MTBO+I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one,

so that the world will believe that you sent me. John 17:21

The MTBO+ (read as MTBO Plus) is a continu ation of the May They Be One (MTBO) Bible Campaign which seeks to encourage believers to be inten tionally involved in Scripture engagement activities and Bible study programs within their churches. In 2018, we launched under MTBO+ an auxiliary program dubbed as the Adopt a Church Program. The Adopt a Church Program is designed to provide Bibles to churches in need, whose members cannot afford a Bible of their own, and to equip these churches on discipleship.

We praise the Lord that, as of September 2019, we have:

135 adopted churches8,567 Bibles distributed673 leaders trained in discipleship1,785 study materials distributed

Pastora Lani Roldan shares her insights about the Adopt a Church Program Training and Bible Distribution Session she attended last April 2019, and she affirms that this pro-gram will benefit the adopted church in San Mateo, Rizal. These are her thoughts:

“My knowledge on discipleship grew deeper. The Adopt a Church Program is really helpful. It helps the res-toration of hearts for the Great Commission. I will apply what I learned from the AACP to teach those who don’t know Christ – for them to know God’s love and to spread discipleship to others.”

The Bible is the Word of God. It guides people towards a blessed and peaceful life. Adopt a Church now and help change lives and communities. Please fill out the response form and return it to us today.

May God bless you for your prayers and for helping proclaim the Word that shall not pass away.

1 Wed p Gn 1–3 2 Thu p Gn 4–6 3 Fri p Gn 7–10 4 Sat p Gn 11–14 5 Sun p Gn 15–18 6 Mon p Gn 19–21 7 Tue p Gn 22–24 8 Wed p Gn 25:1–27:45 9 Thu p Gn 27:46–30:43 10 Fri p Gn 31–32 11 Sat p Gn 33–35 12 Sun p Gn 36–38 13 Mon p Gn 39–41 14 Tue p Gn 42–44 15 Wed p Gn 45–47 16 Thu p Gn 48–50 17 Fri p Ex 1–318 Sat p Ex 4:1–6:27 19 Sun p Ex 6:28–9:35

20 Mon p Ex 10–12 21 Tue p Ex 13–15 22 Wed p Ex 16–18 23 Thu p Ex 19–21 24 Fri p Ex 22–24 25 Sat p Ex 25–27 26 Sun p Ex 28–29 27 Mon p Ex 30–32 28 Tue p Ex 33:1–35:29 29 Wed p Ex 35:30–38:31 30 Thu p Ex 39–40 31 Fri p Lv 1–4

January 20-26: National Bible WeekJanuary 26: National Bible SundayJanuary 27: National Bible Day

1 Thu p Mt 10–12 2 Fri p Mt 13:1–14:12 3 Sat p Mt 14:13–17:20 4 Sun p Mt 17:22–18:35 5 Mon p Mt 19–20 6 Tue p Mt 21–23 7 Wed p Mt 24–25 8 Thu p Mt 26–27 9 Fri p Mt 28 10 Sat p Mk 1:1–3:12 11 Sun p Mk 3:13–5:43 12 Mon p Mk 6:1–7:30 13 Tue p Mk 7:31–9:29 14 Wed p Mk 9:30–10:52 15 Thu p Mk 11–12 16 Fri p Mk 13–14 17 Sat p Mk 15–16 18 Sun p Lk 1–2 19 Mon p Lk 3:1–4:13

20 Tue p Lk 4:14–5:39 21 Wed p Lk 6–7 22 Thu p Lk 8:1–9:50 23 Fri p Lk 9:51–10:42 24 Sat p Lk 11:1–13:21 25 Sun p Lk 13:22–15:32 26 Mon p Lk 16:1–17:37 27 Tue p Lk 18–20 28 Wed p Lk 21–22 29 Thu p Lk 23–24 30 Fri p Jn 1–2 31 Sat p Jn 3–4

