Reading the Bible Through in a Year Series:

      1. Free Bible Reading Plans for the New Year
      2. Books to Help You Read through the Bible
      3. Recommended Children’s Story Bibles

Related post: 5 Reasons to Read God’s Word This Year

It seems to me that if everything were easy and straightforward, no controversy at all, nothing complex, nothing apparently out of sync with my little human brain and its ability to discern contradictions, then I bet there would be a question here like, “If this is really God’s word, why is it so simple?”

I have often thought the same thing. If I understood everything about God and his Word, I would begin to wonder if this was really God’s Word at all. A God that finite human beings can fully understand wouldn’t be much of a God. I would be more inclined to think we made him up. The difficult parts of the Bible just serve to confirm what the Bible clearly proclaims anyways: He is God, and we are not.

        ”The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the
        things revealed belong to us and to our children forever,
        that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

        ”For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we
        shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall
        know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Related posts:
    • The Bible Memory Version
    • Amazon Kindle’s Most Popular Bible Highlights

[Google] and Israel announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to give researchers and the public the first comprehensive and searchable database of the scrolls – a 2,000-year-old collection of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek documents that shed light on Judaism during biblical times and the origins of Christianity. For years, experts have complained that access to the scrolls has been too limited.

Once the images are up, anyone will be able to peruse exact copies of the original scrolls as well as an English translation of the text on their computer – for free. Officials said the collection, expected to be available within months, will feature sections that have been made more legible thanks to high-tech infrared technology.

 
Yet another great deal for the Kindle – The Holy Bible English Standard Version (ESV) for free.
 
 

The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and depth of meaning.

Remember you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle books. Amazon offers free Kindle apps for your computer or smartphone. Also, be sure to check out this week’s earlier post on 16 free Kindle books from Christian publishers.

Note: Amazon’s free book offers are temporary and often end quickly. Check back often or subscribe by email or feed reader so that you don’t miss any future offers.

Related posts:
    • The Bible Memory Version for the Kindle
    • Top 10 Kindle Features
    • Amazon Kindle’s Most Popular Bible Highlights

(Note: For ebook and audiobook conversions, see Fowler Digital Services.)

I am excited to announce the release of what I hope is the first book in a series: The Bible Memory Version: A Tool for Treasuring God’s Word in Your Heart.  Bible memory has long been a passion in my life, and I hope The Bible Memory Version will help others catch a vision for Bible memory in their lives too.

The Bible Memory Version is an interactive book that helps you memorize and review whole sections of the Bible. Click on any verse or passage of Scripture, and it instantly switches to first-letter view. (Click here for an example of how this works.) The first-letter method is based on memory research which shows that recalling information is a far more effective way to memorize than merely repeating information.

The Bible Memory Version includes:

• the entire text of the Bible in both full-verse and first-letter view
• an introductory chapter with helps and hints for Bible memory
• a quick-start guide with list of recommended passages
• a topical section with 100 key verses arranged according to 20 topics
• five popular gospel presentations with accompanying Bible verses
• a helpful Bible Memory Resource guide

    Available in ePub, Kindle, and Mobipocket formats
    Works with all standard e-readers including iPad, iPhone, Amazon Kindle, and Nook

I am excited about this project and hope to work with publishers to produce Bible Memory Versions in various translations. If you would like The Bible Memory Version released in a specific translation, please email me at digital-books@rayfowler.org. If you don’t have an e-reader, you can download a free e-reader here for your computer or portable device.

So what do you think of this project? Let me know in the comments section below!

Click here to purchase The Bible Memory Version now.
Click here to see all the titles available at Fowler Digital Books.

Related posts:
    • Bible Memory Version Available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon
    • The Bible Memory Version Poll

1. Be patient.
2. Preach the word from the pulpit with fervency, clarity and power, and let the prime means of grace do its work.
3. Emphasize the importance of a weekly prayer meeting.
4. Invite a core group of potential leaders in the congregation to study the Bible and pray with you, weekly and personally. Meet as a small group and do a Bible survey, and lead them in prayer. Model for them how to do it. Make them take part and be active participants. Watch the contagion spread among them for the study of God’s word and prayer in the church, homes and their personal lives. Let them become recruiters and encouragers of others to study the word and pray for themselves.
5. In the course of your teaching/preaching the Bible in the local church, spend time explicitly and specifically on explaining why it is important for Christians to study the word and to pray, and how one ought to do it.
6. Get your people to read good books about Bible study and prayer (John Blanchard, “How to Enjoy Your Bible,” Don Carson, “A Call to Spiritual Reformation,” Matthew Henry, “Method For Prayer,” “Ryken’s Bible Handbook,” etc).

