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The words that open Genesis — and the Bible — are so well and widely known, it’s easy to overlook their incredible uniqueness and power. As Robinson, a world-renowned novelist and essayist, points out, nothing quite like them exist anywhere else in ancient literature.

The Story of God Commentary series, with 11 volumes from the Old Testament now available with Bible Gateway Plus, is the perfect resource to help understand the full impact of those words (and many more) with fresh eyes and ears.

As you study, you’ll find that the commentary on each passage is broken into three sections:

• “Listen to the Story” presents the Bible passage in the New International Version (NIV).

• “Explain the Story” examines the passage for its essential message and meaning.

• “Live the Story” explores how we can live this text in the world today. It offers insightful reflections, illustrations, and practical suggestions for daily Christian life and practice.

Let’s take a closer look at what “Explain the Story” highlights around Genesis 1:1. Two excerpts in particular reflect on what early pagans believed, how it differed from the account in Genesis, and how foundational these first few words are to our faith.

“The first radical claim here is that all things were created by God. In contrast, the rival creation accounts describe creation as the result of the activity of multiple gods, even though one god takes precedence (Marduk, Baal, Atum, or Ptah).”

“The second significant difference with rival creation accounts in this opening line of Genesis 1 is that there is no preexisting material from which God creates creation. The message is clear: everything that exists, animate and inanimate, comes from God and depends on God.”

We hope that this reinforces your beliefs and drives home how profound and life-altering these 10 opening words really are. To recreate this study with your Bible Gateway Plus membership, follow these steps:

1. Search for Genesis 1 on BibleGateway.com.
2. Click the Resources tab.
3. Filter to Commentaries.
4. Click the Story of God book cover to open the Resource.
5. Scroll to the second article and click to expand.
6. Then, scroll down until you find “EXPLAIN the Story” and continue reading.

As you deepen your study, we are pleased to provide the following volumes from this series to enhance your understanding of the Old Testament.

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Numbers
• Joshua
• Ruth, Esther
• 1-2 Samuel
• 1-2 Kings
• 1-2 Chronicles
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
• Daniel

Adding over $450 in value, while remaining less than $5/month, Bible Gateway Plus is the best value in Bible study with over $3,100 worth of resources.

Become a member today and learn more about The Story of God.

The post Dig deeper into the Story of God with Bible Gateway Plus appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

What is a favorite Bible passage of yours and why?

Choosing your favorite verse is like choosing your favorite child – it’s kind of impossible! A verse I recite to myself often is, “I love the Lord for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because of this, I will call on him all the days of my life.”

I also like, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his mercies never fail. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.”

I just noticed those two verses have a lot in common: mercy! I guess I always feel in need of God’s grace, and grateful to hear that it is unfailingly present.

In Chapter 3, you talk about hearing Mark 12:28-31 on your drive to work one morning, and you say, “a thought occurred, the kind of revelation that feels otherworldly and buzzes with electricity. In a way, a bonus commandment was hidden within the two that Jesus mentioned. Love the Lord God. Love your neighbor. And love yourself.” 

Have you found practical ways to put the “bonus commandment” into practice?

To be honest, it doesn’t come naturally to me. I still have that part of my upbringing that was drilled into me, “don’t think too highly of yourself” or “don’t get too big for your britches.” I am not one to sit around loving myself!

But I do believe, deeply and viscerally, that God loves me… and his loving me makes me more lovable to me. It helps me accept myself. I remember: if he can accept me, then so can I. So should I, in fact.  It is not a spiritual virtue to self-berate and self-condemn; in fact, when we do that we are substituting our own judgment for God’s. He is the judge of our souls, and because of the sacrifice of his Son, his judgment is love.

So really, this is how I can connect to this idea of loving myself. It isn’t about sitting in front of a mirror whispering sweet nothings to myself, giving myself a pep talk with motivational quotes. For me, self-love is about abandoning self-hate. Loving myself because God does.

Throughout the book, you talk about the practice of and practicing Lectio Divina.

