Phil Ressler

I found this on this interesting article on password security. This chart breaks down how long it will take someone to hack your passwords if they know what they are doing. The moral of the story, don’t use weak passwords.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. Deuteronomy 17:18-20

The book of Deuteronomy was written long before the nation of Israel would have a king. But God in his divine wisdom knew that the day would come. So he offers these words of instruction to Moses to be passed down from generation to generation for the time when the first king would be appointed.

The final word of instruction is for the the king to write on the scroll a copy of the law. He is then to read this copy on a daily basis to learn to “revere” the Lord and to obey everything that is said. At the end God holds out a promise that if the king does this, he will be successful and God will prosper him.

Here is what I noticed. First, the king is told not just to read the scroll, but to write down the scroll. For many years I was in the habit of reading the Bible. In the last year I have started journaling. This has made a big difference in the application of God’s Word in my life. I had never journaled before, because I didn’t really understand what journaling was. In my mind, journaling wasn’t much different than writing a personal diary. That did not seem very exciting for me. The turning point for me was reading The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro. It helped me to understand for the first time what journaling was. Since then I have taken to the practice and it has been very beneficial for me. Not am I just reading the Word, but I am taking away more practical application.

Another thing the king is told is to keep a copy of the scroll with him. We live in a day an age where it is easy to have the Word of God with us all the time. I recently did a review of a number of iPhone Bible apps. My iPhone is with me all the time, so that means I always have the Bible with me. Many of us carry around similar electronic devices that we can literally take the Word wherever we go. However, we should not be content just to know that we can always look something up. Your iPhone battery might die. You might drop it and break it. There is not guarantee that the written Words on a page or computer screen will always be with us. So carrying the Bible with us is no substitute for placing the Word on our heart and committing it to memory.

The third thing is to read it. Its not just enough to possess the word, but we need to open it up or turn on the screen and read it. The king is instructed to read it every day. Did you catch that. He is instructed to read that everyday. Not just some days. Not just on the days that you are feeling down and need a word of encouragement. Not just when you are looking for answers. But everyday.

I am no king. But I am a leader at Lord of Life. I am the head of my family. I have tremendous influence over other people. I may not influence as many people as the king, but nevertheless I have a tremendous influence over many people. No doubt you have influence over others as well. It might be only one or two people, but we all have influence.

I remember in seminary a professor telling our class that as pastors we should know the Bible better than anyone in our congregation. I have taken that to heart. It is sort of what God is saying here to the king. The king should know the Word better than anyone else in the kingdom. He needs to live and breathe the Word that nothing he does is apart from the Word.

What separates those who are instructed in the Word and those who are not is not brainpower. The only difference is a matter of time. Those who are instructed have simply spent time at the feet of the Savior listening to him. There is nothing keeping you from being proficient and effective in the Word other than time spent.

So have you opened the word yet? If not why don’t you shut off the computer and open it up. Or if you don’t want to turn off the computer screen, then check out www.youversion.com or www.biblegateway.com.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

A few days back I did a review of a few iPhone Bible Apps. I found a new app today. It is not necessarily a Bible App. It is called Rhema Word. Rhema is a Greek word that means living voice of God.

This app provides paraphrased Bible Verses that speak the truth of God into various situations we encounter in life. The app is free and it is very simple. If nothing else it provides a Word of encouragement just to read the list of the verses used in this app.

If you are an iPhone user, check it out. You have nothing to loose. It is free. Here is a link: http://skyballoonstudio.com/rhema

Spring is a season filled with hope. It is the time of the year we celebrate Easter. Baseball Opening Day is less than a week away. It is a time when anything is possible. Every fan is optimistic about their team’s chances of winning it all, unless you live in Chicago and are a fan of the Cubs.

“Easter is a feast and is celebrated as the feast of freedom. For Easter is the beginning of the laughter of the redeemed and the dance of the liberated . . .

Since earliest times Easter hymns have celebrated the victory of life by laughing at death, by mocking at hell, and by making the lords of this world absurd. Easter is God’s protest against death. Easter is the feast of freedom from death.” -Jurgen Moltmann

This video has become a favorite Good Friday Tradition at Lord of Life. I could watch it over and over.

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Christ is risen!

Do you know the response?

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

I read an interesting story earlier this week about this common Easter Greeting:

Dr. George Sweeting tells of an incident in the early 1920s when Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address an anti-God rally. For an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in ruins. Then questions were invited. An Orthodox church priest rose and asked to speak. He turned, faced the people, and gave the Easter greeting, “He is risen!” Instantly the assembly rose to its feet and the reply came back loud and clear, “He is risen indeed!”

This weekend is the highlight of the year for us as Christians. It is this week we celebrate the greatest victory ever. Christ is Risen! He is alive. It is a time of joy. It is a time of celebration. It is a time to smile.

