September Newsletter
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August 2010 Newsletter
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July 2010 Newsletter
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June Newsletter 2010
June Focus: Once again we turn the calendar pages and see that in June we will be honoring the men who lead us, are our role models, spiritual guides, and heads of our families. The Bible gives us many snippets of instructions and hints on how a man is to lead and guide. This month our topic is to honor and reflect upon Father’s Day. Pastor Hampton Keathley III left his family, and us in turn, not only wisdom but a challenge.
June Focus: Once again we turn the calendar pages and see that in June we will be honoring the men who lead us, are our role models, spiritual guides, and heads of our families. The Bible gives us many snippets of instructions and hints on how a man is to lead and guide. This month our topic is to honor and reflect upon Father’s Day. Pastor Hampton Keathley III left his family, and us in turn, not only wisdom but a challenge. Read about it in this article: “A Challenge for Fathers” . In addition, one of our women authors, Sue Bohlin, gives women a challenge on “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands”. Coupled together we have a two sided coin of Father’s Day from both perspectives.
The bible.org contest for June is to highlight ...
One man who left (or is leaving) a lasting imprint on my life is ____. From him I want to pass on to other men this nugget….
Submit your description in this form. (we will award two prizes from our bible.org store for the best description written by a woman and one written by a man.)
*bible.org reserves the right to determine either physical or downloadable gifts determinant upon the geographical location of the winner chosen*
SPOTLIGHT OF THE MONTH: Bible.org is privileged to have men authors; many who serve sacrificially and provide us with many wise tools to lead and teach us. They are from all walks of life: pastors, teachers, missionaries, leaders in secular work as well as ministerial work. Come acquaint yourself with some of the men of bible.org. These authors are featured on the new Equipping Men for Impact page: Jim Smith; Dr. Ken Boa, Pastor Jeff Miller, Bill Hull, Pastor Bob Deffinbaugh, Dr. Poythress; J. Hampton Keathley IV, Pastor Hampton Keathley III.
Michael Garrett will be the new Admin Manager for all men on the new Equipping Men for Impact page. In addition, Michael Garrett and his "Equipped Bloggers" will start their new Men's Blog titled: Equipping Men for Impact. Start date: June 2010.
For Men Only: Check out the bible.org men's only Forum with Moderator Mike Craven. Their statement is from Ephesians 6:10-13 which teaches us that if you are a Christian man, then you are called into battle. This is not an invitation. This is a command. For far too long, men have been on the sidelines, in the bleachers, or on the couch while the "spiritual forces of evil" have corrupted our culture, attacked our families, and infiltrated Christ's church. If you are a Christian man, then you are a leader. As faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we must become the sacrificial servant leaders that He modeled for us. We are to be His true ambassadors 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
May Spotlight Contest Winner: In May the women of bible.org had a mini-contest and received many winsome notes back. Of all that sent in their responses the Women’s Leadership Team chose the letter written by Elizma Zaayman fro Pretoria, South Africa. Her prize is a First Ed. of the NET Bible and it is on its way across the sea to her. Her letter is here for you to read and enjoy. Elizma’s theme that she wishes to pass on is this: “Press On!! Never give up.” In Phil 3:12-14 we are told to press on and never give up. A special woman has taught me this and is still continuing to teach me this very special value in life. My mother was 59 years old when she felt the Lord pressing her to become a missionary. There was just one problem. Her age. READ MORE --->
Bible.org Mailbox Letters: Quoted as received with links added by staff.
Bible.org is incredibly encouraged when you, the reader take time to send notes of encouragement to the staff and especially as you take time to jot a note about an article or some new piece of spiritual understanding that you have received. In May we received several which referenced specific authors and have chosen those letters that were impacted by bible.org authors Hope Olson and Dan Wallace. The authors that were referenced in May each received a copy of the emails. In return, they tell us how encouraged they were. One of God's amazing ways of showing His sensitivity to our author's needs is that often your notes come just at the moment when one of the "enemy's" deadly darts has headed their way. Your letter is the shield that disarms those arrows and sends them to "arrow-ville". So for these precious authors, we thank you for the words of encouragement. Keep them coming!
Here are the ones received recently that referenced our authors.
From “John” I was aware of your internet site for years and would at times listen to certain subjects, but I decided to start at the beginning. I have been totally blessed as I have completed the Introduction to theology sessions. I am encouraging my church to see how we can implement this teaching. I am looking forward to continue through everything you have.
From “Marquita” who wrote about Author: Hope Olson: Article: Choosing a Godly Husband
“Marquita” wrote: Bible.org has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I could not begin to tell you of all the great things that have come about in my life because of the articles and sermons that you post weekly for our encouragement and growth in God. I recently read the Choosing a Godly Husband article and it has helped me in a way that no other book has. I am able to walk away with a realistic approach to marriage and relationships, while not putting unrealistic expectations on the man of God in my life but yet being aware of the things that will cause a problem in the future if left unchallenged. I am greatly inspired. I also enjoyed a study on John, which was very in-depth and informative. I look forward to logging on and learning more and more about God and his kingdom. I just really wanted to encourage the staff of bible.org and pray that this operation continue many years in the future.
Thanks again for being led by God and impacting so many lives! Be blessed!
From “Matthew” who wrote about Author: Dr. Dan Wallace: Article: "My Take on Inerrancy"
“Matthew” wrote: In Mr. Wallace's article entitled "My Take on Inerrancy," there is a comment of his that rang rather true in my mind as it is reflective of foundational circumstances that have caused my faith to be all but lost. In his article he said that, "One does not have the deepest assurance about inerrancy simply by convincing himself that it must be true. Indeed, I would argue that such a presuppositional approach often caves in on itself." I cannot agree with him more - and I justify my agreement with him from experience.
