This was a conference of many “firsts.” It was the first time Editorial Unilit published a hard copy study Bible (Biblia del Discipulo) at the same time as releasing an electronic version through Olive Tree.  Because of this Daniel had a chance to talk to a group of pastors about using BibleReader for Bible study.

Danny speaking at Expolit

Olive Tree and Unilit also gave away two Kindle Fires in a drawing held at the Olive Tree Booth. Along with the Kindle Fire these two will be given a small Spanish library with the Biblia de Discipulo, the Comentario de Matthew Henry, and the Nueva Diccionario de la Biblia from Editorial Unilit.

Marcelo Millán from Chile

Pastor Albert Moreno from Nashville, TN

Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham’s second daughter, is a powerful force for God’s Kingdom in her own right and was even called “the best preacher in the family” by her father. But Anne’s road to ministry was an uphill battle. She married early and had her first child at age 20. Several years later, Anne was struggling with depression as she cared for three small children and wrestled with her role as a stay-at-home mother. She wanted an opportunity to serve the Lord outside the home.

In 1975, God revealed an opportunity for Anne to lead a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group at her church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Though some disapproved of her choice, it quickly became clear, when the audience numbered 300 and counting, that Anne had found her niche.

After 12 years of ministry with BSF, Anne began to receive speaking requests both nationally and internationally and was shaped by other women in ministry, including Audrey Wetherell Johnson, the founder of BSF. Since then, Anne has started a non-profit called AnGeL Ministries, formed from her initials AGL, whose mission is to “give out messages of biblical exposition so that God’s Word is personal and relevant to ordinary people.” Anne’s ministry includes numerous speaking engagements and writing devotional books. Olive Tree has four of Anne’s books, including The Vision of His Glory, Just Give Me Jesus, Heaven: My Father’s House, and God’s Story, which will be on sale at OliveTree.com later this week in honor of Mother’s Day.

In Just Give Me Jesus, Anne longs for her readers to know God and reflects on her own life-long journey to know Christ:

“I am growing in my knowledge of God, and I say without hesitation or qualification that knowing God is my joy and reason for living. He is…

the Wind beneath my wings,

the Treasure that I seek,

the Foundation on which I build,

the Song in my heart,

the Object of my desire,

the Breath of my life—

He is my All in all!”

Encouraged by Anne’s example, may Jesus also be our all in all!

Today is the first Thursday in May, a day set aside by our country’s leaders as a national day of prayer. The Bible speaks of prayer often and encourages us with numerous examples of people who spent time in prayer. Examining the lives of those prayerful individuals in the Scriptures reveals that they are no different from you and me; they have their shortcomings and, in many cases, it is only through the Lord answering their prayers that they succeeded.

Learning to Pray from Moses

Moses’ example—that is, his overcoming his fear of public speaking and leadership—speaks volumes about prayer. Moses knew he wasn’t a capable leader of his people, so he spent much of his time in conversation with the Lord, often pleading for God to have mercy on the stubborn and rebellious Israelites. It was only through his conversations with the Lord that Moses was able to deliver Israel from Egypt.

Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ [God] said, ‘But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.’ (Ex. 3:11-12 ESV)

Moses continued to ask the Lord for guidance, and when it was clear Israel would need a new leader to take them in to the land, he appealed to God, saying:

‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.’ (Num. 27:15-18 ESV)

God provided Joshua to be the new shepherd to the Israelites, a direct answer to Moses’ prayer. However, not all of Moses’ prayers were answered. In Deuteronomy 3:23-28,  Moses pleads with God to let him enter the Promised Land with the Israelites.

 And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’

But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan.  But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’ (ESV)

God’s answer to our prayers, like His answer to Moses’ here, may be “no,” but the truth still remains that God is willing and ready to listen to our prayers, but we must be equally willing to speak to Him and listen for His answer.

As a Christian, prayer is an important part of spiritual life.  It’s a time when we draw into the presence of our Lord and offer Him our praise, thanksgiving, supplication and repentance. We want to encourage you today and every day to spend time taking advantage of the privilege of speaking to our Lord personally and intimately through prayer. The writer of Hebrews invites us to do the same:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:14-16 ESV)

Expolit, held this year in Miami, Florida, May 3-8, attracts thousands of daily visitors while showcasing Christian Spanish products and music with exhibitions, training seminars, workshops, powerful speakers and concerts. This the first Spanish-speaking conference we will attend, and the partnership with Unilit opens a new and exciting direction for us to build our Spanish-language offerings.

