Looking forward to the NEW YEAR

Hi Friend!

I want to spread the news that my new Read To Me Daily plan is now LIVE in the YouVersion app. If you haven’t heard, you can read this plan normally, OR if you hit the play button on the Devotional page, it becomes like a podcast, where you can listen to the whole thing, including the devotional introduction. This is perfect for those who would like to read and listen at the same time. However due to an unforeseen chain of circumstances, the audio devotional will not be in the app until sometime on January 2. The link to see or sign up for this plan is here in the episode notes: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/13707/

I am grateful to the fine people at YouVersion for the extraordinarily patient help they gave to me to get this new kind of plan set up. They not only gave me excellent help by email, but even phoned me twice.

If you will be joining me in using the Read To Me Daily plan on January 1st, please be aware that the Devotional page will not have the play button for audio for the first 2-3 days. The play button should magically appear by January 3rd, and if it doesn’t, please look for another announcement from me like this one.

I ask for prayer as I am searching for a new voice to take my place in reading the devotionals for the Read To Me Daily plan. I hope to find a volunteer who is more expressive in reading than I am, and who has the time to edit recordings.

It is time for me to recommend different Bible podcasts for those ready to move to a different voice for next year. The two big alternatives are Daily Audio Bible (the oldest, and my inspiration for starting the DBRP in 2014) and Daily Radio Bible.

As some of you would have noticed, my devotional comments are usually talking about something that was previously read. This is a bit counter-intuitive to some. If you are one of those people, two YouVersion audio reading plan authors talk more about ‘this is what you will read’ style. They are Kris Langham who has an app and reading plan called Through the Word,

[Examples:

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/437-ecclesiastes-bible-audio-guide
https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/387-luke-bible-audio-guide]

and Nikki Gumble, who has a plan called Bible in One Year.

I personally am planning to follow the Read To Me Daily plan using the NIV in 2019. Since the devotional text was not written with the NIV in mind, I am expecting to find times when the devotional comments will not match closely enough with the NIV. If you decide to join me in using the NIV with the Read To Me Daily plan, please remember that I would like to hear your comments. We might even do a plan sharing thing this year with people going through the NIV.

The NLT podcasts will again be re-released daily at dailybiblereading.info. And the GNT podcasts will be re-released daily at dailygntbiblereading.info.

Perhaps you--- like me, have been finishing up the final Bible readings for 2018. Just today I wondered about Isaiah’s dates. It turns out that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which Isaiah describes in the past tense in Isaiah 64 didn’t happen until 100 years after his death. As I have mentioned before, prophets frequently describe future events in the past tense. John does it all the time in Revelation. If you also are finishing Isaiah, you might be interested in viewing two videos about the book of Isaiah at https://thebibleproject.com/explore/isaiah/. In response to the first of the videos, if you have listened to what I said somewhere about Isaiah, you will know what I think about the authorship of Isaiah. I believe he wrote it all.

Please encourage your friends to read the Bible in 2019!

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’.

Phil

Check out this episode!

2018 December Getting ready for the New Year

Hi, and Merry Christmas!

I have plenty of information to share this time. I hope you are not too distracted while listening to all this!

Would you like to see more people find the Daily Bible Reading Podcast? If so, here is a quick way you can really make a difference: Some time ago I made a channel for the DBRP on YouTube which is linked here in the episode notes. Please, even if you never intend to listen to an episode on YouTube, please click the link to subscribe to that channel. The more people that are subscribed, the higher our channel will appear in search results.

At the beginning of 2019, I hope to be able to make Youtube playlists of episodes a month at a time, so that it becomes easier for people to actually listen to the DBRP using that platform. Youtube is the second most popular Internet search engine. So please help some people who are searching to discover the DBRP. Just click the link above and click to subscribe to our channel. Currently, there are only 8 people subscribed.

The DBRP got off to a rough start in 2018. This was due to my not observing how the new update to the Apple podcast app ruined the way the many episodes of the DBRP were being displayed. People--- including my son, David, were having difficulty finding the next episode they wanted to listen to. This is important because, around half of our audience are listening on Apple devices and primarily using the podcast app. So we lost many listeners at the first of the year.

To address the problem, I have taken three categories from the DBRP podcast and moved them to two different new podcasts. This makes it so that menus and search results are less cluttered. So here’s how it will work for next year:

• If you want to listen to the NLT podcast series, starting on January 1st, use our first web site, which is dailybiblereading.info. You will find complete information about listening apps and how to subscribe in the ReadMe PDF file linked at the top of the site. New episodes of the NLT will be released every day. Links for everything I am talking about right now are given in the episode notes.
• If you want to listen to the GNT podcast series, those are no longer being released daily at the first site, but at the new one: dailygntbiblereading.info. Every day a new GNT episode will be released to all the podcast apps and will be available at that website. Complete information about listening apps and how to subscribe are found in the ReadMe PDF file linked at the top of the site.

• If you enjoyed the JoySightings series of podcasts, I have moved those to a new location: joysightings.info. See podcast subscription information at that site. The Joysightings.info site also is host to the DayStarters series. The Joysightings podcasts are for sharing Parables of all kinds, but especially those of Safed the Sage. The DayStarters podcasts are GNT NT readings which were prepared for our daughter Hannah, so that she could start homeschooling days for Ava and Joel by listening to grampa read and pray. The readings are just the NT portion from the GNT readings, and they do not cover the more difficult readings in the New Testament. See the table of contents for both the DayStarter and JoySightings podcasts at joysightings.info.

Again I ask for your help! If you are an Apple device user and are still using the native Apple podcast app to listen to the original DBRP (not the newer GNT podcast), please tell me if you are more easily finding your episodes now. If there are problems, please send me a screenshot and tell me the difficulties you are having.

In looking forward to the new year, I never encourage people to listen to my podcasts for two years in a row. If you’ve listened to me for one year, it is time to find a different voice. But this year I have something new to suggest to you! I am releasing a new 100% audio reading plan for the YouVersion Bible app called Read To Me Daily. This will be almost like listening to one of my podcasts--- almost, but not quite. You’ll only hear my voice for the first 3 minutes reading the devotional introduction. But after you play the audio on the devotional page, then the YouVersion app will automatically play the default audio recordings for the two OT portions and one NT portion in whatever version you are using. This obviously won’t work for Bibles which don’t have recordings. The translations I recommend using for this plan are the NLT, GNT and NIV. For those who have read the NLT and GNT recently, I suggest following the NIV this next year. Just to let you know: That’s the version I plan to read in 2019.

