Pastor York

The translation which I teach and preach from at the pulpit at Providence is the English Standard Version.  I have often been asked by people in the congregation, “Is there an ESV study bible which you recommend?”  In the past I have recommended the Reformation Study Bible.  The Reformation Study Bible is certainly an excellent study Bible.

Beginning this week I will start recommending another study bible over the Reformation Study Bible: The ESV Study Bible.  I believe this work will become the new standard for all study bibles.  Please remember that the notes of any study bible are not inspired!  Read study notes the same way you would any other human writing.  With that caution made I think this is going to be a GREAT resource for personal bible study and devotional reading.  One way I think the ESV Study Bible excels over the Reformation Study Bible is in it’s use of maps, charts, and up to date archaeological resources to compliment the study notes.  The Reformation Study Bible wasn’t as plentiful in such resources as one might hope.  Apparently, a lot of careful planing went into the production of the charts, maps, graphs etc for the ESV Study Bible.  Some world renowned scholars were commissioned to produce materials which are exclusive to it.  You can see more features of the ESV Study Bible here.

On a personal note, one of my seminary professors and friends from WTS CA, Steve Baugh, was commissioned to produce the study notes on the book of Ephesians.  I think you will find his notes as well as all of the others to be very helpful as you read and study the Scriptures.

As James Grant points out on his blog, the best deal to be found on the new ESV Study Bible is at the Westminster Bookstore (40% off and more).  James links to the following editions.

• Hardcover
• TruTone Natural Brown
• TruTone Classic Black
• Black Bonded Leather
• Burgundy Bonded Leather
• Black Genuine Leather
• Burgundy Genuine Leather
• Premium Calfskin Leather

As some of you may know, I have been working on providencepres.com quite a bit lately. Things are continuing to develop and there are a number of improvements to the website that I will be implementing over the next few weeks.

Today I am introducing the the page you are now looking at: the blog page. If you’re not very familiar with what a “blog” is, a blog is simply the shortened name for a “web log.” Blogs are places to find new and fresh content. Accordingly, the newest and freshest content on providencepres.com will be found here on this blog page.

One of the great things you can do with blogs is subscribe to them. Once you subscribe to a blog, you won’t have to visit the page again and again. Updates will come to you through your news reader. You can subscribe to this blog through the “RSS feed” for this page. What is “RSS” you say? I’m glad you asked. To find the RSS feed on this page look for the rss icon which looks like this:

Do you see this icon on the sidebar? Sometimes a similar icon will appear in the address bar of your browser and will look like this.

If you are a member of friend of Providence, I encourage you to subscribe to this blog and then you will automatically get any updates. Of course you are welcome to just visit the page from time to time as well. Here is a youtube video which gives a brief and humorous explanation of rss. See you on the blog soon!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU[/youtube]