Zondervan Blog

Much More than a Rabbi

Editor's Note: Look for devotions from Ann Spangler's books every week for the next few weeks. Today's devotion is from Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith.

By comparing Jesus to other rabbis of his time, we do not mean to imply that he is just another rabbi. Nor are we merely singling him out as a rabbi among rabbis, much as you might distinguish an Olympic gold medalist from other athletes. Jesus was an extraordinary rabbi, but he was so much more than that.

Remember that the Jewish people longed for a Messiah, a deliverer, who would be like Moses. Many of Jesus' contemporaries were looking for a new Moses to deliver them from their Roman oppressors. But did you know that Moses is revered not only as Israel's great deliverer but as Israel's great teacher? In fact he is often called Moshe Rabbenu, "Moses Our Rabbi," by the Jewish people, who honor him for bringing them the Torah after his encounter with God on Mount Sinai.

Like Moses, Jesus brought God's word to earth. More than that, he was God's Word incarnate. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that he spent his life as a Jewish rabbi. In both life and death he is our Great Teacher, redeeming us so that we can learn from him how to live.

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Technorati tags: Ann Spangler, Jesus, Lois Tverberg, Devotion, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Zondervan

The Long-Awaited King

Editor's Note: Look for devotions from Ann Spangler's books every week for the next few weeks. Today's devotion is from The Names of God: 52 Bible Studies for Individuals and Groups.

"The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:32–33).

David was Israel's greatest king, a man whom the Bible describes as having the very heart of God. So it may not be surprising that the New Testament both begins and ends with references to Jesus as the Son or Offspring of David. He is the one who fulfilled the promise of a coming King so beloved by God that his throne will endure forever. Like David, Jesus was born in Bethlehem (the city of David). And like David, who established his kingdom by overcoming Israel's enemies and uniting God's people, Jesus established his kingdom by defeating the principalities and powers, making a way for us to become part of it as we confess our faith in him. When you pray to Jesus as the Son of David, you are praying to the long-awaited King, human by virtue of his descent from David and divine by virtue of being God's only Son.

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Technorati tags: Ann Spangler, God, Jesus, Devotion, The Names of God, Zondervan

Rob Bell on Why He Talks about the Good News the Way He Does

Read Marc Galli’s interview with Rob Bell on www.christianitytoday.com.

From the interview: “Rob Bell's latest book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Zondervan, with Don Golden), is his most substantive yet. It's nothing less than a holistic, biblical theology of salvation—written, paradoxically, in Bell's typical sentence-fragment style. CT senior managing editor Mark Galli sat down with Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to probe him on some of the more striking statements in his book.” Read the Interview.

To sample all 23 NOOMA videos with Rob Bell, click here.

To learn about Rob Bell's current speaking tour and past tours, click here.

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Technorati tags: Rob Bell, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, NOOMA, author tour, Zondervan

Kary Oberbrunner’s Interview with Eric Michael Bryant

Kary Oberbrunner, author of The Fine Line, recently interviewed Eric Michael Bryant, author of Peppermint-Filled Piñatas. In the blog post, Eric talks about his church planting experience, how he ended up at Mosaic, and his book. Click here to read the interview.

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Technorati tags: Eric Michael Bryant, Kary Oberbrunner, The Fine Line, Peppermint-Filled Piñatas, author interview, Zondervan

Margaret Feinberg: Where Did All the Typos in Publishing Come From?

Editor's Note: Today's essay by Margaret Feinberg explores the challenges of producing error-free books and articles. Margaret is the author of The Sacred Echo and The Organic God. Learn more about Margaret on her blog and her website. Enjoy.

Every so often I will hear from a reader (of one of my books or someone else's) who is completely aghast that they discovered a typo. They can't believe a writer, an editor, a copyeditor, or a publishing house would ever make such a horrific, unbelievable mistake.

Yet after writing and managing more than 40 projects including books, Bible studies, and DVD projects, and 1000 articles, I am no longer surprised when I discover a typo—whether it's in a church bulletin, blog, book, or even Bible (Yes, there are typos in my Bible).

The best way I can describe writing is taking 50,000 pennies (a book is on average about 50,000 words) to a huge field and trying to lay them all on the ground face up. Now you hope wind or rain doesn't flip any over on accident. But alas, sometimes things happen. Now hopefully the people walking behind you inspecting your work catch any errors. But never forget these people are usually overworked, underpaid, and are very, very tired. They walk a lot of fields. They look at millions of pennies each year.

