encouragement – FirstEnglishBible.com

Am I the Seed Among Thorns?

THOUGHTS: – – In Jesus’ parable of the sower, the soil type which concerns me most (as regards me personally) is the seed that fell among thorns. It is too easy to be distracted from the “eternal” by our daily lives.

SCRIPTURE: – – Matthew 13:7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

QUOTATION: — “How is it that the soul being of such value, and God so great, eternity so near and yet we are so little moved?”
— (William Bramwell, 1759-1818)

MORE THOUGHTS: – – How thankful I that men like William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale (and many others) were willing to devote their lives (nearly 500 years ago) to bring us the Bible in English. They took advantage of the new technology called the printing press to bring the Word of God to the English people in their native tongue.

Now I, personally, need to feed on God’s Word (as contained in the Holy Bible) and strive to not allow this Holy Word to be choked out by the cares of life with the result being that I become unfruitful.

Thanks for reading and I pray this message blessed you today.

Bible

Favorite Bible Reading Plan

The start of a New Year is a good time to start a Bible Reading plan.

This plan by Professor Grant Horner on YouVersion (a free Bible app) is my favorite.

I have tried many Bible reading plans, but always come back to this one.

It is 10 chapters — but many are short chapters. You can even listen instead of reading. I often do that.

It keeps your interest because you’re in 10 books of the Bible every day, but always read one chapter from the Gospels, Psalms, Proverbs and Acts, plus 2 more New Testament chapters and 4 more Old Testament chapters. See link below:

I’m reading the @YouVersion plan ‘Prof. Horner’s Bible Reading System’. Check it out here: https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/19

May God’s blessings be on each of us as we grow closer to Him through reading His inspired words.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness to make stones to bread, He said: “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ ” (Matthew, Chapter 4, verse 4).

Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3. To get more of the context of the verse, I’m going to quote the previous verse, too:

Deut 8:2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deut 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

All Bible quotations are from the New King James Version by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Bible

Master Save Me (Matthew 14:28-33)

Listen to the audio of these verses:

Matthew-Jesus-walks-on-water-Peter-Aug-6-2018-with-transcript

This is a portion of the Gospel of Matthew as published in the 1526 Tyndale New Testament. I have included a screenshot of the original page as it is found at archive.org with my transcription of the text under the original blackletter script. Modern day spelling of words which may not be recognizable are enclosed in parentheses. For example, where the original has “shyppe,” I have transcribed “shyppe(ship).”

Matthew 14:28-33

14:28 Peter answered, and sayde (said): master, and
thou be he, bidde (bid) me come vnto (unto) the (thee)
on the water.
14:29 and he sayde (said) come. And when Peter was
come doune (down) out of the shyppe (ship), he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
14:30 But when he sawe (saw) a myghty (mighty)
winde (wind), he was afrayed (afraid). And as he
began to synke (sink), he cry-ed (cried) sayinge
(saying): master save me.
14:31 And immediatly (immediately) Je-sus (Jesus)
stretched forth his honde (hand), and caught him, and
saide (said) to hym (him): O thou of lytell (little)
fayth (faith): wherfore (wherefore) diddest (didst)
thou dout (doubt)?
14:32 And as soone (soon) as they were come
in to (into) the shippe (ship), the winde (wind)
ceassed (ceased).
14:33 Then they that were in the shippe (ship)
cam (came) and worshypped (worshipped) him,
sayinge (saying): of a truth thou arte (art) the
sonne (son) off (of) God.

Does this help those of you unfamiliar with blackletter script to be able to read from the original 1526 Tyndale New Testament?
—

Thanks for reading!

Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

Store

I am truly encouraged by all who visit here. I hope you learned something about William Tyndale and his work and of course, learned more about God’s Word, too.

If you are curious about owning a William Tyndale Bible, check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.

The British Library paid over one million pounds in 1994 for an original copy of the 1526 New Testament. A facsimile (digital photocopy) of this same New Testament is available in our store — for a very reasonable price.

The Tyndale New Testament, 1526 Edition

We have items in the store related to William Tyndale and items related to the King James Bible. Some are very inexpensive.

One example, you can rent or purchase via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.

Man with a Mission: William Tyndale–DVD
(NOTE: To see how to do streaming video rental or purchase, click on the DVD link above to get further details.)

For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.

Bible

RESIST the devil … (James 4:7)

James4v7-9-Tyn1534

RESIST the devil…

It is such a simple statement yet a very powerful one and God has included much more in these few verses to guide us.

However, having done these things, we can be confident that if we: RESIST the devil…he will FLY from us.

James 4:7-10 (William Tyndale’s New Testament, 1534)

MODERN SPELLING

James 4:7 Submit yourselves to God and resist the devil and he will fly from you.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye wavering minded.

James 4:9 Suffer afflictions: sorrow ye and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.