• Do you have tips for people who would like to begin this practice?
• How do you stick with it when you are busy?

This is something I only recently discovered when I signed up for an app called Hallow. It has a daily Lectio Divina that you can listen to – which I think is a great entry point for beginners like me. The narrator reads the verse three times to you, and you sit in silence in between each reading. You can choose how long you want the meditation to be, five minutes or up to thirty minutes!

I have an easily distracted, meandering mind. I’m not good at sitting still, but when I can do the Lectio practice, I have almost always encountered some wisdom from the passage just by sitting with it. I find it to be especially helpful with scriptures that are perplexing or off-putting. When you sit with them for a spell, in the presence of God, it is amazing how the thoughts that can come to the fore are often quite revealing and profound.

My advice is just to try it, even if it seems weird or your mind devolves into thinking about your grocery list or all the stuff you have to do. Just keep at it. Don’t give up. And whatever comes up in your mind as you sit there, no matter how odd it seems, consider whether it is something God is saying to you. I’ve been surprised and delighted many, many times during this practice at how a strange thought that pops into my head about the passage can lead to real revelation.

We ran across what may be extremely practical advice about prayer in Chapter 10 of Mostly What God Does. I’m paraphrasing, but you said that when your feelings “betray you,” you pray “with your imagination.”

• Can you describe that?
• You tie this back to Ephesians 3:20-21, where it says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” – how did you discover or connect with that verse?

Full credit where it’s due: I got this idea from Shauna Niequist, an amazing writer and now a friend who attends the same church as I do in Manhattan. Her book is called, I Guess I Just Haven’t Learned That Yet. She talks about those moments that we all experience when we are having difficulty with someone close to us, or when we are facing a problem that seems so intractable we cannot find the words to utter in prayer.

Or sometimes, I’ve found that when I am upset about something, I may find my motives to be so mixed that I’m not sure the intent of my prayers are trustworthy and I don’t even know what to pray for. I write a lot about this in the book. (Spoiler alert: I think God wants us to just bring out our whole authentic selves to him – mess and all. That’s prayer.)

Anyway, Shauna talks about praying with your imagination when words or emotions fail you. It can be as simple as imagining the person you love in a place of wholeness, of flourishing, of joy. It is a way of bringing that person to God and bringing the best of your motivations to the forefront, and letting God handle the rest. And I think Ephesians 3:20 is a wonderful corollary when thinking about our imaginations in this way, for God is “able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine.” It’s almost like God had this idea first…!

You write about being tasked with memorizing Psalm 23 as a young girl. 

• How has your understanding of that verse changed over time? 
• When do you turn to Psalm 23 now? 
• You say that God’s words are “meant to be ingested and absorbed into our bloodstream.” If someone isn’t sure where to start absorbing the Bible, is Psalm 23 the passage you would recommend for them to begin?

When I first encountered Psalm 23, I was a little girl. My older cousin gave me the challenge of memorizing it – the old King James Version to boot! I can assure you I didn’t understand one word. I certainly didn’t get why it was such a famous passage. But I dutifully memorized it, and it stayed with me. Over the years, I have found the words to be peaceful, pastoral and comforting – in my book, I write about literally visualizing the scenes in times of worry and stress. Psalm 23 is a tranquil space for an anxious mind to sit a spell. 

I’ve also come to understand it to be an astoundingly compact and efficient description of our journey of life with God. God is our caretaker, our shepherd, always with us. He provides for our needs: for rest, for sustenance. The psalm also speaks of walking through “the valley of the shadow of death” – a straightforward recognition that life is not all peaceful pastures by trickling streams. We go through dark places. But we won’t be alone. Our path is purposeful, and our destination is assured.

I truly believe Scripture holds divine possibility, especially when mulled and meditated over. To be honest, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest Psalm 23 as an entry point – it can seem a bit abstract and impenetrable at first (it did to me, at least). On the other hand, sometimes it is those verses that seem most opaque and perplexing initially that hold the most treasures once we commit to going deeper.

