Biblical Theology and Corporate Worship

What exactly are we doing when we gather as churches for worship? And how do we know what we should be doing in those weekly gatherings?

Naturally, evangelical Christians turn to Scripture for guidance on these questions, but where in Scripture do we look? There’s plenty about worship in the Old Testament—about prayers and sacrifices and choirs and cymbals and much else. But does all that material actually apply to new covenant gatherings of believers?

What we need in order to answer these questions is a biblical theology of worship.[1] Biblical theology is the discipline that helps us trace both the unity and diversity, the continuity and discontinuity, within the sprawling storyline of Scripture.

In this article I’m going to sketch, all too briefly, a biblical theology of corporate worship. Four steps will take us there: (1) gathered worship in the Old Testament; (2) fulfillment in Christ; (3) gathered worship in the New Testament; (4) reading the whole Bible for corporate worship.

1. GATHERED WORSHIP IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Ever since God’s people were banished from his presence after the fall in Genesis 3, God has been at work gathering them back to himself.[2] So when Israel suffered in chains in Egypt, God rescued them not just so that they would be free from oppression, but so that they would worship him in his presence (Ex. 3:12, 18). God led his people out of Egypt and brought them to his own dwelling place (Ex. 15:13, 17).

Where is that dwelling place? At first, it’s the tabernacle, the elaborate tent in which the priests would offer sacrifices for the people’s sins and impurities. We read in Exodus 29:44–46,

I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

The goal of the Exodus was that God would dwell among his people, and he does this by means of the holy place (tabernacle) and people (priesthood) he appointed for that purpose.

Updated Bible Study: The Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a special blessing to the reader.¹ (Many verses in the Bible encourage reading God's Word--in general--but only one book has the "audacity" to claim, in effect, "Read me, I'm special.")
What is surprising is that, even for many avid Bible readers, this book is overlooked or neglected. One would expect just the opposite.
There are many reasons why this book invariably results in a special blessing to the diligent inquirer. Perhaps the most basic blessing accrues from the fact that in order to understand the back ground of the many idioms and allusions, one will have to trace back into virtually every book of the Bible.
The Book of Revelation consists of 404 verses which contain over 800 allusions to the Old Testament alone!² One reason the book appears so strange to the uninitiated is that most of us haven't developed enough familiarity with the Old Testament.
One of the keys to understanding the book is also to take it seriously,not to get distracted with fanciful allegories or speculations but to read it with care and diligence as part of the whole Word of God. The Bible consists of 66 books, penned by 40 authors over thousands of years, and yet we now discover that it is an integrated message: every detail, every word, every number, every place name is there by supernatural engineering. And no study makes this clearer than the study of the Book of Revelation.

Bible Study

Bible Study

Seventh-day Adventists strive daily to develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ to become more like Him. The heart of our mission is to help others realize the hope found in experiencing a personal relationship with a living God and loving Saviour, and nurturing them in preparation for His soon return. Here is a list of links to various types and styles of Bible study – in the form of online Bible studies, a newsletter, online videos, and printed Bible study lessons or Bible study CD ROMs available by postal mail. May God bless you as you seek His Word.




 

Bible Study Resources
Different people have different learning styles and are at different stages in their knowledge of the Bible. Here, you can choose your preference. If you don't see what you need or are looking for, please contact us and we will try to find it for you.

In addition to the Bible study resources for adults, we also list below some for children and a daily devotional.




800HisWord.com – You can browse Bible topics, request free materials, send prayer requests, or connect with Bible counselors who are standing by to be your partner in finding the best way to continue to grow in your relationship with God. Helpful resources as you learn more about God and His love for you...through His Word. Lessons in Spanish also available.