One thing I like about this new RTMD YouVersion reading plan is the flexibility and the ease of use. Some people will choose to read on their own without activating the audio on days when that is convenient for them, but listen to the readings on days when they are commuting to work. Or, someone might listen one week to the readings in the GNT, and next week use the NIV recordings. Some people who delve deeper might choose to listen to some daily readings twice, perhaps once in the ESV and once in the NLT. Everything will be easy to do using just one app, the YouVersion Bible app. This Read To Me Daily reading plan will follow the same Digging Deeper Daily reading calendar as the DBRP. So on any day you might want to, you could jump to listening to your day number in one of the DBRP podcasts.

The reason I recommend using the NLT, GNT, or NIV for the RTMD plan is because those three translations are easier to understand in audio form. This plan will be released in 4 semesters to cover the whole year. Please help me spread the word about the new RTMD plan. I will release an audio invitation soon. Please share it with your friends.

Let me shift the topic back to the podcasts now: Recently I was talking to a man who has a ministry to the elderly in our town. It seems to me that the Amazon Alexa devices are the easiest way for elderly people to listen to the DBRP. I have already registered an Alexa skill for the DBRP, and I am applying for an Alexa skill for the Daily GNT Bible Reading podcast as well. Alexa devices like the Echo Dot start at just $29, but to use it, the person also needs to have a Wifi connection. By the last week of December, I will have new information in the ReadMe PDF file linked at the top of our websites that will tell you how to get things set up for using Alexa devices. Once you initiate the podcast on the Alexa device for your elderly friend, they can listen any time they want by saying, “Alexa, play the next episode of Daily Bible Reading Podcast.”

The initial idea for the Daily Bible Reading Podcast was to leave the recordings as a legacy for our grandkids. So far none of our grandkids have made it through a whole year’s worth. They currently range in ages from 16 down to 3, so there is still hope that they will listen to grampa someday. With the help of our podcast publisher, the DBRP is able to be subscribed to in almost any podcast aggregator app (and there are many), plus Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, GooglePodcasts, iTunes and Apple podcasts, Facebook, YouTube, and soon in Pandora.

I dropped the subscription to the dedicated Android and Apple podcast app, but I see that at least the Android app is still available in the Play Store. On my tablet, I noticed that the Android app is still working just fine. So for some of you, that may still be a hassle-free and advertising free way to listen. I still recommend the Podbean aggregator app for both Android and Apple devices, but it does show advertising while the podcast plays.

There are two more apps from YouVersion (also publishing under the name LifeChurch) that I want to tell you about. The first is Bible Lens. This app makes it easy to put Bible verses with any pictures that you have in your mobile phone or tablet. You are given multiple ways to creatively format the verses, and the output is more artistic than is possible using the verse-image feature that is available inside the YouVersion Bible app. (You see the Image option whenever you highlight a verse.)

The second terrific app from LifeChurch is Bible app for kids. This app is a very engaging way for kids from about 4-8 to listen to and watch Bible stories. The interface is like a game, and your kids will be able to navigate through and play the stories they want themselves.

One of my spiritual fathers, Richard Burson, gave me Sam Shoemaker’s book, Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Man. In that book was Shoemaker’s poem, “I stand by the door.” I will read that poem at the end. [I have edited the poem, and it was already slightly modified by the one who posted it at the website I link to the episode notes.] But here I give just the first lines:

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world—
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.

Not just a few times I have been tempted to be envious of people who have such wonderful ministries to overflowing audiences or who are invited to lead organizations. Somehow, no one has ever chosen me for anything like that. This poem has encouraged me, because it seems like to me that God has called me to take my place near the door Shoemaker talks about. And truthfully, it has surprised me that God gave me an audience through my podcast. And guess what! We find now that ‘the door’ has moved. At the time Shoemaker wrote, the door might have been to a church or an organization like the one Sam Shoemaker founded, where people might come and find answers. Now the door is more often via YouTube, or Stitcher, Facebook, or the app called Whatsapp. God is still calling many people to come to Jesus. So many people are spiritually hungry and searching for answers. Please join me in standing near the door!

Before I read the poem to close this podcast, I want to remind you to follow the link at the top of the episode notes to go to YouTube and subscribe to that channel. Let’s pray that this will help some find ‘the door’.

 

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world—
It is the door through which people walk when they find God.
There’s no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside, and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like those who are blind.
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it . . .
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for people to find that door—the door to God.
The most important thing any one can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And put it on the latch—the latch that only clicks
And opens to one’s own touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter—
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
[While others//They live,] on the other side of [the door//it]—live because they have found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping [those on the outside//them] find it [too],
And open it, and walk in, and find Him . . .
So I stand by the door.

Go in, great saints, go all the way in—
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics—
In a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening . . .
So I stand by the door.

The people too far in do not see how near [some others//these] are
To leaving— [those far-in ones being] preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door,
But would like to run away. So for them, too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from people as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.
Where [are they]? Outside the door—
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But—more important for me—
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch,
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
‘I had rather be a door-keeper . . .’
So I stand by the door.

Check out this episode!

Our 2018 Christmas Letter!

Hey Friends! Here is our Christmas letter! This letter shares one major prayer request: We are poised to start distributing a major new Gospel-sharing video in Indonesia. We were involved in translating and recording the narration parts for this production.

View/Download here.

Check out this episode!

Our 2018 Christmas Letter! [See attached PDF]

Hey Friends! Here is our Christmas letter! This letter shares one major prayer request: We are poised to start distributing a major new Gospel-sharing video in Indonesia. We were involved in translating and recording the narration parts for this production.

Check out this episode!

JoySightings and DayStarters Moving Locations

This is a really quick information podcast, recorded on my phone, because I am leaving for Indonesia in a few hours and I wanted to get this news to you.

The new web site for the JoySightings and DayStarters series WILL BE http://JoySightings.info. I am deleting the 134 episodes of DayStarters immediately, because I think that they are really messing up the search results for lots of listeners. So if you are listening to either of these series, please send me a message and tell me what series and number you were ready to listen to, and I will try to prioritize getting these ready for you. I will delete the 48 JoySightings episodes in a few days.

In a day or two from this posting, I hope that the iTunes/Apple Podcast app subscription link will be at the new web site: JoySightings.info.

For those who don’t know what these two series are, the JoySightings series are primarily a collection of Parables. Most of them are by Safed the Sage (the pen name of William E. Barton) who was a pastor in the Eastern USA over 100 years ago. He wrote his parables for the Sunday School Magazine he edited for the Congregational denomination. Another part of the JoySightings series are two wonderful children’s books by David and Karen Mains, Tales of the Kingdom, and Tales of the Resistance.

