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February 14, 2014 By Ray Deck III | Leave a Comment

4 February Deals on Logos.com

At any given moment, there are hundreds of books on sale at Logos.com, most of which can be enjoyed in your free Faithlife Study Bible app. Here are four that were too good to go unmentioned.

The Believer’s Study Bible—on sale for $23.95

The BSB made our list of best study Bibles a couple months ago. It showcases the fundamental Baptist tradition that undergirds mainstream evangelicalism. W. A. Criswell, two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, served as editor, leading a team of scholars that included Paige Patterson, Daniel Akin, Dorothy Patterson, and Ray Clendenen. The BSB is a reliable study aid sure to add clarity to each passage you’re reading.

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary—on sale for $22.95

The Faithlife Study Bible adds links to the study resources you own in line with the text, so when you add topical resources like this illustrated Bible dictionary, your FSB will integrate its content into your FSB study notes. In this case, that means you’ll get an additional 7,000 encyclopedic entries on scriptural topics.

The Practice of Godliness—on sale for $10.95

Jerry Bridges explains what it means to become more like God. In this book, you’ll get a roadmap for spiritual growth. Bridges offers unique insights into the way character formation affects our relationships—both with God and with others. This book has served as an important starting point for the spiritual growth of many believers, and will no doubt affect you profoundly.

A Contemporary Anabaptist Theology—on sale for $24.95

The Anabaptist tradition is rich and exotic. It broke away from the mainstream Protestant traditions during the Reformation, and launched what many consider to be the first missionary effort of the modern era. Several existing denominational bodies trace their roots to Anabaptist heritage. This handbook outlines the development of Anabaptist thought, summarizes their history, and explains the theological framework around which the Anabaptist tradition was built.

All four of these books are on sale at Logos.com through the end of the month. Download them today, and you can enjoy them right away in your Faithlife Study Bible app.

February 12, 2014 By Ray Deck III | Leave a Comment

4 Faithlife Features You Forgot About

Faithlife.com is a superb home for your digital faith community. We’ve been adding lots of new bells and whistles over the last few months. Some of the most useful features, though, have been around for a while.

Here are four features you might have forgotten about:

Custom URLs

Set your group’s URL so it’s easy for everyone to find. By default, the address will be your group’s name. But change it to Faithlife.com/Whatever-You-Want in group settings.

Fine-grained privacy controls

You have a lot of control over your Faithlife group’s privacy settings. You can set the overall level of visibility for your group, choosing between open, closed, and secret. And you can set permissions for each member, defining the amount of access available at each level. There are a lot of choices to make here, so I made some recommendations about privacy settings in a previous post.

Expiring groups

Limited-time groups are common in church life. Small groups often meet weekly through the fall, disband over the holidays, and then reform after the dust settles in January. New groups start up all the time. When you form a seasonal group, you can also set an expiration date for it, saving you the trouble of deactivating it later.

Duplicate this group

If you need to create a new group much like one of your existing groups, use the “duplicate this group” button to save time. You can then change the name and group photo. Think about all the time you’ll save when you don’t have to create brand-new groups for each new Bible study series or small group that pops up.

What are your favorite Faithlife.com features? Tell us in the comments.

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Faithlife.com is the digital home for your faith community. It’s free to join and invite others. Tools like prayer lists, reading plans, Community Notes, and group newsletters make it easier than ever to communicate, collaborate, and fellowship around the Word of God. Join today at Faithlife.com.

February 10, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 5 Comments

How to Study the Bible

Reading the Faithlife Study Bible the other day, I happened across a great article titled “How to Study the Bible.” Once more I was impressed by the depth and helpfulness of this tool. Here’s an excerpt:

While we may wish that the Bible was entirely clear, students of literature would never expect that from other important books. When it comes to the Bible, it should be obvious that we have to study the Bible in order to understand it.

Some writing—a newspaper story, for example—might be understood by almost any mature reader. Other writing—such as a Shakespeare play—might require readers to consult dictionaries, study guides, and other aids because of the nature of the language and the subject matter. Yet other writing—a calculus textbook, for example—might require years of prior study as well as patient, focused effort in order to appreciate even a single page. The Bible contains literature at all these levels: some parts any reader can follow, some parts require some help, and some are difficult enough that even seasoned scholars struggle to comprehend them.