You quoted Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation.” You talk about how you discovered salvation has two parts. Can you expand on that?

I think we often emphasize the repentance part – and that is appropriate, of course. Recognizing where we have fallen short of love and our need for God’s grace is fundamental. But I think God also calls us to rest in our salvation – not to continually berate ourselves or repeatedly return to our failings.

Resting in our salvation, to me, means absorbing the goodness of God’s mercy and the completeness of our forgiveness, accepting that he sees not the old, flawed us but the new, beautiful creature we are in him. To do that, if we can, is transformative. It has the potential to change how we relate to ourselves and how we move through the world.

You turn to Scripture a lot in your book. What is the most eye-opening moment you experienced from reading the Bible while you were writing?

The biggest revelation came when I was writing an essay about the blessings of faith. “Bless” is one of those words that’s all over our culture (“too blessed to be stressed!” “have a blessed day!” “bless this mess!”), but I came to have a deeper understanding of what the word means in the context of our faith.

I knew the concept of being blessed couldn’t possibly refer to material things, or even necessarily being shown favor by God when we are the recipients of good fortune (although that certainly does happen!). If blessings simply meant “good stuff that happens to you,” how do we explain the beatitudes? (Blessed are the poor in spirit… blessed are the meek, blessed are the persecuted, etc…).

I came to understand that to be blessed in the spiritual sense is simply to receive more of God. So when I pray for a blessing – “God, please bless this travel I must take,” or “bless this difficult task before me” – I’m essentially asking for more of God’s supernatural presence and wisdom, not any particular outcome.

To be blessed is not to have all problems solved, it is to have more divine intervention and presence in a situation. When understood that way, the scriptures about blessings make much more sense to me.

“Loving strangers is hard.” That one sentence pulled from the middle of Chapter 28 rings with truth. Can you explain how God’s love transformed you to see the joy in helping others?

It is a lifelong pursuit to love and care for other humans. None of us are all that good at it. It isn’t necessarily our natural state of being. But when we truly contemplate how God loves us, and let that knowledge really penetrate us, our hearts are inevitably softened, and our horizons broadened; we see that all the love, grace, adoration and delight God has for us extends equally to every single human we encounter.

Every. Single. One.

Again, this is not a rapturous state I walk around in all the time. I live in the real world! But I try to remind myself: we are all God’s children. And if we are all his children, then every human is my brother or sister. We are siblings.

Mostly What God Does has such a loving and encouraging message. It shows have spent a lot of time reading the Bible, in various versions, to communicate that message. What do you want people to get most out of reading your book?

I hope they receive it as a gentle call to be loved by God – and then, filled with that love, to go out and share it. I think that is the essence of our mission as followers of Jesus.

Often, people of faith recognize the service part. They are aware of our obligation to give and serve others.

But the book reminds us not to miss the first, integral step: fully absorbing and appreciating the love that God has for us. That is what imbues us with a generous spirit, where those acts of love and service are done not out of obligation, but out of an overflowing abundance of love that simply cannot be contained within. 

Mostly what God does is love you.

If we could believe this, really believe this, how different would we be? How different would our lives be? How different would our world be?

Unspooling personal stories from her own joys and sorrows as a daughter, mother, wife, friend, and professional journalist, the award-winning TODAY show coanchor and New York Times bestselling author explores the place of faith in everyday life.

Savannah Guthrie is the co-anchor of NBC News’ TODAY, NBC News’ chief legal correspondent and a primary anchor for the network’s election coverage. She was named cohost of TODAY in 2012.

Savannah is a graduate of Georgetown Law, and a New York Times bestselling author for her book Princesses Wear Pants and the sequel Princesses Save the World. She is the executive producer of the Netflix show “Princess Power,” based on the book series. Savannah is married to communications consultant Mike Feldman and the couple has a daughter, Vale, and a son, Charley.