Letters about the NET Bible:
“Pastor Steven” wrote: The NET Bible has become my main English translation for Bible study and sermon preparation. Of particular value are the thousands of notes explaining the translators' choices. This has helped me to think through the textual issues and to make informed decisions about meaning. I have recommended the NET heartily to pastor friends and laypeople alike. The Word of God dependably translated into one's native tongue is an incredible blessing. Praise the Lord for His work through you!
“Dr. William” wrote: I lead a group of clergy in Lectionary Study each week. I would feel handicapped if I did not have my NET Bible. I also use it in a weekly Adult Class. And, of course, for sermon preparation and reading scripture at worship. I have it in both hard copy and software. I find it not only accurate as a translation but stylish for reading aloud.
Financial Update'1' Again this month: Praise, Praise,Praise, As we have shared the needs of the ministry, God has graciously sent us new donors and one who gave another very large gift this month which reduces our Jan2009 through Apr2010 shortfall from $132.5k to $95.8k. Also, while not reflected in this report, he gave us another generous gift in early May. We praise God for each of you who sacrificially donated to His Work which allows us to maintain our "Ministry First" approach and offer our material free to all 2 billion users on the Internet. . You can help us eliminate our 2009/2010 shortfall and Donate now by clicking HERE
Note1- All income (Donations and Bible sales/revenues) are accounted for. The original plan was for the store sales to be greater than store expenses and the store would donate all its profits to the ministry but to date the sales have not been sufficient to accomplish that goal. As sales increase and are greater than store expenses we will show those profits on the donation line above
Social Networking News and Initiatives:
1- What is new on the Users.bible.org: site
►This section has seen growth over the past month especially in those groups being managed by Cory Howell. He is manager of “Best Bible Study Programs and Bible Readers”. 10 members/ 13 posts: 2557 reads. And “Online Bible Study with the NET Bible” 55 members/ 5 posts: 436 reads.
Another group headed by Tony Tucci is: Ministry – Growing in Obedience to the Great Commission. 81 members. Do you have ideas? Post them. Sources? Post them. How was your last week’s sermon challenging you to grow in this area of obedience? How are you living out the Great Commission practically?
Are you interested in Apologetics? Join in and discuss these ideas along with Henry Middleton.
► Facebook Update: 11,365+ fans. Each week bible.org posts a new topic for you to discover and to discuss. The May 24th topic was on evangelism. Also, there is an evangelism group “W.E.C. or the Web Evangelism Café” on users.bible.org.
- Share how you evangelize others face to face, Facebook to Facebook or web to web. Is there a focus you would like bible.org to consider? Send us a note.
- May 31-June 4 focus will be on the Canon
- June 6-12 will hightlight author Keith Krell's work.
► Blogs: bible.org now has a new blogger interface for its Main site bloggers at blogs.bible.org . You can see all the bloggers posts and profile pictures aggregated on the blog home page which you can find by clicking on the link under blogs/forums on the home page. Just click on the blogger or the group of your choice. Enjoy reading and commenting on any number of topics. You too can blog** even if you are not an author of bible.org. Log into users.bible.org and click create content and then the blogs tab. This is for anyone who wants to blog and share ideas.
NEW The children’s ministry team is beginning a children’s ministry blog called “Heartprints”. The first blog is now up for your review.
. ** Bible.org reserves the right to remove any links to personal websites or any websites that are shared in a blog which directs our audience to a site published for commercial use and is not bible.org related.**
Prayer and Praises: For more items on our Prayer/Praise list see our new Treasure Chest of Praises and Prayer:
Did you know that God is answering your prayers and ours as well? Did you know that God is listening to the dream/vision to identify World Class teachers and provide them a multilingual Internet pulpit to reach the 2 billion users on the Internet with the gospel and to train them to be active Christ centered “Ministry First” laborers? Matt 9:37-38 . The staff at bible.org believes what God says and we see that you do as well! We claim God’s promises that where two or more are gathered together He is in their midst. God is listening and He knows our needs. At 6 a.m. on Thursday, May 20th we poured out our hearts at His throne and asked specifically that God would give us such as we needed to accomplish “His Work” for the “cup was a bit near the empty mark”. Remember the story in I Kings 17 about the widow of Zarephath? It was because of her obedience in a test that God provided not just what she needed then but beyond until the famine was reversed. Bible.org is His work, not ours. We are but His stewards in His vineyard. But, just like the widow, sometimes God waits to hear our prayers and/or waits to see how we will handle a trial. Once again, we stand in awe and yet we rejoice for how God has once again used you to bring Him glory! God has chosen you along with one individual in particular, to help us reduce our financial deficit. You shared out of your blessings that others may know HIM. Jer 9:24 says this: “If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness,…” Will you join with us in boasting in the Lord? Will you praise God for His faithfulness to meet bible.org’s need, or to borrow Moredcai’s statement, “for such a time as this” so that others will come to know Him?
- Praise continued: Praise for those who have graduated and are taking on new ministries and new responsibilities. May they see the path that God has given to them and remain excited about the future. We honor Dr. Gail Seidel and Margaret Carey for their new achievements.
- Praise for all who are on a daily Bible Reading Plan If you want it emailed to you each day Click here
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Prayer:
- wisdom and discernment; holiness, and purity for the bible.org staff and volunteers.
- bible.org will be wise stewards of the monies given for His work alone.
