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Bible commentaries are valuable tools to assist both the casual Bible reader and the serious student of the Bible.

Good Biblical commentaries are written by some of the brightest theologians in the church.  They provide a systematic series of explanations and interpretations of Scripture.

Keep in mind that commentaries are intended to provide additional insight into the Bible, never to replace it.

I recommend the IVP Bible Background Commentary for the Old and New Testaments.

The IVP New Testament, written by Craig S. Keener, presents fascinating, wonderfully useful information on the historical and cultural backgrounds of nearly every verse in the New Testament.   The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament

The IVP Old Testament Commentary also provides historical, social and cultural background for each Old Testament passage.

From Genesis through Malachi it gathers and condenses an abundance of specialized knowledge and makes it available to ordinary readers of the Old Testament. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament

If you want to enrich your understanding of the Bible order both the IVP Old and New Testament Commentaries.  I’m sure you will enjoy them.

Both provide not only historic information, but also what was happening in the society, in culture and in the everyday life of the people.  I have been using both for several years now and I highly recommend them.

Although I recently discovered that the entire Commentary for the IVP New Testament is available online free, I still prefer to have the hard copy.

There are also plenty of Free Classic Bible Commentaries Online.  In fact, most of the time, since they are in the public domain, (in other words, they were written a very long time ago) they are included free in most Bible software packages.

Just keep in mind that using old (19th-century or earlier) resources for Bible study may present valid insights for interpretation, but they should be used with caution, because of their age, and with awareness and acknowledgment of the original date of publication (rather than the date of the reprint or electronic version).

Bible Study 101

Here’s six easy steps to Bible study:

1.  When studying the Bible, don’t begin by reading your commentary.  Start with prayer.

Like Ezra, “prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord” (Ezra 7:10).  Pray for guidance, wisdom, understanding and application.

2.  Then open your Bible.  Select a passage of scripture and read it completely.  Read a few chapters before and after it to get a better idea of what is going on at that moment.   This will help you not to take a scripture out of context.

There’s a joke about a man who was depressed.  He opened the Bible randomly to see what God would say to him.  He came across the verse that says “And Judas hung himself…”.  Horrified, he turned to another random page and again read another scripture, it said, “Go and do likewise”.  Dejected, he opened the Bible again one final time and came to the verse, “What you must do, do quickly”.

You do not want to practice Bible study reading scriptures at random.  If you do, you may end up thinking like the man in the story above that God wanted him to kill himself.   The truth is the scriptures he was reading was a part of a bigger picture that have a much deeper meaning.  In fact the scriptures speak of a very positive, life-affirming message.

3.  You may also want to read the same passage of scripture in different versions of the Bible.  For Bible study I recommend reading a passage of scripture in at least three different versions of the Bible.  Many times reading a passage of scripture in a different version of the Bible helps to understand it better.  For a brief description of the main Bible translations click here.

4.  Think and take plenty of notes.

5.  Consider the background information, history, culture, customs, and people.  Here’s where the IVP New and Old Testament Commentary is extremely helpful.  If you still have questions (and you probably will) keep studying, ask your Pastor or Bible study leader for help and continue to pursue the truth.

Got a good Bible?

If you are new to Bible study get a good Bible.  I recommend the Zondervan NIV Study Bible and the Life Application Study Bible NIV.  There is also a new recently published Bible called the English Standard Version Bible, (ESV).  I do not have one yet, but it does appear to be a good one. You can preview it online here.

You may also want to start with a scheduled Bible reading plan.  In other words, when you want to study the Bible it is not recommended to jump around from text to text.  Read entire books or sections at a time.  Put a plan together that will help you to read the Bible systematically.

Free Bible Reading Plan

You can get a good reading plan from BiblePlan.org free.  They have reading plans that will help you read the Bible in a year, read Proverbs in a month, read just the words of Jesus, read just the Psalms or Gospels or read a plan that combines the New Testament and Old Testament.  BiblePlan.org provides several excellent choices.  After you pick a plan, they will email you the reading plan you selected free 5 days a week.  That’s way cool.  Don’t you just love the creative use of technology?

