Wednesday, April 25, 2018

God's Promises for Grads!

The devotional, God's Promises for Graduates: Class of 2018 - Navy - in imitation leather is a very nice devotional for high school graduates or college graduates.

This book is in a very nice soft leather imitation.  The pages are bright white with blue lettering, and reads very easily.  There are six sections to this devotional ~ 

  1. What to do When you Need
  2. What to do When you Feel
  3. What the Bible has to say About
  4. What Jesus Means to you
  5. What to do when you are
  6. Truth from the Bible About


The book is designed into these sections with chapters below covering a multitude of topics.  There are 198 pages all together.  This would be a great resource for someone who is struggling with life issues or hoping to gain a better understanding of God's role in their lives.

There is also a nice tassel which serves as a book marker.

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

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Vines Expository Bible

I was excited to receive The Vines Expository Bible.  This Bible is the NKJV.  It is in a very nice hardcover with a nice dust jacket.  I found the print to appear to be larger than the 10.5 point print.  It was very readable as it is in 2 columns. 

The Vines Expository Bible offers scriptural truth alongside guided explanations of key passages from influential preacher Dr. Jerry Vines. With biblical exposition and practical teaching culled from years of faithful ministry, helpful insights from God’s Word are presented in the warm, pastoral manner Dr. Vines is known for.

Below are some of the excellent features of this Bible ~ 

NKJV paragraph-style text with in-text subject headings
  • 200 "Presenting the Message" detailed outlines from Jerry Vines' sermon archive
  • 100 "Living the Message" articles with illustrations for living the Christian life
  • 200 "Applying the Message" notes that help you see the relevance of Scriptures for your walk with Christ
  • 300 "Discerning the Meaning" word studies that illuminate the meaning of key words in Scripture
  • 66 Book Introductions
  • Topical Index
  • Multiple pages of maps
  • NKJV Concordance
  • 10.5-point print size

  • Print Length: 1984 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 27, 2018)
  • Publication Date: March 27, 2018
  • Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing

I would recommend purchasing this Bible if you were not looking for a study Bible.  

I received this Bible from Booklookbloggers in exchange for an honest review.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Unified: An Unlikely Union

In their book, Unified: How Our Unlikely Friendship Gives Us Hope for a Divided Country, Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Trey Gowdy share a remarkable story about two very different men, with very different backgrounds, coming together to form not only a friendship, but to support one another and make a difference in the world.

Both men represent South Carolina and share their story in an easy to read, yet powerful story about how we can make a difference in our world.  They share the writing in each chapter, sharing from their various perspectives.  As they share their individual and collective stories, we see the journey from acquaintances to friends to spiritual brothers hope to transform the world. 

You can sense their passion for change, and their willingness to be vulnerable to one another and to the world.  While Gowdy decided not to run for re-election, this book should offer hope to the readers that our government is not as divided as we may think.  Yes, there are problems, but this book should offer us a glimpse of what is possible when we are willing to listen and engage one another.  This story is inspiring and transformative.  I didn’t always agree with their political views, but I found myself engaged with the writers.  Really, in many respects this should be the foundation to change our country.

I received this book from Tyndale Press in exchange for an honest review.

42 Seconds to Change a Life!

I was intrigued to receive the book 42 Seconds:The Jesus Model for Everyday Interactions.  The book is based on the belief that the average interaction Jesus had with people was approximately 42 seconds.  Author Carl Medearis states, "Jesus kept is simple, straightforward and real."  He believes we should do the same, keep our conversations with others about Jesus, short and simple!

Sometimes that is not so easy.  But I do understand what he is driving at!  Sometimes we over-complicate the message of Jesus Christ, so others may stay away. 