The DayStarters series was made at the request of Hannah, our daughter who is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia. She asked last year for 7 minute NT readings and a prayer to be made into separate podcasts. I chose the GNT recording series, and the books that I felt would be best for Ava and Joel who were 8 and 7 years old last year.

I recently moved the GNT series to a new podcast location, which is dailygntbiblereading.info.

One of the main reasons I have separated the original DBRP podcast into 3 podcasts is because of the terrible Apple podcast app, the native app that has the purple icon. For those of you who are using that app, I hope that the changes will eventually help you. But for some, like my son, David, the new GNT podcast when accessed in the Apple Podcast app still is not showing up in the proper order.

In my last news update, I recommended the Podbean app for all those who have trouble seeing the DBRP podcasts in the order you are listening to them. I was wrong about it not showing much advertising. It shows advertising all the time you are listening. However, if you are just listening and the screen is off, you won’t see the advertising. Podbean only shows the most recent 200 episodes, so it can’t find all the episodes for a whole 365 day year.

The very best app for listening to the DBRP (now three different podcasts) may be the one you have on your phone already: your favorite web browser. Just keep a tab perpetually open that has one of our  three sites. All three sites will be listed at the original site: dailybiblereading.info.

Here is a link to our most recent letter giving our prayer requests for my time in Indonesia. I was supposed to be on my way today already this morning. But the Lord evidently had different plans. I am thankful for a little more time at home, and for being able to give this news to you just before leaving. My letters are normally posted at the Digging Deeper Daily Facebook group which is also linked here in the episode notes.

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’.

Check out this episode!

GNT Podcast Moving Locations

Hi, friend!

This is to let you know that I have moved the GNT Bible Podcasts (the Good News Bible podcasts) to a new location. The way to subscribe to the GNT podcast series has changed. This is being done primarily to help the many folks who listen via the Apple podcast app or iTunes. This will make it so that listeners of the GNT podcasts won’t have unlistened to NLT podcasts cluttering their display. If you are listening to the NLT series, do nothing. If you listen on the Apple Podcast app,soon you won’t have the GNT podcasts cluttering your display. If you listen to the NLT series, just continue as you have before.

If you are a listener to the GNT series, the new website address just adds GNT to the name: That new GNT website is now DailyGNTBibleReading.info. If you listen on an Apple device, going to that site should present you with a link to subscribe so you can then find the GNT series in the podcast app.

For those of you actually listening to this podcast on an Apple device, open the episode notes and click on the iTunes/Podcast App subscription link, and you will be able to subscribe to the GNT podcast series with another tap. HERE’S the LINK.

This change also means that I am discontinuing the dedicated DBRP podcast apps for Android and Apple. I am not sure how long the current apps will continue to work. (Probably not long.)

If you are using the Android app, then let me suggest that you install a better Android app. And if you would like to join the many people who have ditched the now-broken Apple podcast app, I have the same recommendation for you: I recommend Podbean. Here are some of its great features:

• Podbean works on both Apple and Android.
• It shows nicely formatted episode notes.
• It is easy to follow/subscribe to the either the Daily GNT or the Daily NLT Bible Reading podcast. Just search by the podcast name.
• There are good controls for listening speed and silence reduction, and even optimizing volume.
• You can easily choose episodes to pre-download. I wish the Apple podcast app was this intelligent.
• The app includes almost no advertising. The only advertising I see is for the Pro version which is 99cents per month. You only see that advertising in the settings and probably when requesting certain kinds of content.
• Downside: Podbean won’t list really old episodes. It only shows the most recent 200 episodes. So if someone wants to start listening today starting at episode 1, they won’t find it. People wanting to start from Day 1 should probably use the website.

New info about listening on Alexa:
I figured out my problem with getting Alexa to play the DBRP on an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. The Alexa skill invocation phrise is Daily Bible Reading. That won’t work out of the box. First start the Alexa app with the on-screen icon. Then find the Skills section, and manually type in the name of the skill, Daily Bible Reading. Then and only then will you be able to say, “Alexa, tell Daily Bible reading to play the newest episode.” (Otherwise Alexa keeps wanting to play an Audible Bible recording, which is most annoying.) Other skills are listed right on that page in the Skills section, which can be used for going back or forward x number of episodes, etc.

I will register a new Alexa skill soon for the GNT podcast.

There are many great podcast aggregator apps out there. A quick way to follow the DBRP on many apps is to supply the app with the rss feed (which is a special internet link). The rss feed for each podcast can be found right in the top information bar, among the icons, at our two web sites.

I’ll be leaving for Indonesia on the 11th of September, and be away from home until November 1. I’ll give another update on that soon. See the Digging Deeper facebook group, where I will try to share a picture or two.

May the Lord bless you ‘real good’!

Check out this episode!

JoySightings_048

Three more parables from The Wit and Wisdom of Safed the Sage:

• The Quick and the Dead;
• Hollyhocks and the Storm;
• The Circus Procession

Check out this episode!

July Twenty Eighteen: Let's do something new!

Hey everyone! Greetings!

Lot’s of news to share about ways to access the Daily Bible Reading Podcast, about changes to our Facebook group, and about better ways to share with friends about your Bible reading.

Let’s start with Alexa. Alexa is the voice activated device created by Amazon. One of the Alexa devices is called the EchoDot, and the Amazon Kindle Fire tablets are also equipped with Alexa. The DBRP has a registered Alexa skill, and the key activation phrase is Daily Bible Reading. So you should be able to say, “Alexa, tell Daily Bible Reading to play the newest episode,” or “Alexa, tell Daily Bible Reading to play episode 208.” You should be able to ask Alexa to subscribe to Daily Bible Reading.

Unfortunately, for some reason, it seems that Alexa works on the EchoDot device, but not on my 10 inch Kindle Fire tablet. This could be because I have disabled as much of the Amazon advertising as I can on my tablet. I haven’t been able to test with any other Alexa device. But I can tell in our publisher’s download statistics that the Daily Bible Reading skill has been used 297 so far. If YOU are one of the people who is using Alexa to listen to the DBRP, please tell me how it works for you and what device you are using. I would like to know if there is a way to ask Alexa to play the NL episode for a particular day, rather than the GN episode. Use the Contact link at dailybiblereading.info to send your message to me.