Mostly What God Does is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

The post Savannah Guthrie on the “Bonus Commandment” and Two-Part Salvation appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

By Matt Chandler

If you and I are going to be Overcomers and live courageously in this mess, it’d be helpful to understand some of it. After we see ultimate reality in Revelation 4–5, in Revelation 6 we get more help seeing behind all the mess. We get some good news about how we can endure and stand with confidence in light of all this pain—the pain of others and our pain as well.

When it comes to suffering, we see several things in the Scriptures that form a paradox we should hold in tension as finite, created beings seeking to understand an infinite and eternal God. The first is that God is good (Mark 10:18), all the works of His hands are faithful and just (Psalm 111:7), and there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5). God is love. It’s not something He has or does; it’s who He is. God doesn’t do evil; He does love.

Excluding Satan and demons who were made in the beginning good, it might be helpful for you to think of evil not as an action or a substance that flows from a source but rather the result of fractured relationships. It’s first and foremost a broken relationship with our Creator, then with ourselves, with others, and ultimately with the world itself.

God isn’t the creator of evil; he’s the creator of beauty, goodness, and truth. Evil, suffering, and death are the result of sin and humankind’s rebellion against their Creator, which fractured the cosmos. That isn’t to say that every specific thing we endure is our fault. The cosmos is fractured at both the macro and micro levels. Some suffering, maybe most suffering, flows from this reality. The cosmos is broken. It isn’t functioning as it was designed. We can know from the Scriptures that God isn’t the author of evil but the source of beauty, goodness, and truth.

With that said, here comes the paradox: God—in His sovereign reign over all things—holds all evil on a leash, including Satan, demons, and the brokenness that leads to sin and suffering. Nothing, not even the brokenness of the cosmos, is without boundaries and limits. Evil and suffering are not omnipotent. They don’t have the final say or authority. There’s more in this part of our paradox, but we need to talk about judo to help us understand.

In the martial art of judo, the goal is to use the momentum and strength of your opponent against them. To use their energy and output to ultimately defeat them. Not only does God set boundaries and limits on evil and suffering, but He uses evil and suffering against evil and suffering.

For almost thirty years, I’ve watched as followers of Jesus have been diagnosed with illness, killed in tragic accidents, and on the receiving end of terrible tragedies. Yet, in almost every case, the peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) does its work, and those people begin to minister to others who are hurting. Where evil tries to destroy, God turns it on its head. He sovereignly redeems the suffering of His people by exposing idols, growing their faith and dependence, and granting them His presence in unique and beautiful ways.

Here is our paradox: God is sovereign over all things. God is good. God isn’t the author or cause of evil, yet when evil happens, regardless of cause, God can work things for our good and take the destructive hope of evil and redeem it.

Having pastored for more than twenty years, I have hundreds of questions about what I’ve just written. I’m sure you do too. These questions can haunt me at times. The “where was God . . .” or “why would God . . .” questions from people have felt almost too weighty for me to bear on more than one occasion. I don’t just think of these massive questions theoretically and divorced from their humanity. These questions involve actual faces and real tears. The questions are cried or screamed or whimpered into the heavens. How are we to make sense of it all?

I love this quote by Tim Keller:

Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.[1]

The Scriptures don’t seem to be interested in answering all our questions. In the last five chapters of the book of Job, we see there are things we, as finite, created beings, won’t be able to comprehend that God, in His infinite power and wisdom, can. He is good.

Look to Jesus. Watch Him as He reveals the kingdom of God. See His power over disease and death, His restoring power over tragedy and loss, His tears for the world’s brokenness, and His power to do something about it. This is the kingdom expanding in every direction, whether we see it or not.

This is why darkness and pain are thrashing about. They’re losing ground. They are trying to make one last stand in a cosmic war that has already been won.

_____

Are you ready to live fully prepared and fully equipped to handle anything life throws at you? As Christians, we can be courageous and confident, knowing that God has placed us in human history for His purposes, and He will empower us regardless of our circumstances. Drawing on the book of Revelation and historical examples, The Overcomers will put steel in the spines of believers and remind them of the fierce, conquering, commanding authority of God over all the earth.