Biblia del Discípulo
Created by Unilit to help believers “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10) and formatted by Olive Tree for use in BibleReader, Biblia del Discípulo will
 prepare believers for evangelism, and help develop spiritual and personal growth through knowledge of the Bible.

Get 25% off of this great resource and other Spanish titles this week at OliveTree.com.

Olive Tree 30 Day Devotional

Compiled from great writers of the 19^th century—Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, Dwight L. Moody, F.B. Meyer and others — the Olive Tree 30 Day Devotional is a free resource that includes excerpted passages from the writings of these authors. Each day also includes a hyperlinked passage of Scripture and a topic for the day. Topics covered from day to day include faith, humility, witnessing, joy, prayer, provision, and many more. The words in this devotional will challenge you, encourage you, and spur you on to love the Lord with all your heart and to proclaim the Gospel with courage.

Olive Tree Places of the Bible

With careful research and many Scripture references, Olive Tree’s Places of the Bible is an invaluable resource for Bible study. Listed alphabetically, the places included in this resource range from Old to New Testament, from Greco-Roman cities like Alexandria to the Old Testament stronghold of Canaan to the Apostle Paul’s hometown of Tarsus. The descriptions for each city include a brief history of the place or city mentioned and its relevance to the biblical text.

This resource is best utilized in BibleReader’s Resource Guide. While reading 2 Chronicles 36 I came across “Babylon” and was curious about the significance of this place in the biblical text. I highlighted the word “Babylon” in verse 18 and then selected ‘Look Up Babylon.’ From there, a list of resources on Babylon appeared in a pop-up window, including an article from Olive Tree’s Places of the Bible. After reading the article, my understanding of the passage was greatly enhanced because the article provided me with history of the Israelites’ exile to Babylon and parallel texts in both the major and minor Prophets.

We encourage you to try Olive Tree’s excellent study tool on the places of the Bible to learn more about both the chronology and geography of the Bible. You can find a free sample of this resource here.

We pray these resources give you a deeper understanding of faith in Christ and of the richness of God’s Word.

Why use a concordance in BibleReader? Read below to see what a concordance can do for you. Screenshots are taken from BibleReader running on Windows.

Dictionary Look up

As you read along in your Bible or other resource, you can highlight a word and select “Look Up” from the menu of options. Immediately BibleReader searches your library for resources related to your selected word.

Click on the Olive Tree Concordance from the list of articles to see the entry for the selected word. Similar to a traditional concordance, the Olive Tree concordance gives you a listing of all the other places in the Bible where that word is used. BibleReader goes beyond the traditional concordance by creating hyperlinks for all the verse references, so as you click on one, a pop up window will take you to the Bible text, making a word study quick and easy.

Strong’s Numbering

You may have noticed that there is a number listed next to each verse reference in the concordance. This is the Strong’s number for your selected word. Strong’s numbers represent the word in the original language that was translated into your English word.

For example, when you look up “mercy,” you will get a different Strong’s number for the Hebrew words raḥam and ḥânan which are both translated as mercy in English, but have different meanings in Hebrew. When you tap or click on the Strong’s number h7356, the search will bring up all of the verse references in the Bible that contain the Hebrew word raḥam.

Strong’s Dictionary

In addition to the Strong’s Numbers, you will also receive access to the Strong’s Dictionary when you purchase the Olive Tree concordances. Next to each Strong’s Number in the concordance is a hyperlink to the “Dictionary.” When you tap or click on “Dictionary” a pop up will provide the original language definition. For example, when selecting “Dictionary” for h7356 (raḥam) the entry is:

h7356. רַחַם raḥam;  from 7355; compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden: — bowels, compassion, damsel, tender love, (great, tender) mercy, pity, womb.

AV (44)- mercy 30, compassion 4, womb 4, bowels 2, pity 2, damsel 1, tender love 1; n m

The dictionary information tells me that raḥam comes from the Hebrew root word with the Strong’s number h7355. I can find the dictionary information for the root word if I click or tap on h7355. The dictionary entry also gives a definition for raḥam and lists the occurrences of the word and how it is translated. There are 44 instances of the Hebrew word in the Bible, 30 of which are translated as “mercy,” four are translated “compassion,” and so on.

