Welcome to the final episode of the 2008 Lifespring Family Bible. If you have been with us for the entire year, I congratulate you. I know it’s taken discipline to make a point of listening to each episode, especially with me as your host, and I hope that you’ve been blessed by hearing the Word of God each day. I want to thank my guest readers. As I’m sure you can imagine, reading the entire Bible out loud is quite a task, and it was really great to get a few breaks along the way. May God bless each of you for contributing to the LSFB. I want to thank the good folks at Bible.org. It was their translation of the Bible, the Net Bible, that I used for most of the year. It’s a free, online translation, and I think it has served us well. They gave their permission to use it, several months into the project, and again, I thank them for that. I want to thank the advertisers we’ve had along the way. They really do help to make it possible to bring the LSFB to you for free. I did not keep track of the hours it took to make these recordings, but there were several hundred hours invested in this project. That’s time away from business, from family, and sometimes from sleep. The generous support of Covenant Eyes, especially, has been a great blessing. I’m not going to do a commercial here, but your support of them is important to the ministry of Lifespring Media. In addition, I must thank the Lifespring Allies…those listeners who have helped to support us through one time gifts and monthly gifts. Your financial support is so encouraging to us, and oh-so-helpful in making it possible to do this. As the apostle Paul said “I thank God when I think of you.” And of course, I give praise and honor and glory to God. It never ceases to amaze and humble me that he chose me to be the first one to create a Christian podcast, and that He continues to bring new listeners into the Lifespring family. I thank Him for the gifts He has given me, and that He prepared me to do this show, along with the other shows in the Lifespring family. 2008 has been a difficult year for many of us, and the Webb family has been pretty hard hit, so the production of some of the Lifespring shows has been less than I would have wished, but I trust God that we did what He called us to do. He is God, I am not, and I’m quite happy with that arrangement! What’s ahead for the Lifespring Family Bible? Well, at least two things. First, I’ll tell you that we are going to do this all over again in 2009. Beginning on January 10, 2009, we will rerun the entire LSFB, from episode one all the way to episode 349, with another number 350 at the end, just like I’m doing here. We’ll do it much the same as we did in 2008, and it will be advertiser supported, in addition to listener supported. And now for the second announcement. I’m very excited to announce something entirely new. This is something that I have thought about for a very long time, I’ve prayed about it, I’ve talked to some of my closest friends about it, discussed it with my incredibly supportive wife, and have decided now to go forward with it. In 2009, I am going to record the Bible in its entirety once again, but it will be different than what you listened to this year. Why am I doing this? How will this be different? Well, there are several differences. 1. The project will be released in sections, instead of a daily, read the Bible through in a year format. I’ll start with the Pentateuch (first five books of the bible), then the four Gospels plus Acts, then I’ll release the OT history books in two parts (Josh- 1 Kings, and 2 Kings -Esther), next will be the letters of Paul, then the OT poetry books (Job-SS), then what are known as the general epistles (James-Jude), then the Major Prophets (Isa-Dan), then the OT minor prophets (hosea-Malachi), and finally the NT book of prophecy (Rev). Each chapter will be a separate track, so searching for a specific book and chapter will therefor be easy, unlike the LSFB. 2. This will be only the Bible, with no commentary by me, and by the way, there will be no guest readers on this. 3. I’ll base the reading on the King James Version, but will modernize the reading. In other words, giveth will become gives. Thee and thine will become you and yours. Archaic words will be changed to modern words. An example would be like “charity” in 1 Cor. 13 will be changed to “love”. I’ll be using some of the best translation tools available, and you know my love of God’s word. I will prayerfully strive to be as faithful to the original writing as I can possibly be. And when I say original writing, I don’t mean the King James, I mean the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. 4. This, as you can imagine, will be a huge undertaking. Much more than the LSFB, because of the translation that will be necessary. Because of that, I will not be able to offer this as a free download. I’ll have at least three different options for purchasing the Lifespring! Audio Bible. You can buy each section separately as they are released…sort of an a la carte type thing, you can buy the entire project when it is completed near the end of 2009…I’m shooting for a Dec 1 completion date, or you can prepay for the entire Lifespring Audio Bible now, and you’ll be the first to get each section as soon as they are completed. You’ll get a significant discount if you do it this way. 5. Of course, there will be absolutely no advertisements in this project. As I said, the only content here will be God’s word. I hope you’ll consider adding this to your library. This will be a labor of love, and something that I think you will really enjoy listening to in your quiet time, on your commute, when you’re doing chores around the house, or running errands. I’ll have details on the website at bible.lifespringmedia.com. I’ll even have an affiliate program so that you can put a link on your website to let other people know about the Lifespring Audio Bible. When your website visitors buy, after clicking your link, you’ll receive a referral fee. Cool? So to sum up, thank you so much for coming along with me on the Lifespring Family Bible. I hope that you’ve been blessed this year, and I hope that you’ll come back in 2009. May God bless you richly, may you grow in your faith on a daily basis, and may you continue to seek God’s face. Less

Hallelujah! Today we conclude our journey through God’s Word with the reading of Romans 16. Paul sends his greetings to friends, and, prompted by the Holy Spirit, warns the believers about those who would come and preach, using flattery and smooth talk, lessons contrary to the teaching of the Gospel. Please remember to come back tomorrow for some closing remarks! Less

Paul encourages the strong to help the weak, and the believers to accept each other. He talks about the reason for this letter, and his desire to visit them in Rome. Less

Paul writes about differences between believers. He who is stronger should not cause the weaker to stumble, he who is weaker should not judge the stronger. Bottom line: let’s agree to disagree agreeably. Less

Paul talks about humility, loving other believers and our enemies, submission to government, and behaving in a godly manner. Less

What is it that can separate us from God’s love? Listen to what Paul has to say about that in today’s reading. Less

Paul points out how the one who relies on his own works to save himself is mistaken. He makes the case for faith, not works. Less

We complete the Old Testament today, and begin the final book in our one year journey through God’s Word. Less

Zechariah ends with a vision of coming events. 1 John addresses our behavior, especially as it pertains to our treatment of other believers. Less

Many, many topics are touched upon in this reading, including a prophecy that was later fulfilled by Jesus. Less

In these two books, the apostle Peter discusses many topics, including how a church leader should live and treat those in the congregation, salvation, false teachers, and encouragement to be faithful. Less