I had originally intended to post this on January 1st. But time has gotten away from me and here we are almost a week into the new year already.

My plans for this blog are not yet set in stone. I am hopeful that at some point this year, I will have more time to devote to my work of preaching and teaching. Until then, I will need to keep a lighter writing schedule than I would prefer. But I still plan to work on some projects that I will post here. As of right now, my plans include the following:

1. Restoration history – I plan to resume my articles about lessons to be learned from a study of the Restoration Movement. I hope to post one such article a month.
2. Parenting series – Beginning a few weeks from now, I plan to begin preaching a series on parenting. These lessons will also be produced as articles and posted on this site.
3. Sermons in the book of Acts – Sometime in the coming months I want to do a series examining the sermons that are recorded in the book of Acts.

I don’t have firm dates for when I plan to post this material. The best way to stay up to date with new content is to subscribe to the free email updates. Once you sign up, you’ll get an email whenever there is a new article posted to the blog.

Depending on how this year turns out, I may be able to post more material than what I have listed above. We will have to wait and see on that. But I do thank you for your continued interest in the material I put together here. I hope the new material will be helpful to you as you continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

It is always interesting to me to see what articles and topics people have taken the most interest in. As we approach the end of another year, I checked the site statistics and made a “top 5” list of posts that received the most page views.
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Plain Bible Teaching officially launched on August 1, 2005. Yesterday wrapped up eight years, so today is the start of the 9th year for this site.

So on this site’s anniversary, let me take a brief moment to thank all of you for reading. I hope my work here has been, and will continue to be, helpful to you as you study the Scriptures.

Also, an additional note of thanks to those of you who have offered words of encouragement and support along the way. It’s not always easy to keep a project like this going consistently for so long. Your support has been a big help along the way. Thank you.

Now as we begin the 9th year of Plain Bible Teaching, I hope that this site continues to be a source of encouragement and instruction and that God may be glorified through these efforts.

For the first half of this year, this site has been devoted to a study of Proverbs and Restoration History. Since the final post in the Proverbs study was posted on June 6th, I’ve been planning what to do for the second half of the year. I’ve decided on three things:

1. Restoration History – I’ve been posting articles about lessons I’ve found in the study of Restoration History every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. I plan to continue this schedule at least through the end of the year.
2. Making Wise Investments – This will be a series about the admonitions we find in God’s word about making wise investments in our spiritual lives. Articles will be posted once a week beginning Monday July 29th.
3. Take Courage – This will be a study based upon a sermon series I preached toward the beginning of the year about examples of courage in the Old Testament and the lessons they teach us today. Articles in this series will be posted once a week beginning Monday September 16th.

With a lighter posting schedule compared with the first half of the year, I’m hoping to get done with some projects to publish in print (including my Proverbs study) as well as complete a redesign of my other sites (Plain Bible Teaching, DIY Sermon Outlines, and Gospel Armory).

Thanks for all of you who read the articles I post here. I hope you continue to find the material here to be helpful in your study of the Scriptures.

Greetings to all, and happy new year!

In the new year, the material posted here will be a little different than the previous year. In 2012, I posted a short article each day based upon a portion of the text from my daily Bible reading. Occasionally – actually, just four times last year – I posted a brief note about something I learned in studying about the history of the Restoration Movement. In 2013, I’m going to change this schedule a little bit.

Before getting to the plans for the new year, let me first say something about the previous year. When I made the decision to read through the Bible in a year and post daily articles about what I was reading, I knew I was being a bit ambitious. But after finishing it, I am very glad I kept up with it and finished. If I could offer a suggestion for you in your reading and study of the Bible it would be this: develop a regular habit of reading, and then don’t just read – write something down. It doesn’t have to be an article like what I posted here. You could take notes as you read. You could keep a journal and write down something that stood out to you in the text. You could keep a list of questions you have about what you read. There are other possibilities as well. But I have seen in my reading, and I believe it would be true for most others as well, that reading and writing helps in absorbing the Scriptures more than just reading alone. So my suggestion for you is to develop a regular habit of reading the Scriptures (you can use a Bible reading schedule or not, just as long as it’s regular) and then write down your own notes and observations from the text.

Now, here’s what I have planned for this blog in 2013. First of all, instead of posting daily, I plan to post new articles twice a week (most likely on Monday and Thursday). To begin the year, I’m going to focus on two things:

1. A study of the book of Proverbs
2. More Restoration history

I plan to post some of the interesting things I find about Restoration history twice a month (the second and fourth Thursdays). Every Monday and the remaining Thursdays will be devoted to Proverbs. This study will be based upon outlines I put together for an adult Bible class I finished teaching about a year ago. This study should last until sometime in June.

For the second half of the year, I’m mulling over some options:

1. A study of the gospel of John
2. A study of the Pharisees
3. Examples of courage in the Bible
4. Raising godly children
5. Making wise investments (spiritually, not financially)

If any of these look particularly interesting to you, let me know, as that may help me decide what direction to take. Or if you have other suggestions, I would be open to those as well.

Thank you for your interest in the material here. I hope you’ll follow along with the new studies.

Last year I had a post listing the five articles that received the most page views in 2011. It is always interesting to me to see what articles and topics people have taken the most interest in. As we approach the end of another year, I decided to check the site statistics and make a new list.

Top 5 new articles (posted this year):

1. Did God Put Barack Obama in the White House? (11.07.12)
2. The Older Women Must Teach the Young Women (05.02.12)
3. Rising Number of Stay at Home Dads: What Does the Bible Say About This? (06.21.12)
4. Joel Osteen, Homosexuals, and Heaven (01.17.12)
5. Pray for Those in Authority (01.25.12)

Plus, here are the top 5 older articles (posted in 2011 or earlier) that continue to generate interest:

1. The Fields are White for Harvest (08.09.09)
2. Are the Jews Still God’s Chosen People Today? (02.11.11)
3. A Leap of Faith (03.05.10)
4. Conservative vs. Liberal (02.22.10)
5. A Short and Powerful Sermon (09.17.05)

As always, thank you for your continued interest in Plain Bible Teaching. Stay tuned for more in 2013. If you are not yet on the mailing list to receive the free PBT Weekly Newsletter, subscribe below and stay up to date on new content and more.