- scholars who will be on sabbatical preparing manuscripts, books, articles, speaking engagements; and courses for the fall. The ones that we are aware of are: Dr. Sue Edwards, Dr. Michael Burer, and Dr. Darrell Bock. May they “redeem the time” that they are given for this work.
- Sandra Glahn: dissertation completion, family time; recently widowed sister and family as they adjust
- missionaries around the globe who are using the bible.org materials.
- those involved in Muslim ministries who shall remain unnamed here for their safety; open doors, to note and find “persons of peace” who are ready to hear the truth of the gospel’s saving message.
- freedom to share the gospel wherever God has planted us.
- New authors to join the bible.org team
If you would like to comment on the Newsletter or you have suggestions click Newsletter email
May 2010 Newsletter
If you did not get this in your email, please sign up for it by going to @ http://lists.bible.org. If you know you are signed up, but still didn't receive it, check your spam filters/folders.
May Focus: The calendar pages have turned and May is before us and we note that on May 9th many will stop to honor the women in their lives who have the distinction of being a Mother.To celebrate women across the globe who carry this title, the Women's Ministry of bible.org is encouraging you to stop, reflect and honor those who have gone before us as well as the women who are now influencing present day history. To qualify for the May Gift Offer, courtesy of the bible.org women’s ministry, answer this question:
“One thing special women in my life have taught me that I want to pass on is…”
The women will select one letter for the June newsletter and also send you a personal gift of a NET Bible for your own personal use or to give as a gift to another. Send all letters to: SonShine
One of our authors was Kathie Keathley, now deceased, but her legacy remains. Her article will reveal to you some more of the history of bible.org as well as give you a focus on how to have an eternal perspective. How fitting as we ponder those who are no longer with us but are loving reminders of God’s eternal grace. See: Calm Amidst the Storm.
April 25th was Internet Evangelism Day (IEday) What did your church do or what did you do personally? Post a note on the users evangelism group
April User email from Near and Far: Once again we stop and praise God for those who take time to jot us a note of encouragement. Thank you and may we rejoice together as we span the globe reaching others for Christ: To send us a note how the site has blessed you click here [Please note these are published here as received without alteration; links added by staff]
Thank God and thank you so much!
Note1- All income (Donations and Bible sales/revenues) are accounted for. The original plan was for the store sales to be greater than store expenses and the store would donate all its profits to the ministry but to date the sales have not been sufficient to accomplish that goal. As sales increase and are greater than store expenses we will show those profits on the donation line above
Social Networking Initiatives
- Facebook Fans Praise: If you have been watching the front page of bible.org you noted we had a winner in the Facebook contest! Gabrielle Fratantoni was the 10,000th fan to have registered. In just two months we have grown from 7400 to 10,000. That means more and more and more people are connecting with bible.org. As you share on Facebook, more of your connections hear about bible.org and learn about its vital link to trustworthy Bible Studies.
- Bible Readers: If you haven’t signed up yet go to Daily reading plans
- Users Groups Updates: Just as Facebook has grown so has the users site. We now have readers from many walks of life, blogs about freedom of speech, articles and podcasts on parenting and the emergent church. Check out users.bible.org and join a group or write a blog or comment on a group post or a blog entry.
- Forum: Join us at the forum where our discussions are thought provoking. Check out the most active posts as we impact the world for Christ one post at a time.
- Blogs: Wikipedia defines Blog as: something that provides commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. A blog is entitled or tagged to capture you into the author's mindset or musings on a particular topic. For example how does Dr. Bock's "gotcha title" grab your attention? "What are we afraid of"?
- NEW bible.org Feature: (User Contributed Links) Users can now add links on bible.org topic pages that point to other great resources that they have found. For example, check out the new section at the bottom of the Parenting topic page. If you want to add your own recommended resources, you can add them by creating content on users.bible.org....Are you a parent in need of some help? go to topics and select parenting Read the articles or listen to the audio on this link: Loving on Purpose: Parenting and So Much More #1 Also in addition, check out: Laura Singleton's Tapestry Blog entry .
- Read along with our NET Bible scholars Dr's Harris and Burer, on their “NET Bible Revolution”. If you recall they posted a challenge and a "sweetener". "To sweeten the deal, for every 50 people that send us their story (either by adding a comment below or by clicking on the Tell us How Bible.org has Blessed You link) we'll select one random winner to receive a free genuine leather NET Bible to keep or give away. And the winner is: Pastor David Buckham, Sr. Pastor of Long Hollow Christian Church in Pennington, VA. CONGRATULATIONS Pastor David and Happy Birthday. [David wrote in his letter: My birthday is coming up the end of April and I am thinking about buying a First Edition so I can have the notes physically in front of me...maybe I can win one from you guys instead!!!]
- Children’s Ministry: Soon the new Blog page will be up. Watch for a news item on it: HEARTPRINTS: A Faith Journey with God's Children.
- We continue to add new material to the site In addition to many new text articles, we've added over 400 audio sermons by Bill McRae, John Walvoord and Ken Boa check them out.
2. Praise and Prayer for those who continue to study material on the site and tell others about bible.org's ministry and the NET Bible. This is very humbling to the bible.org staff and to have over 10,000 fans on Facebook is a good testimony.
3. We are grateful for Dr. Tony Evans’ opening letter for the Children’s Ministry landing page. The Children’s Ministry team continues to forge ahead in reading, selecting and developing ideas. Please pray for the team as they launch next month a blog which will be called “Heartprints”; a Faith Journey with God’s Children.
4. Prayer Needs: For continued finances, for wisdom to be wise stewards of your monetary gifts, for faithfulness to the work on a daily basis; for good health and stamina for the many projects before us.