James 4:10 Cast down yourselves before the Lord and he shall lift you up.

Same verses from the King James Bible:

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God: resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you: cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double minded.

James 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Thanks for reading!

Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

Store

I am truly encouraged by all who visit here. I hope you learned something about William Tyndale and his work and of course, learned more about God’s Word, too.

If you are curious about owning a William Tyndale Bible, check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.

The Tyndale New Testament, 1526 Edition

We have items in the store related to William Tyndale and items related to the King James Bible. Some are very inexpensive.

One example, you can rent or purchase via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.

Man with a Mission: William Tyndale–DVD
(NOTE: To see how to do streaming video rental or purchase, click on the DVD link above to get further details.)

For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.

Bible

Jesus Has the Words of Eternal Life (John 6:68)

John6-68-1534

John 6:66-68 (Tyndale’s New Testament, 1534)

[66] From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

[67] Then said Jesus to the twelve: will ye also go away?

[68] Then Simon Peter answered: Master to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life…

The King James Bible, published nearly 80 years after Tyndale’s 1534 translation, is almost identical.

This is one of my favorite passages in the New Testament. It contains so many important things in a few short verses.

What if Jesus ask me directly: “Will you also go away?”

I hope my answer would be as decisive as Simon Peter’s: “Master, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Speaking of “the words of eternal life” which Jesus has, this is why it is so important that we try to read from the Bible every day. This is where we will read these “words of eternal life.”

I had mentioned a few days ago about a Bible reading plan I am using. Below you will find more information about it.

Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading Plan

I enjoy this Bible reading plan because I like to read in both the Old Testament and the New Testament portions of the Bible every day. This plan has you reading six (6) chapters from the Old Testament and four (4) chapters from the New Testament but the reading is from ten (10) different books. Plus, let’s face it, some books of the Bible are harder than others to understand. If I only have to read one (1) chapter at a time, it helps me not get discouraged and continue with my daily reading.

Below you can see what Days 1 through 5 would look like with this reading plan.

Day 1 – Matt 1; Gen 1; Rom 1; 1 Th 1; Job 1; Ps 1; Prv 1; Josh 1; Isa 1; Acts 1

Day 2 – Matt 2; Gen 2; Rom 2; 1 Th 2; Job 2; Ps 2; Prv 2; Josh 2; Isa 2; Acts 2

Day 3 – Matt 3; Gen 3; Rom 3; 1 Th 3; Job 3; Ps 3; Prv 3; Josh 3; Isa 3; Acts 3

Day 4 – Matt 4; Gen 4; Rom 4; 1 Th 4; Job 4; Ps 4; Prv 4; Josh 4; Isa 4; Acts 4

Day 5 – Matt 5; Gen 5; Rom 5; 1 Th 5; Job 5; Ps 5; Prv 5; Josh 5; Isa 5; Acts 5

I copied Days 1 though Day 5 from the Bible Study Tools website below:

www.biblestudytools.com/bible-reading-plan/prof-horners-reading-system.html

Here is a PDF document with Professor Horner’s own detailed instructions and bookmarks you can use to follow his plan. Click the link to download it from this website.

I personally don’t like using the bookmarks. I prefer instead to print out something like the Day 1 through 5 schedule shown above on to a sheet of paper that I can check off as I finish each chapter. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and I can see what I have already read and what is coming up.

Also, don’t get upset with yourself if you don’t read ten (10) chapters each day. Just read five (5) chapters or less, but keep track of where you are. If you don’t read any of them one day, just try again the next day.

We can only start with the present and in the present, God would want us to try again to read His Word.

Also, I wanted to mention that it is also helpful to use an audio Bible if you have one. There are many available for free on the internet at places like Bible Gateway and YouVersion. When I use an audio Bible, I try to follow along in my physical Bible, if I can. If I am especially tired and struggling to keep my eyes open, I will close my eyes and just listen. I love audio Bibles. It is so helpful to hear God’s Word, too.

The longest list (The Prophets) has 250 chapters, so in essence, it would take 250 days to get to every chapter in the Bible, but by that time, you would have read the Gospels three (3) times, the Book of Acts nearly nine (9) times and Proverbs eight (8) times since you read from these books daily. The Old Testament Historic Books list (Joshua through Esther) is 249 chapters.

Thanks for reading!

Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

Store

I am truly encouraged by all who visit here. I hope you learned something about William Tyndale and his work and of course, learned more about God’s Word, too.

If you are curious about owning a William Tyndale Bible, check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.

The Tyndale New Testament, 1526 Edition

We have items in the store related to William Tyndale and items related to the King James Bible. Some are very inexpensive.

One example, you can rent or purchase via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.

Man with a Mission: William Tyndale–DVD
(NOTE: To see how to do streaming video rental or purchase, click on the DVD link above to get further details.)

For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.