The World's Most Advanced Study Bible - for FREE!

Have you ever read something in the Bible, and thought, "Hmm... I wish I could learn more about that? 

Have you ever wondered:

• What St. Peter means when he says Jesus "went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison"? (1 Peter 3:19)
• What the Temple that Jesus visited in Jerusalem looked like? 
• What the number 666 might actually refer to in Rev 13:18?

Nothing can replace reading your Bible and asking God to open your heart to his message. But sometimes, having a tool like a study Bible can help you gain insights you would have just from reading the text.

Introducing the Faithlife Study Bible

Logos Bible Software (my "other" job) has just announced this exciting new resource for studying and understanding the Bible. Check out the video:

FSB works best on a tablet like an iPad, 

but you can also use it on a smartphone, 

installed to your computer, or just online. 

I've been using the FSB for a few months now, and it has been become my first line of study when I come across a verse I don't understand. It has thousands of study notes, hundreds of pictures and videos, and in-depth articles with the included Lexham Bible Dictionary. I highly recommend it.

Share your study.
You can also use Faithlife to connect with your church or study group.  Set up a reading plan to study the Bible together.  Make a note on a verse, and the rest of your group will see it when they read that passage.
When you sign up for Faithlife, make sure to join us at faithlife.com/tfcnw - we will be using it in the future to read through Scripture together!

Best of all, it's FREE. 
The FSB will eventually be subscription-based, but you can use it until March 2014 for absolutely nothing. Just use the coupon code FREE at http://faithlifebible.com/!

There's no such thing as a Bible verse | How to Understand the Bible, Part 1 of 3

Every encounter with the Bible can be a deeply personal experience in which the Creator speaks directly to your heart.  But how do you know that what you're hearing is really the Holy Spirit?  There are three questions you can use to make sure you understand correctly.

1. How does this verse fit with the rest of the Bible?

Here's a brain-bender for you: Bible verses don't really exist. To be sure, God inspired the writers of the Bible with His own Word; but the verse numbers (and chapters, too) were added centuries later, by men who wanted an easy way to find a certain quote, or create a list of where to find a certain word.

Verses were never meant to be clipped out and read by themselves.  It's too easy to take a single line out of context, and make it seem like it means something else. For example, look at this line from Romans 5:14:

Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses...

Now, you could read that and think, there was no death after Moses. I could even make the argument that since God gave Moses the Law, he gave the means to live a righteous life, to escape spiritual death. But you only need to read a few verses more to see that Paul's point is exactly the opposite -- "law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were" (Rom 5:20, NLT).

You can get into even more trouble when you start pasting together verses from different parts of the Bible. So when you read a Bible verse that catches your eye, ask yourself, how does it fit in the rest of the chapter or section? How does that passage contribute to the overall story of the book, or the message of the letter?

Finally, how does it makes sense in light of the rest of the Bible? What are the Old Testament promises that you find fulfilled in the New Testament? Where do you find foreshadowing of Christ in the Old Testament? Where do you find two different authors saying the same thing?  What are characteristics of God you see coming up over and over again?

As has been said many times before, "Scripture interprets Scripture." Whenever you discover something in the Bible you've never noticed before, it's always best to see how your new insight lines up with the rest of the Good Book.




What are your tips for studying the Bible? Leave a comment below!

Later this week:
2. What did it mean to the original audience?
3. How has it been traditionally understood by the Church?

The 90-Day Challenge

It's Day 2 of our challenge to read the whole Bible in three months. It's not too late to join us! Here are some tips for staying focused on our goals. 

Reading the whole Bible in 90 days is more than an idle attempt to see if we can do it.  And it isn't about checking off a list so that we appear more righteous before God or our friends -- or, conversely, feeling guilty over failure if we don't make our goals.

Don't worry too much about "getting behind."  Yes, we want to challenge ourselves, and that's the reason we are following a reading plan in the first place. But don't be so focussed on "staying on track" that you lose sight of our real goals:


Goal 1: To gain an understanding of THE OVERALL STORY OF SCRIPTURE and a  MORE COMPLETE PICTURE OF GOD. 
I encourage you to do your reading from a Bible with study notes, that you can refer to for things that don't make sense to you.  Or for online reading, I recommend the New English Translation (NET), which includes translators' notes (t) and study notes (s) to help you understand better.

For each story, ask yourself, "What does teach me about God's character? about the plan that he has for the world? about human character? about me?"

Goal 2: To have a DAILY DISCIPLINE of spending time with THE LORD AND HIS WORD
Don't just read for the sake of reading; ask the Lord to open your heart to what he has to teach you. Share your problems with him; pray for unbelieving friends.  Keeping a journal is another great way to record what God is teaching you.

Goal 3. To CONNECT with other believers through A COMMON EXPERIENCE
Something powerful happens when people do things together, and there are several ways YouVersion.com helps us do that.
  1. Accountability. Find a partner to encourage you and can discuss what you've been reading. YouVersion can also be set to automatically email a friend whenever you do your reading.
  2. Notes. You can add notes to verses  you find interesting, inspiring, or confusing. You can find your friends' notes under My>Friends' Activities.
  3. Connections. Connect to your Facebook/Twitter account, and share your favorite verses with your friends.


I'm really excited to see where this leads.  Please be praying with me!

Adam