Executive Director's Blog

            I grew up in the middle of the cold war and as I look around and talk to people I can see that the cold war is returning. I am using the bible.org chronological reading plan for my daily bible reading plan and in the reading for today verse 12 of Matthew twenty-four  seemed to fit this title well. Matt 24:12 “because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold”. The physical world may turn on its axis but the heart of man often turns dependent upon the circumstances of the day and world events. And thus the heart of man grows cold when his day and his world become unstable and all does not meet his need(s). Paul spoke of this to Timothy “but Timothy, understand this, in the last days difficult times will come, for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful etc. Note the first item that Paul listed “lovers of themselves” and thus a reason for the coldness of their heart.

We live and move in a fast paced technological society. We have more available to us in the wealth of materials, sermons, lessons, articles, and so on than any other generation. Yet, in all of that, we are deficient in critical biblical thinking and knowledge of even the most basic of facts. Note this recent survey result: Only 40% of Americans knew that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount and fewer than half of American adults were able to name all four Gospels.

One of our bloggers, Gail Seidel asked if we are finding that in 2011 we are already in a “scrambling for time” race. Yes, we are all finding that the pace of life continues to increase and intensify and so much so as we “think” we see the day of the Lord’s appearing drawing ever nearer. So what is ahead for 2011 for bible.org and how do we fit into His plan in the midst of the busyness of our day to day activities? Let’s slow down and see what lies ahead:

Currier and Ives are known for their depiction of events of days past and in particular the winter scenes. What began as a lithograph business for news items soon became known as an avenue to present current events through the use of paintings reproduced for the buying public. Today, the winter scenes are sought after and....

This year I along with my family and some friends have been reading through the Bible in chronogical order and we share by email what we have gotten from the days reading. Today the reading was from Isaiah 13-17 and it was about Gods judgment against various nations. As my wife (Gaye) and I talked about it we were struck by Isa 15:5. It affected Gaye so much that I found her weeping this am in her office and after some discussion and a hug she later in the day wrote the following. After I read it I thought I would share with the thousands of others who are geting daily emails and reading through the Bible with us. At the end of Gaye's thoughts I have added a video by David Wilkerson Titled A Call to Anguish check it out. If you would like to join us go to Daily bible reading sign up and join us.

Recently I have had the privilege of sitting under some wise men as they taught from the pulpit. It is interesting how often the teaching is overlapping from one church to another. Here's an example. This past Sunday, Dr. Carl Anderson and Pastor Paul Nelson taught on Philippians and 1 Cor 13. Dr. Carl gave the congregation four easy steps (love, be discerning, be holy, be fruitful) to modeling the prayer life of Paul from the first chapter of Philippians and Pastor Nelson gave some tidy tips on how we are to live it out practically from 1 Cor 13.  

In a few days we will turn the clocks back and autumn will officially be here and with it comes the freshness of the brisk air and cooler temperatures and fall colors. No longer are we facing days upon days of hundred degrees. No, today it is in the 50's and we have turned the heat on. The wonders of God's creation are breathing easier and joyfully basking in this new season. Not only has the physical season begun to re-invigorate me physically; I have been refreshed and invigorated spiritually in my quiet times.

In my last Blog, I mentioned that I would discuss actions we have underway to better support those who come to the site. As I have been praying on how to communicate this effectively it became apparent to me that a priority in spiritual discipline of prayer is really how we all might be more effective for the Lord in 2009. I am reminded that the apostles said...