A Good But Basic Bible Study

Jesus: Experiencing His Touch, is part of a Bible Study series by Kay Arthur and David Arthur.  The Bible Study is broken into 6 weeks, with one lesson per week.  The theme behind all of the Bible Studies is that there is no homework required; and each Bible Study should last for approximately 40 minutes. 

This particular Bible Study is based on Mark 1-6.  There are additional Bible Studies by the Arthur's which includes the remaining chapters of the book of Mark.

I have reviewed other Kay Arthur Bible Studies and felt they were move inclusive than this one.  I was left wanting more meat from this Bible Study.  I was hoping to use this as part of a Bible Study series I was going to teach from the Gospel of Mark, but will not use it. 

I believe this Bible Study is better suited for those who are just starting to get into Bible Study and are not ready to go deeper in the Word.  I say that not meaning to be overly critical since there are many people who will benefit from the approach the Arthur's take on this and other studies.

I received this study from www.Bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an open and honest review.

A Good Devo to Read!

Devo for the Rest of Us: The Next 40 Days on Your Journey of Faith Paperback, by Vince Antonucci was an easy to read and mostly light devotional book.  It takes the reader on a 40 day journey in the hopes that the reader will draw closer to God.  I found the book to be very enlightening.

While I didn't feel the book was filled with an abundance of scripture, that was okay with me, since I like to read stories and illustrations which relate to life and help me along on my journey.  Oftentimes it is these stories which will help me better understand myself, who I am and who I am becoming.

 With this in mind, I appreciated the writing style which was mostly story telling.  Vince is a pastor in Las Vegas and refers to his region of ministry on a regular basis.  This book challenged me and encouraged me and gave me some new insights into how I can look at God.

This is an 8 week journey which requires the reader to read about 5 pages Monday - Friday or whatever equals 5 days in your week.  It's a good book, as long as you are not looking for a deep devotion with lots of scripture.

I received this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an open and honest review! 

Ignite Your Passion For God (Bible Study)

As a pastor, I normally do not use Bible Study books for my weekly Bible Study.  We simply go straight from the Bible.  But this short Bible study by Kay Arthur, Ignite Your Passion for God, caught my attention. 

After reading through the book, I am going to use it during my Bible Study, but I am not certain how I will complete it within 40 minutes.  Some chapters have a great deal of insight and depth to them, so I am allowing about 8 weeks to complete this study.  There are “Insight” notes within the chapters which help guide the user in understanding the passage which is being discussed. 

This Bible Study is designed in such a manner that you are not required to do the work or homework in advance.  As we look at drawing closer to God, we will use this book and see how this impacts the people of the church.

There are 6 chapters in the book, which examines what influences or even takes away from our passion for God:

Idolatry
God’s Word
Prayer
Worship
Sharing the Gospel
Suffering

This is a very good basic study guide which I would highly recommend. 

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

It's Not What you Think!

It's Not What You Think: Why Christianity Is About So Much More Than Going to Heaven When You Die, by Jefferson Bethke, was a very interesting book.  The premise of the book is to help the reader understand that Christianity is not just about getting our ticket punch and having a free ride to heaven.  That’s part of the plan, but Bethke wants us to understand and believe there is so much more to life than what we think.

With that in mind each chapter discusses why something is not what we think it is, in actuality, it’s more than what we think.  At times the book was a little frustrating because, while Bethke had a lot to say, I think it was confusing.  He tried to pack so much into one section that it was easy at times to lose where he was going with this thought process. 

He wrote about how life and church and faith are not what we think it is, and that applies to his generation as well.  I appreciated his approach as he tackled many areas of Christian faith which are possibly taken a little too lightly.

I think you have to read this book with an open mind and look at what his views are and compare and contrast that to your own views, theology and convictions.  Hopefully this book will stretch you thinking.

Overall, this is a good book.

I received this book from booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

Do you have GRIT?

In their book Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion and Pluck Take you from Ordinary to Extraordinary, authors, Linda Kaplan Thayer and Robin Koval have written a motivational type of book.  This is not a book which will tell you how to go about achieving greatness.  It is a book which is designed to motoviate and inspire you to work towards greatness.

This is an easy to read book which tells a great many stories about simply ordinary people who had GRIT and turned their lives into extraordinary lives.  They use a GRIT scale, in which the acronym stands for ~

• Guts, 
• Resilience, 
• Initiative, and 
• Tenacity.

The point of the book is that achieving greatness or excellence takes work.  Too many people don't want to put in the work, but their stories about average people who do great things because of their GRIT are compelling.  It takes effort and energy, which maybe is the downfall, if greatness or excellence is not your goal, then this is just an ordinary book filled with fun and interesting stories.

At the end of each chapter is a section called Grit Builders.  This is designed to give you some action steps to start you on your way to reaching your goals.  They also created a scale to determine your GRIT level, you can find that test at  www.grittogreat.com and take the grit test.

Overall, this is a very good book and I would recommend it for those seeking to grow and change in who they are.

I received this book from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.