We have great reason for joy. Because Jesus is alive, we know that no matter what we endure or experience, Jesus has overcome. There is no power, or force, or authority to be found anywhere in the universe that has power or mastery over us. Jesus defeated the one thing in this world that is most certain. And now because he lives, we who believe, will live new lives too.

Maybe you are feeling defeated today. You can relate to the disciples. No doubt those disciples felt defeated on Friday and Saturday. If only they had known what Sunday would bring.

That is what faith is about. It is about living on Saturday, knowing Sunday is coming.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Ever since I have had my iPhone, I have been looking for the perfect Bible App. Back when I got my first Palm 10 years ago, I found the Laridian Bible for the Palm. This was a great application for my Palm and I got a lot of use out of it.

Unfortunately, when I moved to a Blackberry I was not able to find a Bible application that matched the quality of the application I had on my Palm. Because of this, I did not often use the Bible on my Blackberry. The Blackberry app was slow and much less intuitive.

Enter my new iPhone. With tens of thousands of apps for the iPhone, I was certain I would be able to find a good quality Bible app that would surpass the quality of my former Palm application. At the very least I would be able to find an app that was at least on par.

I have since found three applications that have made me happy. Each of these three Bible apps have their strengths and weaknesses. There are other apps out there. But these three stand out for me.

First, let me say I am biased to modern translations. There are many applications which allow access to the King James Version. But when I am looking for a Bible application, I am looking for one that has access to the NIV, ESV, and/or the NLT.

YouVersion

The first application I found was the widely popular YouVersion by the people at LifeChurch.tv. What is good about this app is that it free and has all the major translations available. It is also connected with the YouVersion website. The YouVersion app is backed by a large community and the app allows you to contribute and interact with that community.

What I don’t like about the YouVersion app is that most of the Bibles are available through your online connection. What this means is that if your connection is slow or worse case, you have no connection, the app will not work very well. A second thing that is problematic for me with the YouVersion app is that it scrolls the text. My preference for reading is to read by page (similar to the Amazon app).

Laridian Pocket Bible

The second app was a great surprise. I discovered the Laridian had come up with an iPhone app called the PocketBible. I was excited about this. What made me excited about this was my license for my former Palm application worked for my iPhone. I would have all translations I purchased for my Palm available on my iPhone.

This app is very different from the YouVersion app. Both apps are free. However, you need to purchase the individual translations for the Laridian Pocket Bible. These typically run between $15-20 each, but you can often find coupons. The advantage is you download the translations directly onto your iphone. There is no need to rely upon the internet connection when reading the Bible. The obvious downfall of the PocketBible is that the translations are not free.

I like the interface of the PocketBible better than YouVersion. With YouVersion you need to type in the the name of the book you are looking up. PocketBible offers and easily accessible table of contents (see pic below) that allows you to easily look up specific verses. Another thing I appreciate about the PocketBible is that you navigate by page turning rather than scrolling. Again this is something that is likely personal preference. You should also note the PocketBible does not offer the online community experience of YouVersion.

The biggest downfall of the PocketBible which is a major problem is that it is buggy. I often find that when I turn pages it will skip multiple pages at a time. This can be frustrating. This problem seems to be a frequent occurrence and because of this unreliability I typically use YouVersion.

Update: Craig from Laridian contacted me after doing this review.  You can see the his reply in the comments below.  It seems I did not fully understand how the navigation worked.  It was not that the program was buggy.  The problem was user error – Me!  Now that I better understand the navigation, I am much, much more happy with this app and will likely go back to using this app as my primary app.  Craig points out there are 9 free Bibles available from Laridian and other books.  One thing I have always appreciated about Laridian is their customer support.  They have always been helpful and good to their customers.  They are a company that cares!  Keep up the good work Laridian.

Logos Bible App

The third application is my new favorite. I just discovered it. It is the Logos Bible App. This app is also free like the others. It is linked to the Logos Bible Software which is available for Macs and PC’s. I was disappointed the NIV was not available without paying for it, but the NLT and the ESV were both available for free. Translations are available through the online connection, but individual versions can be purchased and loaded directly onto the iPhone. What is really exciting about this app is that it also has Greek and Hebrew versions available. This is probably not important to most people, but having attended seminary and learned Greek and Hebrew, this is something quite exciting to me.

What I also really like about the Logos Bible Software is the clean interface. There are no menus or anything else when you are reading the text. Just the text and nothing else at all. To get the menus back, all you need to do is tap the screen and the menus will pop up.

I don’t have the Logos Bible software installed on my computer. The Logos version 4 software is not yet available for the Mac. It seems to me that the combination of the desktop/laptop software and the iPhone app could be a powerful combination. But the software is not cheap.

In summary, any of these programs will do you well. My favorite is the Logos app and is my new default iPhone Bible app. You should also know each Bible app has daily reading guides, but I don’t use this feature on the iPhone.

One other app that might be worth checking out is the Olive Tree app. I have not tried it, but it looks like another promising option.

Happy reading!