5. Prayer Needs for Missionaries: We hear very little first hand from missionaries who are using bible.org or know about bible.org. We know and understand your tasks are daunting and we want to be praying for you. We would like to offer tailored help to missionaries on the field. If you are on your church's missions committee or you have time to help us develop a program to create a "care package of material" for missionaries that we can send for you to the missionary, please send a note to SonShine. Let's all pray for open doors for continued opportunities to share the gospel message; protection. If you are on the field, send us a note regarding a need that we can be praying about for you and/or your family and/or your mission endeavors that we might put packages of material for you to download.
6.Prayer Needs for Pastors and Ministry Personnel: Pastors live a busy life and are in need of prayer warriors. Please join with us as we spend time lifting these ministry workers up before the throne. We now have some senior pastors who are willing to mentor younger men in the ministry. If you are a younger man in the ministry please send SonShine a note so that connections can be made.
7. For bible.org: That we may continue to be wise as we seek more material to be offered to our readers that are trustworthy and reliable; efficient time management and discipline; quiet times before the Lord. Pray especially for our China NET Bible project as we recently posted pdf drafts on the site. We now need some additional volunteers to come forward and put together a plan for distribution. Much prayer for guidance is needed on what we should do next.
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Newsletter - January 2010
Welcome to 2010! We pray that your Holidays were blessed and carefree. How did you begin your new year? With a party? With a reading of scripture? Did you make a New Year's resolution? Was it to lose weight, read the Bible more diligently, pray regularly rather than sporadically, visit the fatherless and widows? We all seem to make those resolutions but research has shown that 92% that are made "in good faith" are not kept. In fact, only a very small number of us successfully achieve our resolutions. Why is that we fail? One author noted that a resolution must be made with these criteria in mind: Determine the point or reason for making your resolution. Tell someone about your goal. Set up a measurement to hold yourself accountable to your change. Statistically it has been proven that without those three steps you are guaranteed failure.
Many have written to us here at bible.org saying that one of their New Year's resolutions is to be more faithful in their daily Bible reading or to memorize scripture. The Holy Spirit is busy tugging at our hearts to see if we will yield to His wishes so that we might grow and mature into the person that God desires, that we become conformed to the image of Christ. We have pulled together several "helps" for you that are scattered across the bible.org websites see http://bible.org/get-connected. On this page you will find links to several daily Bible reading plans for you to ponder.
Reading Plans
1. The Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne, Plan --- 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.
2. The Daily Reading Plan: This one is organized by reading from Genesis to Revelation two chapters a day.
3. The NTPSPR is a plan to read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs through the year.
4. A Chronological Plan reading the Bible through as some scholars believe it was recorded.
5. A Daily VOD (Verse of the Day) which was developed from Dr Greg Herrick's article titled "An Advanced Scripture Memory Program .
These FREE daily reading plans are on page http://bible.org/get-connected
Scripture Memorization
bible.org has an article explaining the why and how, along with selected scriptures to memorize for each category: http://bible.org/article/advanced-scripture-memory-program The memory program is composed of ten sections: I) The Bible; II) God; III) Jesus Christ IV) The Holy Spirit; V) Angels VI) Man and Sin VII) Salvation VIII) The Church IX) End Times; X) The Gospel. These categories are generally recognized as providing an organized structure for the main areas of scriptural revelation. Within each one of these sections we have a further breakdown, though more could be added. There is, nonetheless, enough material here to keep a person going for a long, long time. We provide a pdf file of the verse texts that one of our volunteers did and you can print as scripture cards using categories.
Prayer
Each week our volunteer Coordinator puts together a prayer sheet for the many who serve faithfully here at bible.org and across the globe. Prayer is the key to the success of the ministry and we cherish all those who pray regularly for the ministry. To reduce spam a person must be a registered user. If you would like to join others in praying for the ministry send us an email. The day of delivery is generally on Fridays. If you are a registered user on bible.org
bible.org Evangelist, Supporters and Friends
Bible.org has been blessed to have on its staff here and across the globe those whose expertise is in the technical field. Their 2010 passion is to help in the area of Biblical Studies. Here’s their vision: Put together a weekly supplemental idea or ideas to assist the Sunday School Teacher no matter what curriculum is being used. For example, the Lifeway people have a section called “EXTRA” for their weekly lesson. Here at bible.org we do not want to be limited to a particular denominational persuasion. It is the “techies” desire that all curriculum’s are featured. Their vision is to have added resources; news items; object lessons, handouts, question sheets, maps, commentaries, books and so on. If you would like to have your curriculum/church represented, send us a note. The ‘techies’ have the ideas but would benefit from some of you who love Sunday School teaching and would like to work on this project along with them. Send us a note !
You've enjoyed the NET Bible quality of translation and notes for years now and may have wondered how you can help others know about it as well. Join the bible.org family and sign up to promote the NET Bible to your local Christian bookstore or Church resource center/bookstore. By giving us your information, we will send you free brochures of the NET Bible and bible.org to hand out to bookstores, pastors, and friends. In this way, you can help spread the NET Bible to your community.
For almost 14 years, the NET Bible has been available online free. Actually before the translation was completed, it's been online in draft form. And for 4 years, the First Edition of the NET Bible has been available in print. The profits of the sale of the print editions help fund the non-profit website. But in order to keep the prices down, we have chosen a publisher-direct model rather than go through distribution. Unfortunately, this model limits our exposure to many communities where not many have heard about the NET Bible. We sell on our website all of our materials, but that limits our scope as well. We don't have a distributor, but prefer to sell directly to bookstores and churches who resell the NET Bible to individuals.
