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Free Email Devotional: An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado

Sign up to receive the free email devotional An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado

Sign up to receive the free email devotional An Encouraging Word from Max LucadoMax Lucado has spent the last 40 years telling the story of God’s grace in books, in pulpits, on broadcasts, on music tours…every chance he gets. Max’s message of God’s unfathomable grace has resonated with people around the world for the past 30 years, making Max one of the world’s most popular authors, selling nearly 100 million copies and occupying spots on every major national bestseller list.

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His writing is translated into more than 54 languages, and has been featured in countless national media outlets. Max was dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, Reader’s Digest called him “The Best Preacher in America,” and The New York Times named him one of the most influential leaders in social media. In addition to books, Max’s writing has been shaped into an additional 20 million products sold, including videos, devotionals, songs, plush toys, greeting cards, booklets, Bible studies, commentaries, and theatrically-released movies.

Bible Gateway offers you a library of free email devotionals from which to select and receive a variety of inspirational messages in your inbox. Be sure to sign up for An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado! It collects the best of Max’s insightful writing and sends you a brief, uplifting devotional message once a week. You’ll receive encouragement from Max to help you deal with life’s challenges—and you’ll be inspired to trust Jesus to guide you through each day. Sign up now!

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How to Live the Bible — Telling the Truth

howtostudythebible

This is the thirty-ninth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

Life and Light Books


One of the greatest joys of living the Bible is when we get to share the truth of God with others. See this sermon for an example of taking the truths of a gospel passage and applying those truths to real life. In this case, “From Chaos to Calm,” applying truths of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee and then liberating a man dominated by evil.

Mel Lawrenz preaching

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Do We Have a Soul?: An Interview with Ken Shigematsu

Ken ShigematsuDo you feel harried and empty, driven by unrelenting ambition to accomplish something big and meaningful? What are the obstacles that keep us from flourishing in our spiritual lives? What’s the secret to a robust inner spiritual life? What is our soul and how do we care for it?

Bible Gateway interviewed Ken Shigematsu (@KenShigematsu) about his book, Survival Guide for the Soul: How to Flourish Spiritually in a World that Pressures Us to Achieve (Zondervan, 2018).

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What is the soul and why is it important?

Ken Shigematsu: The soul is the life-force of a human being.

The first human being, Adam, had a body, but was not yet a living being. When God breathed life into Adam’s body he came to life and “man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7 KJV).

The book of Genesis teaches that our soul is the part of us that is distinct from our body and makes us alive.

Our soul is also the part of us that communes with God and determines our true well-being and happiness in this life and in the world to come.

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The Only Thing That Counts: Faith Expressed in Love

Andy StanleyBy Andy Stanley

Editor’s Note: This post is taken from Andy Stanley’s (@AndyStanley) new book Irresistible: Reclaiming The New That Jesus Unleashed For The World (Zondervan, 2018), in which Andy answers such questions as: What did first century Christians know that we don’t?, What made their faith so compelling, resilient, and ultimately, irresistible?, and Why is today’s church so resistible? He shows how distortions of the gospel result in an anemic version of Christianity that undermines evangelistic effectiveness. And he challenges Christians to read the Bible differently.

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The basis for Christian behavior is the sacrificial love of Jesus. We love because God the Father through Christ the Son has loved us.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

There’s that way of love thing again. And again he tips his hat as to where he got this all-encompassing idea. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

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Why We Kissed Date Night Goodbye

Cherie and Brian LoweBy Cherie Lowe

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:16-17

Managing time and money well requires thinking differently. Sometimes the cherished ideals of others seep into what we think our finances and romance should look like. We need a new lens on old expectations and conventional wisdom. If we’re to lead our lives well, we may even need to break with tradition.

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How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Online Bible Course

Buy your copy of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every dayThis post comes from Gordon Fee, Douglas Stuart, and Mark Strauss’s How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth online course (save $20 when you enroll before 11:59 pm EDT on Sept. 28, 2018).

By Mark Strauss

Have you ever heard someone say, “You don’t have to interpret the Bible; just read it and do what it says.” Maybe you’ve even said this yourself.

Usually, such a remark reflects a protest against the “professional” scholar, pastor, teacher, or Sunday school teacher, who by “interpreting” seems to be taking the Bible away from the common person. It’s their way of saying that the Bible is not an obscure book. “After all,” it’s argued, “the problem with too many preachers and teachers is that they dig around so much they tend to muddy the waters. What was clear to us when we read it isn’t so clear anymore.”

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Bible News Roundup – Week of September 16, 2018

Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter
Bible Gateway Weekly Brief
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Explainer: Chinese Officials Burn Bibles and Close Churches in Latest Round of Persecution
ERLC
Read the Bible in Chinese languages on Bible Gateway

China Mulls Major Restrictions on Online Ministries, Including Bible Reading
CT

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The Mission and Impact of the New Living Translation Bible

Mark D. TaylorBy Mark D. Taylor, Chairman and CEO, Tyndale House Publishers

Most Christians view the Bible as a holy book—the Word of God. But what exactly is the Bible? Is the King James Version the Bible? Is the New International Version the Bible? Is the New Living Translation the Bible? Is the Chinese Union Version the Bible? Is the Reina-Valera the Bible? The answer is YES.

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The Nehemiah Code: An Interview with O. S. Hawkins

O. S. HawkinsAre you looking for a new beginning, perhaps in a relationship, a business, an athletic team, or even your own integrity? What lessons can be learned from Nehemiah, a civil servant from 2500 years ago, who rallied a community to rebuild their broken city wall, and by doing so, ushered in a new beginning for the Israelites?

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Bible Gateway interviewed O. S. Hawkins (@OSHawkins) about his book, The Nehemiah Code: It’s Never Too Late for a New Beginning (Thomas Nelson, 2018).

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Can Science Explain All the Complexities of Our World?

Lee StrobelBy Lee Strobel

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or
with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Isaiah 40:12

Allan Rex Sandage, the greatest observational cosmologist in the world—who deciphered the secrets of the stars, plumbed the mysteries of quasars, revealed the age of globular clusters, pinpointed the distances of remote galaxies, and quantified the universe’s expansion through his work at the Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories—prepared to step onto the conference platform.

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