Gospel.com Blog

What were the highlights (and low points) of your 2008? What do you think 2009 holds in store? At this time every year, columnists, bloggers, and writers set to reviewing the events of the Old Year, and a few dare to pose predictions about the New Year. Here are a few end-of-year posts that have caught my attention this week:

• GetReligion, a blog about religion and the media, has a post boldly predicting what 2009 might hold for the “God beat.”
• Humorist and blogger James Watkins has his annual 2008 year-in-review up. Lots of links to some of his best material from last year.
• Christianity Today has compiled a list of the top ten theology stories of 2008. From the Evangelical Manifesto to controversy over The Shack, theology was in the news a lot last year!
• And what end-of-year review would be complete without some discussion of the year’s best films? Jeffrey Overstreet, one of my favorite Christian film critics, has posted his list of the films that made the strongest impressions on him in 2008 (link goes to part 1; see part 2 as well). And over at ThinkChristian, Josh Larsen has posted his top ten films of 2008 as well.

That’s a somewhat scattered list of reflections and predictions, but lots of food for thought in there. I hope you’ll take a few minutes as the new year begins to reflect on the old year—and to make a few bold resolutions for your own life in 2009!

We just announced a major overhaul of our Bible reading plans over at The Bible Gateway, head over there to check them out.

There are few things more spiritually rewarding than reading through Scripture in its entirety. We’ve added new tools to help you read through the entire Bible in a year: our new Bible reading plans. Starting on January 1, 2009, you can start reading through the Bible, one short daily reading at a time. You can read your daily reading online here at the Bible Gateway, or receive the daily readings via RSS or iCal.

There are four different ways you can read through the Bible—choose the one that works best for you! These plans are graciously provided by BibleYear.com:

• Old/New Testament: each day features a reading from both the Old and the New Testaments, so you read through both Testaments together.
• Chronological: reads through the Bible in the order that its events occurred historically. For example, Job lived sometime after the beginning of creation (Genesis 1) but before Abraham was born (Genesis 12). As a result, the Book of Job is integrated into the Book of Genesis.
• Beginning: starts at the very beginning of the Bible and reads straight through to the end.
• Historical: reads through the books of the Bible in the order in which they were written historically, according to the estimated dates of their writing.

To get your daily reading, visit the daily reading page each day starting on New Year’s Day, where your Bible reading for the day will be displayed. You might want to bookmark that page for easy reference (right click on this link and choose “Add to favorites/bookmarks”). You can also receive your reading via RSS or iCal.

We hope you find the new reading plans useful—and we hope you’ll use them to make your way through the Bible in 2009, whether you’ve read through it many times before or have never done so!

How would you react if God called you to start a church in the heart of a place that revels in its own sin? Would you go?

The people that make up the ministry XXXChurch are going. They’ve already moved their families and their lives out to Las Vegas to minister in one of the most highly sexualized places on the planet. They’re even starting a church on the Las Vegas strip which they’re appropriately calling The Strip Church.

XXXChurch is a ministry that has oftentimes been controversial in their approach, but has consistently confronted sexual sin in direct and meaningful ways. If you’re interested in learning more about what they’re doing in Las Vegas you can read more on The Strip Church website.

A new year is right around the corner. The New Year holiday is the perfect time to take stock of your life and think about the year to come—with the hectic Christmas holiday is behind us, January 1 offers a chance to reflect on what you’d like to change in your life in 2009.

One of the most common resolutions that people make at the New Year is to get their finances in order. In the current economic climate, that makes more sense than ever. But spending money wisely isn’t just a good, practical idea; it’s an act of service to God! These articles walk through the spiritual aspect of money management, and offer some useful guidelines for making 2009 the year that you get your finances under control:

• Cindy Summer has a good short article at MOPS about making a financial fresh start. There are several other good articles on the topic of money as well, addressing topics like money management for couples and keeping careful track of your finances.
• If you want to jump right into the big topic of stewardship and what it looks like in everyday life, you can’t do better than Ray Porter’s essays about Christianity and personal finances. Porter explains the spiritual angle of financial stewardship, and then provides a lot of detailed and practical advice for creating a financial plan and using your resources wisely. (You might find the other articles about finances at the site useful, too.)

That’s a lot of information, but if you’re thinking about getting a grip on your finances in 2009, these are a good place to start.

Christmas is coming soon! From all of us on the Gospel.com team: Have a wonderful and safe Christmas! Enjoy this celebration of the Christ Child!

And if you’re looking for any last minute gifts, consider some of these suggestions from Dan Seaborn of Winning at Home:

Better than a radio

Give real communication. Turn off that new TV and have a real conversation with the people you love. Speak from the heart and listen with patience. Call the family member who you’ve been avoiding, visit the friend you haven?t had time for.