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

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Your business card can be an effective tool for your ministry.   It’s compact, energy-efficient, low-cost, low-tech, and keeps working for you hours, weeks and even years after it leaves your hands!

I use business cards for my Life Cell Group  (My Bible Study).  After speaking with someone and I invite him or her to my weekly gathering, I give them a business card.

The business card (or ministry card) includes my church name, my name, address, phone, day and time of meeting, web site, and has a cool full color background.  Instead of carrying flyers I carry business cards.  They are small enough to carry with me every where I go and they work.  Did I mention I get them for free yet?

Want to know how to effectively use your business card?  click on this.

Need business cards for your ministry?  Now’s the time to get some.  Check out the deal above from VistaPrint.com.  Buy 250 business cards for only $1.99 and get another 250 free.  You just can’t beat their prices.  I’ve ordered business cards from VistaPrint and 1to1Postcards and am a satisfied customer of both.

Below are several other places where you can get an excellent deal on full color business cards.

1to1Postcards.com provides 500 free full color business cards. All you pay is for shipping.

Is your business card boring?  Get a Moo card.  Starting at only $21.99 you get some of the coolest & exciting business cards around.

Ozoprint also has a good sale.  1000 full color business cards for only $9.99.

Business cards speak volumes about who you are, what you offer and how serious you are about, YOU.  Order yours today.

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You’ve probably heard this quote before, “if you don’t plan, you are planning to fail”.  Are you planning to fail?  Do you got your stuff together?  Need a little help?

Here’s an excellent program to help you organize your ministry (or any part of your life).  It’s an easy to use “to-do” list program that can also handle several projects at the same time.  Check out ToodleDo.com.  It’s awesome!

It’s a web based program that you can also access from any internet capable mobile phone.  The best part is that it works as a stand-alone application for the iPhone.

To me it’s more than a simple to-do list program.  It’s a project management tool.  Toodledo.com allows you to organize your tasks into different folders or projects.  For example, you could have a folder for work related tasks, one for ministry projects and another for home and another for your hobby.

If you use Google Calendar, Google Personal Homepage, Firefox, or IMified, Toodledo.com easily integrates with them.

How would you like to be reminded that a task is due soon?  You guessed it,  ToodleDo.com can do that too.  You can specify up to 5 different email addresses for your reminders.  You can receive reminders that a task is due by email or on any SMS device  (in others words you can receive text message reminders).

If you have a task that you do not complete on a certain day Toodledo.com will automatically roll it over to the next day (and the next day, and the next) until you complete it (very nice!).

What I really like (besides that it’s free) is that it works on the iPhone.

I’ve been testing the iPhone for a few weeks now.   My biggest concern has been the ability to transfer over all of my notes from my Palm Treo to an iPhone.

I have over 1200 task’s and memo’s in 12 different categories.  I just didn’t like the idea of copying them to another application one by one.  Toodledo.com has solved this problem for me by providing detailed instructions how to export my palm files and import them into ToodleDo.com

If you are using another task manager program ToodleDo can most likely import that data as well (including Palm OS PDA, Microsoft Outlook, Apple’s iCal, Excel, and data from RememberTheMilk.com).

I wrote about “Remember the Milk” earlier this year here.  I now prefer to use ToodleDo.com.  If your existing task manager can produce an iCal, XML, CSV or text file, then ToodleDo can import it.

If you don’t have a web enabled phone you still can use ToodleDo.com.  Just go to ToodleDo.com and log in.  ToodleDo.com will also let you print your to-do list in a booklet form (on plain paper) to carry with you (which is nice when you want to make a to-do list for someone else).

You can easily access your to-do list from almost any internet capable mobile phone.  All you need is a cell phone with a built in WAP or HTML web browser.

Since ToodleDo.com can be downloaded to your iPhone it acts as a standalone application (which means you can access all of your data even when you don’t have a good internet connection or you’re in a dead zone).

ToodleDo.com also synchronizes all of your data on your iPhone with it’s web version so you always have access to your data.

If you forget your phone one day, just go to a computer with internet access, login to your free ToodleDo account and access all of your info.