Why Christians Need History

I just began my second time through an introductory course on the Gospels. The very first assignment I have my students do is to read and respond to an article Scot McKnight wrote in CT back in 2010 titled “The Jesus We’ll Never Know,” in which he argues that evangelicals should abandon the quest for the historical Jesus. (If you’re unfamiliar with this topic, here’s an introductory talk I gave on it last year at our seminary’s conference on preaching.) To help point my students in the right direction, I also have them read two responses CT published alongside McKnight’s piece, one by N. T. Wright titled “We Need History” and the other by Craig Keener titled “Jesus Studies Matter.” The point of the assignment is simply to get students thinking about the place of history and historical work—like the quest—in studying the Gospels. After we

Six Bible App Features You Need to Know

Explore All the Bible App Has to Offer. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can always have the Bible App right there with you, helping you connect with peace, wisdom, and strength. Here’s what we recommend to get the most out of your time in God’s Word:

Friends Close friends who understand your life can encourage you to study and bring new insight to your time in the Bible. Add your friends in Bible App 5 to experience Scripture with people you know and trust. Audio Bibles Listen to the Bible as you get ready for work, during your commute, or even reading along. Grow your faith as you hear the same words that have inspired believers for two thousand years. Offline Versions

THE HOLY BIBLE

 

Greetings once again World Mysteries Readers! My name is Marty Leeds and I have been a contributor to this blog series for well over a year now. For a complete collection of my blogs, please visit here:

http://blog.world-mysteries.com/category/guest_authors/marty-leeds/

Below is a brief bio for those of you who are not familiar with my work and focuses of study.

Marty Leeds is the author of three books, Pi & The English Alphabet Volume 1, Volume 2 and The Peacock’s Tales – The Alchemical Writings of Claudia Pavonis (all available on amazon.com and www.martyleeds33.com). His third book in the series, Pi & The English Alphabet Volume 3, is slated for release early 2015. He has an ongoing lecture series available for free on his site as well as on youtube(www.youtube.com/martyleeds33). He is also the host of the podcast “Marty Leeds’ Mathemagical Radio Hour” discussing everything from myth, math, spirituality, philosophy, sacred geometry, lost civilizations and the holy sciences available on www.thesyncbook.com/martyleeds. Marty has been a guest on many popular podcasts, had an article recently featured on www.grahamhancock.com, and was a featured speaker at the Free Your Mind Conference in Philadelphia in 2013. He released his first full-length solo record, Opus Medico Musica this year, available on amazon.com and itunes, and is working on his follow up record for release in 2015.

• Latest Red Ice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFA65DrveI4
• Free Your Mind Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmKaxJu9oeI

God Speaks to Us!

The Bible is a window. Have you opened it lately?

Almost all American households have one or more Bibles. Yet more than half of the adults in these households do not read their Bibles during an average week, and only 10 or 15 percent do so daily.
“Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it,” pollster George Gallup Jr. once observed. This seems to be borne out by what Americans know about the Bible. In one survey, only 42 percent of those interviewed could name five of the Ten Commandments. Only 46 percent correctly named the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is likely that the statistics have gone down since those surveys were taken.
Of course, simple numbers are not important. What is important to know is how the Bible speaks to our lives. “Until people see the Bible as a practical guidebook for their everyday existence, it will probably continue to remain on the shelf,” says Christian trend-watcher George Barna.
So why should we read and study an ancient and (in the minds of many) hard-to-understand book? What could the Bible possibly say that is essential to daily life in the modern world?

For our time

Jack Kuhatschek, in his book Taking the Guesswork out of Applying the Bible, is quite frank about the Bible’s bad image—referring to its “age problem.”

Do We Have the Right Books in the Bible?

Who decided which books should be in the New Testament?
In Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, one of the main characters says that the Roman Emperor Constantine decided which books should be in the New Testament. He supposedly "commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned" (p. 234).
The Da Vinci Code, despite its claim to be based on fact, is actually fiction — and so is the above claim. It’s not hard to find historical blunders in the book. Let’s look at one — the question of canonization, or the way in which the New Testament books were collected into one book.
A "cannon" is an old-fashioned weapon; a "canon" (notice the difference in spelling) is a list of authoritative books. "Canon" comes from the Greek word kanon, meaning measuring stick. A rough definition of canon is "the list of books that can be used in church to teach doctrine." There were many books and letters written in the early years of the church. So why do we have these particular books in our present New Testament canon or Bible?

"The Canon developed gradually, rather than being based on one person's authority."