1 Wed p 2 S 8–10 2 Thu p 2 S 11–13 3 Fri p 2 S 14–15 4 Sat p 2 S 16–18 5 Sun p 2 S 19–21 6 Mon p 2 S 22–24 7 Tue p 1 K 1–2 8 Wed p 1 K 3–4 9 Thu p 1 K 5–7 10 Fri p 1 K 8–9 11 Sat p 1 K 10–11 12 Sun p 1 K 12–14 13 Mon p 1 K 15–17 14 Tue p 1 K 18–19 15 Wed p 1 K 20–22 16 Thu p 2 K 1–3 17 Fri p 2 K 4–518 Sat p 2 K 6–7 19 Sun p 2 K 8–9 20 Mon p 2 K 10–12

21 Tue p 2 K 13–15 22 Wed p 2 K 16–18 23 Thu p 2 K 19–21 24 Fri p 2 K 22–25 25 Sat p 1 Ch 1–2 26 Sun p 1 Ch 3–5 27 Mon p 1 Ch 6–8 28 Tue p 1 Ch 9–11 29 Wed p 1 Ch 12–14 30 Thu p 1 Ch 15–16

April 9: Maundy ThursdayApril 10: Good FridayApril 12: Easter SundayApril 18: PBS 55th Annual Membership Meeting

1 Wed p Ps 119:89–176 2 Thu p Ps 120–131 3 Fri p Ps 132–138 4 Sat p Ps 139–144 5 Sun p Ps 145–150 6 Mon p Pr 1–3 7 Tue p Pr 4:1–7:5 8 Wed p Pr 7:6–9:18 9 Thu p Pr 10–12 10 Fri p Pr 13–15 11 Sat p Pr 16–18 12 Sun p Pr 19–21 13 Mon p Pr 22–24 14 Tue p Pr 25–29 15 Wed p Pr 30–31 16 Thu p Ec 1–4 17 Fri p Ec 5–8 18 Sat p Ec 9–12 19 Sun p Sgs 1:1–5:1

20 Mon p Sgs 5:2–8:14 21 Tue p Is 1–4 22 Wed p Is 5:1–9:1 23 Thu p Is 9:2–12:6 24 Fri p Is 13–17 25 Sat p Is 18–23 26 Sun p Is 24–27 27 Mon p Is 28–30 28 Tue p Is 31–35 29 Wed p Is 36–39 30 Thu p Is 40–42 31 Fri p Is 43–45

1 Sat p Lv 5–7 2 Sun p Lv 8–9 3 Mon p Lv 10–12 4 Tue p Lv 13–14 5 Wed p Lv 15–17 6 Thu p Lv 18–20 7 Fri p Lv 21–24 8 Sat p Lv 25–27 9 Sun p Nu 1–2 10 Mon p Nu 3–4 11 Tue p Nu 5–6 12 Wed p Nu 7–8 13 Thu p Nu 9–11 14 Fri p Nu 12–15 15 Sat p Nu 16–18 16 Sun p Nu 19–21 17 Mon p Nu 22–24 18 Tue p Nu 25–27

19 Wed p Nu 28–30 20 Thu p Nu 31–33 21 Fri p Nu 34–3622 Sat p Dt 1–2 23 Sun p Dt 3–4 24 Mon p Dt 5–7 25 Tue p Dt 8–11 26 Wed p Dt 12–14 27 Thu p Dt 15–18 28 Fri p Dt 19–22 29 Sat p Dt 23–26

1 Sun p Jn 5–6 2 Mon p Jn 7–8 3 Tue p Jn 9–10 4 Wed p Jn 11–12 5 Thu p Jn 13–16 6 Fri p Jn 17–19 7 Sat p Jn 20–21 8 Sun p Ac 1–2 9 Mon p Ac 3–5 10 Tue p Ac 6:1–8:3 11 Wed p Ac 8:4–9:31 12 Thu p Ac 9:32–11:18 13 Fri p Ac 11:19–12:25 14 Sat p Ac 13:1–15:35 15 Sun p Ac 15:36–18:23 16 Mon p Ac 18:24–21:16 17 Tue p Ac 21:17–23:35 18 Wed p Ac 24–26 19 Thu p Ac 27–28

