>What is Arcing, Why is it Important, & How Can You Learn How to Do It?

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Learn how to arc via a free, online, video-based tutorial called ARCING 101.

HT: Bible Arc via Desiring God

>Two Culturally Relevanat Ways to Help You Get Into God’s Word

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The 411God and Powered by 4 are two great ways to help you get into God’s Word everyday.  The 411 gives you a minute of the Bible in your phone each day … how easy is that, the Bible calls you on your phone.  Powered by 4, created by Back to the Bible (which has a wealth of helpful resources available to you for free), offers a daily email with a passage from scripture and a question or two to help you apply what you’ve read.

>How to Read the Bible By Ray Ortlund

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There are two ways to read the Bible. We can read it as law and threat, or we can read it as promise and assurance.

If we read the Bible as law, every page will feel like God glaring at us: “If you ever . . . .” And since we are all law-breakers at heart, the Bible will crush us. Even the promises will come across as law: “God will bless sinners—well, the ones who deserve it.”

If we read the Bible as promise, every page will be hope from God. It will breathe new life into us. Even the commands will be sweetened with grace: “God will bless sinners—yes, sinners who break these laws.”

Which way of reading of the Bible is correct?

The apostle Paul explains: “The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. . . . God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Gal 3:17-18).

Here is Paul’s point. If we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or promise, we can start reading on page one and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first—God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. The law is a later sidebar, in Exodus 20. The category “promise” is the larger, wraparound framework for everything else.

The deepest message of the Bible is the grace of God for sinners. The Bible presents itself this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there. Let’s revere them. But we can read them with this as our foremost thought: “Jesus obeyed it all. He died for all my failure. And now he is changing my heart. I can read this page of the Bible with hope in his grace.”

HT: The Resurgence

>The Importance of Studying and Loving Little Children

>By Justin Taylor

Do you want to enter God’s kingdom?

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

Do you want to be great in God’s kingdom?

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).

Do you want to receive Jesus and the Father?

“And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.'” (Mark 9:36-37)
Do you want to avoid God’s judgment on your teaching, leadership, and parenting?

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt. 18:5-6)
Do you need motivation to love and welcome kids?

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 18:10)

HT: Between Two Worlds

>When Your "Quiet Times" Get Stale

>We all struggle with maintaining a rich, rewarding time with God each day. However, it is important to maintain this “discipline” even when we’re not “feeling it,” because real growth happens by a “long obedience in the same direction,” not short spurts of inspiration and goose bumps.

Two books by D. A. Carson, For the Love of God vols 1-2, are excellent resources to help take you through the Bible. Carson, one of our country’s best theologians, gives you several passages to read and then his reflections on one of them.

I heartily recommend them as a “quiet time” guide. They also have a good scripture index in the back which makes them good as a quick reference commentary. Carson usually has some pretty amazing insights so be sure to check it out.

Here is a link to buy the book if you are interested. (Here)

>Are You Tired of Pressing Play?

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Are you tired of pressing play at church or in your small group? I am. It seems that every Sunday School class, youth gathering, and small group meeting involves watching a video curriculum and then discussing what was presented. Don’t get me wrong, the curriculum is always Bible-based and is typically very well done, but nonetheless, it’s just starting to really get to me. We are meant to be students of God’s Word, not consumers; and my concern is that pressing play all the time just makes it all too easy for most of us. Often the curriculum is great because it was created by someone who did the work of studying God’s word and applying it in a way so that others can connect with it in a meaningful way. There’s nothing wrong with that, but who do you suppose did the most growing – the one who studied God’s Word or the one who consumed someone’s interpretation of God’s Word? Who do you suppose connected in a more meaningful way with God – the one with his nose in the Bible or the one with the remote in his hand? I don’t have a problem with using a boxed curriculum once in awhile, but for far too many it’s become a habit that has led to laziness (do we even know how to do a Bible study anymore?). I’m going to put down the remote for a while and do a little studying of my own.