A process

Historically, canonization can be seen as a process. It was not achieved by people meeting together to determine which books would be authoritative. The process occurred at different times in different places. No doubt, at first, the apostles and teachers in the early church told stories about Jesus, what he did, what he said, and what his death meant for us. In time, those stories were standardized and written down.
The canonization process, though there was nothing official here in the sense of an approved list, probably began in the first century. For example, some people may have viewed the Gospel of Mark as an authoritative record of the life of Jesus even before the book of Revelation was written. Or they were reading Galatians in church before Romans was written.
As traveling Christians visited different areas, they discovered more writings and said, "That’s a good book — can I make a copy?" (Remember, there was no instant and complete communication as there is today and no printing press.) The books that were most useful were copied by hand the most often. "Writings that proved, over time, to be most useful in sustaining, informing, and guiding the church in its worship, preaching, and teaching came to be the most highly valued, and gained a special authority in virtue of their usefulness" (H. Gamble, Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 1, p. 857).

How We Got the Bible in English

It was a bleak December afternoon, and a visitor was walking in the graveyard of the parish church of Lutterworth, England, about 90 miles northwest of London. The rector came by as the visitor examined the church’s ancient slate gravestones bearing the names of faithful parishioners of centuries past.
The rector shared some of the highlights of his church’s long history. "It was in this church that John Wycliffe, our most famous rector, ministered during the last years of his life, over six centuries ago," he said.
Wycliffe was famous, but not everyone approved of him. The rector explained: "Four decades after his death, Wycliffe’s bones were dragged from their grave and burned. His ashes were cast into the waters of the River Swift."
What had been Wycliffe’s crime, that his remains were so maliciously treated? He had dared to translate the Bible into a language his countrymen could understand.

Only for scholars?

It had been Wycliffe’s passionate desire that everyone should be free to read the good news of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Others disagreed. They believed it was wrong for ordinary people to read the Scriptures for themselves.
Today, such an attitude seems incomprehensible. The Bible is accessible to virtually everyone, and its study is encouraged. It is the world’s most widely translated book, available in more than 1,000 languages and dialects.
But in medieval times, the Bible was not available to the common person in Western Europe. The Old Testament was generally available only in Hebrew, in a Greek translation called the Septuagint, and in a Latin translation called the Vulgate. The New Testament was available only in Greek and Latin. Only scholars, educated clergy and a few others had direct personal access to God’s Word.

Digging Up the Bible

Egyptian tomb painting from Beni-Hasan (about 1900 B.C.) shows how Abraham’s family might have dressed.
 What type of clothing did the patriarch Abraham and his family wear? Was there really a King David or a Pontius Pilate? How was a crucifixion performed in Jesus’ day? These are questions that biblical archaeologists can help us answer.
Biblical archaeology, the study of the remains of Near East civilizations, is important because it enhances our understanding and appreciation of the Bible. It rounds out our picture of the history, customs and daily life of the Israelites and surrounding nations.

Silencing the skeptics

Archaeology also provides extrabiblical corroboration of biblical events. Consider the example of Belshazzar (Daniel 5). Daniel tells us that Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon. Yet for centuries Belshazzar’s name was found nowhere outside of the Bible. Historical records named Nabonidus as Babylon’s final king. Some scholars of the last century, therefore, rejected Daniel’s account, labeling it one of the Bible’s many "historical mistakes."
But in 1853, archaeologists discovered small clay cylinders at Ur in Mesopotamia, inscribed with accounts of the rebuilding of Ur’s ziggurat (temple tower) by King Nabonidus. The inscriptions concluded with prayers for Nabonidus’ health — and for his eldest son and co-regent, Belshazzar!
References to the Hittites (as in 2 Kings 7) were also once regarded as scriptural inaccuracies. Until a little more than a century ago nothing was known of the Hittites outside of the Bible. Some suggested there had been a scribal error and that Assyrians were actually intended.
The Bible was vindicated when Hittite monuments were discovered in the 1870s at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in Syria. In 1906, excavations at Boghazkoy in Turkey uncovered thousands of Hittite documents.