Because I thought that the Alexa invocation string was failing (because ‘Daily Bible Reading’ contains such common words), I asked our publisher to change it to ‘Digging Deeper Daily’. So far the change has not been implemented, and it may not be implemented. So if you use Alexa or get an Alexa device, I want you to know that the Alexa skill is now listed right on the banner at the top of our dailybiblereading.info site. If that skill ever changes, I will update the banner right away.

All Android devices now have a podcast app! This is big news, because around 66% of podcast consumption happens on Apple devices simply because the iPhone has a native podcast app. Unfortunately Google has not yet made their Android app visible by default on every user’s screen. If you want to use Google’s own native app to listen to the DBRP, the link is HERE in the episode notes. That link worked fine on my Android phone, but didn’t work the same way on my tablet. If the link leads you to the Play Store, install the Google Podcast App, open it, and then search for Daily Bible Reading. You will see the blue Digging Deeper Daily icon down a little way in the results. (And unfortunately it is not first in the results!)

I note that the episode notes in the Google Podcast App are (like Spotify) just a solid glob of text. All the paragraph formatting has been stripped away. So if you use an app that doesn’t show paragraph breaks, just know that you can get the episode notes when you need them, nicely formatted, at our web site, dailybiblereading.info.

I note also that the Google Podcast app allows you to speed up the audio by increments of 10 percent. This is way better than our DBRP dedicated listening app, which only allows you to listen at 1.5 or 2.0 speed. Please don’t listen to the Bible at double speed. You might as well not listen. I don’t like 1.5 speed either. My son, David, listens to the DBRP at 1.3 speed using his iPhone. This works well if you are used to listening at that tempo. I think I prefer 1.2 speed. (But, please understand that I never listen to my own podcasts after I create them!)

Corrections: I still make corrections to the Devotional Content pages in the YouVersion app, but I have not been updating the pages at the web site or DBRP listening app. If you see anything that needs to be corrected or made clearer, please use the Contact link in the menu of dailybiblereading.info.

I want to thank Hannah Yi who shared with me about her group in New York City who are sharing together in going through the Digging Deeper Daily YouVersion reading plan. The capability to share YouVersion reading plans was added last year, but I didn’t pick up on it until Hannah told me about her group. Here’s how it works:

• When you register for a YouVersion reading plan, you are given the option to make it private or to share it with friends. OR you can Share a plan you are currently reading (like the 3D plan), in the Plan Settings.
• Once you have a plan set to Share, within any day of the plan, you can hit the vertical 3 dots button and choose Share to invite your friends.
• At the end of your list of daily readings, you will then find a button labeled Talk it over. That button opens a page that asks the question, “Based on today’s reading, what is one thing God is saying to you?” At the bottom you will find a Write your response link.

I encourage you to make such a reading-plan group or join one. I think that using Youversion built in Sharing feature is way better than sharing in our Facebook group. If you actually share what God is saying to you, you won’t want to share that with 1,800 people. Sharing true answers to that question will certainly add a whole new level of accountability to your commitment to allow God to transform you. So I suggest making a group that is only 2-3 of your closest friends. OR, maybe you will want to make a group with just one person you are discipling. And because of the level of commitment involved, I suggest that you might want to try sharing a a 7-10 day plan first, before doing something like the 365 day Digging Deeper Daily plan.

Finally I would like to suggest another thing one could do with this sharing feature. You might share a reading plan with only yourself— by registering a second identity in YouVersion. Then you could use the Talk it over link as a handy way to journal about your daily readings. Writing things down DOES help you remember them. You can already write Notes within the YouVersion app by selecting any verse. Those notes can also be shared with others. But sharing with yourself about a day’s readings would give you a good way to write more general notes about your day’s readings.

I have decided to keep the current  Digging Deeper Daily Facebook group open until the end of this year. But I realize that not a whole lot of sharing is taking place there. For now, I have rewritten the description of that group:

Please share new insights from your daily Bible readings, ask questions, and let’s encourage and pray for one another! We also encourage you to use this group to post an invitation for joining you in any other shared YouVersion Bible reading plan.

This group's primary purpose is for sharing fresh thoughts about God's Word that come to you as you read it. We have a zero tolerance policy for sharing the following things: Do not share 1. videos, 2. long texts written by someone else, 3. or about items you have for sale. Doing any of those will result in you being blocked from this group.

So, to highlight the new things in the group description above: I encourage you use the Digging Deeper Facebook group to post invitations to a shared YouVersion reading plans. I hope this might help you to find new friends to go through a theme-based plan together with you. For instance, you might start a group for a reading plan designed for parents of teenagers, or for recovery from drug addiction, or for surviving grief.

Secondly, please note our zero tolerance policy for sharing those three things that don’t fit in our group.

I shared in my last update about our daughter, Rachel, needing an apartment in Dallas without mold issues. Just a week ago she was able to move into a very nice mold-free apartment, which is even close to the Pioneer Bible Translators office where she works. We went down last weekend with a trailer load of all her stuff. We’re so thankful for God answering our prayers for her. Rachel and Gale share many of the same chronic issues with pain, so prayers for them both for relief from pain are always appreciated.

In my last update I shared that I would be making an online class for Indonesian volunteers who would like to help us in our Plain Indonesian Old Testament translation. Without having a dedicated group of volunteers, it is almost certain that we will not meet our goal of publishing the Old and New Testaments in 2022. We started our first ten students in June, and I think that two will complete the course in 2-3 days. One of the two is especially interesting: He is a pastor of an Indonesian speaking church located in BC, Canada. We start another semester in the course on August 1 with 24 new students. This group includes people from all over Indonesia, plus one in Malaysia, two Indonesians living in Taiwan, and one student living in Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste is a very small island state— half of an island just above Australia. Please pray that we will be able to build a team of 24 dedicated volunteers who will help us check and improve our Old Testament translation, so that it can be published in 2022.

If you are with the group that started to follow the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan on January first, then you are reading in Jeremiah. I particularly enjoy the back and forth conversations between the Lord and Jeremiah. But this is also tricky for readers and listeners. For you to understand this book, please try to be alert to who is speaking. In chapter 16, the Lord tells Jeremiah,

“A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ But in that time (to come) they will affirm [oaths by saying//them with] ‘I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north …’

Somewhere in the podcasts I’m sure I have said this, but it bears repeating: The fact that God took the people of Israel away twice to different countries (first Egypt and then Babylon), and then brought them back again each time to their country is a fantastic proof of God’s existence. Each time God gave prophecies telling beforehand what he was going to do. Note that God has now brought the people of Israel back three times. What other God has told people that he would do such a thing and then has done it? In the Babylonian exile, God told in advance the name of the king was who would release the people of Israel to go back and rebuild the temple. (We see that later in Isaiah.) And in Jeremiah God clearly told his people why disaster and suffering would come their way. He repeatedly warned them, giving them every opportunity to repent. And as proof, he preserved all these discussions with Jeremiah. Through Jeremiah we have an eye witness account of all the discouraging things that came upon God’s people because of their stubborn and willful disobedience. We get to see right inside Jerusalem, and can observe the wickedness of the country’s leaders, and the dithering and indecision of an evil king. I think it is very worth considering that we are now living through a time where mankind is similarly stubborn against all that God wants. And God has given us prophecies telling us that judgement is coming.