What is a bible.org Evangelist?
Like an evangelist who spreads good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we desire fans and users of the NET Bible to help us in spreading the news of the translation and of the excellent ministry of bible.org. As a non-profit ministry who desires all to benefit from the quality resources available online, we don't have a "marketing" or "advertising" budget. Since the truth of the Bible is shared so effectively in community and through relationships, we believe that the way to spread the bible.org ministry best is through you, our users.
How can I help?
Send us an email and provide us with how many bookstores or contacts you believe you might be able to make with distribution of brochures. Please include your address and we'll mail you brochures free of charge.
I don't have a bookstore near me, is there some other way to help?
Definitely! You can volunteer your time or talent.
Become a Supporter & Friend. You can donate financially to the ministry. Half of our budget comes from our Supporters and Friends.
Join us on Facebookand share us with all of your friends there. To keep up to date with all of our news and new content, you can also connect with us onTwitter
Do you have another idea on how to help bible.org? Join the bible.org family and Let us know!
News that we wish did not happen but did:
Our November newsletter ended up in a lot of junk mail boxes due to some technical glitches with our mail supplier. This newsletter contained the November donor report which we reposted on the site for all to read. Technology is great…when it works as it was intended to do so. We apologize for this and please pray that all of the glitches have been resolved.
We received a significant increase in donations in Dec 09 and we are in the process of gathering the data for the 2009 donor report that we plan to distribute this year by email to save the extra expense of postage. Although we most likely did not make our goal of replenishing the bank account, we are praising God for His faithfulness to provide what He has deemed we needed. We are so grateful for your diligence to provide the funds to keep bible.org up and running.
Check out the new link on our contact us page for you to Tell us How Bible.org has Blessed You
We have a short 2 question survey if you have 3 minutes see http://users.bible.org/form/survey
Newsletter November 2009 - Ministry Update
Section 1 Ministry Update- Well it is almost thanksgiving and we at bible.org have a lot to be thankful for. As the new Executive Director I want to share with you some of the ways God is blessing the ministry.
- In June we successfully completed a major overhaul of the site and moved all our 6,000 articles from our old bible.org website software to new software that will enable us to better serve our missionaries and our non English speaking users with new features and content.
- In the first ten months of 2009 we have added over 275 articles to the site.
- We launched a prayer ministry for those actively involved in Bible.org ministry. We invite you to join us in this critical prayer ministry (email, Prayer Ministry and you will receive a weekly email).
- Since 12/08 we have seen an increase of traffic of 52% with 31% of that increase coming since we upgraded the site to the new software and this past month we had over million visits from 218 countries/territories. And 17,650 were on dial-up accounts.
- Users of Bible.org have downloaded over 1800 Gigabytes of Trust worthy biblical material to places including the Middle East, Cuba and China.
- The NET Bible has been downloaded over 330,000 times.
- Our Women’s Executive Committee has redesigned their ministry page to better define resources for women in all areas of Christian service and they added new authors to their Tapestry blogging activities. Their blogs have served more than 20,000 readers.
- We are actively developing a users social networking site and will make it free to the Bible.org community who want to “Publish” their material for others to share. You will be able to Blog and make your own support group site for your Sunday school or Bible study class.
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We have significantly expanded our volunteer program. Any one can volunteer see Volunteer Opportunities page. We have opportunities for all to see the volunteers page on users.bible.org.
- Several of our sermons are in audio only. We have assigned volunteers to transcribe the Audio so people can search and read the sermon text. (More and more people are listening to the many sermons)
- We have a volunteer who is doing tech support for the forum.
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We have significantly increased our volunteer Translator program and have set up a translator support group/a> for the translators and published our first newsletter. Would you or your missions group like to translate one of our 6000 articles? See link.
- We expanded our list articles by language and set up a matrix showing all the articles in each language that are currently being translated by our volunteers and those that have been translated with the ability to click on the page ID to view the page.
- We would like to interact with mission committees and see how we might better support the missionaries they support with their missions budget. Email us for more information.
- Our Ministry partner sabda.org made significant improvement in the NET Bible online program. His team increased the search performance, added map locations to all the places in the bible, added museum art for many passages in the bible, added hymns, added bible lexicons/dictionaries and the word net dictionary (example check out reward).
- In the last month we added a Bible.org Facebook fans page that now has over 3000 fans. If you have a Facebook account join our Facebook fans page http://www.facebook.com/bible.org.
- We have started a labs.bible.org site where we tell other web sites and bloggers about our NET Bible widgets that add the NET Bible to your blog, your site, Facebook page. Our NET Bible Verse Tagger adds Bible verse popups when a person mouses over a verse reference on any website.
1- Ministry Update: |
2- Ministry Impact: (email from users) | 3- Financial Update: | 4- New Projects Update: |
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The Third Day Motif
This is a co-authored series by Dr. Richard Patterson (articles 1, 3, and 4) and Dr. Michael Travers (article 2).
Related Topics: Resurrection, Terms & Definitions
Walking with God in Clash with Our Culture (Genesis 6:5 - 7:5)
Related MediaIntroduction1
A couple of months ago, I was approached by a leader of a campus Christian fellowship at the University of Maryland asking for some help. He said that more and more times students are encountering a changing landscape of our culture in their evangelistic and Bible study efforts. To use the parable of the soils as an analogy: There is a new soil out there. The soil has a different depth; the soil has a different color; the soil has a different texture; it’s the soil of rejection that truth is obtainable; it’s the soil of rejection of authority; it’s the soil of indifference; it’s the soil of meaninglessness; it’s the soil of whatever. In short, as he described it, it is the soil of postmodernism.