Telling the Gospel Through Story

Steve was a house painter from England vacationing at a beach in the Philippines with his family. I happened to be staying at the same resort. One day during a conversation that began to turn toward spiritual things, Steve said, "I've talked to numerous religious leaders but they've never been able to answer my questions satisfactorily. So I've given up on religion and am trying to live a good life."

"What were your questions?" I asked.

"The main one is, why is the world so unfair? Why is there pain and suffering and why doesn't God, if there is a God, do something about it?"

"Could I have a go at sharing something I've learned about these things using a story from the Bible?" I asked.

"I don't believe the Bible."

"That's no problem. I hope you'll find the story helpful anyway."

Learn more through: The Big Story of the Bible

We started with Genesis 1 and God's intentions for his world. The story concluded, "Then God said, 'Let us make people in our image. He made a man out of the dust of the earth and God breathed his spirit into the man. So Adam became a living being. Later God put Adam to sleep and took one of his ribs and made a wife, Eve, for him. God said, 'Rule over the animals

Building a Bible Study Library

You may wonder why, if you have the Bible, you need any other books. So before you read about which books we recommend, please note the following points:
1. These books do not replace the Bible.
No books, despite what great scholarship they contain or how devotional they are, can replace the Bible. But Bible helps can deepen our appreciation for, and understanding of, the Word of God.
2. These books are not academic, but practical.
The books we are recommending were written for ordinary people who want to understand more about the Bible. The fact that you are reading this article suggests that you fall into this category. Buying a Bible atlas, a Bible dictionary or a topical help is not an exercise in intellectual vanity. It is a practical way to enrich your Bible studies.
3. These books do not undermine the Bible’s teachings.
To some people, "biblical scholarship" is a plot of Satan to destroy the credibility of God’s Word. Yet we are commanded to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Our aim in recommending various Bible helps is to enable you to fulfill that command. These books will make you better able to defend the truth of the Bible.
4. These books do not cost a fortune.
Building a Bible-study library is a life-long process. Take your time and enjoy it. If all you can afford is to buy one Bible-related book a year, then do that. Used books work just as well as new books, of course, and are much less expensive. You can also find many standard Bible references at the library.
With just a Bible and this course, you can enjoy many hours of effective study, but you may wish to add other books when you can afford to. By the time you have a study Bible, a Bible atlas, a Bible dictionary and a topical help, you will have good basic tools for a lifetime of profitable Bible study. If you later add a one-volume commentary and a book on how we got the Bible, you have the basis for an excellent personal library.
5. These books are not infallible.

The Bible: Truth or Fiction?

Is the Bible the truth of God or merely composed of human ideas?
In January 1989, John Shelby Spong, the Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey, raised some disturbing questions about the Bible’s truthfulness. He disputed it during a televised debate with fundamentalist minister Jerry Falwell. Millions of Americans were watching the network news show as they ate breakfast.
There was no mistaking the seriousness of Bishop Spong’s challenge to the Bible. Shortly before the debate, he had faulted many of the Bible’s passages, saying they reflected facts and attitudes today’s Christians simply do not believe. It was a controversial view, making for lively television drama. As Bishop Spong put it, “We clearly had touched a vital nerve in the religious soul of this nation.”
Bishop Spong continued firing public volleys against the Bible. In the fall of 1989, he and John Ankerberg, a fundamentalist evangelist, debated the Bible on American cable television in six 30-minute segments. The issue was the Bible’s truthfulness and relevance.

Bible debate continues

Two years later, Bishop Spong fired yet another salvo in his debate with the Bible. His controversial book, Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism, was published. The book’s title spoke for itself. Bishop Spong’s stated purpose was “to rescue the Bible from the exclusive hands of those who demand that it be literal truth.”
Bishop Spong wrote that literal interpretations of the Bible justify slavery, anti-Semitism, war and revenge, the subjugation of women and the denial of rights to gays and lesbians. “Can a book responsible for these things be in any literal sense the Word of God to me?” the bishop asked.
In his book, Bishop Spong also criticized traditional churches. He wrote. “The average pew sitter in the average mainline church, both Catholic and Protestant, is, to say it bluntly, biblically illiterate.” Studies show that Bishop Spong has a point. For example, only 42 percent of Americans can name five of the Ten