In chapter 15, we might take an example from a verse that is sandwiched uncomfortably between verses telling of the discouraging circumstances that Jeremiah was facing. In verse 16 he says,

“As your words came to me, I drank them in, and they filled my heart with joy and happiness— because I belong to you.”

So my friend, let’s drink deeply of God’s Word, that in the midst of discouraging and alarming times, we may be reassured by a joy that the world cannot fathom, because of belonging to the Lord.

And may the Lord bless you ‘real good’!

Check out this episode!

GN-Day_186

1KINGS 21-22:
What a cruel surprise it must have been for Elijah to bring about such an irrefutable display of God's power before the people, but then to have to flee for his life because of Queen Jezebel! Note that God deigned to speak twice to King Ahab. And the reason was: God wanted it known to Ahab and to us that He is not a territorial God. God also gave amazing, symbolic revelations of Himself in the story of His appearing to Elijah at Mount Sinai. Finally, in yesterday’s reading, Elijah's successor, Elisha, was introduced.

PSALM 122:
Consider how exciting it would have been to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And let’s all keep ‘marching to Zion’.

JOHN 10a:
This is a place where our chapter divisions in our Bibles probably do not serve us well. In the original manuscript by John, there would not be any separation between what Jesus said to the Pharisees to answer their question about spiritual blindness, and this chapter. In fact, in John’s day they didn’t even have spaces between words. So in all likelihood, there was not even a new line to start this teaching. So let’s envision Jesus giving this teaching while the previously blind man and the Pharisees were listening.

NLT Translation note:
Ps. 122:4 All the tribes of Israel—the LORD’s people— make their pilgrimage here.
They come to give thanks to [0//the name of] the LORD, as the law requires of Israel.

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NE-DBRP_015

The complete episode notes for this podcast are attached as a PDF file. Many podcast aggregator apps will not let you see these attachments. Using our dedicated DBRP listening app, you can get the PDF file by clicking on the wrapped present icon. Or you can find the PDF attached to this podcast at our website, dailybiblereading.info.

For information about all the different categories of podcasts under the DBRP banner, see dailybiblereading.info.

Here is the link to our Digging Deeper Facebook group. 

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Phil & Gale's newest letter

This is our letter sharing about my LONG trip to Indonesia,

• and about Gale joining me there for two wonderful weeks,
• and what the Lord is doing among the Orya people.

This is a temporary post. I will remove it someday.

Because of the limitations involved with a Text Post, and because I want to share pictures to all readers, I ask you to click this link in order to view the PDF file.

Check out this episode!

Mid-May There, and back again

Hi, friends!

I’m back after one of my longest trips to Indonesia. My trips usually run 7 weeks. But because Gale was able to come for two weeks while I was there, this trip was 11 weeks.

Some of you probably remember that our daughter, Rachel, also works with PBT. She worked for three years in Tanzania, but her health challenges (including the kinds of foods she can eat) made it difficult to live there any longer. After coming home, she stayed with us for a few months of recovery before moving two weeks ago to Dallas, where she is now working in the finance office at our organization’s headquarters.

 After working through various challenges, she left for Dallas full of joy in anticipation of taking up her new work. And her work has gone well— including learning new accounting software. But she didn't anticipate that the place she had rented to live in would be filled with mildew and black mold. Rachel already struggles with health challenges that are like her mother's, and that includes a sensitivity to mold and mildew. She has cleaned as deeply as she can in her area, but the problem remains throughout the house. Recently our son, David, was on a business trip to Dallas and stopped in to visit Rachel. He said his eyes started watering as soon as he stepped into the place.

Please ask the Lord to quickly provide Rachel a good place to live that will not cause allergic reactions. Housing is very tight in the Duncanville area, south of Dallas. So finding a vacancy and getting a reasonable price are both difficult.

Since coming back, my first major job was to typeset our Plain Indonesian Translation NT (TSI) for edition 2.3. While I have prepared smaller books for publishing, I have never had to do a whole NT. I praise the Lord that the Lord has enabled me do a passable job just using humble open source software. The job is not quite finished. Please pray that my team and I will be able to catch any errors that linger in the layout. Through the generosity of a donor in another country, 9,500 copies of this edition will be sold at a subsidized price of $2.50, and 500 will be given away. Please pray that the Lord would do exactly like He says in his Word, that his Word would not return void, but would cut deep into the very soul and spirit of each reader, bringing a harvest of repentance and transformed lives.

Daniel, the office manager for our non-profit organization, called Albata, recently had the opportunity to attend a conference and prayer gatherings in the province of Sulawesi. He took copies of our NT along with him, some to give away, others to sell. He was disappointed that he was not able to get any time to present about our translation in a conference meeting, so he just prayed that God would work somehow. He had only given  a place for our display. But the regional head of the Fellowship of Churches was there, and Daniel gave him a free copy of or NT. The next morning, that man was the speaker for the morning devotions. He preached from our TSI NT! He said something like, “When I read in this translation, the points I want to speak on just leap out of the page.” Another pastor there bought a copy. He spoke for the next morning’s devotions, again reading from and preaching from our NT. When things like this happen, we don’t need to give presentations. The Lord himself promotes his Word! Praise God! What a great answer to prayer.

The prayer request that I have mentioned again and again is that we in Albata would finish a high quality draft of the whole OT by sometime in 2020. It actually is beginning to look like we may meet that goal. But our further goal of getting all of the OT checked and ready for publication in 2022 seems almost impossible. There is a way out of this impossible situation, and it is something I hope you will join us in asking the Lord for.

Let me introduce the answer to my impossible situation by telling a little of what happened on my trip. Several things worked together so that I had a noon meal with three young single ladies in a large mall in Jakarta. Let me just say that they are from two different churches that already support Albata, and all three are from well-to-do families. All speak English fluently, and one is a graduate of Cornell in the USA, another with a degree from Australia. Two teach online courses. All had another wonderful thing in common: They all would like to help Albata meet the goal I just mentioned. So I asked them, “How can we find and involve more people just like you in completing our Bible translation?” The three young women turned out to be the experts God had appointed to answer that question! As a result of that meeting, I will create a new online course with the goal of training volunteers to help our translation team. Their advice included that the course needs to touch the listener’s hearts to motivate them to give their time, and I need to tell stories that will powerfully share our vision.