This is to be expected. A book claiming to be authored by the One whose thinking and communication can range from the simplest level to far above human understanding should require serious effort from seekers of its truth. It is naïve to think that the Bible differs from all other literature in being automatically comprehensible, or that our good intentions and love of God will make irrelevant the need to study in order to appreciate the quality of ideas He has put into writing for us.

Get this and even more inspiring Bible study content in the free Faithlife Study Bible. Download it today from your app store of choice.

February 8, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 7 Comments

Sometimes Freedom Looks Like Slavery

In Matthew 7:13, Jesus describes the Christian life—the path to spiritual freedom—as being a narrow road that’s difficult to find and follow. He said that most people take a different road—a road that is wide and flat, a road that is easy to find and follow. Though it is difficult, the narrow road is the only way to a fulfilling life of freedom. But unfortunately, many people settle for less than what God intends for them because they mistake it for bondage.

The biggest trophy on Satan’s wall is from the day he made freedom look like slavery. (Click to tweet)

Think about it like this:

Am I free to practice medicine? No. I am very much not.

Why? I don’t have a license, and I don’t have the knowledge required to get one.

If I decided I wanted to become a doctor, how would I go about that?

I’d go to medical school, where I would experience serious restrictions on how I could spend my time and money. I would submit myself to deadlines, fees, and a dress code—a series of restrictions (a narrow road) that would result in a degree of freedom unavailable to me otherwise.

That’s why James 1:25 refers to the Scripture as “the law of liberty.” The Word of God, though full of prohibitions and commands, directs us to the life of freedom and fulfillment God intended for us.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back on seasons in my life and clearly see how my commitment to or abandonment of Scripture’s truth influenced my decision making and my temperament. Seasons when I regularly made time to look to the Scriptures are seasons I lived as a person free from selfishness and full of gentleness and wisdom, because I was close to the heart of God. And I can look back on seasons when I ignored the Word of God and see how pride crept into my life. I can see how I became distant from the heart of God, how temptation became harder to resist, and how I became cold. All my regrets are from seasons when I confused freedom and slavery, neglecting the truth I knew.

One of the best ways to remind yourself of truth is to spend a few minutes each day reading God’s Word. With a modern English translation, rich study notes, and a huge variety of reading plans, the Faithlife Study Bible makes it easier than ever. Download it today from your app store of choice.

February 6, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 5 Comments

How to Enjoy Logos.com Resources in Your Faithlife Study Bible App

Processed with VSCOcam with t1 preset Logos.com is home to more than 46,000 Bible study resources, like commentaries, Bible dictionaries, systematic theologies, collected works, sermon archives, journals, lexicons, handbooks, devotionals, lectionaries, and more. And many of them can be enjoyed inside your Faithlife Study Bible. Here’s a quick explanation of how to do it.

Lexham Bible Dictionary Update: 174 New Articles

The Lexham Bible Dictionary, the world’s most advanced Bible dictionary, recently got a major update—174 new articles. Since you’re a Faithlife Study Bible owner, you got it for free!

The Lexham Bible Dictionary provides some of the more in-depth content you’ll find in the Faithlife Study Bible.

This icon indicates that the attached article is from the LBD:

The new batch of articles amounts to a total of 168,569 words. To put that in perspective, the median book length is 64,000 words. This update is more than twice as large.

Here are some of the most notable new articles:

There are two different ways to find these articles, as well as many others like them:

1.) You’ll encounter them as you read the FSB on your mobile device, or at Bible.Faithlife.com.

Tap or click to reveal an LBD article whenever you see this icon:

2.) Or, if you’d like to read about something specific, open the Lexham Bible Dictionary using the “Resources” menu in the app. Just like a regular dictionary, the entries in a Bible dictionary are organized alphabetically. They are also connected to verses that mention those topics, so you can browse by topic or search by reference.

We are constantly adding to and updating the Lexham Bible Dictionary, so it will always feature the latest scholarship. It’s included when you download the Faithlife Study Bible app on your smartphone or tablet. Download it today, and you can enjoy the world’s most advanced Bible dictionary instantly!

January 31, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 112 Comments

3 Things God Never Promised

In Scripture, God makes a lot of promises. He keeps them all, but there are a few things he never promised that might surprise you. Here are three; can you think of others?

Justice on earth

God keeps score. He promises to heal the wounded, reward the faithful, and punish the wicked (2 Corinthians 5:10). But he doesn’t promise to do any of that until after heaven and earth are remade without the curse of sin. He promises justice. He does not promise swift justice.