Choosing a Bible

A User’s Guide

Before you begin your Bible study,
take some time to choose your translation.
A friend from Japan was telling me about the Japanese version of the Bible he uses. He turned to Luke 5:39. In the New International Version this scripture reads, "And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’" My friend told me: "My Japanese Bible does not say ‘wine.’ It says ‘sake’ [a Japanese beverage made from fermented rice]. Since new sake is better than old sake, the verse goes, ‘No one after drinking new sake wants old, for he says, ‘The new is better.’"
At first glance, that translation seems the opposite of what Jesus said. He said the old was better, not the new. Also, Jesus said wine, not sake. Wine is usually better after a few years of aging. Sake is better when it is fresh.
Why did the translators use the word sake instead of wine? My friend explained that in Japan, few people know about wine. Thus, the translators of the Japanese Bible were faced with a choice. Either they translate the verse literally, and confuse their readers, or they translate the verse more freely, and communicate Jesus’ intent.
In this verse, Jesus was contrasting the old legalistic form of religion with the new form he brought. In English versions the old and new wine is a metaphor for these two forms of religion. In the Japanese translation, the sake metaphor conveys Jesus’ intent of there being a difference between the two. Ironically, if the translators had chosen the literal rendering, Jesus’ intended meaning would have been lost for the Japanese readers.
This story illustrates a dilemma that continually haunts Bible translators. Should they translate as literally as possible, and risk confusing the reader, or should they translate the intent of the Scriptures, and thereby lose some of the original meaning?

Literal vs. accurate

Bible Study Secrets

"I’m not getting as much as I would like to out of my personal Bible study. Do you have any tips on how to study the Bible?"
What advice do biblical scholars give to people who want to improve their Bible study? “People ask me this kind of question often,” said Willard Swartley, professor of New Testament at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart. Indiana. ‘“Usually I ask them if they have any method for studying the Bible.”

“In any kind of Bible study, the key is always to ask questions of what you’re reading. You will process the material only to the extent that you ask questions.” —Robert H. Gundry, Professor of New Testament and Greek, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California

Douglas Stuart, professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, said, “I try to get people alerted to truly systematic Bible study and the methods that go with it.”
"Method." The word kept cropping up in the interviews. A method — an organized procedure or system — of studying the Bible is what the scholars discussed.

Getting started

“First, I would recommend a couple of English versions of the Bible,” said Robert H. Gundry, professor of New Testament and Greek at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. “I would use both a more staid, literally translated version and a more loosely translated one and make comparisons as I did my study.” Since most of us don’t know Hebrew or Greek, we read the Bible in translation. Comparing different translations gives insights into the meaning of the Scriptures.

"Through meditation, the Scriptures challenge your value structure, and that's where spiritual growth takes place." — John Hartley, Professor of Old Testament, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California

Gundry recommends the New Revised Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible as good literal translations. For translations that allow some paraphrasing, he recommends the New International Version and the Good News Bible. Checking different translations allows you to see alternatives in text and meaning. These established versions will give you access to the most likely variations of text and nuances of meaning.
After you decide on the Bibles you will use, John Hartley, professor of Old Testament at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, recommends you choose one version and read it all the way through. “It’s important to gain perspective,” he said. “This way, when you read the Gospel of Mark, you know what comes before it, what comes after it. Or if you pick up a prophet like Haggai, you have some understanding of where it is in the whole story of the Bible.”
Hartley does not think the Bible has to be read in order, book by book. He has known people who have tried to read the Bible in sequence, cover to cover, who invariably got bogged down, usually in the ordinances and genealogies of Leviticus, and then gave up. Thus, Hartley advises that people regularly alternate the sections they read.

Why Study the Bible?