20 Fri p Ro 1:1–3:20 21 Sat p Ro 3:21–5:21 22 Sun p Ro 6–8 23 Mon p Ro 9–11 24 Tue p Ro 12–16 25 Wed p 1 Co 1–4 26 Thu p 1 Co 5–7 27 Fri p 1 Co 8:1–11:1 28 Sat p 1 Co 11:2–14:40 29 Sun p 1 Co 15–16 30 Mon p 2 Co 1:1–5:10

Nov 26: PBS 121st Anniversary

1 Fri p 1 Ch 17–20 2 Sat p 1 Ch 21–23 3 Sun p 1 Ch 24–26 4 Mon p 1 Ch 27–29 5 Tue p 2 Ch 1–4 6 Wed p 2 Ch 5–8 7 Thu p 2 Ch 9–12 8 Fri p 2 Ch 13–16 9 Sat p 2 Ch 17:1–21:1 10 Sun p 2 Ch 21:2–24:27 11 Mon p 2 Ch 25–28 12 Tue p 2 Ch 29–30 13 Wed p 2 Ch 31–33 14 Thu p 2 Ch 34–36 15 Fri p Ezra 1–3 16 Sat p Ezra 4–7 17 Sun p Ezra 8–10 18 Mon p Ne 1–4 19 Tue p Ne 5–7

20 Wed p Ne 8–10 21 Thu p Ne 11–13 22 Fri p Es 1–4 23 Sat p Es 5–10 24 Sun p Job 1–4 25 Mon p Job 5–7 26 Tue p Job 8–10 27 Wed p Job 11–13 28 Thu p Job 14–16 29 Fri p Job 17–20 30 Sat p Job 21–23 31 Sun p Job 24–28

May 9: UBS World Day of Prayer

1 Sat p Is 46–50 2 Sun p Is 51–55 3 Mon p Is 56–61 4 Tue p Is 62–66 5 Wed p Jr 1–3 6 Thu p Jr 4–6 7 Fri p Jr 7–10 8 Sat p Jr 11–13 9 Sun p Jr 14–15 10 Mon p Jr 16–17 11 Tue p Jr 18–20 12 Wed p Jr 21–24 13 Thu p Jr 25–29 14 Fri p Jr 30–33 15 Sat p Jr 34–35 16 Sun p Jr 36–38 17 Mon p Jr 39–43 18 Tue p Jr 44–45 19 Wed p Jr 46–48

20 Thu p Jr 49–50 21 Fri p Jr 51–52 22 Sat p Lm 1–3 23 Sun p Lm 4–5 24 Mon p Ez 1–3 25 Tue p Ez 4–5 26 Wed p Ez 6–7 27 Thu p Ez 8–12 28 Fri p Ez 13–16 29 Sat p Ez 17:1–20:44 30 Sun p Ez 20:45–24–27 31 Mon p Ez 25:1–28:19

1 Sun p Dt 27–28 2 Mon p Dt 29:1–31:29 3 Tue p Dt 31:30–34:12 4 Wed p Js 1–3 5 Thu p Js 4–6 6 Fri p Js 7–9 7 Sat p Js 10–12 8 Sun p Js 13–15 9 Mon p Js 16–18 10 Tue p Js 19–21 11 Wed p Js 22–24 12 Thu p Jg 1–3 13 Fri p Jg 4–5 14 Sat p Jg 6–8 15 Sun p Jg 9–12 16 Mon p Jg 13–15 17 Tue p Jg 16–18 18 Wed p Jg 19–21 19 Thu p Ru 1–4

20 Fri p 1 S 1–3 21 Sat p 1 S 4–7 22 Sun p 1 S 8–10 23 Mon p 1 S 11–13 24 Tue p 1 S 14–15 25 Wed p 1 S 16:1–18:5 26 Thu p 1 S 18:6–20:42 27 Fri p 1 S 21–24 28 Sat p 1 S 25:1–28:2 29 Sun p 1 S 28:3–31:13 30 Mon p 2 S 1–3 31 Tue p 2 S 4–7