Warmer than a sweater

Give physical touch. Hug somebody you love. Put an arm around your son or daughter’s shoulder and leave it there for a while. Hold hands with your spouse. Give Grandma a kiss on the cheek. Pat a friend on the back.
(more…)

We linked earlier this week to some Christmas music resources at Songs and Hymns. But if you’re still in the mood for more holiday music (and who isn’t?), there’s more at RBC Ministries. Here are a few links:

• Did you know that “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was written about a family tragedy during the Civil War?
• Chances are you know the first stanza of the famous Christmas carol “What Child is This”—but as with many holiday songs, the second verse brings out a whole new meaning to the carol. Give those often-overlooked second, third, and fourth stanzas a read next time you’ve got a hymnal at hand!
• Read about the powerful social commentary lurking between the lines of “Angels, From the Realms of Glory.”
• You might not even recognize the original version of perhaps the most famous Christmas carol of all.

These devotionals are a reminder that there’s more to Christmas music than catchy tunes and familiar words—there are important stories and messages behind them. Your appreciation for these songs will only deepen if you take a moment this Christmas season to really ponder what they’re saying.

The folks over at IntoThyWord quietly launched the Biblical Eschatology blog a few weeks ago. If you’re interested Biblical exegesis or eschatology, this might up right up your alley.

From their About page:

This is not a simple Bible study; it is a vast undertaking, of which I do not believe has ever been done. What we sought to do is give you a more thoroughly engaged and proper viewing into the art and science of eschatology, evaluating end time’s scenarios and biblical thinking into the book of Revelation. At the same time, layout all of the main views for you side by side!

And from their first post:

The main point of Biblical, Exegetical Eschatology is to tell us not to be discouraged, but remain faithful and vigilant. We are to live our lives as if Christ were coming tomorrow, or preparing and planning as if He were coming a thousand years from now. We are not to be preoccupied with the details and trivialities. That is why Jesus did not give them to us. Rather, our faith development and steadfastness are far more impacting and real for ourselves and others around us!

The church I grew up did a candlelight service every Christmas Eve. Upon entry into the building we would be handed unlit candles, and I would spend the rest of the service waiting for the moment when we’d start lighting things on fire during church.

After an interminable time, we’d start singing Christmas songs in the dimmed lights while two people would walk from the back with candles to start lighting our candles. I remember staring transfixed as the flames multiplied and cast strange shadows on the faces in the sanctuary.

It was in this setting that we would sing songs like “Silent Night” and soak in the peaceful feeling of Christmas eve. Despite the familiarity of the tunes and the words, Christmas music is still wonderful and worshipful.

If you’re looking for the music, history or for some of those classics (Silent Night included) check out the Songs and Hymns website.

As part of the Christmas celebration celebration, many of us will read through the Christmas story again (you can find it in Luke 2:1-20). And although the written part of story is relatively short, it’s full of little touches. It’s easy to confuse the details of the Biblical account with other pop culture renditions.

Perhaps some of us (myself included) have taken it for granted that Jesus was born in a stable; however, the Gospel writers never mention exactly where Jesus was born—just where he was laid afterward. It’s just one of those details built into the mythology surrounding the Christmas story that we take for granted.

You can read more misconceptions over at ChristianAnswers.net. Here’s a few more:

Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Perhaps, but there are various other possibilities. The Bible doesn’t say how she got to Bethlehem. It only says that she came with Joseph.

Did Mary arrive in Bethlehem the night she gave birth? The Bible does not suggest this. They could have arrived weeks earlier. God’s Word simply states, “while they were there [in Bethlehem], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered” (Luke 2:6). Arriving in town well before her due date would make more sense.

Love the Bible? Always on your iPhone or BlackBerry? Own another web-enabled device and hate it when people only refer to the iPhone and BlackBerry?

You might be interested in an announcement we made yesterday over at the Bible Gateway: a mobile version of the Bible. You can check it out at mobile.biblegateway.com; it’s still a work in progress, so please drop us a line if you run into any bugs or have a feature request. Here’s a bit more from the Bible Gateway blog:

The mobile version features the Bible Gateway search box (look up a passage, keyword, or topic), the Verse of the Day, and the latest Bible Gateway news. To access it, just bookmark mobile.biblegateway.com in your mobile device.

Our vision is to get God’s Word in front of as many people as we possibly can, wherever they are and whatever technology they’re using. With smartphone usage on the rise all around the world, a mobile version of Bible Gateway is a natural step toward that goal. Give it a try—and if you have ideas for how we can improve it, let us know!