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Living a Life of Wisdom Is Similar to Becoming a Great Jazz Soloist: An Interview with Daniel Grothe

Daniel GrotheWhat is the Bible’s blueprint for becoming the kind of person who can deal with all of life’s challenges? What is wisdom and how does a person acquire it? What are the practical steps to pursue in becoming wise? And how is living a life of wisdom similar to becoming a great jazz soloist?

Bible Gateway interviewed Daniel Grothe (@mrdanielgrothe) about his book, Chasing Wisdom: The Lifelong Pursuit of Living Well (Thomas Nelson, 2020).

What do you mean when you say people are wise who know how to handle whatever life throws at them?

Buy your copy of Chasing Wisdom in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

Daniel Grothe: Mike Tyson once quipped, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Scores of people think they have a coherent and thoughtful approach to life, but we all know that a plan doesn’t mean much of anything when something goes horribly wrong. The unexpected funeral. The sudden loss of a job. Children that have wandered from the faith into the “far country” of their own foolishness. These are the moments that level the playing field of the human experience. Life moves on all of us.

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Sneak Peek: My Name Is Tani

The following is a Bible Gateway exclusive Sneak Peek and First Listen of My Name Is Tani . . . and I Believe in Miracles: The Amazing True Story of OneBoys Journey from Refugee to Chess Champion (W Publishing, 2020) by Tanitoluwa Adewumi. Order the book and unabridged audiobook on CD in the Bible Gateway Store.

Buy your copy of My Name Is Tani . . . and I Believe in Miracles: The Amazing True Story of One Boy's Journey from Refugee to Chess Champion in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

By Tanitoluwa Adewumi

[Before escaping to America] Ever since they abducted 276 girls from a high school in northeast Nigeria in 2014, the whole world has known the name Boko Haram. They are the nigerian Taliban, the West African cousin of ISIS, and their aim is to establish an Islamic state or caliphate in my homeland. They are ruthless and wicked, the type of people who post videos online of men they have captured being decapitated. The kind of animals who do not just abduct schoolgirls but use many of them as suicide bombers….

[After escaping to America] ….Every evening, after we had eaten dinner and before I left for work, we would all gather in either the boys’ room or ours to talk, read the Bible, encourage each other, and pray. It was a ritual that Oluwatoyin and I had been practicing ever since we had married, but the threat from Boko Haram had certainly made us pray longer and louder. So had the struggles in Dallas and the new start in New York.

One night Oluwatoyin was telling us about how she had been talking with one of the women who worked as a security guard for the main hotel downstairs.

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Bible News Roundup – Week of April 5, 2020

Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter
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Good News About the Good News: Bible Available in Languages Used by 5.7 Billion People
Eternity News

Ohio Pastor Publishes New Bible in Burmese
Missions Box

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Praying the Names of God: Hope Is Brightness That Can’t Be Quenched

By Ann Spangler

Ann SpanglerPeople’s names in the ancient world did more than simply distinguish one person from another. They often conveyed the essential nature and character of a person. This is especially true when it comes to the names of God recorded in the Bible. The book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide explores the primary names and titles of God in the Old Testament to reveal the deeper meanings behind them. El Shaddai, Elohim, Adonai, Abba, El Elyon—God Almighty, Mighty Creator, Lord, Father, God Most High—these are just a few of the names and titles of God that yield rich insights into his nature and character. Each day this week we’re focusing on one of the primary names or titles of God. By incorporating the divine names and titles into your own prayers—and learning about the biblical context in which the name was revealed—you’ll gain a more intimate understanding of who God is and how he can be relied on in every circumstance of your life. I pray these posts will lead you into fresh encounters with the living God.

Buy your copy of Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

[Read the Names of God Bible (NOG) on Bible Gateway]

Miqweh Yisrael—Hope of Israel: Promises Associated with God’s Name

A few years ago a friend of mine was diagnosed with late stage colon cancer. There was nothing that could be done for her medically. But Judy was a woman of boundless hope, who was certain God meant to heal her. She prayed and many people prayed for her. She took good care of herself and tried alternative medical approaches, hoping for a cure. She read books that increased her hope and her faith. She had a powerful will to live.

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Free Download of the New Song: Yes Amen

Sign up to receive the free MP3 file of the song Yes AmenThe Bible consistently communicates the fact that God is our source of certainty in uncertain times. When a pandemic strikes, when the economy falters, when today is nothing like we expected yesterday, we can take solace from Scripture, knowing that God’s promises never fail. Philippians 4:19 says, “God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” It’s reassuring to remember that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, COVID-19: Bible Reading Plan of Assurance]

God seems to do his greatest work in the middle of great turmoil. And for these times, God has given us glorious promises to confidently declare to the world; not as if they might happen, but as YES and AMEN.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage, Joel Kirby, administrator at Dreamer’s Church in Austin, Texas, has written the new song YES AMEN as a declaration of God’s wonderful life-changing promises specifically for these troubling times.

