Two For Thursday: Holiday Edition

Tags

Alexa, Amazon, Apple, Bible, Bible Reading Plans, CNET, Holy Bible, Ligonier Ministries, Siri

Today is the day after Christmas, and I’m already languishing at the fact that I’ll be heading off to work soon, thus, officially ending my Christmas Holidays.  To be honest, I almost feel as though I need an extra day to rest and relax – it was a busy few days.  All good things usually come to an end; however, and the Christmas Holiday is no exception.  Since that is the case, let me offer you a short, but hopefully helpful Two For Thursday: Holiday Edition.

If you didn’t already have one, some of you may have received an Amazon Echo for Christmas.  Like Apple’s Siri, Alexa has burst onto the scene for Amazon, and she is now prevalent in many smart devices that are being offered everywhere.  From thermostats to door knobs, smart remotes to garage door openers and everywhere between, you can find an Alexa enabled device.  But in order to utilize Alexa efficiently, or to utilize her to fullest potential, you need to know what commands to give her.  This is where a group of authors over at CNET have hit a homerun!  An article posted on December 11, 2019 (most current update), entitled “Every Alexa command to give your Amazon Echo smart speaker or display” lists more commands than you’ll probably ever use.  You can set a daily alarm, send texts, adjust lighting, play music, create a shopping list, etc.  There is so much you can do, and the list is ever expanding.  The Editor’s note states that the list was originally posted on April 13, 2016, but it is updated regularly.  Why don’t you head on over and learn all that Alexa can do?

Many people make reading the Bible in its entirety a priority for the new year.  And like most, I’ve started a plan many times through the years only to see it go by the wayside after a few months.  It shouldn’t be that hard to do, but it always seems to be a difficult discipline to master – that of reading the Bible daily.  For those of you that are committed to continuing the tradition of reading the Bible through in a year, I’d like to present to you a pretty exhaustive list offered by Ligonier Ministries with the catchy title “Bible Reading Plans for 2020”.  You can choose from a variety of different plans such as Chronological, Historical, Two Year plan, 5 day plan, and many others.  All come with a PDF or website link so that you can print or access the plan that is right for you.  So if you’re one of the many that will once again plan to read the Bible through in 2020, head on over and check out the list.  Whether or not you choose one of the plans listed, please be encouraged to read your Bible daily.

As promised, today’s post is short and sweet.  I trust that you’ll get some use out of the resources that are provided, and if so, how about dropping me a comment to let me know that you did?  Thanks

Two for Thursday: Bible Study Edition

Tags

app, Bible, Bible Study, Dallas Theological Seminary, Faithlife, God, Logos, Seminary, websites, YouVersion

We’re back for another installment of Two for Thursday, and I suppose if I had to add an additional hint to what type of resources will be included, I’d simply say “Bible Study Edition.”

Our first resource today is one that many of you may already be aware of, but in case you’re not, let me introduce you to Faithlife.

Faithlife Corporation publishes and creates electronic tools and resources for Bible study. It produces the Logos Bible Software, but also publishes tools and resources under a number of other brands, and partners with more than 500 publishers to offer over 120,000 Christian ebooks available to users of its software.

Logos Bible Software is a digital library application designed for electronic Bible study. In addition to basic eBook functionality, it includes extensive resource linking, note-taking functionality, and linguistic analysis for study of the Bible both in translation and in its original languages. It is developed by Faithlife Corporation. As of October 29, 2019, Logos Bible Software is in its eighth version.

For those of you that haven’t checked out Faithlife yet, you are in for a surprise!  Faithlife is a resource that is designed to work with churches and individuals to equip them for ministry and to deepen their knowledge of the Scriptures.  It is a centralized site that encompasses various other platforms such as:  Logos, Faithlife TV, and Bible Screen.  With a free account, you have access to a wide variety of web based Bible resources including commentaries, dictionaries, theological books, Bible translations, etc.  I will warn you; however, that it may take some time to find your way around the platform, especially Logos, to unlock all of its free content.  But if you take the time to do so, I’m sure that you’ll find that it is well worth it.  Before long you will have a library of free books and reference material at your fingertips!

The second resource is another that you may be familiar with and it is the very popular Bible App, powered by YouVersion.  Of the app, the website exclaims “Tens of millions of people are using the Bible App™ to make God’s Word a part of their daily lives. Download the free app and access your bookmarks, notes, and reading plans from anywhere. Enjoy hundreds of versions, including audio, all on your mobile device.”

 

This app is really incredible!  In addition to a wide variety of Bible reading plans, you have access to daily devotionals, Bible audio versions, and over 1000 Bible translations.  Videos are available, as well.  And if you are interested in maintaining a Bible reading plan, the app will send you reminders and keep track of your progress.  You can even set up a community with other users to keep track of what they are doing.  There are daily verses that can be shared via memes, or you can even create your own to share across social media platforms.

If you haven’t checked out the Bible App, I’d like to encourage you to go on over and do so.  It can greatly aid you as you seek to deepen your knowledge of the God of the universe!

BONUS RESOURCE…Just for today, I’d like to offer a bonus resource (free of charge), and it comes from the Dallas Theological Seminary.  Did you know that they offer online Bible courses for free?  Well if you didn’t, you do now!  I’m currently enrolled in a six week course on Romans, and here is a bit of the email that I received at the start of my course:

“My name is Jacob Beck, and I’m here to help you get the most out of this course. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at any time.

This course is designed to last six weeks, but you can go at whatever pace works for you. 

While these courses are not accredited at Dallas Theological Seminary or any other institution, they are adapted from the same classroom teaching that DTS students enjoy.

Once you complete all six quizzes, a certificate link appears close to the quiz section. You can click the link to download your certificate.
You can share this course with as many people as you want. You can use this Facebook sharing link, or you can direct people to courses.dts.edu to register for free.

If there are any more questions I can answer for you, just reply to this email and I’ll respond as soon as possible. 

If you didn’t know about theses free resources before today, I’m happy to share them with you.  I trust that you’ll find them packed with value, and if so, why not drop a comment to let me know?