God’s attributes are our mighty weapons against the foes we face each day. This month we focus in on His attribute of “Love”. What is love? ISBE defines it as this: Love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and beneficent interest in the well-being of the one loved. John 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. This self sacrifice is the evidence of true love. Do you know God's love? Share with us how you have seen His love in your life just this past month alone or share with us how you will show God’s love to another who needs His special love touch. Send your notes and ideas to Sonshine.  To help you, check out the plethora of articles on bible.org under the topic of “love”. If you dont have time to check them all out, here’s one to whet your appetite along with a touch of humor by Pastor Keith Krell.

 

SHARING OUR BLESSINGS!

Bible.org was overwhelmed by your generosity and notes of blessings to our question we posed in the January 2012 newsletter. We asked: what Bible reading program you will choose to use in the year 2012? Below are some of the responses we gathered. Fill our cup Lord and fill it even more! You have given us gifts of joy and blessing that have revived our spirits and encourage us to push onward. Here are some samples you sent our way and our responses in italics:

Sorgho sent a note to say: I want to join you for reading through the Bible in 2012. (smile)

Roger: I am going to check out some of the other many resources you offer. (yeah!)

Carl: This is the second year I have participated in "reading thru the Bible in a year" as part of my daily study. One reason I like it so much is that I can quickly go from one version to another. Thank you for this resource. (terrific)

Robert: Thanks so much for making it easy to access daily readings. We completed the year, do it again. (you are so very welcome)

Virginia purchased 5 NET Bibles; God brought a missionary across her path. She graciously gave these to him for his library! She wrote: He was delighted to receive the Bibles, and immediately stuck his nose deeply into a Bible to look it over. (eternal blessings!)

Michael: Used the reading plan but have been reading through the entire Bible in a year for 7 consecutive years now.  I have also kept a journal the entire time.  I have been blessed and will start year 8 tomorrow! (what a challenge!)

Pastor Bob: I commend you for encouraging the practice of reading through the Bible each year. This has been my practice for years ... as well as encouraging my congregations to do so. (this is humbling)

Rev William: Thank you very much for being a great boon to me to walk thru both the testaments of the Bible during 2011 (you are welcome!)

Eve: I loved doing the "Read the Bible in a Year" program. (superb)

 

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FINANCIAL UPDATE^**: 2011 is over and with it many sweet memories of your willingness to come alongside with us as sacrificial donors. Please note that this newsletter shows the giving for the whole year. We finished the year in the black. This will enable us to accomplish more for the Lord next year. ( Ex Direc note: I will be sending out a special newsletter next month sharing these plans. My heart is jumping with joy and I must share one of many praises with you or I will burst. One donor gave us all the inheritance he received from his mom/dad estate as he wanted their legacy to have everlasting value. Isn't that neat? (PTL) )

If you were a donor in 2011 you should receive a letter this month, either by snail mail or email where we will thank you personally for your contribution and helping us get the Bible and trustworthy Bible studies into the hands of everyone with Internet access for free. If you do not get a thank you from us by the end of February use the contact form found on the home page to let us know.

 

Now as to our first month in 2012. It gets better and better! Because of your generosity bible.org was able to hire additional staff to increase our trustworthy Bible studies and our Bible study environment in other languages during 2012. ( all for free). Everywhere we go and demonstrate the Bible study environment people ask us how do we pay for this? We say it is through the generous contributions of our users who support the ministry of bible.org. Thank you and may God's blessings fall on you in 2012.

 

Note-** All income (Donations and Bible sales/revenues) are accounted for. The store has outstanding NET Bible debt and sales are being used to meet debt and store expenses. When there is a future profit those profits will be reported as a donation to the foundation. As you have noticed we have turned on limited Google ads to help in the revenue side (no ads on the Bible study tool) and we appreciate you telling us the links to inappropriate ads which we immediately block!

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 MINISTRY NEWS:

Jobs: We are still looking for drupal developers see Jobs with eternal impact
Chinese Project News: Last month we highlighted the start of our Chinese ministry pages showing various tools and news in English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese visit http://bible.org.cn .This past month we developed Chinese NET Bible (CNET) e-books, which can be viewed on the iPhone / Android /Nook and Kindle Readers. 

Women's Ministry News: Are the women of your church or neighborhood looking for new material that is free and downloadable? Check out Melanie Newton's new study on the book of Acts found on the Women's Bible Study Curriculum Door
NET Bible Editors Support. Our developer, Brian Seagraves, has developed a NET Bible manuscript editor that allows multiple scholars to collaborate on text at the same time. Scholars can edit the English and Chinese NET manuscripts online instead of using Microsoft Word offline. This is a big leap forward allowing us to be error free and much quicker in incorporating your comments and in updating the text on our various sites, platforms, and eBooks.
Path to Spiritual Maturity:  The Beta testing of The Path To Spiritual Maturity  (new believers section) continues, so feel free to test it out and give us your feedback! Meanwhile, we are developing the framework for further stages so that our development team can be expanded. Please pray that God gives us wisdom as we proceed, and that the right members are brought in so that this can be taken to the next level. For questions or comments contact the project manager here.  

 SOCIAL NETWORKING

Come and join us on Facebook.com/bible.org as we read through the Bible using the Chronological Reading Plan. Tell others of this and watch our numbers grow! May you be blessed as you read through the Bible in 2012.

EXCITING NEWS:Our fan numbers are growing: From Dec 31 to Jan 30: 14, 928 to 15,043. That means in just one month we have added 115 new visitors. Thank you "fans"!THANKS FOR HELPING! THANKS FOR SHARING! THANKS FOR TELLING!

 Authors of the Month: This month we bring to your attention the section titled: “What’s New” found on the home page of bible.org."What's New" will display all the new studies and articles that have been uploaded for your use. Check out David Colburn's study on the book of ACTS and Kay Daigle's series on Judges.