Postmodernism, as I have been discovering, is something that is nebulous; it is hard to get a handle on it, what it is and how it is affecting our culture. It is there in sometimes subtle and often not so subtle ways. Instead of explaining a lot of background, I have placed a lot more information in the study guide (see attached appendix) for you to look at, but let me give you my short definition. Postmodernism is a spiritual and philosophical condition of our culture which rejects all concepts of truth, structures of authority and meaning to life.
Some prominent symbols of postmodernism in our culture are: 1) America’s longest running cartoon: The Simpsons, and 2) recently exploding onto the scene is the murder mystery religious novel The Da Vinci Code. The 2003 best-selling book by Dan Brown has sparked the interest of millions of average people worldwide. According to the most recent figures, the book has sold more than 43 million copies, has been translated into dozens of languages,2 and is now coming out in a movie.
Among other things, the book falsely explicitly and implicitly promotes the idea that all history is made up; the Bible is merely from man not God; faith is only fiction; Jesus was merely a man whom the church embellished to be a god; He was actually married and had a child, which was covered up by the church; free sex without the boundaries of marriage is good.
Does all this tell us something about the culture we live in? I think it does, and it points out that what we as Christians believe and do are in fundamental conflict with much of our culture. In fact, we are in clash with it. Whether we like it or not, our culture is colliding with us, and we dare not harmonize with it.
How are we doing? Do we feel the impact of the collision between God’s truth and our culture? Do we sense the conflict? Or are we inappropriately adapting our beliefs and behaviors to what is going in the non-Christian culture around us? Are we maintaining and enhancing our fellowship with God as all of this goes on around us? Are we, according to the biblical metaphor, “walking with Him”? Noah was a man in clash with his culture, yet the Bible says that He walked with God.
Consider Genesis 6:5-13:
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (NKJV, emphasis mine).
In verse 9, the Hebrew rendering is Eth Ha Elohim hith halek Noah (translated, “with God Noah walked”) The phrase “with God” is placed first in the clause for emphasis, which most English translations do not pick up. This is okay to smooth the translation to English word order, but it does miss some of the stress of the sentence. With God Noah fellowshipped; with God Noah lived and conducted his life. It is emphasized because of the contrast of all the evil around Noah and how other people were living. It is emphasized because of the clash that Noah had with his culture.
In the midst of the violence, there was a man who was just.
In the midst of the corruption, there was a man who was blameless.
In the midst of the wickedness, there was a man who walked with God.
As God looked over the whole earth, there was one guy who was not conforming to the culture. There was one guy who walked with God. Second Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong to those whose heart is loyal to him.” And He spotted him. He took notice. It was Noah.
1. What was it that enabled Moses under the inspiration of the Spirit of God to look back on Noah’s life and say “that man Noah. He walked with God”?
2. What will enable God to look back on our lives and say that we walked with God? As His eyes run to and fro throughout the earth, will He spot us as a man or woman who walks with him like Noah?
3. As I look at Noah’s life, three qualities, three values, three character traits stand out to me as to the reason the Bible is able to say what is said about Noah: his Faith, his Obedience and his Inner Character.
The encouragement I have for us is this: God will walk with those of Noah-like Faith, and God will walk with those of Noah-like Obedience, and God will walk with those of Noah-like Character. We can still walk with God no matter what is going on in the culture around us.
Noah’s Faith
Noah was a man of great faith. He believed God. He was persuaded that what God said was true. What did God say? Verse 13 states, “The end of all flesh has come before Me . . . I will destroy them with the earth.” Verse 17 reads, “I will bring flood waters on the earth . . . everything that is on the earth will die.”
Noah is listed in what is sometimes referred to as God’s hall of faith. Hebrews 11:7 says,
“By faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7, emphasis mine).
I learn three things about Noah’s faith from this verse.
First, Noah’s faith was based on the Word of God. He was divinely warned. Faith, to be properly placed, must be based on what God says. Some people have faith in faith. If they have enough faith or believe hard enough, God is obligated to make about anything happen. But the problem with some people’s faith is that it is not based on what God has said: the Bible.
The second thing about Noah’s faith was that it involved things not yet seen. Noah had never seen a worldwide judgment. He had never seen a worldwide flood. He had never seen an ark like God wanted him to build. All the animals would come on their own two by two? It didn’t seem possible. Imagine God asking you to take decades out of your life and build a wooden ark of mammoth size over in East Texas. People would think you were crazy. If you started, you might think you were crazy as well.
The third thing about Noah’s faith is that it moved him to action. It was not a passive faith; it was an active one. Moved with godly fear, He prepared the ark. His faith led to his obedience.
The modernist view of faith can be reflected in the sayings, “I won’t believe it until I see it,” or I’ll believe it when I see it (reason).” Our postmodern culture’s view on faith is embodied in The Da Vinci Code where Robert Langdon, hero of the book, states, “Every faith in the world is based on a fabrication. That is the definition of faith—acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.”3
These concepts are the exact opposite of biblical faith. Faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen!” (Hebrews 11:1, emphasis mine). Faith is based on reality even though it is not yet seen. When it comes to faith, we are in direct conflict with our culture, but God will walk with those of Noah-like faith.
Not only was Noah a man of faith, he was also a man of great obedience.
Noah’s Obedience
Consider Genesis 6:14-22:
“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 “And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark – you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 “Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 “And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did (NKJV).
