Daily Devotional

Are you irregular or weak in how you spend time daily with God? Do you want to begin to change that aspect of your life?

Lots of great devotional guides exist, but a great place to start is with "Our Daily Bread." It is a devotional guide I used quite often during my college years and enjoyed greatly.

It is accessible in a variety of ways:

• Website
• Email
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication, Web Aggregator...updates you on website changes)
• Purchase (they will send you a sample)

Lots of other great daily devotionals are available through crosswalk.com HERE.

Music Choices

Should a Christian listen to secular music?

That is the question of the week posed by gotquestions.org.

In answering that question, they advocate looking at three aspects of the music:

1. The purpose of music.
2. The style of music.
3. The content of the lyrics.

They especially spend some time evaluating the content aspect to the music we choose to listen to, referring to two particular verses:

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ."

Our decision process in choosing music is similar to how we should go about evaluating all entertainment that we expose ourselves and others to. Are we too conformed to the pattern of this world? If we are, we may find ourselves unable to test and approve what God's will is...

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Computer Resources for Parents

Parents, here are two good resources for protecting your children from the hazards and dangers of the Internet:

Eblaster - (quoted from site below) - "eBlaster is the most dependable, full-featured remote surveillance product available from the worldwide leader in Internet monitoring software."

Safe Eyes - (quoted from site below)- "Safe Eyes is the # 1 rated Internet parental control software that allows parents to determine how their children use the Internet."

I found these resources from Vicki Courtney's website. Don't know who she is? She is a well-known Christian author who specifically targets teenage girls and their parents through her resources. At church we are starting a study for High School girls titled "His Girl" and in the Spring the women's ministry is bringing her to Severns Valley BC on April 18th, 2009.

Do you currently use a filtering or monitoring software for your home or work computer? Email me to share it with others...

Do You Hate Evil? Do You Fear God?

Have you grown numb to the evilness of this world? Do you find yourself tolerating or rationalizing behaviors that you know are wrong? Solomon concludes the book of Ecclesiastes by summing up the purpose of life revolving around two aspects of a relationship with God: (Ecc 12:13-14)

1. Fear God
2. Keep His Commandments

He further states that this applies to "every person. For God will bring every act to judgment."

How do you define the "fear of God?" I used to think fearing God meant to be scared of Him but as I grew older I better understood it to mean having a respect for who He is.

If you turn back a few pages to Proverbs 8:13 you will find Solomon state that the "fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Go back to chapter 6 and see what the Lord hates..."haughty eyes," a "lying tongue," "hands that shed innocent blood," a "heart that devises wicked plans," "feet that run rapidly to evil," "a false witness," and "one who spreads strife." Across Scripture you can find many, many instances and examples of what the Lord hates (sin!).

What do you think the Lord's reaction would be to the things He sees here on earth today...our music, our lifestyles, our TV, our movies, our stewardship of our time and money, and our world and "newsworthy" events? Do you think He hates the sin that permeates our world?

Do you hate the sin that permeates this world? Or are you numb to it? Do you tolerate it? Are you passive?

Do you really "Fear God?"

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 12:9

Rebelution - Rebels for Christ

Alex & Brett Harris have started something awesome in seeking to create a "teenage rebellion against low expectations" as a "refusal to be defined by our ungodly, rebellious, and apathetic culture" and instead focus on "choosing to 'do hard things' for the glory of God."

They have written a book, update a blog, speak at conferences, and share their favorite books on their website. Check out their interview here.

Parallel Bibles

Struggle with picking a Bible translation? Try one of these types of parallel bibles (multiple translations read side-by-side):

• Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible (ESV, NKJV, Message, NLT)
• Today's Parallel Bible (NIV, NASB, KJV, NLT)
• Comparative Study Bible (NIV, KJV, NASB, AMP)
• NIV Message Parallel Bible

Also, if you have ever wanted to read through the Gospels side by side, here are two great ways to do it, either in the NIV or HCSB translations. This is an awesome way to read through the Gospels!

Where does the Bible come from?

Have you ever wondered how the copy of the Bible you have today was discovered, put together, and translated?

An important manuscript (ancient copy of the Bible) connected with your Bible at home is called Codex Sinaiticus. It is described as "a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century" that is "the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament."

A historical occasion is occurring as it is being scanned and released to the public progressively over the next year or so...want to see it? Check it out HERE!

If you want a short explanation for the documentary evidence of the Bible, chapter three of The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel is a great place to start.

If you want a more in-depth explanation, to include references, photos, and a detailed history of discoveries, you should check out Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible by Paul Wegner.

Several great pamphlets are also available (from Rose Publishing, an awesome producer of Church-quality charts and pamphlets) called "The Bible Translations Comparison," "How We Got the Bible," and "Why Trust the Bible?"

Good Bible-related questions are available at gotquestions.org as well....

• "Is the Bible truly God's Word?"
• "Textual criticism - what is it?"
• "How and when was the canon of the Bible put together?"
• "When were the Gospels written?"
• "Does the inerrancy of the Bible only apply to the original manuscripts?"
• "Why is it important to believe in Biblical inerrancy?"