This book is written as a 4 week devotional.  There are 20 easy to read, about 4 -5 pages each, chapters.  What I really appreciate about this book is the depth of the questions each chapter is asking.  The final chapters instruct the reader to Be Jesus.  He goes about this by asking the reader questions in each of the final 5 chapters.  They are meant to force the reader to dig deep to better determine their relationship with Jesus.  They are ~

  • Do I Believe what Jesus Believed?
  • Do My Words Match My Actions?
  • Do I really know Jesus?
  • Do I Do what Jesus did?  And a telling final question - - 
  • Do I Live Like Jesus Matters More than Anything?
Overall, this is a thought provoking book, which I highly recommend.

I received this book from Tyndale Press in exchange for an honest review.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Excellent for Kids!

When I opened BibleForce: The First Heroes Bible, I was totally impressed.  The book is heavy and has a very solid cover on it.  The picture on the cover is bright and engaging.  This would make most kids want to pick it up and start reading.  There are lots and lots of Bible stories in this book.  It is 642 pages in length. 

There is an introduction to the Bible, along with maps and other nice features to start the Bible off.  There is not a concordance or word search in the back.  But there is a Table of Contents which shows all of the topics contained in the Bible.

Please note this is not a full Bible.  They are stories, adapted for a younger reader.  Generally around 6-10 years old.  There is not a great deal of detail surrounding many of the stories, which may leave some asking more questions, which isn’t all bad either. 

This is a child’s Bible.  It is for the child who really isn’t going to read the Bible on their own, but very well might pick this up and have their life changed forever. 

With that in mind, this is a very good Bible for children.

Sunday, April 08, 2018

Dad's Devotional!

God's Words of Life for Fathers is an exceptional devotional book.  I really appreciate the way it is formatted.  There are 42 chapters in the book.  Each chapter covers a different topic of importance to men.  They are alphabetically written.  The book is filled with great instruction for men overall.  If you are struggling with a topic, it is most likely covered in this book.

For example topics which are covered include ~
Anger
Courage
Failure
Integrity
Prayer
Self-Control
Stress
and many other excellent topics.

Each chapter has about 4-5 pages of scripture, and concludes with a final one page devotional thought.  There is also a Scripture Index at the end of the book to help the reader look up certain passages.  The passages selected and devotional thought is relevant and applicable. 

This book would make an excellent Father's Day gift. 

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

Monday, April 02, 2018

Be a SMART Stepfamily

 Ron Deal has written a number of books regarding Stepfamilies.  In this book, Daily encouragement for the SMART Stepfamily, deal has written a short devotional for stepfaimlies.  Ron is a family therapist and speaks at many conferences about blended families.

This very easy to read book, has a daily devotional which is only 2-4 paragraphs and a prayer following the devotion.  There is a devotion for everyday, written to parents and to children on various days.

There is a great deal of richness contained in the short devotions.  For busy families this devotional will help the time to go by quickly as maybe some issues and concerns aer raised through the various readings.

This is a very helpful book for blended families.

I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

Simply Extraordinary!!

Extraordinary Influence: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others, by Tim Irwin is a must read!  This book has had a profound impact on the way I will relate to people in the future.  He also affirmed much of what I do, but Irwin took this a step further.  This book focuses on how each person can influence others.  Not to get what they want, but to help others grow in who they have been called to be. 

We have the opportunity to speak Words of Life or Words of Death into others.  Most people are longing for a message, for affirmation, and too often we give idle compliments, or mask Constructive Criticism as Words of Death.  Irwin powerful shows the different between words of life and words of death.  he also helped the reader better understand the difference between compliments and words of affirmation.  There is such a huge difference between the two, which most people sadly miss.  We give idle compliments and believe they should change others.  But they do not, because compliments can't get beneath the skin, while words of affirmation reach into our hearts and spirits and offer us hope and a future we may not have realized was there.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with others.  This is a transformational book.
I received this book at no expense in exchange for an honest review.

Fun Kids Devotional

God Gave Us the Bible: 45 Favorite Stories for Little Ones is a very well done, hardcover introductory Bible for parents to read with thei...