Book Review: What's Your Mark by Jeremy Coward

I enjoyed reading this book.  It is a short, encouraging read.  It challenges you to look at yourself and see what kind of mark you are leaving.  It was interesting to read about the different ways the people highlighted in the book have put their mark on the world.  There were a couple stories that gave me ideas, if not something new, something that I could support. 

One of my favorite sections of the book was about Shaun King the founder of HopeMob.  HopeMob gets individual stories and needs out to the public so people can lend a helping hand.  Another of my favorites was about Caitlin Crosby and the Giving Keys.  The Giving Keys is a jewelry line that has an encouraging word printed on it.  Once you buy a piece of jewelry though, you don’t keep it forever – you give it away to someone who needs that word of encouragement.  The line employs homeless people who are trying to make it in the world. 

In addition to reading about how others are making a mark, the Book of Mark is interspersed between the pages of the individual stories.  All in all, an encouraging, challenging, fun read.

*I received a free copy of this book from BookSneeze exchange for writing a fair review.*

Book Review: Saving Eutychus How to preach God's word and keep people awake

I don’t preach (although my daughter may disagree with that) but I do teach at Church and when I read a bit about this book I thought it may be a good resource.  It was worth more than I expected it to be.  Even if you lead meetings, give lectures or just find yourself in public speaking situations that you are not comfortable in, this would be a great book to read.  Gary Millar and Phil Campbell put together lists of pointers and suggestions that make total sense once you read them and leave you wondering why you aren’t already doing things that way.  The book is written with humility and humor.  I love when I find a book that will teach me and entertain me at the same time, and this one truly does.

In addition to the pointers on creating a sermon that will not leave people nodding off, I learned to look at some things differently.  For example, the Old Testament was written for the people at the time but is still written for us. We can’t ignore the Old Testament and concentrate on the New because the Bible is to be taken as a whole.  Another point that made me think was about Jesus during his time here on earth. “...more often than we sometimes notice, Jesus is aiming his words directly at an Israel at the tail end of their old covenant with God.  It’s pre-cross Israel and pre-Spirit Israel.  Think the words of Jesus through carefully before you apply them directly to 21^st-century Gentiles like us.”  I always tell my daughter to try to see things through others eyes when she doesn’t understand someone’s actions.  I think I need to start reading the Bible with that in mind as well.  Of course we can apply Jesus’ teachings to ourselves, but stepping back and thinking about what His words meant to the people he was speaking to in person may give us a different perspective.

There are two sermons with critiques at the end of the book that tie all their pointers and tips together and both sermons are well worth the read on their own.  I would definitely recommend this book.  Even if you have the gift for preaching, you may read this and realize you could use some of their suggestions.

If you would like to check out their humor, watch the short video. http://youtu.be/cOMI3Ib-CbI

*I received a free copy of this book from Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for writing a fair review.*

Book Review: Sherlock Holmes and The Needle's Eye by Len Bailey

I was partially through the first story before I was recommending this book to my friends.  From the beginning it sounded like it was going to be an interesting, fun, informative book and it did not disappoint.  The premise of going back in time to unravel Bible mysteries had me instantly hooked.  Doing that in a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson concept made it that much more fun. Some of the mysteries include what did Christ write on the ground during the encounter with the Pharisees and the adulterous woman?, why did David choose five stones to fight Goliath instead of just one?, what did Luke mean by “more opportune time” when speaking of the devil leaving Jesus in Luke 4:13?

These stories take you into the Bible and make you think about things that you may have never considered before.  I found myself pulling out the Bible to check on ideas being introduced or events being discussed.  There are studies in the back of the book that take you through the passages yourself and bring you deeper into the thought process. 

This was a wonderfully entertaining book that looked at the Bible from a “big picture” perspective to answer some riddles and I would definitely recommend it.  I would love to see another book with different stories analyzed the same way.

*I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze.com in exchange for writing a fair review.*

Book Review: Crucifying Morality: The Gospel of the Beatitudes

I was very excited to read this book.  I have read the Beatitudes in the Bible (Matthew 5:3-12), but I had never really focused on them.  I thought about them much as the author describes in the beginning of the book – as something to achieve, missing the point of the teaching.  Each verse is studied in detail in Crucifying Morality and I was amazed at how much I learned about the true meaning of each verse as well as what that means to my life.  This book challenged me to take a closer look at myself, my motivations and my faith.  It pointed out, in a different perspective, all that Jesus has done for all of us – whether you believe in him or not.  At times it also touched on what Christianity should look like and what it sometimes looks like instead.  Each chapter has questions at the end to make you think deeper about what you have read.  It would make a great resource for a Bible study small group as well as just an individual read.  Also, the notes will lead you to further reading if you are interested in delving deeper.  My book is well highlighted, not just with notes that I took to heart within the chapters, but also with which books I would like to read stemming from the research that went into this book.

One of the sections of the book I have highlighted really spoke to my heart.  It reads “Jesus came to live the life I should have lived and die the death I should have died.”  It goes on to say that “the Beatitudes simply express what a life profoundly changed by Jesus looks like.”  I would love for my life to look like that.  And I’ve learned that the only way that will happen is to turn to Jesus.  I cannot do anything on my own.  I knew that, but sometimes we just need to be reminded.

*I received a free copy of this book from Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for writing a fair review.*

Book Review: Twelve Unlikely Heroes by John MacArthur

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I know when I saw the title, I immediately thought of the twelve disciples, until I remembered one wasn’t much of a hero.  Then I assumed that the apostle Paul would be included.  I was surprised and happy to see the diversity of people that the author chose to celebrate as heroes.  In each section of the book, I was able to see an in depth look at the men and women who God used to do great things - even the individuals that tried their hardest not to be heroes when called to.

Some of the chapters are dedicated to people you would assume are heroes, like John the Baptist.  Then you come across Onesimus and Mark and realize that there were more heroes than you actually had thought about.  The book was extremely well written, very engaging and I definitely learned much of the detail of the lives discussed that I did not know.  I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone who likes to delve into the details past what you may be able to pick up reading the Bible on your own.

Having read this book, I am looking forward to reading more from this author.