Noah’s obedience was complete. Verse 22 reads “all that God commanded so he did.” God said, “Build an ark.” Noah built an ark. God said, “Make it 300 cubits long.” Noah said, “Yes, Lord, 300 cubits long.” God said, “Make it 50 cubits wide.” Noah said, “Yes, Lord, 50 cubits wide;” 30 cubits high, “30 cubits high;” 3 decks, “3 decks;” window around the top, “window around the top;” door on the side, “door on the side.”
This was an incredibly demanding project: 18 inches per cubit, 150 yards long, 3 stories high, and 15 yards wide. It took years and decades to build, and this is before chain saws and nail guns! What would you have done? I would have bargained with God; how about a smaller ark? I can do that in five years. Just save me and the family. Forget the animals. No creeping things and no termites.
Noah did not do that. He did all that God commanded him. Day after day, Noah obeyed. Week after week, Noah obeyed. Month after month, Noah obeyed, slowly but surely building the ark. Year after year, Noah obeyed, seeming to others to waste his life.
Decade after decade, he persisted in obedience until it was finally finished. The statement is repeated in Genesis 7:5, “And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.” From start to finish, Noah obeyed.
The postmodernist is suspicious and skeptical of all types of authority: God, family, government, church, and the Bible. Reflecting this suspicion at one point in The Da Vinci Code, a supposed expert tells us “almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.”4 So what is there to obey if no authority is to be trusted? Nothing, except one’s own dictates of a fallen conscience and how it might affect you or those in your close circle of friends.
In our family with seven kids, the word “obey” is a very important word in our household. It’s important for the proper functioning of the family. Ephesians 6:1 is one of the first verses our children learn, “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” As parents, we love and are thrilled and expect to hear the words, “Yes, I will obey,” and see the actions consistent with such a statement.
Several years ago, quite a few now, I asked my oldest son (then about three or four) to go into his room and pick up his toys. And you know what? He wouldn’t do it. Then I tried to say it again, and I asked the question very directly, “Son, will you obey daddy?” The answer came back: “No obey.” When I heard it, I was kind of taken back, stunned, then hurt. Then I got the rod out, and my son was hurting. He quickly learned that he could not say those words, and I do not believe I heard them again. But disobedience, I learned, could take more subtle forms. I would say, “Pick up your toys.” His reply, “Okay,” but in reality only one-half were picked up: partial obedience. Again I might say, “Pick up your toys.” “Okay,” but he is thinking he will do it later: delayed obedience.
And for me, when I disobey, I am not usually shaking my fist at God saying, “No obey,” but it takes the subtler forms of partial or delayed obedience. I don’t know what issues of obedience you are facing right now. I know areas I need to address in my own life. But we need to have our hearts open to our heavenly father with the simple thought, “Yes, I will obey,” for our sakes and for the sakes of others.
When it comes to obedience, we are in direct conflict with our culture, BUT God will walk with those of Noah-like obedience. Noah was not only a man of faith and obedience, but also a man of godly character.
Noah’s Character
Genesis 7:1 reads,
Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (NKJV).
God saw that Noah was righteous. In Hebrew, the word is singular. So it could be understood in this context: “as you alone are righteous.” The rest are evil. Genesis 6:9 describes Noah as a just man, blameless in his generations. In New Testament terminology, Noah was above reproach.
Noah was not perfect. He had failures, as we see him getting drunk after the flood and exposing his nakedness in an improper fashion. But his character was solid as far as God’s description of him is concerned. He was not only righteous in character, but according to 2 Peter 3:8, he was a preacher of righteousness. Noah, even just by building the ark, preached that God’s judgment was coming.
For the postmodernist, there is no morality, only expediency. If it works, do it. Don’t feel restricted by someone else’s boundaries of conduct. Explore your full potential in any area. Again in The Da Vinci Code, Professor Langdon states, “It was man not God, who created the concept of original sin, whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race.”5 When it comes to standards of righteousness, are not we in clash with our culture?
Like Noah, could God write of us that we were blameless, righteous in our conduct? Am I blameless in my relationships? Am I blameless at work? Do I have the character that I stand up and do the right thing when all those around me are doing the wrong thing? This is not about reputation, but character. Reputation is what people think about us; character is what God knows about us. Some might say, “That’s too high of a standard for me.” But God is interested in progress and spiritual growth. Are we at least trying to go in the right direction?
Noah walked with God with righteous character.
Conclusion
Someone might think the days of Noah are long past. It’s not that relevant to me. Jesus stated in regard to His second coming,
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:35-39 NKJV, emphasis mine).
Eating, drinking, marrying; everything is normal; everything is always going to continue as it was. It’s so easy to get lulled into the same attitudes. Yes, we need to live our lives, but I want to suggest that we live them as Noah did – not conformed to the culture around us but conformed to what God says and what God wants us to do.
Paul writes in Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world.” Don’t be conformed to postmodernism; don’t be conformed to modernism. In fact, don’t be conformed to any worldly “ism,” but rather, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (NKJV).
D.L. Moody, the great American evangelist of the 19th century, is estimated to have personally led 1 million people to faith in Jesus Christ. What’s even more amazing about this estimate is that his ministry occurred before radio or TV broadcasts. Also, he had very little educational background and never went to high school. One biographer put it this way: “Moody reduced the population of hell by 1 million souls.”6 How did Moody get to that point of having such a ministry? God’s grace certainly, but early in Moody’s career someone challenged him to excel in his walk with God. He said, “D.L., the world has yet to see what God can do with a man whose heart is completely devoted to him.” Moody thought about it a moment and responded, “By God’s grace, I’ll be that man.”