Sometimes the accidental penny flip is your fault—you put the penny tails up and no one caught it. Sometimes the accidental penny flip is because of poor communication. The person coming behind you thought they were all supposed to be tails up and only after flipping through a few thousand discovered you meant for them be heads up. And sometimes pennies get flipped from mysterious forces of nature—bugs in computer programs or at the printing press.

Now that said, the goal is always to have perfect pennies in the field. We aim for it. We work for it. Some of us, ahem, are neurotic about it (those are my favorite people).

But 50,000 pennies is a lot of pennies.

So the next time you find a typo or a penny out of place, just graciously let the author or publisher know. And on the next printing it will be fixed. If there is another printing, but that's a whole other post.

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Technorati tags: Margaret Feinberg, publishing, proofreading, The Sacred Echo, The Organic God, Zondervan

Kary Oberbrunner Writes about Life-Changing Experience

Zondervan author and pastor Kary Oberbrunner recently published an article on the New Man Magazine website about how he almost missed an encounter that dramatically changed his life and the life of “Bob.” Read "What About Bob? How That Question Changed My Life" here.

Kary is the author of The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap between Christ and Culture and serves as the pastor of discipleship and leadership development at Grace Church in Powell, Ohio.

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Technorati tags: Kary Oberbrunner, life, Christian, serving, The Fine Line, Zondervan

Let Down Your Guard with God

Editor's Note: Look for devotions from Ann Spangler's books every week for the next few weeks. Today's devotion is from Praying the Names of God.

"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD" (Hosea 2:19-20).

Let's not settle for a relationship that keeps God at arm's length, one that expects little from him and experiences less. Instead, we can allow him to close the gap between our smallness and his greatness, our sin and his holiness, our weakness and his power. We can lower our guard, being honest about our longings and our need for him. We can acknowledge that we want him more than anything or anyone. And we can plead with him to open our souls to his faithful, intimate love.

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Technorati tags: Ann Spangler, God, Devotion, Praying the Names of God, Zondervan

Join Skye Jethani TODAY on a Blog Tour about His New Book, The Divine Commodity

Skye Jethani, Managing Editor of Leadership Journal and author of the new book, The Divine Commodity, will be visiting over 20 blogs TODAY, 16 April, to talk about his book, and consumerism’s effect on Christianity.

In the book, Skye interacts with both consumerism's grip on American culture as well as the artwork and life of Vincent van Gogh and connects the two. In the end, Skye offers a way to break free of the grip of consumerism by practicing several spiritual disciplines.

Please visit this blog and the others linked below to read Skye’s answer to some great questions. Also, post your comments and questions as well to the respective blogs, as Skye will be interacting with commenters on each blog. For more about The Divine Commodity, visit Skye’s blog (www.SkyeJethani.com). Here is a list of the blogs involved in today's tour:

• Out of Ur
• Flowerdust
• Stuff Christians Like
• Ragamuffin Soul
• Monday Morning Insight
• Mark D Roberts
• Ben Arment
• Church Relevance
• Bob Franquiz
• Bob Hyatt
• Cole-Slaw
• The Forgotten Ways
• Reclaiming the Mission
• The Shlog
• Frank Viola
• The Gospel-Driven Church
• Christina Meyer
• Preaching Today
• The Shlog
• Gathering In Light
• Off the Agenda
• Take Your Vitamin Z
• Staying Focused
• ZonderFann

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Technorati tags: Skye Jethani, Blog Tour, Church, The Divine Commodity, Zondervan

Vatican: Knights Templar Hid the Shroud of Turin

According to the Vatican, the Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, which disappeared during the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade only to reappear in the middle of the fourteenth century. This appears to solve the mystery of what happened to the Shroud during this period. Read the entire article from The London Times here.

For other articles that discuss archeological evidence surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, including an article about the Shroud of Turin, visit the special Archaeological Study Bible Easter page.

Enjoy!

Keith

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Technorati tags: Easter, Shroud of Turin, Knights Templar, Archaeological Study Bible, Zondervan

Don't Just Celebrate Easter, Experience It

This coming Sunday we celebrate Easter. Rather than just going through the normal routine you always go through every Easter, why not try something new that is sure to help you get into the right spiritual frame of mind. And it won’t cost you a dime.

Visit www.BibleExperience.com/TheCross and track Christ’s final journey with The Bible Experience. Follow along by listening to the audio clips, reading the passages of scripture, and then taking a moment of quiet reflection with each accompanying prayer.

This special Easter devotion is a variation on the Stations of the Cross known as the Scriptural Way of the Cross. Enjoy!

Keith

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Technorati tags: Easter, Stations of the Cross, Jesus, Way of the Cross, The Bible Experience, Zondervan