As you can see, the Olive Tree Concordances are much more than a list of cross references for each word in the Bible. With dictionary information tied to the original language, these resources are valuable tools for Bible study.  Each concordance comes with a copy of the Bible in the selected translation. If you already have the ESV or NKJV Bible in your Olive Tree account, you will get a significant discount on the concordances at OliveTree.com.

Head to our online store to check out these new offerings from Olive Tree!

• Olive Tree KJV Concordance

• Olive Tree ESV Concordance with ESV

• Olive Tree NKJV Concordance with NKJV

Chan’s books invite us to ask challenging questions and grow in our knowledge of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Erasing Hell invites us to ask the hard questions about life after death, including questions like “How could a loving God send people to hell?” and “Will people have a chance to believe in Jesus after death?”

Forgotten God offers us a chance to learn how the Bible speaks of God’s spirit and calls us to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

Crazy Love beckons us to live into an authentic faith that is marked by radical love for God and other people. Those who truly know God’s love will never be the same.

Reading each of these books in BibleReader offers you a great reading experience with the added bonus of Olive Tree’s hyper-linked verses. With Chan’s heavy reliance on Scripture, you won’t have to go back and forth between your book and your Bible. Rather, you can just click on the verses and have the Bible passage appear in front of you.

Chan is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He is developing a church-planting movement in the inner city of San Francisco and sits of the board of directors of several mission organizations. Chan is also working to launch a country-wide discipleship movement to help Christians deepen their walks with God.

Pick up one of Chan’s books today from OliveTree.com to help you grow in your knowledge and love of God.

We feast because Easter is a celebration of the abundant life we have in Christ. After the deprivation of Lent and the sorrow of Holy Week, it’s on Easter Sunday that we realize that life lived with Christ is truly abundant. To live in freedom and forgiveness with the promise of eternal life and the life-long companionship of the Holy Spirit, the in-dwelling God, is to live abundantly.

We feast on Easter Sunday because it reminds us that Christ’s Resurrection is truly great news. Just as we eagerly anticipate the time on Easter Sunday when we sit down at table with family and friends to enjoy good food and fellowship, so the great news of Easter is that Christ has opened up the table to everyone who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Because of the Resurrection, all who trust in Christ are invited to partake in the feast of Communion in which Christ himself offers us abundant life through the events of Good Friday, through the pouring out of His blood and the giving of His body.

May you experience the abundance of life with Christ this Easter as you celebrate the Risen Lord.

Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Coupled with the Good News of the Gospel is bad news about the human condition. As Paul writes in Romans, “There is no one righteous, not even one…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Humanity has gone astray and the only way to redeem this incredible wrong is for God himself, in human flesh, to take on humanity’s brokenness in suffering and death.

To sit in the Good Friday service or to read through the Passion accounts in the Gospels is not particularly enjoyable either. We are left to sit in darkness when Christ dies on the cross, pondering our part in Jesus’ death by our own sinfulness. It is with this realization that the cleaning of our spiritual lives begins, with an acknowledgement that the cleaning is necessary. It is Christ who cleans; Christ sweeps away our pride and washes away our sin. “’Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” Though the full spring cleaning, top to bottom, will come with Easter when Christ settles sin and death for good, we begin with the crucifixion.

And in doing so, we get our first glimpse of Easter.

~John 13:34-35

**

Mandatum. The Latin word for “command” is at the root of Maundy Thursday, the night in which Jesus issues the command to his disciples to love one another. In 1 Corinthians 11:24-26, Paul quotes Jesus’ Maundy Thursday words: “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do, this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Just as the joy of Easter is undermined if we ignore the sorrow and grief of Good Friday, ignoring Maundy Thursday also diminishes Easter’s joy. Maundy Thursday gives us a beautiful picture of Christ’s love-filled sacrifice in the Bread and Cup of Communion. It’s crucial that we remember that Jesus’ body was sacrificed for us. His blood establishes a new covenant with God that calls us to new life in Christ. Maundy Thursday thus forces us into the world around us to obey the command that Christ not only gave, but modeled.

This Maundy Thursday, may the love of Christ overflow from you into the lives of the people surrounding you!