Bible Gateway, the immediate scriptural resource first responders can use in times of disaster, is pleased to sponsor the second annual Spiritual First Aid Summit on March 11. This free live streaming online event is designed for anyone who has a desire to care well for others.
Expert speakers will help you learn how to assess and address the spiritual, emotional, and practical needs of your colleagues, families, friends, neighbors, and communities.
This is the one-hundred-forty-fifth 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.
In the season of Lent we contemplate the dramatic conclusion of Jesus’ life on earth culminating in his death and resurrection. Why do we do this? It is, of course, because Jesus’ death was not his defeat, nor the end of his ministry. The authors of the New Testament tell us that in the sacrifice of Jesus we find reconciliation with God, justification, redemption, adoption into the family of God.
By Tyler Staton
Thomas is my favorite. He’s always been my favorite. I know Thomas. I am Thomas.
Thomas wasn’t a fiercely rational cynic. To think of him that way would be to minimize a whole life down to one single moment, which is always a mistake. This is a man who left everything behind to follow a self-proclaimed Nazarene rabbi. He risked everything for Jesus. He witnessed miracles that left him rubbing his eyes in wonder, but he also faced rejection, confusion, and public disgrace for associating so closely with one who was called a criminal.
The very week of Jesus’ crucifixion, Thomas steps forward in a critical moment to say he’s ready to die with Jesus. He was ready to die with his rabbi, but he wasn’t ready to live without him. And that’s exactly what Jesus asked Thomas to do when he wouldn’t say a word at his own defense hearing and took the death penalty like he was planning it all along.
The season of Lent invites us to return to God with our whole heart. It’s a theme that runs throughout Scripture and God’s relationship with his people. Throughout this Bible study, which you can read on your own or in a group setting, you’ll find links to Bible Gateway with notes that open automatically on your screen to the right of the Bible text in the Study sidebar.
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Historical context to biblical passages is important because it offers us a greater understanding of God’s work in the world. So, the question above—if you’ve ever thought to ask it—is a good one. Are there references to famous historical figures, such as Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I, and Cleopatra, in Scripture? And, if so, what does this tell us about God?
It’s sometimes tempting to read the Bible without giving any thought to the historical context of what was happening around the Jewish people of the Old Testament. This is partly due to our limited familiarity, outside of Scripture, with many of the early peoples and rulers who had dealings with Ancient Israel. But the closer we come to the New Testament—in which the historical figure of Caesar Augustus figures prominently in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel—the clearer we begin to see the canvas of a world history we recognize apart from Scripture.
This is the one-hundred-forty-fourth 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.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1, 3-4
By Craig Groeschel
For centuries people believed the world was flat. (Some still do. Don’t believe me? Google it. You’ll find there are “Flat Earthers” today.) Because they believed the wrong idea, it impacted their lives as if it were true. People would not venture too far out in the ocean for fear they might sail off the edge. Why? Once again, a lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true.
Ash Wednesday is February 17th this year, and with the Easter season here, Bible Gateway would like to introduce you to Walking with Christ to the Cross. This robust free email devotional is intended to make learning Scripture a more immersive and faith-transforming journey.
Beginning February 21st and lasting until Resurrection Sunday (April 4th), we’ll be posting, each Monday, that week’s portion of this Bible study series. It’s designed to help you prepare your heart for Easter by deepening your understanding of God’s plan for salvation, culminating in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
If you want to receive these free devotionals to your email inbox each week, use the free sign-up form here.
More than 400 years ago, scholars who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into the English of the day wrote in the preface to the 1611 Authorized Version—now known as the King James Version (KJV)—
“It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessednes in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when he setteth his word before us, to reade it; when hee stretcheth out his hand and calleth, to answere, Here am I; here wee are to doe thy will, O God. The Lord worke a care and conscience in us to know him and serve him, that we may be acknowledged of him at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the holy Ghost, be all prayse and thankesgiving. Amen.”
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