"That you might have life"

Early in the first century a man from Galilee appeared with a message about the need for a dramatic change in the established order. He gathered a number of followers around him and began to advocate a return to some of the laws and commandments of God. Before long, however, he was handed over to the Roman occupation forces and executed.
The man’s name was Judas of Galilee. The world, as a whole, has largely forgotten him (Acts 5:37).
Not long after Judas’ ill-fated career another man from Galilee attracted a following with a message about a kingdom quite different from the status quo. He too was handed over to the Roman power and executed
His name was Jesus of Nazareth, and the world has never forgotten him. Of him it has been well said that "the names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone; but the name of this Man abounds more and more...Herod could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him" (quoted in Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 135).
There is an excellent reason the world remembers Jesus of Nazareth. The reason is his resurrection, his dramatic return from a publicly witnessed and certified death (Matthew 27:65-66). In Acts 1:3 we are told that Jesus showed himself alive after his resurrection by "many convincing proofs." Not the least of these proofs was the fact that the men and women closest to Jesus were willing to die for their belief that he had conquered death (1 Corinthians 15:29-32).

Life to the full

Jesus Christ is the central figure in the 66 books we call the Bible. Years after Jesus’ dramatic death, burial and resurrection, one of his disciples spelled out clearly the main reason why you and I should study and restudy the Bible, and why we should come to know its central character more deeply:
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:30-31).

Evidence of Black Africans in the Bible

n 1992, I took a class at Emory University in Atlanta called Introduction to the Old Testament. As I read the various required textbooks for the course, I saw something I had not noticed before. Many Old Testament scholars, particularly European scholars of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, had written their books and commentaries on the Old Testament from the perspective that there were no people of color mentioned in the Scriptures.

Different nationalities depicted in tomb of Ramses III: Libyan, Nubian, Syrian, Bedouin, Hittite

Puzzled, I began to look into the topic more deeply. I studied intensively for about a year, attending lectures and interviewing scholars. I began to realize that this was a particularly difficult and controversial subject, and it has caused much hurt. Thankfully, times have changed, but some of the wounds remain. So let’s look at it, and put to rest once and for all this biased and unfair distortion of the Bible.
Let me apologize in advance for some of the terms that I will need to use as we discuss this topic. They are not the terms we would prefer today, but they are terms that historians, ethnologists and Bible commentators of past centuries, and even the 20th century, have employed to explain their ideas about the origin of blacks. These ideas, steeped in racial prejudice, were alleged to provide a biblical justification for black slavery and the subjugation of black peoples.
When I first read about these concepts, they brought tears to my eyes. As a white person in a predominantly white country, I also began to gain a better understanding of and a greater appreciation for the black experience in the United States.

Reformation Study Bible Now Available on Bible Gateway

The Reformation Study Bible is now available on Bible Gateway!


The Reformation Study Bible is an invaluable aid to Bible reading and study, and we’re thrilled to make it available to you online. The heart of the Reformation Study Bible lies in its thousands of study notes, drawn from the work of more than 50 distinguished Bible scholars (including J.I. Packer, Wayne Grudem, and many others) and edited by respected theologian and pastor R.C. Sproul.
You can now access all of that study content at Bible Gateway right alongside your Scripture reading. Because the Reformation Study Bible notes can be read in conjunction with any Bible translation, we’ve made it available in the Resources tray on the right side of the Bible passage page. To access the Reformation Study Bible, just follow these steps:

1. Look up a Bible passage on Bible Gateway—for example, Acts 1.

Free Online Access to the ESV Study Bible

Crossway is pleased to make the ESV Online Study Bible available free—for anyone and everyone—for a limited time beginning today, March 2, 2009. Until now, the ESV Online Study Bible has been available exclusively to those who have purchased the print edition.
In addition to the features found in the print edition, the ESV Online Study Bible provides numerous interactive features enabling readers to:
•    Record personal notes, reflections, and links
•    Click hyperlinked cross references
•    Search by verse, topic, or keyword
•    Digitally highlight Bible passages with various colors
•    Listen to audio of passages

Online Ministry – Starting a Bible Study Blog

Starting a Bible Study blog takes a lot of work in my opinion.  Writing a Bible study can prove to be a bit more complex because it is after all, a study. That means that you have to study to show thyself approved (2Timothy 2:15 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ) so that your Bible study has some legs to stand on.  Of course, before starting an new project you should pray to make sure it is God’s will for you continue.

