The Read and Share File

This just happened in my home state of Georgia: Governor Nathan Deal has the Bibles returned to lodges and cabins in state parks after a state agency had them removed.

By now you’ve heard about the IRS scandal involving politically conservative non-profit groups. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse got audit notices on the same day. That and more here.

Discover the seven fold workings of God in Psalm 23, via Walter Bright.

Anne Hesche will play a woman with a near-death experience turned prophet in a new series called Save Me. My comments follow the post, be sure to check out that Wiki entry.

Both sides of the abortion debate think we can learn from the Gosnell murder verdict.

Big flood at the home of Crossway Publishers (makers of the ESV Bible). They are asking for prayer and financial support. As of May 15 they are at 53% of reaching their financial goal. 

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The title of this video is The Supremacy of Christ. It also includes a beautiful and dramatic presentation of the Gospel. Give John Piper 19 minutes.

The Read and Share File

It’s a short list, but I wanted to go ahead and share. Pay particular attention to the second entry.

Christians sometimes need to be careful when using our own lexicon of “Christianese” words that outsiders should not be expected to understand. Tim Challies warns us not to over-simply our vocabulary, pointing out the value in learning new terms. We are expected to grow, and that growth includes knowledge of God.

Mikey Weinstein is the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He equates the sharing of the Gospel to spiritual rape and wants to see military chaplains court martialed for sharing it. Thanks to Loopy Loo for writing this article at Army of God. This article suggests any soldier, including chaplains, may be court martialed for sharing his faith.

The New ESV Bible .org

The English Standard Version of the Bible from Crossway Publishers has been and continues to be my translation of choice. All scripture references on this website (that have links attached to them) link to the ESVBible.org website and if you have a habit of following those you will notice a change.

I Might Like The Master’s Table

My reader keeps suggesting that I “may like” the Master’s Table, because other sites I like follow it.  Brilliant.

Meet Dr. Hannah Gay

Did you hear the one about the baby born with HIV being cured?  No, it’s not a joke.  A child born to an infected mother was treated shortly after birth with a cocktail of three drugs, and months later (now 2 years later) tests negative for the virus.  Paul and Hannah Gay are Southern Baptists that spent 25 years working with pediatric AIDS patients in Africa.  Click the above image to read more.

A New Look

It’s been a long time since I tweaked the design. A good piece of advice I was given early on, and continue to give others, is to find a good theme that works and leave it alone. Without going in to a whole bunch of details, this format should be wider on your screen and more visible. The other was a little narrow.

One of the things we had to loose was the code in the sidebar for a link button. The source code below creates a button that links back to The Master’s Table. Simply copy the html and paste in a post or sidebar text to add the button to your blog.

<a href="http://themasterstable.wordpress.com"><img src="http://themasterstable.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/last-supper4.jpg?w=128" alt="Go to The Master's Table" title="Go to The Master's Table" width="128" height="53" /></a>

Take a look around, let me know what you think. Except for a few minor adjustments this should be about it.

Do Unto Other Bloggers…

Coffee with Jesus – Doable

I was reading a list of blog writing tips on Chief of the Least, and he ended by asking for additional advice.  I jotted down what I consider the usual for the beginning blogger, then stumbled onto something profound: stats are people too.

The Read and Share File

This is where I list other blog posts and articles that I’ve read myself and wish to share with others.  They’ve slowed down since the introduction of Happy Monday, but this is Read and Share #18.  

It’s a little late, but this treatment of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day proclaims the wonder of the Gospel.

Randy Kilgore takes an inspiring look at T-ball in this day’s devotion at Our Daily Bread.

Check out Throw it Out, New Year’s posting from our friend Cloudwatcher.

2012 in Review

WordPress, the blog platform used to produce and host The Master’s Table, creates a year in review infographic for each user.  Stats include the most read post, most commented on post, most active commenter, etc.  Click the link at the bottom of this post to view the full report.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 120,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Read and Share File

I know it’s been a while.  Here’s what’s up:

The bookstore – far from dead, they may be doing better than you think.  Check out these 12 stats.

Hurricane Sandy, Frakenstorm, or whatever you call it is still dumping rain and snow.  It’s too not early, however, to plan a response and begin mobilization.  Talking about the Gospel is one thing, giving a child a cup of water is another.  Let’s go.

“You can’t get something for nothing.”  Christians know this is untrue.  While on the subject of free gifts, John Piper wants you to have this Martin Luther biography as a free e-book (available in many formats, including pdf).