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Praying the Names of God: The Confidence of Hope

By Ann Spangler

Ann SpanglerPeople’s names in the ancient world did more than simply distinguish one person from another. They often conveyed the essential nature and character of a person. This is especially true when it comes to the names of God recorded in the Bible. The book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide explores the primary names and titles of God in the Old Testament to reveal the deeper meanings behind them. El Shaddai, Elohim, Adonai, Abba, El Elyon—God Almighty, Mighty Creator, Lord, Father, God Most High—these are just a few of the names and titles of God that yield rich insights into his nature and character. Each day this week we’re focusing on one of the primary names or titles of God. By incorporating the divine names and titles into your own prayers—and learning about the biblical context in which the name was revealed—you’ll gain a more intimate understanding of who God is and how he can be relied on in every circumstance of your life. I pray these posts will lead you into fresh encounters with the living God.

Buy your copy of Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

[Read the Names of God Bible (NOG) on Bible Gateway]

Miqweh Yisrael—Hope of Israel: Praying the Name

Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.
(Job 13:15)

My soul waits for the Lord
      more than watchmen wait for the morning,
      more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
      for with the LORD is unfailing love
      and with him is full redemption.
(Psalm 130:6-7)

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Even Non-Believers Can Agree on Facts Concerning Jesus: An Interview with Justin W. Bass

Justin W. BassDid you know that, even though they don’t believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, scholars who are not Christians do agree with believers on some matters concerning Jesus? Surprisingly, there’s a lot upon which everyone can agree. When surveying historical scholarship, Christians, agnostics, and skeptics have no other option but to affirm certain truths about Jesus.

Bible Gateway interviewed Justin W. Bass (@DrJustinbass) about his book, The Bedrock of Christianity: The Unalterable Facts of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (Lexham Press, 2020).

Buy your copy of The Bedrock of Christianity in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day

You write that scholars from “Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, agnostic, atheist, liberal, and conservative” perspectives can agree on facts concerning Jesus. What led you to this conclusion?

Dr. Justin W. Bass: Yes, this is extraordinary. Scholars from a wide range of backgrounds, nationalities, religions (or no religion), do agree on a number of historical facts concerning Jesus and early Christianity. I discovered this during my years in seminary and doctoral studies, through rigorous study and research, that some historical facts about Jesus, similar to Caesar crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC or the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, have not (and I would say cannot) be denied. They are Archimedean points of history.

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Praying the Names of God: Our Hope for Years to Come

By Ann Spangler

Ann SpanglerPeople’s names in the ancient world did more than simply distinguish one person from another. They often conveyed the essential nature and character of a person. This is especially true when it comes to the names of God recorded in the Bible. The book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide explores the primary names and titles of God in the Old Testament to reveal the deeper meanings behind them. El Shaddai, Elohim, Adonai, Abba, El Elyon—God Almighty, Mighty Creator, Lord, Father, God Most High—these are just a few of the names and titles of God that yield rich insights into his nature and character. Each day this week we’re focusing on one of the primary names or titles of God. By incorporating the divine names and titles into your own prayers—and learning about the biblical context in which the name was revealed—you’ll gain a more intimate understanding of who God is and how he can be relied on in every circumstance of your life. I pray these posts will lead you into fresh encounters with the living God.

Buy your copy of Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide in the Bible Gateway Store where you'll enjoy low prices every day[Read the Names of God Bible (NOG) on Bible Gateway]

Miqweh Yisrael—Hope of Israel: Praying the Name

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
(Hebrews 6:19)

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
(Psalm 46:2-3)

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What Does the Book of Proverbs Say About Fools?

The fool of the courtProbably the most well known verse in the Bible about the definition of a foolish person is Psalm 14:1The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” The apostle Paul seems to build on that concept when he writes in Romans 1:20, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

But the book of Proverbs was specifically written millennia ago to clearly contrast the dismantling ways of foolishness with the restorative properties of wisdom. According to the NIV Study Bible Notes, “Proverbs was written to give “prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young” (1:4), and to make the wise even wiser (1:5). Acquiring wisdom and knowing how to avoid the pitfalls of folly lead to personal well-being, happy family relationships, fruitful labors and good standing in the community. Although Proverbs is a practical book dealing with the art of living, it bases its practical wisdom solidly on the fear of the Lord (1:7).”

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, What Does the Bible Say About Fools?]

Here, then, are several proverbs warning us not to be fools:

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How to Live the Bible — Eternity in Our Hearts

howtostudythebible

This is the ninety-ninth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

Mel Lawrenz will be offering daily online ministry during this health crisis. Sign up here.


There is a remarkable statement in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament which says: “God has made everything beautiful in its time; he has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Though we are made creatures–breathing, eating, sleeping, reproducing bodies along with the rest of the mammals–we also have this characteristic that keeps us looking to the spiritual side of life. God has “set eternity in the human heart.” That is why we want to believe.

Road to eternity illustration

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