Bible studies can created in a number of different ways – you are not limited to just writing out a Bible study.  You can create it as a podcast or a video. You can create it as a slideshow or powerpoint presentation.  Of course, you can always write it out as a blog post as well.

Why Bible Study Doesn’t Transform Us

"When all your favorite preachers are gone, and all their books forgotten, you will have your Bible. Master it. Master it." — John Piper
I meet with women all the time who are curious about how they should study the Bible. They hunger for transformation, but it eludes them. Though many have spent years in church, even participating in organized studies, their grasp on the fundamentals of how to approach God's Word is weak to non-existent. And it's probably not their fault. Unless we are taught good study habits, few of us develop them naturally.
Why, with so many study options available, do many professing Christians remain unschooled and unchanged? Scripture teaches clearly that the living and active Word matures us, transforms us, accomplishes what it intends, increases our wisdom, and bears the fruit of right actions. There is no deficit in the ministry of the Word. If our exposure to it fails to result in transformation, particularly over the course of years, there are surely only two possible reasons why: either our Bible studies lack true converts, or our converts lack true Bible study.
I believe the second reason is more accurate than the first. Much of what passes for Bible study in Christian bookstores and church resource libraries just isn't: while it may educate us on a doctrine or a topic, it does little to further our Bible literacy. And left to our own devices, we pursue a host of unsavory (and un-transformative) self-constructed approaches to "spending time in the Word." Here are several that I encounter on a regular basis.

July 1st One Year Bible Readings

Old Testament - Well, it was bound to happen.  Assyria conquered Israel.  They were bound to go after Judah & Jerusalem soon enough.  Tough to stop an ego & power like that.  It's "never enough".  So, we get the bold boasts before the walls of Jerusalem by King Sennacherib of Assyria's representatives in 2 Kings 18.  Verse 35 includes this boast, which didn't make God too happy - "What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?"
It is wonderful to see that in 2 Kings 19 Hezekiah takes all of this to God in prayer.  Good move!  How often in our lives today, when challenges come our way, do we take the challenges everywhere else BUT to God?  Wouldn't it be easier to take them directly to God?  Why do we turn to alcohol or drugs or food or worrying or whatever - can we simply take our challenges to the one true living God who can actually do something with them?  Can we model what Hezekiah did when he received distressing news from the King of Assyria, in verses 14 through 16 - "After Hezekiah received the letter and read it, he went up to the LORD's Temple and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God

Bible Reading Plans for the New Year

The first time I attempted to read through the Bible may have been 2009. I met with success using the NIV One Year Chronological Bible. Portions were tedious, no doubt, and many times I played catchup, wondering if I would ever navigate my way through the wilderness of Old Testament genealogies. However, I persevered and because of that, encountered parts of the Bible I would have otherwise avoided or overlooked.
As 2013 dawned, I scrambled for resolutions and toyed with the idea of once again reading through the Bible in a year. I decided on a plan that started with the Old Testament and trudged forward. Admittedly, it wasn’t long before I was entirely bored with my reading plan. I rushed through it so I could check it off my list and move on to a text more interesting at the time.
Please understand, I love the Old Testament! I would caution that only reading in the New Testament promotes an incomplete picture of God, His Word, and His divine narrative. However, the plan I choose to follow in 2013 left me longing for the gospels. The problem was, I wouldn’t get to the New Testament until fall, that is, if I had made it that long

Five Excellent Bible Study Websites

The Internet offers a vast array of websites for those wanting to study the Bible. You can find everything from devotional studies to outlines to sermons to Greek and Hebrew exegesis. Thousands of public domain Bible commentaries are now available. These days I do most of my Bible study online. Years ago I would stack my desk with 20-30 books while preparing my sermons. Today I can find most of what I need online no matter what Bible passage I am studying.

Here are five Bible study websites I use all the time and highly recommend:

1. Online Translations of the Bible

There was a time when you had to go to the bookstore to get a new translation. Not any more. Virtually every translation is now available online for free. No website I've found offers more translations than this one. Besides the usual ones, here you can find links to J. B. Phillips, Clarence Jordan, and Jewish translations of the Old Testament.

2. Precept Austin