In The Overcomers, Matt Chandler reminds readers that they don’t have to be anxious or afraid of anything in the present or in the future because both have already been won. We are not victims but overcomers—and we are a key part of what God is working out in our day. God is at work in the mess, just as He has always been, and He continues to accomplish His purpose of seeking and saving the lost.

In this book, believers will:

• Find courage and confidence from fellow believers who have gone before us.
• Feel empowered as God reminds them of His promises fulfilled and yet to come.
• Understand the strategies, tactics, and deceptions Satan uses to try to keep us paralyzed with anxiety and fear.
• Learn to live a victorious Christian life marked by the power and presence of God.

The apostle John wrote his letter to a certain group of people in a particular place at a specific time. Although it was written to them, it was also written for us. The Overcomers takes a chapter-by-chapter view of Revelation rather than a line-by-line deep dive, helping readers practically understand what God wants to say to us today through this extraordinary book written thousands of years ago. Believers will be reminded that they are uniquely wired and uniquely placed in this moment in history as part of God’s big plan to push back darkness and to establish light. Christ has overcome, and in Him we, too, are the overcomers!

Matt Chandler is a husband, father, pastor, elder, and author whose greatest desire is to make much of Jesus. He has served over 20 years as the Lead Pastor at The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX which recently transitioned its 5 campuses into their own autonomous churches. He is also the Executive Chairman of the Acts 29 Network, a large church planting community that trains and equips church planters across the globe. Matt is known around the world for proclaiming the gospel in a powerful and down-to-earth way and enjoys traveling to share the message of Jesus whenever he can. He lives in Texas with his beautiful wife Lauren and their three children, Audrey, Reid, and Norah.

[1] Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (New York: Penguin Books, 2015).

The post How We Can Live Courageously in a World Full of Suffering appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Many of us skim through the genealogies, but they are important and play a part in how we can come to understand the cultural nuances around the time of each person’s life in the Bible. That’s why we are introducing All the Genealogies of the Bible to Bible Gateway Plus.

God’s plans for each of us extend back long before we were born, which you can discover by studying the lineage of Biblical heroes. You will discover that God’s love embraces more than we can comprehend, especially if we are focusing only on ourselves in this time and place without the context of God’s Word providing direction in our lives.

People all over the world are under His care and have been since He made Adam. And, if you’ve ever doubted the plans He has for you, let’s look at the story of Ruth.

In the book of Ruth, you will find the story of Boaz and how he came to marry Ruth. Ruth was a Moab widow who lived with her mother-in-law. All the Genealogies of the Bible describes Ruth as:

a descendant of Moab, a people excluded from assembling with the worshiping community for ten generations (Deuteronomy 23:3–4).

Yet despite this exclusion, Boaz chose to marry Ruth — and Naomi chose to welcome her as a daughter — even though it was forbidden at the time. “The book of Ruth reveals the exemplary, God-like qualities of Boaz and the loving devotion of Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, who was ‘better to [Naomi] than seven sons.’”However, what is most notable is that this union led to the line of the MESSIAH, as shown in the following diagram, which you can access with Bible Gateway Plus when you study Ruth 4.

In other words, Boaz and Ruth’s “God-like qualities” (rather than habitual discrimination against Moabites at the time), are what ultimately brought forth the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“The genealogy reveals that “God turned the curse [on the Moabites] into a blessing” (Nehemiah 13:2). Through divine grace, a foreign Moabite-Gentile was grafted into the chosen tribe of Judah and the line of the Messiah. Ruth and Boaz were ancestors of the Messiah, and their hometown, Bethlehem, was the birthplace of Jesus.”

All the Genealogies of the Bible

This is an extraordinary insight that is all too easy to miss if you skip over the genealogies of the Bible.

Bible Gateway Plus members can follow the links included above to be able to discover these truths and more from All the Genealogies of the Bible.

For those of you new to Bible Gateway Plus, the following step-by-step instructions will help you access this resource and continue reading about Jesus’ family tree.