Conflict is a part of the world we live in. It is unfortunate when that conflict occurs between brothers and sisters in Christ, but it does happened. It happened with the disciples, it happened with Paul and Barnabas, and it happens with us today.

Sometimes the conflict gets to a point where we believe it cannot be resolved. We convince ourselves the other party just will not change. We become angry and upset towards them. It is at this point in time when we need to remember the words of Jesus in Luke 6:41 when he says, “Why worry about a speck in your friends eye when you have a log in your own?”

Here is the issue. When we look at the conflict, we tend to diagnose that the problem lies with the other person. No doubt the other party has contributed to the conflict. Jesus is not saying in this verse the other person is without guilt. But when we diagnose that the main problem lies with the other person, we are led to believe the solution lies with the other person as well. And so we wait and demand the other person to rise to the occasion to take responsibility for their actions. We are left paralyzed unable to respond allowing the bitterness to build in our hearts and mind and the conflict grows and we drift further apart.

However, if we listen carefully to Jesus word, we must recognize the solution is not within the other person, but within us. When you have a conflict with another believer you have the answer to the conflict. But you must know that it is not an easy answer. The answer is for you to be the bigger person and to humble yourself. The answer starts with you admitting your fault, your sin, and your blame in the conflict. This is hard. It is much easier to blame the other person for the conflict than it is to admit your own guilt and role in it.

This is not about saying I’m sorry. Saying I’m sorry often amounts to nothing more than saying I’m sorry this had to happen. Rather it is about walking in repentance and taking responsibility for our actions. To make amends for the ways in which we have hurt the other person. To say I am sorry and then not change a thing does not do the trick.

And here is the deal. The other person might not change. They may not say they are sorry. But that is not our goal. We can forgive them though they know not what they do. I remember someone saying something like that!

The motto of the story – don’t wait for the other person to change or you are going to find yourself waiting a long time. The power to resolve the conflict is within you. The Holy Spirit is within you. Don’t pass your calling onto someone else by waiting for someone else to solve your problems. God has given you everything you need and more.

Too busy? It is a common refrain. I just got back from vacation. I no more than get back and I get sucked right into the vacuum. The emails, voicemails, and mail were all piled up. Today, I have six different meetings to attend, not to mention putting the polishing touches on the worship services and messages for Holy Week. On top of all that, it was Abby’s birthday on Monday. We have two separate birthday parties this week for her. Oh, and then I couldn’t forget to send out this weekly email.

It is easy to get overloaded without really trying. Many Americans wear “too busy” as a badge of honor. We are sucked into the thinking that if we are not busy then there must be something wrong with us. But God did not call us to live busy lives but to live significant lives. Just because we are busy does not mean we are pursuing significance. I can just as easily be busy with insignificant things as I can be with significant things.

This coming Sunday I will be talking about the things that blind us to the work of God in our lives. One of those things is busyness. We get so wrapped up in our day to day affairs that we miss the big picture. When he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus indicates the Pharisees did not recognize God’s coming to them. (see Luke 19:44) They were blind to recognize who Jesus was. They were so busily focused on their rules, regulations, and religion that they could not see the Lord standing right before them.

At more than one point in time, you might have heard yourself saying, “I don’t have time!” The reality is we all have time. The question is how we use the time. We will always make time for that which is important to us. If we don’t choose what is important now, others will choose those priorities for us and we will find ourselves living far away from our priorities. Worse yet we will find ourselves living away from God’s priorities.

Living in significance is not always about saying yes. More often than not it is about saying no. It is about saying no to the things that provide us little or no value like watching TV for hours on end each night or compulsively browsing the internet without purpose or aim. It is also about saying no to some other choices that are good and have redeeming value, but will keep us from making the better choices. The thing that marks the most accomplished and successful people in any given field is that they are singularly and determinedly focused on one thing.

Neil Stephenson, an author, writes why he avoids correspondence such as email, voicemails, and such. He says, “I cannot respond to all incoming stimuli unless I retire from writing novels. And I don’t wish to retire at this time.” Now this is an extreme case. Most of us don’t have the luxury to avoid correspondence. But the point is clear. Neil Stephenson has chosen what is important for him and because of that he excels in his area of expertise.

So what are you pursuing with Jesus? Do you know what he is calling you to pursue? Maybe you are so busy you haven’t figured it out yet? Maybe you find yourself so busy that while you know what you have been called to pursue you find yourself continually distracted by other affairs?

We are filled with choices every day. I would imagine there are many things in all of our lives which we feel compelled to say yes to that we really could say no to. We probably all could use a little bit of pruning so that we will not make the same mistake the Pharisees made and fail recognize Jesus in our lives.

Lord, I pray you would give me this day a singular focus. I pray that my choices would be your choices. I pray that you would guide me to follow your leading and to go where you would have me go. Help me to avoid the temptation of distraction that I would significantly fulfill the purpose for which you created me. In Jesus Name, Amen!