1 Tue p 2 Co 5:11–9:15 2 Wed p 2 Co 10–13 3 Thu p Ga 1–4 4 Fri p Ga 5–6 5 Sat p Eph 1–3 6 Sun p Eph 4–6 7 Mon p Phil 1–4 8 Tue p Col 1–4 9 Wed p 1 Th 1–5 10 Thu p 2 Th 1–3 11 Fri p 1 Ti 1–3 12 Sat p 1 Ti 4–6 13 Sun p 2 Ti 1–4 14 Mon p Titus 1–3; Phm 1 15 Tue p He 1:1–4:13 16 Wed p He 4:14–7:28 17 Thu p He 8:1–10:18 18 Fri p He 10:19–13:25 19 Sat p Jas 1–5

20 Sun p 1 P 1–5 21 Mon p 2 P 1–3 22 Tue p 1 Jn 23 Wed p 2 Jn, 3 Jn 24 Thu p Jd 1 25 Fri p Rev 1–3 26 Sat p Rev 4–7 27 Sun p Rev 8–11 28 Mon p Rev 12–14 29 Tue p Rev 15–16 30 Wed p Rev 17:1–20:10 31 Thu p Rev 20:11–22:21

Dec 25: Christmas Day

1 Mon p Job 29–31 2 Tue p Job 32–34 3 Wed p Job 35–37 4 Thu p Job 38–39 5 Fri p Job 40–42 6 Sat p Ps 1–8 7 Sun p Ps 9–15 8 Mon p Ps 16–19 9 Tue p Ps 20–24 10 Wed p Ps 25–30 11 Thu p Ps 31–35 12 Fri p Ps 36–41 13 Sat p Ps 42–45 14 Sun p Ps 46–50 15 Mon p Ps 51–56 16 Tue p Ps 57–6317 Wed p Ps 64–68 18 Thu p Ps 69–72 19 Fri p Ps 73–77

20 Sat p Ps 78–79 21 Sun p Ps 80–85 22 Mon p Ps 86–89 23 Tue p Ps 90–93 24 Wed p Ps 94–98 25 Thu p Ps 99–103 26 Fri p Ps 104–106 27 Sat p Ps 107–109 28 Sun p Ps 110–113 29 Mon p Ps 114–118 30 Tue p Ps 119:1–88

1 Tue p Ez 28:20–30:26 2 Wed p Ez 31–32 3 Thu p Ez 33–35 4 Fri p Ez 36–39 5 Sat p Ez 40–42 6 Sun p Ez 43–46 7 Mon p Ez 47–48 8 Tue p Dn 1–3 9 Wed p Dn 4–6 10 Thu p Dn 7–9 11 Fri p Dn 10–12 12 Sat p Ho 1–7 13 Sun p Ho 8–14 14 Mon p Jl 1–3 15 Tue p Am 1:1–5:17 16 Wed p Am 5:18–9:15 17 Thu p Ob 1 18 Fri p Jon 1–4 19 Sat p Mic 1–7

20 Sun p Nh 1–3 21 Mon p Hb 1–3 22 Tue p Zep 1–3 23 Wed p Hg 1–2 24 Thu p Zec 1–6 25 Fri p Zec 7–11 26 Sat p Zec 12–14 27 Sun p Ml 1–4 28 Mon p Mt 1:1–4:11 29 Tue p Mt 4:12–7:29 30 Wed p Mt 8–9

