A website has surveyed 37 million Bible references to rank verses by popularity, and found away of using the rankings to make searching for verses easier.
Sydney, Australia, October 22, 2007 - The most popular scriptures have been revealed after an internet survey of 37 million Bible references. The survey results rank every Bible verse by popularity and are published on the TopVerses.com website.
A new search was created from the rankings to find Bible verses more quickly. Instead of starting from Genesis, the ranked search shows popular verses first. 87 of the top 100 verses are in the New Testament, and these can now be found without looking through the Old Testament first.
Top Verses ran the survey in August 2007 by counting how often every Bible verse is referenced in web pages across the internet. The 31,101 verses were ranked by the results. As well as listing top verses overall, the site uses the results to rank Bible books and chapters. The most popular verse was John 3:16, with over twice the score of its nearest rival, John 1:1. Although John was the most popular Gospel, it was only sixth overall, with Ephesians taking first place. Shorter books scored better, and Malachi was the first Old Testament book at 19th, with 5 verses in the top 1,000. The benefit of a ranked search is demonstrated by typing “world” to find John 3:16.Starting from Genesis, 96 verses match before John 3:16. Simply ranking the results places John 3:16 first, and saves 9 pages of wrong hits.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible at 11:15 PM EST
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by Thomas E. Brewton
But too many of us can't understand it
The sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Pastor Larry Fullerton. His text was Daniel, chapter 5, the famous account of the fateful writing that mysteriously appeared on the wall at Belshazzar's feast.
Neither Belshazzar, nor his sorcerers and magicians could understand the message. But Daniel, a righteous man of God, understood and delivered God's message of doom, a message that unhappily applies to our modern-day, largely Godless society.
"King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
"Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
"The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
"Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy, The Bible at 7:55 PM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
Real success is following God's will, not making lots of money.
Sunday's sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC) in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Rev. Steve Treash. His message dealt with success in the things that really matter.
While confidence is, by some measures, thought to be the best predictor of academic and business success, it too easily becomes exclusively self-confidence. As with Peter's wanting to walk across the water to meet Jesus, that sort of confidence falters the moment we take our eyes off Jesus as our savior. We begin to sink and can be saved only by calling for the Lord's help.
True success in this life is doing God's will to the best of our abilities.
The Old Testament story of Joseph in Egypt illustrates the right kind of confidence that leads to success.
Joseph had endured a string of grave misfortunes. His older brothers resented his ostentatiously seeking to be their father's favorite son. The brothers took his bright coat and threw Joseph into a well, intending to leave him there to die. When a caravan bound for Egypt appeared, the brothers hauled Joseph out of the well and sold him to the caravan merchants as a slave.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible, Witnessing at 10:46 PM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
It's not what we expect, but what God wants.
The Palm Sunday sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC) in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Rev. Kevin Butterfield. His text was John 12:12-15.
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!" [Save us]
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
The feast of the Passover was a joyous occasion for the Israelites at any time. But for the great crowd following Jesus into Jerusalem and rushing out of the city to greet him, there was an almost delirious expectation that Jesus was about to become their earthly king who would deliver them from the rule and taxes of Rome.
The problem for those people was not the Romans, but themselves. They had drifted far from the real spirit of the Mosaic covenant between God and the people of Israel.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible at 10:22 PM EDT
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by Garold Andersen
"If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples: then you
will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)
“Arbeit macht frei” was the phrase written over Nazi work camps during the Second World War: Work will make you free. It’s a great slogan for anyone wanting to build a war machine. Today we don’t buy it. In our enlightened, internet-connected world we know that truth, not work, is the key to freedom. So we scour books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet, searching for those nuggets of truth that will continue our great liberation. The search, however, reveals a snag.
"The truth will set you free." What truth? Which articles should we believe? Which sites are trustworthy? Which sources are reliable? The longer we dig for the truth, the more our new slogan seems no better than "Arbeit macht frei". If anything, we sense a greater burden rather than a deeper freedom. "You will know the truth …" That's the maddening part. How can we know the truth? Some would say you can't: truth is just a fable. Others would say it's relative. Jesus said it's relational.
