waiting to be discovered and connected to one another. A year from now, we'll have a keen sense that the Holy Spirit of God inspired the Bible writers. But more than that, our lives will have been changed by the power of God's Word as we read and meditate upon it daily.

Why not make the decision right now, by God's grace, to set aside time each day of 2024 to meet Jesus in the Scriptures and get clearer revelations of His character, His plan for your life, and His plan for this world? Experience what Jesus meant when He said, "The words I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life."

Required Materials:

  • The Remnant Study Bible (NKJV) with EGW comments

  • The Genres (Literature Style) Bible Reading Plan

  • 3-ring Binder

  • Highlighters

Optional Materials

  • Bible Marking Kit

  • Word of Promise App

  • Logos Bible Study App

Michelle’s testimony.

This year I participated with the Carmel, Indiana Seventh-day Adventist Church in a challenge to read the Bible through, along with the Conflict of the Ages series by Ellen G. White.  Though a life-long Adventist Christian, I had never read the Bible through cover to cover. So, January 1, 2021, I started out, determined to stay up with the schedule. 


I found the schedule doable and not overwhelming.  On average, I would spend about an hour each day, in the morning, doing both the Bible reading and one of the Spirit of Prophecy (SOP) books.  As time progressed, I became more compelled to truly study the Bible, by comparing texts and reading Bible study helps, as well as reading historical accounts.  It was then that I began to devote 2-2 ½ hours to Bible study and read the chapter from the SOP book that night.

Initially, I was disappointed that the SOP books didn’t correlate very often with what I was reading in the Bible, in terms of chronological history.  For instance, I was reading the Desire of Ages (the book on the life of Christ) while I was in the Old Testament.  However, to my surprise, I found the book even more enriching as I read about the messianic prophecies such as in Isaiah.  The prophecies took form and shape in the life of Christ as I read about Him.


I am currently nearing the end of the New Testament and The Great Controversy.  It was fascinating to me to see so many parallels between the persecution of the early Christian church during Paul’s life and the reformers of the Dark Ages. 


I find that my spiritual understanding and perspective has been deeply enriched and broadened over this past year. I have rarely missed a day reading this year, not so much because of wanting to stay up with the schedule,

 

but because I just can’t imagine a day without being in the Word.   It seemed the more I read of the Bible the more I craved it and to miss a day was unacceptable to me. 

I have grasped things about God’s character that I had not understood before.  When I read about how low into the depths of immorality and evilness God’s chosen people had plummeted during the times of the kings of Israel, I saw in contrast how merciful, long suffering and fair God was, and is.  So many times, we only think of the God of the Old Testament in terms of His wrath against His people, not truly grasping how low they sank into the depths of abject wickedness, beyond what the heathen nations were doing.  I began to wonder in awe at the longsuffering and patience of God at the repeated apostasy of this nation that was chosen to be a light to the world. It made me contemplate my own life and how I must have caused grief to the Lord when I have strayed.

The dual meanings all through the Bible were also very apparent both in the Old and New Testaments, with implications for my daily life as well as the world.  I have a much better grasp on the prophetic messages of Daniel, though paradoxically, the more I learn it seems the greater my realization of how little I know just because of the depth of these prophecies and the implications throughout time.

This experience has been such a rich one for me that I am torn between starting over again in January or completing an in-depth study of Daniel and Revelation.  At any rate, I am no longer satisfied with a simple quick reading of a chapter of the Bible to start my day. His Word has truly become a light unto my path and I’m so grateful for accepting this life changing challenge. 


~Michelle in Texas