You can’t loose with ToodleDo.com.  It takes less than one minute to sign up, it’s free and it works!

If you haven’t already, you may also want to try Evernote.com.  It also makes a good task management system (if you get creative and make it work for you).  With Evernote.com you can create, snap, clip, drag & drop, email, scan, and record anything (text, photos, and even entire web pages) so that it becomes accessible and searchable to you at any time, from anywhere.  I use ToodleDo.com for my things to do and Evernote.com for my things to save.

What are your goals? Have you written then down yet?  If not, why not?  If you have goals written someplace are you following them?  I like the following quote from Frank Tyger who said, “Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you.”

If you want to be fruitful in your ministry, family, career, school, relationships, anything at all, you are the person who ultimately makes it happen (with God’s help of course).

I don’t remember who the author of this next quote is but there’s definitely some truth in it, it says, “If it is to be, it’s up to me”.  In other words, start prioritizing your things to do and make it happen.

If you need help getting things done, read Hab 2:2. It says, “Write down the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it”.   What are your goals?  Start by thinking, planning, writing down your goals and meditating on them so that whatever you do will prosper  Psalm 1:1-3.

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If you preach, teach Bible studies, or facilitate discussions in any manner, you know how important it is to communicate your message effectively.

For those of you who speak in front of people I think you will find this resource very helpful. The best part is that right now it’s on sale for only $14.95 (almost 50% off).

Get it for yourself of for someone you know that needs it. I have it and I recommend it. Even if you think you are already good, you can always get better.

Here’s what this book is about:

How to be a Public Speaking Superstar will show you how to develop public speaking skills which will draw out enthusiastic responses from the bottom of people’s hearts and stimulate them to action.

This book is a condensed write-up of powerful principles and easy-to-follow steps to writing and delivering spectacular speeches.

It will give you the crucial answers to such questions as “How do effective speakers really captivate their audience? How can they influence people by mere words? What can I do to be as successful as they are? How can I really conquer speech fright?”

After reading this book, you will be able to:

	Overcome your fear of public speaking.
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	Organize an introduction that will relax you and your audience.
	Identify the 3 qualities an effective speaker should possess.
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Do you want to be a more effective public speaker?

Do you want to experience the satisfying feeling of being able to conquer your fear and deliver memorable speeches with confidence?

Do you want to move multitudes of people to a certain course of action?

If so, then wait no longer. Grab your ticket to public speaking greatness and let yourself be heard.  Remember, this resource is on sale for only $14.95 plus it comes with a 90-day money back guarantee.

Here’s the bottom line.  If you don’t have the time or money to get yourself personalized training and attend expensive seminars in public speaking, click here and order your copy right now.  You’ll be glad you did and especially those in your audience.

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One of the nice things about technology is that it makes spreading theology a whole lot faster and easier.

In this post I’m going to introduce you to 4 Bible programs.   Two are for PC users and two are for Mac users.  Although there are a whole bunch of Bible programs, I’ve selected four that I use which so happen to be free.  I’ll let you know about a couple of Bible programs, that I also use, that are not free, on another day.

1.  E-Sword.net.  This is a Bible program that’s good and has lots of information.  It has everything you need to effectively start a good study of the scriptures.   The default version comes in King James Version w/ Strong’s numbers and Strong’s dictionary.  Not bad at all.

e-Sword is a fast and effective way to study the Bible

You can download any or all 16 different versions of the Bible in English at no cost.  They also provide the Bible in several different languages.

Optional free downloads for E-sword include; commentaries, dictionaries, graphics, devotionals and Christian classic books (like Fox’s Book of Martyrs by John Fox, Systematic Theology by Charles G. Finney, and The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer to name a few).

I really like E-sword’s search capabilities, the ability to view up to four version of a verse at the same time but especially its easy to use.  The best part is that you get all this free.  E-Sword stands up to several other Bible software that can cost you hundreds of dollars.

E-Sword is also available for Pocket PC users!  So if you’re on the go, that the Bible with you.