But, argh! I’m not good at telling stories! And this requires me to make some videos. This is NOT something that was on my want-to-do list! Please pray that God will enable me to make an interesting and engaging course that will be successful in reaching the hearts volunteers to be involved in a hands-on way in our Bible translation work. Please pray that we can manage the results so that the volunteers actually help, and not slow down our progress. There is something here that pertains to the Daily Bible Reading Podcast: I will not be able to release any new episodes until this course is set up and operating.

On May 6th, a family of 6 living in Surabaya, Java, split up and went to three different churches, and all set off suicide bombs that killed 25 people and injured others. Tension between Christians and Muslims has been increasing, and part of the reason are certain political events that have happened recently.

I tell about that to give a little perspective to another prayer request: We are adapting our current NT translation for use by Muslim background believers. This month we for the first time floated the Gospel of Mark at our web site. Because of the interests and needs of that group, the translation will be designed to be viewed in two columns together with the Greek text, and it will include many more footnotes showing how the source text has been translated.

I flew to visit with a consultant concerning that NT translation. Since it was an early flight, I ordered a taxi to pick me up at 3AM. The taxi driver was friendly and we started talking about the governor of Jakarta who was given a two-year jail sentence relating to his Christian beliefs. Then he said, “I’m a Christian myself. But I am originally from Aceh (a hotbed of radical Islam). Both my father and mother are devout Muslims and have even taken the required haji trip to Saudi Arabia.” He went on to describe how he was raised to be devout like his parents. He repeatedly went to a small church in the town, stole Bibles, and then burned them. He thinks he must have burned over 100 of them. But one day, a scrap with one verse didn’t burn up. He stuck the fragment in his pocket. It said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Beginning with that night, the Lord began to speak to him. He stole another Bible, but this time didn’t burn it. Instead he took it home and secretly searched in it to find that verse. But after four months he still couldn’t locate it. In anger he went to the church on a Sunday morning and kicked at the door while people were singing. They let him in and demanded, “Where is this verse!” It only took them a minute to locate John 14:6. Then his question was, “Who is the person who said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life?’” The answer was, “That’s Jesus.” “Then I want to follow him,” he said.

But he didn’t tell his parents. He left home. But after working in other cities for a few years, he went back home to tell his parents. He wanted to tell them about his conversion before he got baptized. His parents’ response was what might be expected. A huge argument erupted. He was stabbed twice in the back. Then someone took a huge rock and cracked his skull with it. When he came to, his body had been thrown out in the jungle. (At this point, still on the way to the airport, he took my hand and placed it on his head, so that I could feel the indentation in his skull.)

Then I said, “Your story is almost like the man who is working with me to create a new New Testament translation for Muslim background believers in Indonesia. His name is ___ (we’ll call him Zack today), He’s also from Aceh. He also was almost killed when he believed in Christ because of reading a Bible.” Then the taxi driver said, “Oh, Zack! Is he real short?” And I said Yes.

There are around 20,000 Bluebird taxi drivers in Jakarta. What are the chances that I would be picked up by a driver who had met Zack two months earlier? And this happened on the day I was traveling to meet a consultant for the special NT translation being prepared for such people!

I want to repeat and hopefully simplify a couple of announcements I made in my News from Jakarta post one month ago. (That was a text only post, not a podcast. I recorded a podcast, but experienced a software meltdown making it so that I couldn’t edit my recording.)

• If you access the Daily Bible Reading podcasts via the Devotional Content page inside the YouVersion app, then I want you to be aware that the search string encoded in the Podcast Choices link is often not working well. Try adding the letter p to the front of that search string, or if you search for podcast released this year, add the letter y to the front of that search string.
• The same is true for the DBR website as well. If you just search for a day number 130, (and search without any other characters from the file name) you will also find all the podcasts that include Psalm 130 as well. It is better to add a few more letters matching the file name of the series you want to listen to, in order for your desired podcast to come up on the top of the results.

May the Lord bless you 'real good'!

 

Check out this episode!

News from Jakarta 19April2018

Hi everyone!

I tried to record this update here in Jakarta and failed miserably! The audio editing app that I tried to use on my tablet wasn’t able to export the finished product. So all I can do is post this text update.

I took my wife (Gale) to the airport in the middle of last night. She is now in a plane on the way across the Pacific bound for Chicago. Tomorrow at a similar red-eye time, I will be on my way to Makassar in South Sulawesi, and after a couple of days I will go from there to Papua.

This was Gale’s first time back in Indonesia since 2005. And this was a totally new experience to her, because she never spent any time previously in Jakarta, the capital city. The main event was (of course) spending time with Hannah and Brandon’s family, including Ava (9), Joel (8), and Devin (2). I read Tales of the Kingdom and Tales of the Resistance (by David and Karen Mains) to Ava and Joel. (Those books are included for your listening pleasure in the Joy Sightings series, starting at episode 012. When I recorded them, I didn’t anticipate that I would ever get to read those books to Ava and Joel in person.) All our time with the kids was precious. Devin is increasing in his vocabulary daily, but unfortunately he never mastered the difference between saying Gramma and Grampa. He knows Grampa better, because I am here more than Gale. So I am sure Gale will want to come again, so that she can hear him say Gramma.

One special highlight with Hannah’s family was visiting the Safari Park (Taman Safari) in Bogor. (There is another similar park in Bali.) The Bogor Safari Park is a world class attraction and we would have gladly spent another day there.