1. First, make sure you are logged into your account on BibleGateway.com.
2. Search Bible Gateway for “Ruth 4” or navigate through the “Book List” below the search bar.
3. Read Ruth 4.
4. In the Resources tab, filter to “Encyclopedias” by clicking the oval button at the top.
5. Click “All the Genealogies of the Bible.”
6. Then, select the article “Ruth 1: Boaz, Elimelek, and Naomi and the Descendants of Boaz the Judahite and Ruth the Moabitess” and click to “Expand” and read the article.

Watch the demo video below to follow along.

Learn more about the value and resources available with Bible Gateway Plus today!

The post How ‘All the Genealogies of the Bible’ helps bring clarity on God’s love for us appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

By Robert J. Morgan

Anticipation keeps me going. What about you? Do you feel the need to look forward to what’s ahead—a vacation, a weekend at the beach or in the mountains, the birth of a child or grandchild, the diploma that concludes your studies, the day you retire, or even the fresh taste of tomatoes in summer?

Over the past five years, I’ve grappled with three tremendous losses. Because of my wife’s multiple sclerosis, I stepped away from my life’s work of pastoring. That was a greater loss than I realized at the time. Sometime later, Katrina passed away. And then my dream of serving in my own local church of forty years evaporated. I was no longer needed.

For months, my thoughts troubled me during the day and my dreams at night. And then the Lord gave me two verses of Scripture that spoke clearly to my weary soul. Isaiah 43:18–19 says,

“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the [desert].”[i]

A few months later, my grandson, Elijah, and I visited Israel and went hiking in En Gedi. This is a curious valley in a barren wilderness. All around this gorge, everything is hot and desolate. The distant Hebron mountains to the west, made of limestone, soak up the rain like a reservoir. That water travels a long way through underground fissures, all the way out to the rocks of En Gedi. There, water surges like fire hydrants. Splashing waterfalls cascade through the valley. There are streams in the desert, and it seemed as though the Lord was saying, “See, this is what I’m talking about.”

That passage in Isaiah—“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing”—It reminds me of Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13–14: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

We should always exercise future-oriented therapy—the biblical practice of knowing our best days are ahead and that even after this life, we have the certain hope of heaven and the resurrection body.

Why don’t we dwell on these things more? Why aren’t we more excited every day about the glorious future God has revealed to us in His Word? We get so caught up in the here and now that we forget the then and there.

The contemplation of our future inheritance in Christ, our heavenly home, our glorious reunion with the saints of all the ages, and our mansions in the new earth and in the city of New Jerusalem would save us from much of the despair and depression that dogs us here on earth.

Philippians 3:20–21 is one of the Bible’s great statements about this: “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

_____

Adapted from Whatever Happens: How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart by Robert J. Morgan. Click here to learn more about the book.

Do you struggle keeping your faith in a world that’s losing its mind? These 31 short chapters take a deep dive into the book of Philippians, which Robert Morgan says is the Bible’s handbook for tackling each day with an undaunted attitude.

Life is unpredictable, and the world is unstable. People have never been so confounded, sensing our culture, economy, and geopolitical systems are spiraling downward. Even in our personal lives, none of us knows what will happen next—which is why God gave us the book of Philippians. This short letter—just over 100 verses—can help us learn to live overflowing lives in an overwhelming world.

Philippians is one of the most practical books of the Bible, which Robert Morgan says is as fresh as ever. Its theme can be summed up in these verses: “Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then . . . I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you” (1:27–28). Among the many lessons in Whatever Happens, readers will learn how to:

• Use prayer to energize their life
• Make today about others
• Stay as cheerful as possible in all circumstances
• Let others lean on their strength
• Start everything with praise and end everything with prayer

As the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians from a prison cell, he was facing dire circumstances and an unsettled future. Would he be released or executed? But he knew one thing—that whatever happened, he was going to stand firm in his faith and live a life worthy of the gospel. And no matter what we are going through today, we can do the same.

