Ten Reasons to Believe in the Existence of God

Some have proposed that the belief in God was invented by people who needed a sense of protection and spiritual meaning. Yet despite these kinds of challenges, there are convincing evidences that support a belief in the God of the Bible. Students are guided into examination of the limits of science, the argument for intelligent design in nature, and the claims of Christ relative to deity.

Ten Reasons to Believe in the Bible

In a world full of religious books, all claiming authority over the lives of their followers, is there good reason to believe the Bible is any different? Any better? Any more reliable? The source of spiritual authority we choose to commit our lives to will impact how we live and who we become. Students learn why they can have confidence in the teachings and wisdom of the Bible.

Ten Reasons to Believe in a God Who Allows Suffering

Students are challenged to wrestle with difficult issues of faith. One of those is the reconciliation of the power and love of God with the suffering that occurs in our world. Students discover that difficult questions about unexplained suffering find satisfying and understandable answers in the pages of Scripture.

They are available for free or you can pay a small fee and they count towards a recognised Degree program. You can find more information here.

God Bless,

Dave

Here is a snippet from their website…

“Wesley Impact! is a fresh, exciting program featuring people whose lives have been transformed; singers who inspire us with the beauty of their talent and practical Christian teaching that encourages and challenges us. Joining Rev Dr Keith V Garner live in the studio are guests from all walks of life – from those who have tasted the heights of success to those who walked in the depths of despair, our guests openly share their amazing life stories. Wesley Impact! can be seen on the Nine Network every Sunday at 5.30am and is also repeated on the Australian Christian Channel on Sunday at 7.30am.”

The thing I really enjoy about it is the simple format. There is a song, an interview, a short message and another song. I have found it to be quite encouraging every time I watched it.

If you would like to find out more about the show or see past episodes you can find them here.

God Bless,

Dave

I recorded a new free MP3 audio today. It is some thoughts I have put together from John 15:1-17 and titled, “Vines and branches”.

I have also added some sermons I did towards the end of last year that were recorded. If you are interested, you can find them here.

God Bless,

Dave

“As you do your daily reading, consider using the following devotional format:

Scripture – write out a verse or two that speak specifically to you today.

Observation – make a note of what you observe in the text. What was happening back ‘there and then’?

Application – write out how God’s Word applies to your life. What does this mean to you ‘here and now’?

Prayer – write out a prayer of response to what God has said to you.”

I really like it because it helps you to read, reflect and apply the Bible to your life.

I would encourage you to try this by reading one chapter of the New Testament a day and use “SOAP” on any verses that jump out at you.

God Bless,

Dave

I have added a “Spritual Gifts Survey” to my website today. The Spiritual Gifts Survey gives a 128 question test and ranks the gifts based on the test score. If you want to find out your spiritual gifts just complete this section.

In addition, the S.H.A.P.E. Survey portion uses Saddleback Church’s S.H.A.P.E. model of Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experience to help reveal how God as already shaped you for serving Him.

If you are interested in taking the survey you can find it here.

God Bless,

Dave

AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget – The AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget allows any visitor to bookmark or share your site easily with many popular social network services.

BibleGateway VOTD – Insert BibleGateway.com’s verse-of-the-day in pages or posts. Use the Widgets page to add the verse to your sidebar or add it in pages or posts where you want to insert the verse.

Fast Secure Contact Form – Fast Secure Contact Form for WordPress. The contact form lets your visitors send you a quick E-mail message. It includes CAPTCHA and Akismet support to block all common spammer tactics. Spam is no longer a problem.

Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog. It updates the search engines every time you post a new article.

RefTagger – RefTagger searches through your blog for Bible references and displays the text when someone hovers over the reference. It also links to the Logos Bible’s to read the full text if it is a long passage.

WordPress Importer – This plugin allow you to import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file. I backup my WordPress database every month to make sure if something goes wrong I can restore my posts.

WP Mobile Detector – The WP Mobile Detector wordpress plugin automatically detects if the visitor is using a standard mobile phone or a smart phone and loads a compatible wordpress mobile theme for each.