With Pocket e-Sword you have access to the same volume of scholarship within seconds, (just like the PC Desktop version) any time and anywhere!  You can have several versions of the Bible, commentaries, dictionaries & devotionals with you all the time.  Click here to download a copy.

2.  There’s another very nice free Bible program for PC users called,  InstaVerse.  It’s available at:  http://instaverse.com/.  I find it very useful.   It’s really more like an assistant.  When you type a scripture or your mouse pointer passes over a scripture the complete Bible verse appears in a small pop-up window.  This is very convenient.   You don’t have to stop what you’re doing and look up the verse, it’s just right there.  I wrote about this one previously.  Click here to check it out.

3.  For a free Bible program for Mac’s let me introduce you to MacSword.

MacSword is a free & open-source application for research and study of God and His Word. It is developed specifically for Macintosh computers running Mac OS X.

MacSword allows you to read and browse many different bibles translations in different languages from Hebrew to Albanian.  As well as reading devotionals, commentaries, dictionaries and lexicons, it also supports searching and advanced features such as services so that you can access the Bible in any program.

And because MacSword is based on the Sword project, it is compatible with a growing collection of over 200 texts available in over 50 languages.

4.  Mac users can also use a cool little widget called, Logos Bible Widget.  Look up any Bible verse on your Mac instantly!

Simply type or cut and paste any scripture reference into the Logos Bible Widget and instantly see the entire verse.

Easier than grabbing your Bible off the shelf, faster than going to Bible Gateway, and best of all - it’s free!

What’s new in this version of Logos Bible Widget is the addition of the ESV Bible. That’s very nice!

If you’re not at your computer and want to read the Bible, read it on your cell phone.  I wrote about this previously here, here and here.   Let me know what you think.

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Here’s an inspirational message giving by a young man (Randy Pausch) giving his last lecture.  What you you say if you had this opportunity?

Randy Pausch - his last lecture

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Ever needed to copy something interesting from a web site (a picture, text, web site address) but don’t have a pen and you don’t want to email it to yourself plus you’re in a hurry?

In the past, I would have opened the notepad application and paste everything I need to it (except photos), then save the file.  If I was not using my computer I would have to email this note to myself.

Although I was able to do all this very quickly, I no longer have to go through this process anymore.

I now use Evernote.com It’s the most important free little program that I use on my PC.  It also works on my Mac and on my PDA.   It helps me to quickly copy text, photos, urls, jot down notes, etc.

The best part is that it synchronizes all of this info online.  All of this info is always available to me from however I choose to access it (on my phone, on the web, or on my desktop).  It even has a special app. for the iphone.  Here’s a short introduction to Evernote.

The next time you’re reading a cool devotion, see a good scripture, or just need to write down that inspired thought of yours, copy it to Evernote.com.  It’ll always be there.

Imagine having access to several of your sermons outlines, bible studies, devotions, etc. from any computer you’re working on.   Now stop imagining and copy those bad boys to Evernote.com.

This service is especially useful if you use several computers and always need access to your data.  Just log into your free account and it’s all there.

There’s so much more Evernote.com can do for you (like organize your tasks, your to-do lists, clip web pages and copy anything you see on your screen). Check it out and see if it works for you.  For a more complete task management system that’s free checkout ToodleDo.com

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A podcast is an audio or video file that is distributed over the internet.

A podcast is like a radio show that you download to your computer.  The best part is that you can listen to them anytime you want.  You can play podcasts directly from your computer (PC or Mac) or transfer them to your iPod or any mp3 player.  What’s really nice about podcasts is that they are grouped into channels just like every radio show is listed on a radio station’s channel.

People can easily subscribe to podcast channels which allows your computer to automatically check to see if any new podcasts are available.  If they are available, they are downloaded for you. You don’t have to keep checking to see if a new podcast is available.

Now you can learn how to make podcasts of your church sermons, discipleships, meetings, services, etc. with “Podcasting Made Easy“.  Broken down into easy to understand terms, this 24 page full-color report will teach you all you need to know about podcasting.  What it is, how to easily create them and begin profiting from this technology.