Privacy

Check out The Bible Memory Version for the Kindle here.

The Amazon Kindle e-reader device allows you to highlight specific passages for viewing later. Amazon just rolled out a software upgrade (version 2.5) which expands this feature in a whole new way. Not only can you view your own highlights for a particular book, but now you can view the combined highlights of all other Kindle users as well. (Kindle users not wanting to share highlights can deactivate this feature.)

Using this feature I was able to find the most popular Bible highlights on the Kindle. Amazon lists six Bible translations in their top 100 most highlighted books: NIV (ranked #2), NASB (#19), TNIV (#32), NLT (#33), ESV (#35) and KJV (#76). I took the top highlights for each translation and put them together in the chart below. So, here are the most popular passages in the Bible as highlighted by Kindle users around the world:

                      Amazon Kindle’s Most Popular Bible Highlights
      (Hover your mouse over the Bible reference to view the passage.)

I found it interesting how many of these highlights focus on trusting God and not worrying. What stands out to you? (Click here for the most popular Kindle highlights for the Koran.)

Related posts:
    • The Bible Memory Version for the Kindle
    • New Amazon Kindle Goes Wi-Fi!
    • Top 10 Kindle Features
    • My Kindle Got Run Over by a Car

Note: For ebook and audiobook conversions, see Fowler Digital Services.

God’s Word is central to all effective ministry:

Therefore I will make God’s word central to my ministry. I am a minister of Christ and God’s word. Paul charged Timothy to preach, correct, rebuke, encourage, instruct and evangelize (2 Timothy 4:1-5). He told him to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching (1 Timothy 4:11-14). God’s word is the power for salvation, especially through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 3:15). God’s word also contains the power for spiritual growth (1 Peter 1:23-2:3). God’s word never returns empty but always goes forth to accomplish his purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). Should I stray from the word of God, I abandon my calling, power and authority. I will proclaim the whole will of God (Acts 20:27-31) and watch my own life and doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4:15-16). I will run all of my decisions through God’s word and base my life and ministry on Biblical values.

Back to Table of Contents | Next section: Gentleness and Grace (PTOM 7)

Related post: Church Search

Here are ten wise sayings from the Bible fitting for April Fools Day:

• The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
• The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin. (Proverbs 10:8)
• He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise. (Proverbs 11:29)
• The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)
• A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16)
• A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)
• It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. (Proverbs 20:3)
• As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (Proverbs 26:11)
• He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe. (Proverbs 28:26)
• A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. (Proverbs 29:11)

Can a fool change? Probably not, but God can change a fool! (I can testify to that.) So don’t be an April Fool this year — or a January, February, March or any other type of fool either. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Related posts:

• ¡¡¡ʎɐp slooɟ lıɹdɐ ʎddɐɥ
• Best April Fools Day Jokes

Learning to evangelize men and women who know nothing about the Bible and who are bringing their own “baggage” or “context” with them does not require a super intellect or a Ph.D. in biblical theology. What it requires is learning to get across a lot of things that we Christians simply presuppose.

There are quite a lot of ways of doing this. One of them is to focus on a variety of biblical texts drawn from across the entire Bible and work through them with people. One might begin with Genesis 1-2: “The God who makes everything.” Genesis 3 becomes “The God who does not wipe out rebels.” We keep working through the Old Testament and eventually arrive at the New, coming to topics like “The God who becomes a human being” (John 1:1-18). The wonderful atonement passage in Romans 3 covers “The God who declares the guilty just.” Gradually the Bible becomes a coherent book. It establishes its own framework; it is the context in which alone Jesus, the real Jesus, makes sense.

This is similar to the method that New Tribes Mission uses with unreached tribes that have no Biblical framework to understand Christ, sort of a Biblical-theological approach to missions. (See post here on The Taliabo Story.) Here is Carson’s complete 16-point overview tracing the storyline of Scripture:

      1. The God who made everything
      2. The God who does not wipe out rebels
      3. The God who writes his own agreements
      4. The God who legislates
      5. The God who reigns
      6. The God who makes his people sing
      7. The God who is unfathomably wise
      8. The God who is coming
      9. The God who becomes a human being
    10. The God who grants new birth
    11. The God who loves
    12. The God who dies–and lives
    13. The God who declares the guilty just
    14. The God who gathers and transforms his people
    15. The God who is very angry
    16. The God who triumphs

Update: The lectures from the seminar have now been released in book form: The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story