I want to make a couple of announcements:

• This announcement is only for people who are a few days ahead in the yearly 3D schedule: Tomorrow I leave for Papua for almost 2 weeks, and right now Papua does not have Internet because of a break in an undersea fibre optic cable. So I have queued up episodes in the NL and GN series through May 6. The problem is that when I rename an episode and place it in the queue, that episode is no longer available under the old name. So if you are one who is listening ahead of schedule and looking for one of last year’s episodes (let’s saya you are 10 days ahead), you may need to pick one of the older episodes with the same day number. The newer series has names that start with NL and GN, and the older ones have names that start with NLT and GNT. (The difference is between NL and NLT.) Sorry for this temporary glitch.
• Second: This announcement is for those who listen to DBRP episodes using the YouVersion Bible reading app: On some devices (like my Android tablet), the automatically generated search string is not specific enough. Let’s say (for example) that I hit the Podcast Choices link in the YouVersion app for day 114. The search string that will appear at the top of the results page is _114. But unfortunately, that will return results that include the episodes where Psalm 114 was read, and any other episodes that include the number 114 anywhere in the devotional text. So, from now until we finish the book of Psalms, it will help you find the episode you want if you put one or more letters of the file name in the search string. If you are searching for one of this year’s series, put a y (or the whole word ‘day’) before the underscore. If you are searching for an older episode, put the letter p before the underscore. (Older episodes have the letters DBRP before the underscore.) My tablet will only show about 6 search results, and that often isn’t enough for me to see the episode I want. Make a more specific search string, or use the dailybiblereading.info web site. The website shows more results when using an abbreviated search string.

 

 

I want to share some prayer requests with you:

• I will soon be in Papua. There are five of my translation team members who live in Papua. It will be more difficult to work with the team members without the aid of the Internet. I think that the Lord may have other plans for my time in Papua. Perhaps the Lord would like for me to spend more time in Orya villages. The Orya people are the ethnic group we worked with for 21 years, and I am more and more convinced that continuing contact with me is important in encouraging them to continue walking with the Lord. Another project is to work with my team in developing a new online Bible translation course. This new course is needed to make it possible for more volunteers to be involved in checking and revising our Old Testament translation.
• Please pray that the draft of the Old Testament will be finished sometime in 2020, and that it will all be checked so that we can publish it in 2022. Such quick progress would normally be considered impossible. Let’s pray for miracles to happen.
• I’ll be 72 in 2022. This is one reason Gale prays daily that someone will be appointed by the Lord to continue my work here. It would be best if the Lord would provide someone NOW, so that he or she could be mentored to lead our Bible translation organization into the future.
• Hannah’s husband (our son in law, Brandon) leads the Roshan Learning Center, which is a ministry to refugees who get stuck in Indonesia on their way to some other country. Most of them want to go somewhere like the USA, Canada, or Australia. Now is not a great time to be a refugee. I am thankful that the Lord has given a ministry to Brandon that perfectly fits his talents and is fulfilling as a ministry helping these people.
• • My main prayer request right now is for Hannah and Ava and Joel. There is one American family that is their close friends here. They have kids that match the gender and ages of Ava and Joel. But that family will return to the USA in June, leaving Hannah’s family rather friendless. Having few friends, and having to say goodbye to very close friends is a part of mission life. Trying to make friends with different families is difficult for them in this big city. Most often there are deep cultural differences between the families, or huge economic differences, or if they find an American family with kids the right ages, they may live hours away. So please pray for the Lord to give wisdom and help, and provide friends for Hannah’s whole family, including Brandon, and especially for Hannah herself, and Ava and Joel.

 

Thank you for praying for us!

May the Lord bless you ‘Real Good’.

Check out this episode!

NE-DBRP_014 GEN.25 GEN.26 JOB.14 MRK.9.1-29

The complete episode notes for this podcast are attached as a PDF file. Many podcast aggregator apps will not let you see these attachments. Using our dedicated DBRP listening app, you can get the PDF file by clicking on the wrapped present icon. Or you can find the PDF attached to this podcast at our website, dailybiblereading.info.

For information about all the different categories of podcasts under the DBRP banner, see dailybiblereading.info.

Here is the link to our Digging Deeper Facebook group. 

Check out this episode!

ThereBack_Again_Feb2018_first_trip

This podcast is sharing news from our family for February 2018. I will basically be commenting and adding to our recent e-mail update. If you want to be in the know about what is happening with us, use the link given in the episode notes to sign up for our e-mail updates. They are always entitled There, and Back Again. We’ve been using that title since around 1987 (which, by the way, was long before the Hobbit movie). Also, to see the pictures I will mention, please see the PDF file attached to this podcast.

Links:
If you would like to get our e-mail There, and Back Again letters, here is the link to sign up.  

• ReadMe First PDF
• Digging Deeper Facebook group

The PDF file can be downloaded from this episode’s page at dailybiblereading.info, or using our dedicated listening app. If you don’t have that app or have other questions, please see the ReadMe First file linked in the header of dailybiblereading.info.

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JoySightings_047

Three more parables from The Wit and Wisdom of Safed the Sage:

• The Next Time
• Eden and the Serpent
• The Height of the Sky

Check out this episode!

NL-Day_042

EXODUS 23-24:
Yesterday we heard laws regarding treatment of slaves, cases of personal injury, protection of private property, and social responsibility.

Job 42:
After three chapters of God confronting Job, Job gives his final response, and we hear of God’s blessings to him.

Luke 2a:
Yesterday in Luke, Mary visited Elizabeth, and we read Mary's song of praise, and later John's father Zechariah prayed his prophetic prayer.

GNT Translation notes:
Luk. 2:15 When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us [about].”
33 The child's father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon [had] said about him.
34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, [the child’s//his] mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against 35 and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”

NLT Translation notes:
Exo. 23:17 At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before [Me,/0] the Sovereign[, the/0] LORD .
25 “You must serve only [Me,/0] the LORD your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness.

Check out this episode!

NE-DBRP_013 GEN.24 JOB.13 MRK.8.22-38

The complete episode notes for this podcast are attached as a PDF file. Many podcast aggregator apps will not let you see these attachments. Using our dedicated DBRP listening app, you can get the PDF file by clicking on the wrapped present icon. Or you can find the PDF attached to this podcast at our website, dailybiblereading.info.

Check out this episode!

GN-Day_030

GENESIS 49-50:
In yesterday's reading, Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Joseph lead powerfully during the worst of the famine, and Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh— putting the younger Ephraim above his older brother. (And if you remember Jacob's story, you'll know where he got that idea.)

JOB 30:
In the GNT, this is the 2nd of Job’s three chapters stating his complaints. In the NLT, this is the 5th chapter of his monologue. Yesterday Job spoke of his previous blessed life and high position. In this chapter he tells of his anguish.

1PETER 4:
Yesterday in chapter 3 he gave instructions to wives, husbands, and all Christians— particularly when we suffer. NOTE: The final verses of chapter 3 having to do with Noah's day and spirits in prison have caused much debate. I agree with the maxim that states that in interpretation “Context is king.” It is therefore best to let the ending verses of chapter 3 be interpreted for us by what Peter says in chapter 4, verse 6. Let’s begin by re-reading 1PETER 3:17-22.

