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A Letter from Max Lucado in This Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Max LucadoFriends,

We find ourselves in a sober moment. These are uncertain times around the world and fears are rising. People who have never felt anxious before are suddenly weighed down with worry and are not sure what to do next.

Do you need encouragement right about now? Are you feeling anxious and uncertain? Do you find yourself in a season of isolation as events cancel, schools shift online, and churches close their doors to large gatherings?

When I need to stay calm, I turn to this Scripture: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7, NIV).

If you need help finding peace that transcends all understanding, I would like to invite you to join me for two special online events:

1. Online Church – we know that many will be unable to worship with their local congregation, either because of the need to remain at home, or because their church is taking a hiatus from regular gathering. Or maybe you just need some extra support from a community of faith. We’ll meet online, via Facebook Live at 9:30 am EDT every Sunday until at least April 26 for a few minutes of prayer and encouragement. Join us and invite others as well. https://www.facebook.com/maxlucado/

2. Anxious for Nothing Online Bible Studystarting Sunday, March 22, we will be offering a free online Bible study based on the book Anxious for Nothing. My prayer is that this study provides practical help for all of us as we seek to entrust our fears to God. The five-week study will conclude on April 25. We would love for you to join us at http://bit.ly/2WcdjlI.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Anxious for Nothing: An Interview with Max Lucado]

As we spend time together over the next few Sundays, we can encourage one another. These challenges are great, but God is greater.

Let us cast our worries on the Savior and Sustainer of our lives.

Max

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Anxious for Nothing is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.


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What Answers are People Looking for from the Bible in an Age of Coronavirus?

If we survey the queries on Bible Gateway that are trending above normal this week, they fall into three main categories: the end of the world, disease, and fear. Also bats.

[Read these 5 Bible verses when you feel anxious]

As happens in many geopolitical crises (most recently, the conflict between the USA and Iran in January), queries like “end of the world,” “signs of the end times,” and “last days” are trending higher: about 47% of spiking queries relate to this topic.

Similarly, queries related to diseases are jumping: “diseases,” “viruses,” “plagues,” “sickness,” and “hand washing” comprise another 47% of the increased total.

The remaining 6% of elevated queries relate to fear: queries like “fear,” “anxiety,” and “fear of illness” have all increased.

Finally, in February, the query “bats” was up 70x over normal in Singapore, and only in Singapore, after reports suggested that the novel coronavirus spread from bats.

Browse resources in the Bible Gateway Store that pertain to trusting God

15 Bible Verses for Such a Time as This

Editor’s Note: Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, A Letter from Max Lucado in This Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic.


[Jesus said,] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 (NIV)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NRSV)

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Even in the Face of Illness, We Have No Fear]

So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34 (NET)

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Follow the Dreams God Gives You: An Interview with Ryan Romeo

Ryan RomeoIs God calling to you by giving you dreams about your future? How should you live in the present when you’re thinking about where God wants you to be? How do your daily habits bring about the reality of your calling? Is God more committed to seeing your dream come to life than you are?

Bible Gateway interviewed Ryan Romeo (@ryanromeo) about his book, Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: A Survival Guide for Creatives, Visionaries, and Dreamers (Zondervan, 2020).

Buy your copy of Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

What does it mean to have your head in the clouds and your feet in the ground?

Ryan Romeo: We have to keep that child-like dreamer in us alive. As we get older, dreaming about the what-ifs get’s harder and harder. As Christians, we have to be people of big vision and big dreams. But on the other side, we have to take seriously the season we’re in now. We have to use what’s in our hands now with passion and purpose. We need that balance.

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Prepare for Easter: Virtually Travel to Israel Free with Bestselling Author Ray Vander Laan in Bible Gateway Online Bible Study

Sign up now to join the free Path to the Cross Online Bible Study

Archaeological Lessons Offer Clearer Bible Understanding

Advances in archaeology science are allowing archaeologists in Israel to continually find ancient mosaics, altars, temples, and villages that corroborate and clarify the stories of the Bible. Using research of top scholars in the fields of archaeology, history, and biblical study, historian and bestselling author Ray Vander Laan has guided more than 10,000 people on in-depth study tours of the Holy Land. His teaching ministry is focused on understanding the Bible keeping in mind the historical and cultural context in which God placed it.