Of course, when Jesus spoke of truth he wasn't referring to the superficial information one gleans from the Internet. He also wasn't speaking of math, science, or religious knowledge, which comes in varying colors and shades. Jesus was instead speaking of the absolute, unchangeable core of life: truth. Is there a foundational truth that gives meaning to this human existence? Is there a deeper understanding that could give freedom to the mind and soul, even if the body were in chains? Jesus said, "Yes, I am that truth."
This is where many people get into trouble. They see the sign, which reads “this way to truth”, and think it's the camping ground of the kingdom of truth. They take off their shoes and start pitching their tents when the real journey has yet to begin. "Jesus is the answer" may be a nerve-calming mantra, but it will never liberate the soul. The freedom we truly desire is not found in a "fill in the blank" test. Jesus isn't the answer; He is the truth.
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Posted by Walt as Ministries, The Bible at 10:29 PM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
We can trust God completely to see us through adversity.
Sunday's sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC) in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Reverend David Newberry. His texts, from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, were examples of humans' weakness and doubt that God would, or could, sustain them in times of peril.
Exodus 3 in the Old Testament is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. A young Moses is shepherding his father-in-law's sheep on the desert edge, when he sees a bush that is burning, but is not consumed by the flames, symbolizing that God is existence itself, the source of all energy and matter, neither becoming nor ending. From the burning bush God tells Moses:
Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. (Exodus 3:16)
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Posted by Walt as The Bible, Witnessing at 12:04 AM EST
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by Thomas E. Brewton
Where socialism fails, the Judeo-Christian tradition succeeds.
Sunday's sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (a non-UCC congregation in North Stamford, Connecticut) was preached by the Reverend Jason Pankow. His principal text was 1 Timothy 6:3-10.
If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)
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Posted by Walt as Church, The Bible at 10:33 PM EST
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“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit
who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely
given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human
wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual
truths in spiritual in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
The grandfather’s eyes filled with tears as he looked around the circle of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They had all gathered for their holiday meal and exchange of gifts. The rest of their evening focused on their traditional sharing of the year’s blessings and their hope for the New Year.
He remembered a time when he would have depended on his wife to speak for him, but he was a changed man now. When it was his turn, he leaned forward and spoke confidently.
“I wasted so many years as a Christian. I wish that I had known what I know now…so late in my life. I was saved, but I didn’t read God’s Word. I didn’t think I could understand it because I’d only had schooling up to the seventh grade. Now the Lord talks to me as I read. He helps me see truth that He wants me to know.”
He made eye contact with each family member as he continued.
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Posted by Walt as Personal Testimonies, The Bible at 10:54 PM EST
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by Jeanne Rogers
www.lifeoutreach.org
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
One of the best ways to conquer anxiety brought on by the holidays is to become still. Unlike the stillness of bumper to bumper traffic, or lack of movement in the after-Thanksgiving check-out line, this stillness separates you from your chaotic surroundings.
Even the crowd in your head screaming urgent reminders can be silenced when you choose to enter God’s secret place of stillness. Where is this place? It is not a physical place, though your body is involved; it is a spiritual place where we wait in silence to know our Creator.
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Posted by Walt as General, The Bible at 1:04 AM EST
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by Jeanne Rogers
www.lifeoutreach.org
"Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say
the right thing at the right time." (Proverbs 15:23, NLT)
After the director announced the early December date for the choir’s Christmas party, a choir member commented to a friend, “That makes the fifth festivity on my calendar that week—a Sunday school party, a family gathering, my husband’s company event and my neighbor’s annual party. I will need some clever jokes and juicy gossip to ‘shoot the breeze’ that much.”
Between our workplace, the church, community groups and family celebrations, our holidays generate many opportunities to socialize and fellowship. The great food and conversation can offer valuable relation-building time. If we want people to enjoy our fellowship, we must avoid careless words and choose to say the right things at the right times.
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Posted by Walt as The Bible at 12:12 PM EST
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