Robert J. Morgan teaches the Bible each week on his podcast, The Robert J. Morgan Podcast, and through his speaking engagements and his books, including: The Red Sea Rules, The Strength You Need, 100 Bible Verses That Made America, The 50 Final Events in World History, and Then Sings My Soul. He also serves as associate pastor at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

[i] The last word of the verse is my own paraphrase. The NIV uses the word “wasteland.”

Whatever Happens is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

The post Embracing Our Future in Christ Whatever Happens Next appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

Jeremiah recounts more of his own life than any other prophet, telling of his ministry, the reactions of his audiences, testings, and his personal feelings. Jeremiah served as both a priest and a prophet and was the son of a priest named Hilkiah. He was from the small village of Anathoth (1:1), today called Anata, about 3 mi. NE of Jerusalem in Benjamin’s tribal inheritance.

As an object lesson to Judah, Jeremiah remained unmarried (16:1–4). He was assisted in ministry by the scribe Baruch, to whom Jeremiah dictated and who copied and had custody over the writings compiled from the prophet’s messages (36:4,32; 45:1). Jeremiah has been known as “the weeping prophet” (9:1; 13:17; 14:17), living a life of conflict because of his predictions of judgment by the invading Babylonians. He was threatened, tried for his life, put in stocks, forced to flee from Jehoiakim, publicly humiliated by a false prophet, and thrown into a pit.

Download an Infographic on Jeremiah

Jeremiah carried out a ministry directed mostly to his own people in Judah, but which expanded to other nations at times. He appealed to his countrymen to repent and avoid God’s judgment via an invader.

The dates of Jeremiah’s ministry, which spanned 5 decades, are from the Judean king Josiah’s 13th year, noted in 1:2 (627 B.C.), to beyond the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 B.C. After 586 B.C., Jeremiah was forced to go with a fleeing remnant of Judah to Egypt. He was possibly still ministering in 570 B.C.

Download an Infographic on Jeremiah

The main theme of Jeremiah is judgment upon Judah with restoration in the future messianic kingdom. Whereas Isaiah devoted many chapters to a future glory for Israel, Jeremiah gave far less space to this subject. Since God’s judgment was imminent he concentrated on current problems as he sought to turn the nation back from the point of no return.

A secondary theme is God’s willingness to spare and bless the nation only if the people repent. Though this is a frequent emphasis, it is most graphically portrayed at the potter’s shop (18:1–11). A further focus is God’s plan for Jeremiah’s life, both in his proclamation of God’s message and in his commitment to fulfill all of His will (1:5–19; 15:19–21).

Go through the first lesson of Jeremiah & Lamentations:

In the twelve studies within, join John MacArthur on an exploration of this “weeping prophet” and the prophecies he faithfully related to them for more than fifty years. By working through this study, you will learn that in your life—just like in the lives of the people of Judah—God may discipline you for a season, but He will always extend His grace to you.

Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God’s Word, John MacArthur is a popular author and conference speaker. He has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four married children and fifteen grandchildren. John’s pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in seven countries. John is chancellor of The Master’s University and Seminary and has written hundreds of books and study guides, each one biblical and practical. Bestselling titles include The Gospel  According to Jesus, Twelve Ordinary Men, Twelve Extraordinary Women, Slave, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.

Jeremiah and Lamentations is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

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The post Judgment, Grace, and Restoration in the Book of Jeremiah appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

“Our mission is to publish beautiful Bibles in translations readers love; we are so happy to bring a wide margin version to faithful readers of the NASB,” said Melinda Bouma, vice president and publisher of Bibles for Zondervan. “By using the margins to deepen their study with notes, reflections and prayers, readers of this Bible will not only deepen their understanding of the Scripture — they’ll also create a beautiful keepsake for their loved ones.”

The NASB Wide Margin Bible gives readers the translation celebrated for faithfulness to the original biblical languages, with wide margins on both the inside and outside of the page.