Podcasting is very simple for even the beginning computer user. In fact, there’s…   No hard-to-understand “techie” hardware or software to buy.  No special license or training to fight for (like regular radio broadcasts require).  Little to no money needed to get started and a very small learning curve (you’ll be up and running in no time).

Podcasting is like making a radio broadcast to the world.  Except for you only have to record your  voice once (at any time you want) and let listeners find your podcast on the web to listen to (at any time they want)!  You Don’t Have To Be A Recording Artist Or Computer Expert To Produce Your Own Podcast!  “Podcasting Made Easy” is ready for you right now (by instant download).  Click here to get started.

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Tomorrow,  (Sat.  July 27th, 2008)  I’m going to be running a 5K race.  I’m helping to raise funds for Victory Outreach International’s annual, “Run 4 Hope” Run and Walkathon.

My goal is raise $500.  Would you sponsor me?  $10, $20, $50. $100.

Any amount helps.  To sponsor me click here or on the photo.  Search for my name, Nick Gonzalez, and enter your info.  Thanks!  I appreciate your help.  If you have any questions send email to:  NickG at TheoloTech dot com.

Since 1967 Victory Outreach has been reaching out to hurting people around the world.  Today their outreach programs in Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and the Philippines provide a safe haven where children, youth and adults acquire skills need to overcome their past and become productive members of their communities.

To sponsor me click here .
Then search for my name, “Gonzalez, Nick” and enter your info.

Here’s an eBook that will show you how to prevent just about all of your PC problems.  In just a few minutes after receiving this instant download you can start the process.

If you just bought a new PC learn how to avoid getting charged for unnecessary computer programs (like virus programs) and why not to use the free trial period software programs, and more.

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In just 45 minutes you can get rid of dangerous programs that make your life miserable (Like Spyware, Adware, And Malware).

You Don’t Have To Be A Computer Expert To Build A Virtual Wall Of Protection Around Your PC!  Leaving these types of vicious hacker software on your PC can have devastating consequences.

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• How to protect yourself from all three sources of PC mischief: Spyware, Adware, and Malware.
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• 2 key things you must do to keep yourself safe from viruses.|
• 4 rules to protect yourself from viruses.
• 5 reasons why Spyware can be much more dangerous than any virus.
• 5 places spyware may be hiding in your computer.
• 7 most common activities that can lead to Spyware getting on to your PC.
• 5 most common routes Spyware takes to get on your PC.
• 2 best Spyware detecting software programs (that you can find for free).
• How to set up your Internet Browser for maximum security. (If your settings don’t look like this - you may be putting yourself at risk!)

And that’s not all, find out how you can restore your PC back to it’s original, pre-infection condition! (This section is priceless!!!) Click below to place your order.   In just a few minutes after receiving this instant download you can start the process.

For a limited time the promotional price is only $4.95 (normally $9.95).  Each download also helps to support TheoloTech.com.

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Take your ministry, sermon, or any document at all with you and view or share them on your iPhone.

Avatron Software has announced that Air Sharing, their new app for the iPhone that lets you mount your iPhone or iPod touch as a wireless storage device.

It’s being given away for free for the first two weeks (release date was September 8th, 2008) so get it now.  Afterwards, it’s only $6.99.

Air Sharing turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a portable hard drive, letting you drag and drop files to your device and view documents on the go.

The best part is that it works wirelessly plus it works on any Mac, Windows PC, or Linux computer.

Just load all of your sermons, lesson plans, ministry files, or any document at all to your iPhone and you’ll always be ready.  It comes with an optional password protection feature and public folder or guest access.

Air Sharing is also a document viewer.  It can display iWork and Office files (including Office 2007 documents!), PDFs, images or pictures, HTML pages, and more.  It can even open, iPhone-formatted, audio and video files!  Get it now.

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Would you sponsor me for the Run for Hope? There’s only 3 days left.

Do you like this post? If so, subscribe to TheoloTech.com by Email or RSS FREE

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“Helping People in Ministry do Stuff Better and Faster
with Good Theology and Good Technology FREE! “

Church, Ministry, Evangelism, Bible Study, Theology, Technology and More!

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