God is patient with us all (2 Peter 3:9). That’s a great comfort until we realize that he’s also patient with those who harm, oppress, and offend us.

To my regular frustration, Scripture never gives permission for us to enforce our own interpretation of justice (Romans 12:9). Instead, we’re told to wait on God’s perfect plan to be carried out on his perfect time (Psalm 37:7).

Comfort

Many television preachers have built a personal empire on the false promise that obeying God will lead to material prosperity and success. But God never promised his followers an easy life. In fact, he warned us to expect the opposite (John 16:33)—hardship and persecution from the world, and even correction from his own hand (Hebrews 12:7).

The Christian life is not a comfortable life, but it is a fulfilling one. (Click to tweet)

Instant change

I love hearing stories of miraculous life transformation. They fuel my faith in the transformative power of God’s Word more than anything else. But they also plant a desire for the same sort of instant change in my own life. Yet still I still wrestle with entrenched habits and besetting sins (Hebrews 12:1). Much as I love to see instant change in others, and long to experience it myself, I must remember that God has promised to change me, but hasn’t promised to do it instantly.

He has promised to complete the transformative work that he’s begun in me (Philippians 1:6), a promise that implies this change is going to take a while.

What other nonpromises can you think of? Tell us in the comments.

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Serious Bible study is easier with serious Bible study software. The free Faithlife Study Bible app is a great place to start—but if you’d like to study in greater detail, free Logos Basic is for you. Its powerful, intuitive tools and vast libraries are the perfect way to expand your understanding of the Scriptures.

Get Logos Basic today, or shop Logos Fundamentals for even more resources.

January 29, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 13 Comments

4 Books on Sale by N. T. Wright & Josh McDowell

At any given moment, there are hundreds of books on sale at Logos.com, most of which can be enjoyed in your free Faithlife Study Bible app. Here are four books on sale that were too good to go unmentioned.

N. T. Wright, one of the most universally trusted theologians in the modern era. We’re proud to list him among our contributors. Two of his earliest works, which laid the foundation for much of his writing career, are discounted this month:

For All God’s Worth—on sale for $10.95!
An insightful exploration of both the meaning and results of worship, this book addresses a range of church-related issues that inevitably arrive around the activity of worship, while calling for a renewal of worship arts inside today’s church.

Who Was Jesus?—on sale for $13.95!
In the mid-1990s, a wave of controversial books and articles attempted to reframe the historical Jesus. Wild theories emerged, and many were caused to doubt. N. T. Wright wrote this reasoned response, comparing external sources to the Gospel accounts, he forms a clear, faith-inspiring portrait of Christ.

Josh McDowell, a prolific preacher and writer, is best known for his work in Christian apologetics and epistemology. He rose to prominence just in time to meet the challenges of postmodernism.

Evidence for Christianity—on sale for $13.95!
In this book, McDowell boldly addresses many of the most pressing questions surrounding Christianity. The answers contained here are not flimsy, but battle-tested in debates with both Marxists and Islamic apologists. If you have a burning question, this book will give you a straight answer.

Josh McDowell’s Handbook on Apologetics—on sale for $15.95!
This volume systematically answers important questions like, “Is Scripture reliable?” and, “Is the church necessary?” A compilation of McDowell’s popular Evidence series, this volume is a must-read for new or inquisitive believers.

All four of these books are accessible from your free Faithlife Study Bible app. Get them on Logos.com, and you can enjoy them right away.

January 27, 2014 By Chuck McKnight | 3 Comments

Why I Love the NET Bible

The NET (or New English Translation) is a relatively new Bible version, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. It is completely unlike any other translation before it. Perhaps the word openness best describes what makes this Bible so special.

Open translation process

When the NET Bible was being translated, the drafts were put on the web for beta testing. Many people, from professors to junior high students, submitted suggestions. The translators (themselves highly qualified scholars) used that feedback to improve their translation. This resulted in a unique Bible version that is highly readable while remaining faithful to the original texts.

Open licensing model

Most Bible versions today have heavy copyright restrictions. This often makes it difficult to quote the Bible legally in a new publication. The NET Bible, however, operates on a “ministry first” model. The goal is to make it easy to secure the proper permissions by eliminating as many obstacles as possible. In most cases, authors can use the NET Bible in their books without having to pay any licensing fees.