GNT Translation notes:
Gen. 49:12 [NLT puts in the text the alternate translation that GNT puts in the footnote: 12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.//GNT text:
12 His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine,
His teeth white from drinking milk.]
====
1Ptr. 3:20 These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat — eight in all — were [safely brought through//saved by] the water,
3:21 which [is//was] a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing away of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
4:6 That's why the Good News was given by Christ to those spirits in the world of the dead. Let that be a warning to all of us: God will judge all mankind according to what we have done. But the Good News has been given so that we can live with God forever. (PET)
[I don't agree with those who do all sorts of interpretational gymnastics in order to say that the spirits in this verse are not the same as those just a few verses before. One of the main principles of interpretation is to let Scripture interpret Scripture— and even more so when it is the same author and in the same context. (Remember that Peter is not the one who came up with the unfortunate chapter break here.) I call on those who feel it necessary to find a difference between the ‘spirits’ to examine the doctrinal principles that force them to go to such lengths. Is it your doctrine that people are never given a second chance for salvation after death? In that case, just consider that God was starting the world all over in the flood, and God has the right to make a special case for those pre-flood people. In our own case, I agree, God will not give us a second chance after death. Actually, the way we have translated verse 6 above eliminates the second chance problem.]

NLT Translation notes:
Job 30:9 “And now [even] they mock me with vulgar songs!
They taunt me!
====
1Ptr. 4:1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have [have made the decision to be] finished with sin.
6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead —so although they were destined to die like all people, they [could//might//now] live forever with God in the Spirit.
18 And also [the Scripture says], “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”

Check out this episode!

NL-Day_030

GENESIS 49-50:
In yesterday's reading, Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Joseph lead powerfully during the worst of the famine, and Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh— putting the younger Ephraim above his older brother. (And if you remember Jacob's story, you'll know where he got that idea.)

JOB 30:
In the GNT, this is the 2nd of Job’s three chapters stating his complaints. In the NLT, this is the 5th chapter of his monologue. Yesterday Job spoke of his previous blessed life and high position. In this chapter he tells of his anguish.

1PETER 4:
Yesterday in chapter 3 he gave instructions to wives, husbands, and all Christians— particularly when we suffer. NOTE: The final verses of chapter 3 having to do with Noah's day and spirits in prison have caused much debate. I agree with the maxim that states that in interpretation “Context is king.” It is therefore best to let the ending verses of chapter 3 be interpreted for us by what Peter says in chapter 4, verse 6. Let’s begin by re-reading 1PETER 3:17-22.

GNT Translation notes:
Gen. 49:12 [NLT puts in the text the alternate translation that GNT puts in the footnote: 12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.//GNT text:
12 His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine,
His teeth white from drinking milk.]
====
1Ptr. 3:20 These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat — eight in all — were [safely brought through//saved by] the water,
3:21 which [is//was] a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing away of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
4:6 That's why the Good News was given by Christ to those spirits in the world of the dead. Let that be a warning to all of us: God will judge all mankind according to what we have done. But the Good News has been given so that we can live with God forever. (PET)
[I don't agree with those who do all sorts of interpretational gymnastics in order to say that the spirits in this verse are not the same as those just a few verses before. One of the main principles of interpretation is to let Scripture interpret Scripture— and even more so when it is the same author and in the same context. (Remember that Peter is not the one who came up with the unfortunate chapter break here.) I call on those who feel it necessary to find a difference between the ‘spirits’ to examine the doctrinal principles that force them to go to such lengths. Is it your doctrine that people are never given a second chance for salvation after death? In that case, just consider that God was starting the world all over in the flood, and God has the right to make a special case for those pre-flood people. In our own case, I agree, God will not give us a second chance after death. Actually, the way we have translated verse 6 above eliminates the second chance problem.]

NLT Translation notes:
Job 30:9 “And now [even] they mock me with vulgar songs!
They taunt me!
====
1Ptr. 4:1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have [have made the decision to be] finished with sin.
6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead —so although they were destined to die like all people, they [could//might//now] live forever with God in the Spirit.
18 And also [the Scripture says], “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”

Check out this episode!

GN-Day_029

GENESIS 47-48:
In yesterday's reading, Jacob arrived in Egypt with his family. Excluding more extended family, the whole group numbered 70 people at that time.

JOB 29:
Yesterday we heard the chapter in praise of God’s wisdom, which GNT attributes to Zophar. Today Job speaks of his former blessings, in the first of three chapters which are the final statement of his case.

1PETER 3:
Peter packed each sentence with meaning. I encourage you to take time to read the first two chapters slowly and think about Peter’s descriptive words. Yesterday, for instance, we read the wonderful “Living Stones” passage— which pictures deep meaning about our spiritual identity because of our being built upon (or, joined as one with) Christ, the Cornerstone.

At the end of chapter 2, Peter taught about submitting to governmental leaders, and slaves submitting to their masters.

NLT Translation notes:
Job 29:12 For I assisted the poor in their need
and the orphans who [needed/required] help.
18 “I thought, ‘Surely [my death will come after a good, long life//I will die surrounded by my family
after a long, good life] and I will be surrounded by my family.
24 When they were discouraged, I [had only to smile//smiled] at them.
My look of approval was precious to them.
====
1Ptr. 3:15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about [where you have placed your hope//your Christian hope], always be ready to explain [about Christ/it].

Check out this episode!

NL-Day_029

GENESIS 47-48:
In yesterday's reading, Jacob arrived in Egypt with his family. Excluding more extended family, the whole group numbered 70 people at that time.

JOB 29:
Yesterday we heard the chapter in praise of God’s wisdom, which GNT attributes to Zophar. Today Job speaks of his former blessings, in the first of three chapters which are the final statement of his case.

1PETER 3:
Peter packed each sentence with meaning. I encourage you to take time to read the first two chapters slowly and think about Peter’s descriptive words. Yesterday, for instance, we read the wonderful “Living Stones” passage— which pictures deep meaning about our spiritual identity because of our being built upon (or, joined as one with) Christ, the Cornerstone.

At the end of chapter 2, Peter taught about submitting to governmental leaders, and slaves submitting to their masters.

NLT Translation notes:
Job 29:12 For I assisted the poor in their need
and the orphans who [needed/required] help.
18 “I thought, ‘Surely [my death will come after a good, long life//I will die surrounded by my family
after a long, good life] and I will be surrounded by my family.
24 When they were discouraged, I [had only to smile//smiled] at them.
My look of approval was precious to them.
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1Ptr. 3:15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about [where you have placed your hope//your Christian hope], always be ready to explain [about Christ/it].

Check out this episode!