Monday, December 29, 2008 • 5:08 pm
As you are making your New Year’s Resolutions you should add the resolution to read through the entire Bible in 2009. As a matter of fact, make this your number one resolution. There is no other that will benefit you more. To accomplish this goal I suggest the excellent Bible reading plan of Robert Murry M’Cheyne. By following his reading schedule you will read through the entire Old Testament once, the New Testament and Psalm twice in the year. My good friend Jimmy Burchett and I will be using this reading schedule in 2009 to read through the Bible together. Perhaps the task seems daunting to you, challenge a friend to read with you as you hold one another accountable.
M’Cheyne lists some advantages of following such a plan:
1. The Whole Bible will be read through in an orderly manner in the course of a year. – The Old Testament once, the New Testament and Psalms twice. I fear many of you never read the whole Bible, and yet it is all equally divine. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.” If we pass over some parts of Scripture we will be incomplete Christians.
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Filed under: Bible, Robert Murray McCheyne, The Christian Life
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 • 10:10 am
Yesterday Dr. Albert Mohler posted a very helpful article on How to Use a Study Bible. I have printed the whole article below:
One of the most memorable purchases I made as a teenager was The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible in its original King James Version edition, complete with blue leather cover. I still have it, of course, though it now finds itself surrounded by a host of other Bibles on the shelf nearest to my desk. That study Bible opened the Word of God to me in a whole new way, helping me to make connections in the text and to see how subjects and themes run throughout the Bible.
That was my introduction to a study Bible. The chain-reference notes in that Bible took me throughout the Scriptures, reading text alongside text. I recognized this as a great improvement on Bibles that contained only a minimal index and a few maps in the back.
Today, there are several significant study Bibles, ranging from the most minimal, offering only cross-references, to others that offer the equivalent of several hundred pages of supplemental helps.
How should a study Bible be used?
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Filed under: Albert Mohler, Bible, Bible Study
Monday, October 27, 2008 • 5:34 am
In several articles on this blog I have examined the theme of friendship; namely, the friendship and bond that men share between one another. I am in the process of expanding my writing on this theme to include the uses of friendship in the Bible. The conclusion of this project will be the development of a mini-theology on the subject of friendship.
The Bible is not silent on the subject of friendship. It is replete with examples of descriptions of true friends and the sacrifice of friendship. The Bible uses the word ‘friend’ numerous times. For example: the KJV uses the word friend 53 times, the ESV uses it 51 times, and the NASB uses the word 63 times. From beginning to end the subject of friendship is an overarching theme in the relationship between humanity and humanity with their Creator.
Friendship has been a basic, yet unnecessary, love given to us by God. Below are just a few of the numerous verses found in Scripture that speak of friendship.
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Filed under: Bible, Friendship
Friday, September 26, 2008 • 5:16 am
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From Isaiah 53 John Piper reminds us that it is God who brings about the suffering and death of Christ. In this moving and stirring post entitled, God’s Delight in the Son He Strikes Piper, in his usual amazing way, brings us face to face with the text of Scripture and the truth of the wrath of God vindicated on His own Son.
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You can now take online seminary level courses with some of the greatest theologians and biblical scholars of today at Biblical Training. This is an excellent resource for the pastor or laymen who can’t make it to seminary.
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Justin Taylor gives a brief description of some of today’s Favorite Children’s Bibles. This would be an excellent article to give to the parents in your congregation via a bulletin insert.
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Dr. Albert Mohler must be in the publishing mood. Four of Dr. Mohler’s books have been published this year and I encourage everyone to read them all.
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Tony Renike reviews The Complete Works of Thomas Manton. Puritan divine Thomas Manton was first and foremost an expositor of Scripture. 20 of the 22 volumes of his work are filled with expositions of Scripture. This complete works collection is for anyone dedicated to the same.
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I pray you have a wonderful weekend. I leave you with an excerpt from a letter by Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847):
Christian sanctification is boundless, and it is our duty to press forward; and when one looks to himself and feels his woeful deficiencies in the mildness, the patience, the charity, the holiness of the Gospel, he must perceive how much he has yet to aspire after. We should at the same time never forget in what way the above virtues are formed and have their increase in the soul: they are the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22 and as the Savior is the dispenser of the Spirit – as it is through faith in Him that the Spirit is given – as without Him we can do nothing – hence the necessity of laying all upon this foundation, of a vital union with Jesus Christ by faith, that He may be our sanctification as well as our redemption.
Filed under: Albert Mohler, Bible, Book Recommendations, Books, Links, Puritans
Monday, September 22, 2008 • 5:57 am
Are you going green? Have you gone green? Are you interested in reducing your carbon footprint? Those concerned about such can now carry a “green” Bible according to an interesting article on the TIME magazine site entitled, The Bible Goes Green for the Prius Age.
On Oct. 7, HarperCollins will be releasing The Green Bible, a Scripture for the Prius age that calls attention to more than 1,000 verses related to nature by printing them in a pleasant shade of forest green, much as red-letter editions of the Bible encrimson the words of Jesus. Using recycled paper with soy-based ink, The Green Bible includes supplementary writings by, among others, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope John Paul II, Desmond Tutu and Anglican bishop N.T. Wright.
The conservative Christians who drive Bible sales don’t tend to favor the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) used in The Green Bible. Yet publisher Mark Tauber thinks green Evangelicals will leap the NRSV fire wall. He adds cheerfully: “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see so-called big Bible publishers come out with a green edition.” If you want to grow a biblical tree where birds can nest, this is a good way to start.
Is this the new Bible everyone will be carrying the Sunday after it hits store shelves? I just thought you might be interested in a bit of amusement for your Monday morning – have a good one!
Filed under: Bible, Cultural Issues