Beginning March 9, 2020, the most visited Christian website in the world, Bible Gateway, is hosting The Path to the Cross Online Bible Study with Ray Vander Laan (biblegateway.com/landing/the-path-to-the-cross-sign-up/), the web-based video course free for five weeks only—culminating Easter Sunday—filmed on location in Qumran, Machaerus, En Gedi, Jerusalem, and Gethsemane.

Watch a video interview with Vander Laan about the online study (biblegateway.com/blog/2020/02/learn-bible-lessons-from-the-holy-land-an-interview-with-ray-vander-laan/).

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How to Live the Bible — What God Is Building

howtostudythebible

This is the ninety-sixth 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.

See Mel Lawrenz’s book, How to Understand the Bible.


The church has failed so often in so many ways, which was probably inevitable because it is built with the flawed material of humanity. We traded the righteousness of God for our tinny self-righteousness. We are satisfied with a club when it should be a community. We’ve used the church to build walls instead of open doors. We sink to inter-tribal warfare between churches instead of marveling at the one place in the world—really, the only place in the world—where we can see “every tribe, language, people, and nation” flourish together.

Group holding hands illustration

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What Does the Bible Say about Technology?

Jason ThackerBy Jason Thacker

Technology is a tool that helps us live out our God-given callings. This is one of the most important things for us to learn as we engage the topic of technology and artificial intelligence. Because we often see the tremendous power that technology has over our lives, we are tempted to treat technology as more than a tool, as something with a value similar to our own if it is powerful enough or does enough work on its own. Technology will be misused and abused by broken people just like you and me.

Nowhere in Scripture is a tool or a technology condemned for being evil. Scripture shows that technology and tools can be used for both good and evil. Even if a tool was designed for evil, the tool itself isn’t evil. What is sinful isn’t the sword but how people choose to use it. It can be used for righteous purposes like standing up for justice against those who are evil, but it can also be used to hurt or kill the innocent. While the technology isn’t moral in that sense, it does carry with it the effects of sin and brokenness. Technology is not morally neutral, because it influences and changes us each time we use it.

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Want a Transparent, Resilient, and Fearless Life of Faith? Read the Psalms: An Interview with W. David O. Taylor

W. David O. TaylorHow does the book of Psalms help make sense of life, art, metaphor, violence, suffering, and mortality? How do the Psalms reflect God’s attributes of justice, grace, goodness, healing, power, and refuge? How are the millennia-old psalms a guide to living faithfully the modern Christian life in the midst of joys, sorrows, angers, doubts, praises, and thanksgivings?

Bible Gateway interviewed W. David O. Taylor (@wdavidotaylor) about his book, Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life (Thomas Nelson, 2020).

[Sign up to receive the FREE 5-day email devotional The Psalms as a Guide to Life]

What is the message you’re conveying with your book’s title?

Buy your copy of Open and Unafraid in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

W. David O. Taylor: What I want readers to know is that standing before God, open and unafraid, as the psalms invite us to do repeatedly, is to counter the devastating effects of our primordial sin. When Adam and Eve sin, their first impulse is to hide. And all the ways in which Adam and Eve hide—from God, from themselves, from creation—result in one thing: their dehumanization.

What the psalms offer us, then, is invaluable help to un-hide: to stand honestly before God without fear, to face one another vulnerably without shame or embarrassment, and to encounter life in the world without any of the secrets that would demean and distort our humanity. Said otherwise, the psalms invite us to stand in the light of God so that we might be made whole and wholly alive in Christ.

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New Artisan Collection Bibles: An Interview with Olivia Joy

Buy your copy of NIV, Artisan Collection Bible, Cloth over Board, Blue in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every dayFollowing the success of the first line of NIV Artisan Collection Bibles, Zondervan Bibles, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, is releasing new NIV and NRSV Artisan Collection Bibles.

[Sign up to get the free Bible Verse of the Day delivered to your email inbox from Bible Gateway]

Visually appealing from the inside out, the NIV Artisan Collection Bible and NRSV Artisan Collection Bible will delight you with their gorgeous covers created using a layered alcohol ink painting technique. The printed cover showcases hand-painted flair and foil accents.

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Bible News Roundup – Week of March 8, 2020

Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter
Bible Gateway Weekly Brief
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36% Fewer Americans Attended Church Weekly in 2020 Than in 1993, but Consistency of Bible Reading Is Steady: 35% Report Reading Their Bibles Weekly in 2020 vs. 34% in 1993
The Christian Post

West Virginia Bible Class Bill Heads to Governor
Charleston Gazette-Mail

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