If you want to check any of these out you can find them in the WordPress plugins directory here or you can log in to your WordPress dashboard and search them under “add new” plugins.

God Bless,

Dave

Because of this I am very reflective and I spend a lot of time praying, reading my Bible and meditating on the Word. While I am confident in small group I find the big crowds of most churches abnormal and uncomfortable. I also find a lot of people contact draining.

This is why the title of this book jumped out at me. Here is some of the blurb…

“Introverts are called and gifted by God. But many churches tend to be extroverted places where introverts are marginalized. Some Christians end up feeling like it’s not as faithful to be an introvert.

Adam McHugh shows how introverts can live and minister in ways consistent with their personalities. He explains how introverts and extroverts process information and approach relationships differently and how introverts can practice Christian spirituality in ways that fit who they are. With practical illustrations from church and parachurch contexts, McHugh offers ways for introverts to serve, lead, worship and even evangelize effectively.

Introverts in the Church is essential reading for any introvert who has ever felt out of place, as well as for church leaders who want to make their churches more welcoming to introverts. Discover God’s call and empowering to thrive as an introvert, for the sake of the church and kingdom.”

I must say I am really looking forward to receiving this book and reading it. We have actually ordered two copies so my wife and I can read it together and maybe pass one copy on to someone else afterwards.

About the Author: Adam S. McHugh (Th.M., Princeton Theological Seminary) is an ordained Presbyterian minister, a spiritual director and an introvert. He has served at two Presbyterian churches, as a hospice chaplain and as campus staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He and his wife live in Claremont, California.

As I read through the book I will pass my reflections on as I go. If you are interested in buying one you can find it here at Koorong Bookstore.

God Bless,
Dave

In the past I have purchased a number of cheaper $5.00 Bibles to give away.  They were still very good because they contained God’s Words which never returns void.

What I found though was they were very basic and did not have much help for those difficult passages. As a result I have decided to purchase and keep ready some NIV Life Application Study Bibles (LASB).

I have posted about them before and how useful they are. You can find that here under Useful Bible Resources Part 3.

When I give away Bibles it is usually to people who are exploring Jesus or people who are new to following Jesus. My heart is therefore to give them the best start possible for their new journey.

Giving away the LASB means new believers can find lots of help. It gives book introductions, major themes of the books, character introductions, information about Jesus and excellent footnotes on each verse.

For me it means buying only one Bible at a time rather than five money wise, but I know it will make a big difference to those I give them too.

I have found having a good quality Bible and a good tract handy is really helpful when talking to people about your faith. It helps them come to know Jesus and it helps them immediately after.

God Bless,

Dave

J.John is a creative speaker with an appeal that transcends gender, age, race, culture and occupation. His much-loved art of storytelling helps people to discover spiritual meaning in a way that makes sense of everyday life.

Here is a short video of some of his sermons and stories. I really like the one he uses for when he meets someone on a plane. Enjoy!

One book I picked up again today is Roger Thoman’s Simple/House Church Revolution. It is a really simple book that talks about doing church differently. Something long term readers will know that I am in to!

In particular I really like chapter four of the book. It says that doing church is a way of life that involves five principles.

1. Reach – Reaching out. Loving others with no strings attached. An “outbreak of love”.

2. Disciple – Disciple making that everyone can do. Influencing others relationally and contagiously.

3. Gather – Experiencing dynamic, participatory  body-life with others.

4. Empower – Empowering others. A truly upside down understanding  of leading (facilitating) decentralized systems.

5. Multiply – Reproducing yourself. Becoming seed that brings forth a multiple harvest.

In the remaining chapters of the book he unpacks these thoughts. It explains how you go about putting these things into practice.

I first read this book about two years ago and posted some thoughts on it. Today I was prompted to pick it up again.

If you are interested in reading it yourself, you can download it for free at Roger’s website here  http://www.simplechurchrevolution.com/download.htm

God Bless,

Dave