There’s a reason why the Bible is printed and reprinted, given away, translated into every language imaginable, and retranslated over and over to increase its clarity. It’s because meeting with God on a personal level is crucial to our spiritual life, and the Bible is the greatest tool available to us for that endeavor.

I have used 365 Day Bibles, Study Bibles, Chronological Bibles, and reading plans from YouVersion in past years. They are all great tools–particularly YouVersion, where I can share key verses and notes with the world via Facebook, Twitter, and https://www.youversion.com/users/patrick_fowler1/notes

When Willow Creek did extensive research on the things that helped people grow in every stage of their spiritual walk, they came back with one single factor that was important in every stage. One “killer app” – reflection on Scripture. If churches could do one thing to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow, the choice is clear: inspire, encourage, equip, and hold their people accountable to reflecting on Scripture for God to speak into their lives.

The First Step:

Often times, the first step is often the hardest, and that’s why I leave you with one simple, key step that will get you into your Bible. There’s a devotional that has been faithfully put out for free for many years that is always easy to read, memorable, and drives you to consider Scripture. The Daily Bread. Its available on every major smartphone, every computer, and in print for free by request from www.obd.org

They even have a podcast you can subscribe to, if you prefer to hear it spoken.

I encourage you that if you aren’t doing anything else, begin reading this. You won’t be disappointed.

I have enjoyed interacting with the Daily Bread recently–and I’ve really enjoyed having others read it along with me. What better way to be encouraged than to read the same thoughts with someone else, and they to be able to call, text, or meet them face to face, saying, “Thursday’s thought really challenged me!”

So when you pick up your copy, pick up a few more, and share them!

We give them away every Sunday at www.onechurch.tv

I have been intrigued by the importance that Judaism places on the Shema–the centrality of Loving God with all that we are. So I took time to study the text as it appears in the Old and New Testament. However, it didn’t take long for me to find myself drawn to the phrase that is placed alongside it in the New Testament: “love your neighbor as yourself.” While Deuteronomy 6 is powerfully presented in the Scriptures, Leviticus 19 is not. Yet is seems to be a key verse that everyone knows in Jesus’ day. It’s my hope that you will find yourself challenged in the same way that I was as you explore the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

As always, I am sharing my work here for your benefit. There’s no need to give me credit for the material, take it and allow God to use it in your work however you see fit.

Download the Sermon Manuscript here: Word Document       PDF

Download the Sermon Research and Outlines Here: Word Document         PDF

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This past year I have had the unique privilege of following Jesus in a moment by moment ministry experience like no other. Three times daily, I get an update on His activity, as if He was really here on earth living out His final year of ministry on the earth. It is exciting to think of Him in this way, both according to the activities the Bible records and in terms of the lifestyle of a Jewish carpenter/Rabbi from Galilee.

If you need a unique experience to really make your Easter season intriguing, then I implore you to consider “Spending a Year with Jesus.” I can ensure you that the experience will be eye opening. No lies, the only thing you’ll have to consider is whether it is worth $36 for an entire year. Cash in a tiny part of that tax return you’re itching to spend, and change your life!

www.spendayearwithJesus.com is a mobile messaging and email application built by the most diligent of people, my fellow student at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dan Pfeifer. He’s worked hard to portray Jesus in a way that honors the Biblical text and inspires Jesus followers. He’s a world-class web developer that truly respects your privacy.

www.spendayearwithJesus.com

The experience starts March 17th.

I have blogged a number of times on great Bible study tools that I run across. In all my reading and research, nothing appears to be more critical to our growth in the Christian life than personal, reflective time spent in the Scripture.

The problem I find too often, is that when people get into the Scriptures, they get hung up on difficult passages or odd themes. Most often, those who try hard to resolve those problems get lost in the extensive results that appear in a Google search, or they find that the freely available commentaries like Matthew Henry’s work from long ago, do not adequately answer their questions.

The problem that I find is that too much great content is locked inside the confines of publishing contracts and academic institutions that demand compensation for anything they create. Commentary sets that I use on a daily basis through the library at Dallas Theological Seminary cost thousands of dollars a set – $50-100 a volume. Although I do understand the need to appreciate great academic work, it shames me that virtually no good contemporary content has been made available by the American and European Christian communities…almost…

Tom Constable, a lifetime professor of the Bible at Dallas Theological Seminary, spent most of his career compiling notes on each book of the Bible. In the course of 30+ years, he has accumulated over 7,000 pages of guidance for those reading the Bible in an easy to understand, unbiased format. And he has always ensured that they could be obtained freely electronically by anyone who wanted them at soniclight.com

Now they are built into the NETBible website, so that you can access them as well as other notes and resources with the Bible side-by-side. As a student of the languages, I am also appreciative of the integrated Hebrew and Greek resources as well.

Hopefully, this is only the start of things to come.

www.netbible.org

My final sermon of the semester was on the text of Genesis – the birth narrative of Jacob and Esau. It’s a simple passage, but one that created a lot of controversy in my class. It’s a text with many meanings…

The birth of Jacob and Esau is preceded by the prophesy that the “older shall serve the younger”. In the immediate text, this response is given to Rebekah after she inquires of the Lord regarding the pain that she is enduring in pregnancy. The prophecy in this respect is comforting: God assures Rebekah that her pregnancy is going properly—she will certainly bear children.

However, in the larger context of Genesis and in the mind of the Israelite audience, this prophecy also indicates that God is going to work through the younger son—Jacob/Israel, instead of the older son. AND, in the larger context of the Bible through the prophet Malachi and the letter to the Romans, this prophecy emphasizes God’s sovereignty in being able to direct circumstances as He desires: having control over and a knowledge of the future.

I had a hard time preaching the second meaning of the text in my sermon this semester—I didn’t feel that it represented the meaning of my specific passage: Genesis 25:19-26. I wanted my audience to walk away from the sermon thinking: Genesis 25 teaches Isaac and Rebekah’s faith and God’s comfort. I felt that if they walked away thinking: Genesis 25 teaches God’s sovereignty, they weren’t really getting the main point of the text—they were instead getting the main point of the whole Bible’s treatment of the text, or the main point of another text. I just could not see God’s main point in Genesis as God wishing to declare, “I’m in control”—I think we hear that message in the book that long before chapter 25.

Don’t get me wrong: you can use Genesis 25 to preach God’s sovereignty, but I think the audience should really walk away thinking that your main text was something other than Genesis 25—they should hear your main text as Malachi 1’s prophecy, “I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau” or Romans 9’s quotation of the text as it says, “…there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER ." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED , BUT ESAU I HATED."”

Anyway—you’ve heard this rant before…perhaps my sermon will convince you. I hope you like the fruits of my labors, shared below…

My Sermon Preparation Documents: (Click to Download) 

The specific way I chose to illustrate the passage – My Homeletical Sermon Outline

The final result: My sermon audio – Version 1 – Version 2
My sermon script – click below to read…

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