Open translators’ notes

My favorite aspect of the NET Bible is the wonderful set of notes it comes with. The translators provided detailed explanations for every major decision they made, giving us an inside look at the translation process. The notes cover the text-critical issues surrounding any given text, including alternate readings. They discuss different meanings a word can convey, comparing their translation with other versions. And they explain what the idioms and figures of speech in the Bible would have meant to their original audience.

There are over 60,000 notes in total, and they are truly an invaluable resource. I would not want to be without them. The NET Bible notes are so helpful that they have actually been used by other Bible translators and editors:

The extensive and reliable notes in The NET Bible were a wonderful help to our translation team as we worked to prepare the English Standard Version.
—Wayne Grudem, member of translation oversight committee, ESV

The translators’ notes, study notes, and text-critical notes (over 60,000 notes altogether) alone are worth the price of the NET Bible. In our work on the fully revised NIV Study Bible of 2002, the TNIV, and the TNIV Study Bible, we consulted the NET Bible notes and were often helped by them. Kudos!
—Kenneth L. Barker, general editor, NIV Study Bible and TNIV Study Bible

What are you waiting for?

You can add the NET Bible—along with the incredible translators’ notes—to your Faithlife Study Bible for only $10. I don’t know of a better Bible study resource for that price!

Still not convinced? Here are just a few more endorsements the NET Bible has received:

There are many wonderful things I could say about The NET Bible, but the most important is this: the NET Bible is a Bible you can trust. The translation is clear, accurate, and powerful. And the notes, those wonderful notes! They bring to the layman scholarly insights and discussions that have up till now been accessible only to those trained in the biblical languages. If you are serious about studying Scripture, get a copy of The NET Bible.
—Chuck Swindoll, chancellor, Dallas Theological Seminary

The complaint I hear from many Christians is that some of the translations of the Bible are too wooden. They are grammatically correct, but don’t seem to convey the passion of the writer. On the flip side, some paraphrases and translations convey the passion of the writer at the cost of an accurate translation. The NET Bible is the best of both worlds. The notes are helpful to the scholar and the lay person alike. This is the Bible for the next millennium.
—Tony Evans, senior pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

This Bible is a triumph: a straightforward and accurate translation that is also elegant. The annotations are much fuller and more helpful than in other popular translations, and the production of a constantly-improving electronic text brings Bible reading and Bible study into the new millennium.
—Philip R. Davies, professor at the department of biblical studies of The University of Sheffield

Download your copy today!

January 25, 2014 By Ray Deck III | 1 Comment

John Calvin on the Power of God

If you were reading through 365 Days with Calvin, today you’d be treated to this thought-provoking passage from Calvin’s message on Psalm 2:9, where he raises an interesting and somewhat uncomfortable question about the power of God: does it cause you to feel adoration or terror?

It’s timeless content like this from one of the greatest preachers of all time, available from Logos.com, that makes the Faithlife Study Bible special.

Christ has such power that he reigns over even those who are averse to his authority and refuse to obey him. Psalm 2:9 implies that the beauty and glory of the kingdom David speaks of here are obvious when people willingly run to Christ in the day of his power and show themselves as his obedient subjects. But the greater number of people will rise up against this king with a violence that spurns all restraint. So the psalmist states here that this king will prove himself superior to all such opposition. God exhibited a specimen of this unconquerable power in war primarily in the person of David, who vanquished and overthrew many enemies by force of arms. But the prediction is more fully verified in Christ, who, neither by sword nor spear, but by the breath of his mouth, smites the ungodly to their utter destruction. everyone will not voluntarily receive Christ’s yoke; many will be stiff-necked and rebellious. But even those he will subdue by force and compel them to submit to him.

While the prophets in other parts of Scripture celebrate the meekness, the mercy, and the gentleness of our Lord, the psalmist describes him here as rigorous, austere, and full of terror. But his severe and dreadful sovereignty is set before us here only to strike alarm into his enemies. Furthermore, it is not at all inconsistent with the kindness with which Christ tenderly and sweetly cherishes his people. He who is a loving shepherd to his gentle sheep must also treat wild beasts with severity, either to convert them from their cruelty or effectually to restrain it.

For Meditation: One day, every knee will bow to Christ the King. Think about that today as you interact with people and hear what they are doing. Will they and you bow in adoration or terror before the Son of the living God?

Logos.com has many powerful daily devotionals to choose from. Download 365 Days with Calvin for just $16.95, and enjoy it right away in your free Faithlife Study Bible app.

Get a free Faithlife.com account today.