I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting Bibles. The NIV Lifehacks Bible: Practical Tools for Successful Spiritual Habits is a new Bible that just released last month. From the publisher: A “Lifehack” describes any advice, shortcut, tip or skill that will help you get things done more efficiently and effectively. The NIV Lifehacks Bible uses “lifehacking” methods to give you practical and achievable tools to integrate spiritual habits into your busy, technology-centric, 21st century life. With 365 articles... Read more

One of the many books I’m using as a source for my revised version of The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, due to release in the future, is Coming Out Christian in the Roman World: How the Followers of Jesus Made a Place in Caesar’s Empire. The book takes an intriguing look at the first-century Roman world in light of Christianity. While I may not agree with all of its conclusions, I value the historical data. Here’s a... Read more

The Bible transcends time. Its message lives and breathes for people in every age—be it premodern, modern, or postmodern. The latter is the world in which we find ourselves. In my 2009 book, From Eternity to Here, I presented three tales that sought to narrate God’s ultimate passion. Those tales are solidly grounded in Scripture. In fact, they embody the whole story of Scripture, streaming through it like a constant current. (Of course, they are my interpretation of that story.)... Read more

One of the most imaginable horrors in life is that of losing a child. Laura Diehl has come out with a powerful new book on this very subject, written from first-hand experience. It’s called When Tragedy Strikes. I caught up with Laura recently to discuss her new book. Enjoy! Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’s behind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit from reading... Read more

The groundbreaking discipleship course, How to Live by the Indwelling Life of Christ, is open for registration until June 13th. I’m asking those of you who are Jesus-followers to respond to someone who wrote us recently with the following. Maria [name changed] gave us permission to post her email to my blog readers. Some information about her. Maria is 30 years old and is from Iowa. She now lives in the Northeast USA. She was raised Catholic then turned non-denominational... Read more

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Earlier this year (2016), Richard Longenecker published his long-anticipated commentary on Romans. The Epistle to the Romans (New International Greek Testament Commentary). The commentary is a titanic coming in at 1,140 pages total. His primary interlockers are C.K. Barret, C.E.B Cranfield, James D. G. Dunn, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Robert Jewett, Ernst Käsemann, Douglas J. Moo, Arthur C. Headlam, William Sanday, and a host of others. (Scholars enjoy sparring with other scholars. Unfortunately, most of them ignore the insights of those... Read more

The following is a guest post written by Daniel Passini. Enjoy! — Giving is one of the hallmark signatures of any follower of Jesus. Well, at least it should be. Too many times though we wait for a program, an organization, or a drive of some sort to move into action. Why not get to work on our own? Why not be proactive in your own ability? It’s not the job of the government to take care of those in... Read more

One of the many books I’m using as a source for my revised version of The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, due to release in the future, is The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament within Its Cultural Context by Gary Burge, Lynn  Cohick, and Gene Green. This is a masterfully crafted survey of the New Testament. It’s colorful, substantive, and Paul’s letters are arranged in chronological order (an uncommon plus). Context is hugely... Read more

As most of you know, Mary DeMuth was my co-author for my latest book, which was a bestseller. The Day I Met Jesus: The Revealing Diaries of Five Women from the Gospels hit the CBA bestseller list at #2 out of all books and #1 in Christian Living the month it released. In the Preface of that book, I made the statement that Mary is the best Christian fiction writer on the planet. So if you read Christian fiction, you’ll... Read more