I liked Randy Alcorn's Heaven book, so I wanted to read another one of his books. However, this one looked devotional-like, so I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Most devotionals are too shallow for me. But this book proved to have some FANTASTIC "days". Some of them didn't do anything for me, but there were SOOOO many not-just-good but FANTASTIC that I just wanted to tear them out and paste them on my wall or email to friends and family!
I really didnt want to highlight the book because I like it all clean and crisp but there was just too much good stuff and I ended up having to highlight. The theology is the best I've seen in any devotional/days to God book. Most devotionals have weak, feel-good or incorrect theology, but this is right one. I learned afterwards taht Alcorn is a 4pt Calvinist, so I guess that explains his solid grasp on theology.
Here is my favorite part of the book:
A woman was singing "Amazing Grace" but when she got to the tenth word, she sang, "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a soul like me!" Some have replaced the word wretch with soul. The author of the song recognized that he was a wretch - and that is what made God's grace so "amazing." The greater our grasp of our sin and alienation from God, the greater our grasp of God's amazing grace. When we cut wretch out of "Amazing Grace," we reduce it to something more sensible, less surprising. If we weren't so bad without Christ, then why did He have to endure the Cross? Charles Spurgeon said, "Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior." We try to explain away our sin in terms of "a bad day" or "that's not what I meant" or "it was a mistake" or "I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't..." All these statements minimize our evil and thereby minimize the greatness of God's grace in atoning for our evil. Pg 40-41
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommended: I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet
When I first started to read this book, I thought "Uh-oh. This is not going to be good." It seemed the book was all about business/corporate leadership being thrust into the Christian church. I thought it was going to be really boring, with lots of corporate CEOs and business practices.
Once I got past these first pages, the book suddenly blossomed into a wonderful view of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I pulled out my highlighter and began marking away. The author takes great lengths to show us that we are to be followers and not seeking our own glory through leadership. The first half of this book is full of great quotes and insights. For this alone, I recommend this book. Here are my favorite parts of the book:
"To follow Jesus means that you are someone in love, someone who is hopelessly, head over heels in love with God. Followers are more than believers. The devil and the demons believe in Jesus. They know he's the Son of the Most High God [with more assurance than we humans do! They know 100% that he exists, while we may have some small percentage of doubt]. But while they believe in Jesus, they don't love him." Pg 45
"Many forms of Christianity are more like Judaism - in being firmly anchored in religious law. Living by a list of rules... The problem is that there are not enough rules for every situation. The Bible is NOT the savior: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." [said Jesus]. Pg 76
"...the game trails of deer... change throughout the turns of the seasons. They become well worn in certain areas and grow faint in others a the animals change their travel patterns. As fewer and fewer followers (animals) travel along the way (trails), the way becomes harder to find. Encroaching vegetation can make the path faint and difficult to follow. Similarly, Christinaity flourishes or diminishes according to how followers follow. In walking with Jesus, they clear the path for others to follow. They keep the way distinguishable by being and doing the Way. They are both following and followable." Pg 80
"If the primary relationships of our church members lie in their relationship to the church en masse rather than in life-on-life connections with one another, then we have missed the sweet spot. We have attracted a congregation, but we have not developed a "Christbody" community. Pg 85
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Once I got past these first pages, the book suddenly blossomed into a wonderful view of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I pulled out my highlighter and began marking away. The author takes great lengths to show us that we are to be followers and not seeking our own glory through leadership. The first half of this book is full of great quotes and insights. For this alone, I recommend this book. Here are my favorite parts of the book:
"To follow Jesus means that you are someone in love, someone who is hopelessly, head over heels in love with God. Followers are more than believers. The devil and the demons believe in Jesus. They know he's the Son of the Most High God [with more assurance than we humans do! They know 100% that he exists, while we may have some small percentage of doubt]. But while they believe in Jesus, they don't love him." Pg 45
"Many forms of Christianity are more like Judaism - in being firmly anchored in religious law. Living by a list of rules... The problem is that there are not enough rules for every situation. The Bible is NOT the savior: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." [said Jesus]. Pg 76
"...the game trails of deer... change throughout the turns of the seasons. They become well worn in certain areas and grow faint in others a the animals change their travel patterns. As fewer and fewer followers (animals) travel along the way (trails), the way becomes harder to find. Encroaching vegetation can make the path faint and difficult to follow. Similarly, Christinaity flourishes or diminishes according to how followers follow. In walking with Jesus, they clear the path for others to follow. They keep the way distinguishable by being and doing the Way. They are both following and followable." Pg 80
"If the primary relationships of our church members lie in their relationship to the church en masse rather than in life-on-life connections with one another, then we have missed the sweet spot. We have attracted a congregation, but we have not developed a "Christbody" community. Pg 85
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
Recommended: Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris
Joshua Harris' new book Dug Down Deep is written as a layman's book on theology, doctrine and orthodoxy. Harris explains why knowledge about God and Jesus Christ are important. Essentially, to accurately appreciate and worship them in truth, we must know some facts about them. Otherwise, we will be worshipping a God we don't know much about or that we believe some inaccurate facts about.
With a love for theology, I thought I could easily handle reading a light theology book. However, despite all the promise of this book, I had a very hard time getting through the book due to the long drawn out nature of the material. It started off great and with so much potential. I thought I was going to end up buying extra copies for all my friends and family. It started off that good! And theologically, it is very accurate, so it is a good safe read. But it definitely is "light" and covers the basics in a light fashion. It's not very heavy or all that deep, compared to other theology books. Sadly, I think this "lightness" takes away some of the fire and the interest from the book. It's like being given a Shareware version of a computer program, instead of the real full thing! So, although I understand the purpose of light-theology, I wish this book had instead retained depth but made the depth easy-to-read or easy-to-understand. I just thought with all the promise of making theology interesting, Harris failed and again he made theology too drawn out and not quick-to-the point.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
With a love for theology, I thought I could easily handle reading a light theology book. However, despite all the promise of this book, I had a very hard time getting through the book due to the long drawn out nature of the material. It started off great and with so much potential. I thought I was going to end up buying extra copies for all my friends and family. It started off that good! And theologically, it is very accurate, so it is a good safe read. But it definitely is "light" and covers the basics in a light fashion. It's not very heavy or all that deep, compared to other theology books. Sadly, I think this "lightness" takes away some of the fire and the interest from the book. It's like being given a Shareware version of a computer program, instead of the real full thing! So, although I understand the purpose of light-theology, I wish this book had instead retained depth but made the depth easy-to-read or easy-to-understand. I just thought with all the promise of making theology interesting, Harris failed and again he made theology too drawn out and not quick-to-the point.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for this review but I did really give my honest opinion
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