“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). It was God’s grace with Moody and Noah, and it will be with us as well. When we are resting under our gravestone, what would it take for the spirit of God to look back on our lives during our times and say, “That man walked with Me,” or “That woman walked with Me”? It’s going to take faith, it’s going to take obedience, and it’s going to take character.
Appendix on Postmodernism
The following is some general background on a cultural trend in America known as postmodernism:7
A. The Three Major Periods Related to Modernity (general trends only). Pilate’s question lives on: “What is truth?” For the postmodernist, truth is not obtainable.
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1. Pre-Modern: New Testament up to Enlightenment. Questions concerning the truth were addressed directly to Bible and/or Church. An atmosphere of confidence governed the expectation that agreement in understanding could be reached. There was a general belief in the supernatural and that God was acting in history.
2. Modernity: Enlightenment through most of 20th Century. Most begin it in 1641 A.D. by French Philosopher Rene Descartes’ famous statement, “cogito ergo sum = I think, therefore I am.” An atmosphere of trust remained in the individual’s rational capacity, but everything else was submitted to doubt, especially matters related to church and church belief. Truth and the greater good were to be pursued and obtained intellectually through human reason and science. The stories of the supernatural (Bible) were relegated to purely naturalistic explanations. Since God did not act in history, man was responsible for his own fate.
The Tenets of Modernity: The Triumph of Reason
- True knowledge is determined with certainty by reason
- Two levels of knowledge: objective/scientific (open to debate) and subjective/spiritual/moral (only personal conviction)
- World exists in cause-effect relationship
- Knowledge is good; facts are “value-free”
- Progress and scientific discovery will lead to better world and happiness
- Humanity basically good and reason can solve all problems
- Individuals are autonomous in society and have rights society must honor8
- Life has a purpose and a design
1. Post-Modern: 1980s to Present: There is a suspicion that any understanding is achievable through rational methods. Questions the objectivity of the modern method and assumes biases in any modern method. It is a rejection and reaction against modernism. Ideas were around after WWII, but the theory gained some of its strongest ground early on in French academia. In 1979, Jean-François Lyotard wrote a short but influential work The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, and Roland Barthes are also strongly influential in postmodern theory.
Wikipedia9 formal definition: the condition of Western society after modernity. . . . in the era of postmodern culture, people have rejected the grand, supposedly universal stories and paradigms such as religion, conventional philosophy, capitalism and gender that have defined culture and behavior in the past, and have instead begun to organize their cultural life around a variety of more local and subcultural ideologies, myths and stories. Furthermore, it promotes the idea that all . . . paradigms are stable only while they fit the available evidence and can potentially be overturned when phenomena occur that the paradigm cannot account for, and a better explanatory model (itself subject to the same fate) is found.
The Tenets of Post-Modernity: The Triumph of Ignorance
- Reacting to the all the tenets of Modernity
- Reject idea of objective truth
- Suspicious and skeptical of authority (family, government and society)
- In search of identity apart from knowledge but through relationship
- No morality, only expediency
- In search of transcendence, to experience otherness
- In quest of meaningful community
- The “knowing smirk” at anyone who says they know the truth10
- Life is absurd and the purpose of life is play
B. Modern and Postmodern Approaches to the Bible. Things One Sometimes Hears
- “Well, that’s just your interpretation.”
- “The Bible can be made to say anything you want.”
- “You can’t really understand the Bible. It is full of contradictions.”
- “People can justify anything from the Bible.”
- “No one can understand the true meaning of anything anyone says.”
- This is what the Bible means to me.
- What works for you is fine; what works for me is fine, whatever.
C. Preaching to Our Postmodern Culture: How can I effectively communicate the gospel in a post-modern environment?
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1. General Thoughts:
- We still cannot compromise the basic message of the gospel: Saved by faith alone in Christ alone.
- However, God is sovereign, and He does use and is using many methods.
- Not all people, even young people, are postmodern.
- Suggested General Method for Postmodern Evangelism
Different starting points [See Paul’s example in Thessalonica (Old Testament Scriptures) and in Athens (Altar to the Unknown God) but same ending point (Gospel of Jesus’ resurrection)(Acts 17)]. Start in their world at a place they can accept and bring spiritual principles of truth to bear on the situations they are experiencing. Share after establishing a personal relationship with them.
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2. Johnston’s Suggestions:
- Use dialogue, not one way conversation
- Use the inductive method of teaching; do not get to the main point until the end. Let them discover spiritual truth with you
- Use story telling more
- Use personal testimony, how the truth affects you
- Use audiovisuals, drama, art
- Use humor to greater degrees, irony, paradox
- Speak in terms of spirituality, not religion and church11
1 Copyright © 2006 by Community Bible Chapel, 418 E. Main Street, Richardson, TX 75081. This is the edited manuscript of a lesson prepared by guest speaker Dr. James F. Davis on March 26, 2006. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit. The Chapel believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Community Bible Chapel.
2 See latest sales information at www.danbrown.com/meet_dan.
3 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, (New York: Doubleday, 2003), pp. 341-42.
4 Ibid, p. 235.
5 Ibid., p. 238.
6 Lyle W. Dorsett, A Passion for Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1997) p. 21.
7 Much of the following material was adapted from class notes developed at Capital Bible Seminary’s class on Hermeneutics by Dr. Ken Quick and Dr. James Davis. The following source was also used: Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Post-Modern World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001).
8 Ibid., pp. 25-26.
9 A free encyclopedia built collaboratively using Wiki software. (GNU Free Documentation License).
en.wikipedia.org/
10 Johnston, op. cit., p. 26.
11 Ibid., pp. 149-172.
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