e100 Challenge

I've been totally blow away by all the great feedback from the Father's Day message, especially the advice my grandfather gave to start a "family altar." He described the family altar as a daily time you spend with your family reading the Bible, talking about it, and praying together. I'll never forget when he said that most of our conflict and difficulties in our homes would be done away with if we simply read God's word together, prayed for one another, out loud, by name - every day.

So, many of you have asked for help in how to read your Bible. Well, you can take my Pop's advice and just start read in Genesis and make your way to Revelation. Or, you can take the e100 challenge. The e100 Challenge will give you the top 100 stores from the Bible; 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament. I highly recommend taking the challenge.

Just go here to get more information and sign up today.

Self-Feeder

Jesus states in Matthew 4:4 that "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In another translation of this scripture, it states that we are to "feed ourselves on every word from God." God's goal for every disciple is that we experience real life, the kind of life that compelled Jesus to leave heaven and die a criminals death on a cross in order that we cast off the chains of sin and condemnation.

Unfortunately, many aren't experiencing that dynamic real life in Christ because we have failed to learn how to "feed ourselves" from the Word of God - the Bible. Too often Christians settle for secondary sources of spiritual sustenance. These are "spoon fed" Christians that rely on others.

If you want to really live - feed your soul, not just your face. Learn how to dig into God's word and apply it to your life.

Bible Study Tools

After writing a glowing endorsement of my Logos Digital Library System yesterday it occurred to me ... I can have all the commentaries, systematic theological treatises, and even best practices on church growth and management ... and yet still not have the most important component of inductively studying the scripture - the Holy Spirit. 

Look at where the church is growing the most in the world today - Africa, South America and Asia. Most of the pastors leading those congregations are lucky to have a Bible and concordance let alone a set of commentaries or digital library system. But they have the Holy Spirit - who Jesus promised would "guide us into all truth". 

I'm not planning on tossing my Logos, but I do want to bring a little more balance to my comments from yesterday. When it comes to Bible study tools, it's not an either/or issue, it should be a both/and proposition. One should desire to have the best tools available to study the Bible yet not neglect the importance of the relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Bible is the only book that you can read while simultaneously speaking with author. Kind of cool, huh?

Logos Bible Software

Just purchased the Mac version of the Logos Software by Libronix Digital Library System. A big "thank you" to the people at Logos for finally releasing the software compatible with the Mac platform. 

I've been using Logos DLS for 5 the past years on the PC platform and I totally love it. I can't imagine being a pastor or serious student of the Scriptures and not having this software at my fingertips. I also just upgraded to the Silver Scholars edition and unlocked hundreds of new volumes for my digital library. I now have literally thousands of reference works on my laptop that I use everyday for sermon preparation and Bible study. 

If you are a pastor or Bible college / seminary student, I would strongly recommend you purchase the Logos digital library system. If I was a carpenter, I would have the best nail guns, circular saws and digital levels that money could buy. But since I'm a pastor, I'll stick to my digital library and for my money - Logos from Libronix is the way to go.