JANU

ARY

JULY

OCTO

BER

APRI

LM

AYJU

NE

FEBR

UARY

AUGU

ST

NOVE

MBE

R

MAR

CH

SEPT

EMBE

R

DECE

MBE

R

ABBREVIATIONSOLD TESTAMENT

ENG TAG ENG TAGGnExLvNuDtJsJgRu1 S2 S1 K2 K1 Ch2 ChEzraNeEsJobPsPr

GenExoLevBilDeutJosHukRuth1 Sam2 Sam1 Ha2 Ha1 Cro2 CroEzNehEstJobAwitKaw

EcSgsIsJrLmEzDnHoJlAmObJonMicNhHbZepHgZecMl

MangaAw ni SIsaJerPanagEze DanHosJoelAmosObaJonMikNahHabZefHagZacMal

NEW TESTAMENTENG TAG ENG TAG

MtMkLkJnAcRo1 Co2 CoGaEphPhilCol1 Th2 Th

MtMcLuJnGwRo1 Cor2 CorGaEfFilCo1 Tes2 Tes

1 Ti2 TiTitusPhmHeJas1 P2 P1 Jn2 Jn3 JnJdRev

1 Tim2 TimTitoFilemHebSan1 Ped2 Ped1 Jn2 Jn3 JnJuPah

GNT - Good News TranslationNAB - New American Bible

“...and you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able

to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful

for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person

who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.”

2 Timothy 3:15-17 GNT

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visit our website at www.bible.org.phFREE • NOT FOR SALE

We are told in the Gospels that when our Lord Jesus was baptized, heaven was opened, and the Spirit came down on him like a dove. It is this same Spirit that comes down on anyone who is baptized. And what is the result? We become completely one as God’s people, as followers of Christ. Baptism makes all of us equal before God and before one another. All discrimination and prejudice are completely eliminated, whether those be racial or national, economic, social, or gender. As the hymn puts it: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.”

That indeed is a new world! May this new world begin now with us. May this new world become a reality in our towns, in our nation, and in our world.

Let us continue to make this message known to every Filipino, in every Filipino home, in all of Philippine society. And how do we do this? One sure way is by becoming par-ticipants in the mi nistry of the Philippine Bible So ciety. Let us help in making the Bible, the written Word of God, avail-able and accessible to every one, including and especially those who cannot afford to buy Bibles. Let us promote Bible Society programs of distribution, including the May They Be One+ program, so that the least among our Filipino sisters and brothers will have access to the Word of God. And let us continue to nou r ish our spiritual lives by regularly rea d-ing the Scriptures, with the firm belief that the Scriptures as the written Word lead us to Christ, the living Word.

Beyond the sacred page, we seek thee, Lord, our spirits pant for thee, O living Word.

Daniel C. Arichea, Jr., Ph.D. PBS Translation Consultant

UNITY AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE

Texts: Psalm 133:1 and 1 Corinthians 12:13

How wonderful it is, how pleasant,for God’s people to live together in harmony!

The starting point of this short Psalm is the family situa-tion among the Israelites. It was usual for married sons and their families to continue to live with their parents. In such a situation, it would be easy to have conflicts among family members. However, the picture that we get in this Psalm is one of joy, goodwill, and perfect harmony.

But it is not only the family that the Psalm is con-cerned about, but rather the whole nation of Israel. This is clear in the Good News Translation quoted above, where the Psalm is a des cription of “God’s people.” The rest of the Psalm supports this understanding. The anoint-ing oil on Aaron’s head indicates his consecration as high priest. The oil running down from Aaron’s head and beard down to the collar of his robes doesn’t mean very much to us until we are informed that Aaron’s breastplate con-tains the names of all the twelve tribes of Israel; thus the oil not only consecrates Aaron as the chief priest, but the whole nation as well. And the dew on Mount Hermon fall- ing on the hills of Zion? It is much more than vegetation and fertility. Mount Hermon is the chief mountain in the Northern Kingdom or Israel, and Mount Zion is the main mountain in the Southern Kingdom or Judah. These two kingdoms, often divided, are brought together to share God’s abundant bles s- ings. And the focus switches from temporary vegetation to the permanent effect of God’s blessings: “That is where the Lord has promised his bles sing—life that never ends.”

This Psalm then is primarily concerned with the unity of the Israelites as they lived as God’s people in the world.

Can we apply this Psalm to us as Christians? Indeed we are God’s new people, and the unity that Psalm 133 is talk-ing about is something that we recognize and long for. And this is where we turn to our New Testament text, namely 1 Corinthians 12:13:

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

2020“How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in

harmony!”Psalm 133:1

Good News Translation (GNT)

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to

drink of one Spirit.”1 Corinthians 12:13

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

the Bible in one year