Features include:

• The full text of the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition
• Wide margins on the inside and the outside of the page provide ample room for making notes
• Beautiful two-color page design
• NASB Comprehensive Concordance
• Double-column format
• Words of Jesus in red
• Premium 36 GSM paper
• Two satin ribbon markers
• Available in Leathersoft and genuine calfskin leather
• Exclusive Zondervan NASB Comfort Print® typeface
• Print Size: 9.5

Universally recognized as the gold standard among word-for-word translations, the beloved New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition, is now easier to read with Zondervan’s exclusive NASB Comfort Print typeface. 

The NASB Wide Margin Bible is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

The post Zondervan Releases First NASB Wide Margin Bible appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

If you have a free account or are a member of Bible Gateway Plus, you’ll be excited by our newest feature! You can now pin your most frequently used Study Resources to the top of the Resources panel!

To access your Pinned Resources, you’ll find them at the top under “Pinned Resources.”

Here’s how:

Step 1: Select the category for the tool you use the most. See example.

Step 2: Click the book or title. See example.

Step 3: Click the “Pin” button. See example.

Step 4: If you haven’t logged in yet, you will be prompted to do so. Then, you will be able see that the pin has turned blue and now says “Pinned.”

Step 5: Scroll to the top and look for “Pinned Resources” and you’ll have your favorite study resource ready for you the next time you need it. See example.

We hope that this feature helps you deepen your understanding of God’s Word.

For an overview, see the animated demo above, or head over to YouTube for a full demonstration.

The post Pin your most frequently used Study Resources on Bible Gateway appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

I hate being lost and losing my way. It leaves me disoriented, and honestly, it can be a really scary feeling to not know where you are. Today, we have modern tools like smartphones that give us maps and directions at our fingertips. But before that technology was available, one of the most vital tools that people used to keep from getting lost was a compass.

A compass shows us which direction we should go and keeps us from going where we should not. God’s Word is a type of compass. It points us to where Jesus is and reveals when we start to falter, or get distracted, or are going in a direction that will take us away from him. Yet a compass is only good if we use it. If we fail to keep our focus on it, we will lose our way.

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In the book of Judges, we discover this happening to the Israelites. In the days of Moses and Joshua, the people kept their focus on God—their “compass”—and experienced peace. They lived in safety, security, and stability . . . constantly being reminded that the God who had saved them from Egypt would protect them now. This was a peace that came from humility.

But then the Israelites lost their focus on God. They did evil in his sight and worshiped the pagan gods of the peoples around them. This angered the Lord, and “he sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies” (Judges 2:14). When the people of Israel lost their humility, they also lost their peace.

The author of Judges frequently reminded his readers that the events of his book took place when “there was no king in Israel” and “everyone did whatever seemed right to him” (Judges 17:6). I want this statement to be an anchor in our minds as we work through this study. Things fell into this state of affairs because the Israelites had rejected their sovereign King, the Lord God, and chose to do what they thought right in their own eyes.

Before Joshua died, he had challenged the Israelites: “If it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). We read that at that time, the people promised to follow the Lord. But ultimately, they failed to keep their word.

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The question Joshua asked the Israelites is the same question God is asking us today: “Where will your allegiance be? Will it be to counterfeit helpers that provide no help at all? Or will you bend your knee in humility to me, the King of the cosmos, who created you?” Jesus is the King of heaven and earth, the Creator of the cosmos. When we reject him, we are exhibiting pride. But when we recognize our need of a King and focus on him, we are rooted in humility.

Humility . . . that’s what we unpack in my Bible study on Judges, Finding Peace Through Humility. Humility may not be what we expected, but it’s what we need to experience the peace we all long for.

Watch the first full session of Finding Peace Through Humility:

Holding a PhD in Theology, Joel Muddamalle is the Director of Theology and Research at Proverbs 31 Ministries, the theologian in residence for Haven Place Ministries, on the preaching team at Transformation Church, is the teacher of Finding Peace Through Humility, and the co-author of 30 Days with Jesus, and is a frequent speaker for conferences and events. Joel, his wife, and four children live in Charlotte, NC. 

Finding Peace Through Humility is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.

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